We are almost coming to the end of the third month of the year, time to check on our Q1 goals! We said 2020 was our year, and then Corona happened. While we take the necessary precautions, we have a critical choice to make; we can either waste away the moments that make up a dull day or use this time to our advantage.
One of our goals this year is to grow our reading culture, which is why we launched the Mkazipreneur book club. Insight, information, knowledge, inspiration, power! All this and more can come through a good book.
These are some of the books by women that we recommend you should read this year.
Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes
“You never say yes to anything.”
Shonda Rhimes is the creator and producer of some of the most interesting shows on television. You’ve watched or heard about Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal right?
Shonda expounds on how her life changed when she committed to saying yes to everything for one year especially those outside her comfort zone. This was after her sister told her she never said yes to anything at a Thanksgiving dinner. This hilarious book explores Shonda’s life from her love for books when she was a child to her devotion to creating and writing the most interesting shows. In this book, you will read about when she learned to explore, empower, applaud, and love herself.
Believe us when we say this book will change your mindset and approach to a number of aspects of your life, you will learn to say yes! This was our read for Q1, we can testify.
What I Know for Sure by Oprah Winfrey
Joy, resilience, connection, gratitude, possibility, awe, clarity, and power; these sections in the book will get you close to the heart and mind of one of the most powerful women. In each of these, she emphasizes the need to live a fulfilling and happy life in an intentional manner
Oprah values self-care, spirituality, friendships, inspiring collaborative work, free will, home, private time, giving and doing her best, great food, silence, presence, mindfulness, gratitude, meditation, commitment to oneself and love, not forgetting how she passionately talks about her chai tea taking moments!
“While words often have the power to destroy….they also have the power to heal”. What we know for sure is this quote will remain part of you once you have concluded reading this book and what we know for sure is our lives have never been the same after we concluded reading this book in Q1
Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg
Sheryl Sandberg is the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook and one of Fortune magazine’s Most Powerful Women in Business
In this book, Sheryl bases her experience of working in some of the world’s most successful businesses and expounds on what women can do to help themselves to make changes in their lives. From her experience, Sheryl shares steps women can take to combine professional achievement with personal fulfillment. She clearly demonstrates how men can benefit by supporting women and offers practical advice to help women achieve their goals. She also uses this book to call out to women to be outstanding at their workplaces as well as learn to balance work and family
Are you ready to lean In? Get yourself a copy already.
We Are Going To Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union
Gabrielle Union! Who does not love her? Her energy, her openness, candidness, and honesty, and the fact that she still looks young at her age, wow!
In this book, you will feel as though Gabrielle Union herself is in front of you, at the other end of the table, telling you her life story. She comes out as very approachable through her wonderful writing style. She is detailed and precise, and a skilled story-teller
With her honesty and humor, Union uses that same fearlessness to tell personal stories about power, color, gender, feminism, and fame. Union tackles a range of experiences, including bullying, beauty standards, and competition between women in Hollywood, growing up in white California suburbia and then spending summers with her black relatives in Nebraska, coping with crushes, puberty, and the divorce of her parents. Throughout, she compels us to be ethical and empathetic and reminds us of the importance of confidence, self-awareness, and the power of sharing truth, laughter, and support.
Get yourself a copy, you will not be disappointed!
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Michelle Obama was the first African-American First Lady of the United States of America and is a strong advocate for women and girls around the world
In this memoir, Michelle recounts her time growing up on the South Side of Chicago as she shares the joys of her childhood as well as some of the tough things. She speaks lovingly of her roots in this working-class family – her parents and her brother and grandparents and how their values shaped the adult she would become.
We witness the grief she experienced over the loss of her father and her continuing admiration and love for her mother. In this memoir, she is so open and honest. Michelle shares her love for her husband and daughters throughout the book. We also discover who she is in the times she is undergoing a self-discovery, as she questions her aspirations, as she juggles work and motherhood as Barack’s involvement and aspirations in politics grow.
It felt raw reading about some of her personal struggles with infertility and racism and how she quit her corporate job at a law firm, to work with the Mayor to serve the community
