As an avid reader, I’ve dedicated myself to engaging with literature that serves a greater purpose in cultivating my leadership skills, resilience, and personal growth as well as furthering my passion for public health and advocacy efforts. Below I’ve included a list of the literature that has shaped my emotional, professional, and academic growth (as well as a few lighter reads as well).
Read + Loved:
(Auto)Biographies:
- Becoming, Michelle Obama
- Dreams from My Father, Barack Obama
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Jane Sherron De Hart
Criminal Justice System:
- The Evolution of the Juvenile Court: Race, Politics, and the Criminalizing of Juvenile Justice, Barry C. Feld
- Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson
- A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison, Dwayne Betts
- The Schoolhouse Gate: Public Education, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for American Mind, Justin Driver
Diversity, Equity, and Privilege:
- When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir, Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele
- White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, Robin DiAngelo
Emotional Education & Personal Growth:
- Real Change: Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World, Sharon Salzberg
- The School of Life: An Emotional Education, The School of Life
Fiction:
- We All Looked Up, Tommy Wallach
Leadership Theory & Practice:
- The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni
- Strengths Based Leadership, Tom Rath
Philosophy:
- The Architecture of Happiness, Alain de Botton
- On Being Me, J. David Velleman
- The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher’s Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient, William B. Irvine
Public Health:
- The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care, T.R. Reid
- Lissa: A Story About Medical Promise, Friendship, and Revolution, Sherine Hamdy and Coleman Nye
- The Politics of Polio in Northern Nigeria, Elisha P. Renne
- Well: What We Need to Talk About When We Talk About Health, Sandro Galea
In the Queue:
- The Art of Loving, Erich Fromm
- Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics, bell hooks
- Garbage Bag Suitcase, Shenandoah Chefalo
- Last Chance, Larry J. Schweiger
- Milk and Honey, Rupi Kaur
- An Ordinary Age: Finding Your Way in a World that Expects Exceptional, Rainesford Stauffer
- A Promised Land, Barack Obama
- Race Talk and the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race, Derald Wing Sue
- The Road to Character, David Brooks
- Shout, Laurie Halse Anderson
- Words in Deep Blue, Cath Crowley