Melinda Marshall and Tai Wingfield's Ambition in Black and White

Melinda Marshall and Tai Wingfield’s Ambition in Black and White, is a book that captures the reality of being a woman, and a person of color, trying to excel in America — a country that caters to wealthy white men.

Here in America, society defines people by their ethnicity and gender. For women seeking financial success, there is this constant need to prove themselves to the males around them. Meanwhile, people of color are forced to confront various forms of racial discrimination; whether it be verbal, physical or being denied opportunities that come more easily to white people.

Though the book sets out to address the problems dealt by women, it tackles issues of race when recognizing the hardships of black women. In fact, the primary issue this book tackles is how being a woman of color is perhaps the most difficult thing to deal with in America.

When you think about it, it’s a double-edged sword really. While a black man may be looked down upon for being black, he still has the advantage of being male. And while a white woman is looked down upon for being female, at least her skin color is admirable in America. Black women have both, their gender and race working against them.

This is not to say that the struggles faced by men of color or white women are not real. They are very real. It just so happens that women of color face more obstacles.

While there has been an increase in women holding some of the top positions in various career fields, very few of those women are black, and this is perhaps one of the most crucial issues discussed in the book.

Bias plays a major part in the lack of black women with top paying careers. As the book states, “While multinationals proclaim and enforce rigorous anti-discrimination policies, bias persists at all levels, because rarely is it ever overt enough to be deemed outright discrimination.” (pgs. 23-4)

The bias of an employer is one of the major conflicts both, white women and black women, have to put up with, especially since most employers are white men. Oftentimes women, black women in particular, feel as if they are not receiving the credit they deserve. In a survey conducted by Marshall and Wingfield, more black women felt as if they were stalled in their careers than white women (44 percent vs. 30 percent).

By addressing these issues, this book calls on all women to recognize how they are at a disadvantage. Although things have gotten better for women, better isn’t good enough.

We need to educate ourselves on the various ways bias continues to persist in society. It is not until after you have educated yourself on these issues that you will be able to join the fight for equality. Reading Ambition in Black and White is a great first step toward joining the battle, since it explores the issues of today.

To read Ambition in Black and White you can purchase a copy from the link below:

https://www.amazon.com/Ambition-Black-White-Narrative-Innovation/dp/1942600798

Cliff Simon's Paris Nights

Cliff Simon’s memoir Paris Nights, tells the story of the beginnings of Simon’s journey toward stardom. His big stepping stone and the basis of this book, is his year in Paris as a dancer at the Moulin Rouge.

The book starts off with Simon receiving a call from his friend Gavin about the Moulin Rouge needing a new dancer. Gavin asks Simon if he would like to fill the position, and at the drop of a hat, Simon sells his car for a one way ticket to Paris — a bold move to make, and just one of the many risks you’ll see Simon take throughout the book.

Simon arrives in Paris looking forward to his new job only to find out he still has to audition — something Gavin failed to mention — and if he doesn’t make it, well then he just gave up all he had in South Africa for nothing.

Obviously Simon makes the cut, but before we get to the part in the story where he auditions, the book takes us back to Simon’s childhood.

Simon grew up in a whites only neighborhood in South Africa during the apartheid — a system of racial segregation in South Africa enforced through legislation by the National Party, the governing party from 1948 through 1994. Eventually as the war between the National Party and the African National Congress (ANC) intensified, his family decided to move to London while Simon was in highschool.

In London, Simon focused a majority of his time training to become an Olympic swimmer, with the goal of making it to the 1984 Olympics. Although he says he could’ve easily made it to the Olympics, something was telling him he needed to go back to South Africa, even if that meant being drafted into their military.

And so Simon joined the military, which although hellish, he found that it was what he needed to put him in his place after living such a privileged life. It not only gave him a newfound perspective of what it meant to truly struggle, it also gave him the strength that would help him kick off his dancing career.

Flash forward to the audition and we begin our journey alongside Simon in his year at the Moulin Rouge, a journey that widened Simon’s outlook of the world as he is exposed to things he never really encountered in South Africa: homosexuality, interracial couples, mobsters and freedom.

The book is not only a good read for dancers and actors, but also for those interested in historical and cultural perspectives, seeing as the most interesting part of this book is his transition from a narrow-minded South Africa to a very liberal France, which opened many doors for him. Although the title may suggest that this is solely based on his career at Moulin Rouge, there is much more the book explores that makes it a highly suggestable read.

To purchase a copy of Paris Nights click on the link below:

https://www.amazon.com/Paris-Nights-Year-Moulin-Rouge-ebook/dp/B01ESBCHWA?ie=UTF8&btkr=1&ref_=dp-kindle-redirect