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Luvvie Ajayi Jones Is Ditching Humility, and So Should You
Her new book, ‘Professional Troublemaker: The Fear-Fighter Manual,’ is a guide to embracing your greatness
Luvvie Ajayi Jones is proof of what happens when you pair 18 years of blogging and writing with tenacity and synchronicity. She went from working for the man to being the woman, with a 14,000-member app, her own social network, a popular TED Talk, and now what is sure to be another New York Times bestselling book. Released today, Professional Troublemaker: The Fear-Fighter Manual is chock-full of the I’m Judging You writer’s step-by-step tips on how to face down fear, earn your worth, and big-up yourself in a world that wants to put us all down.
Yes, racism and sexism are shitty and real, Ajayi Jones says, but in the meantime and between times, gas yourself up—and gas up your friends, too. After all, who told Black women we need to shrink or that reminding folk of our dopeness was a problem? Ajayi Jones provides a step-by-step guide to the blowup, the glow-up, and the popup, aided by ultra-relatable Nigerian culture and sass. She delves into lessons imparted by her grandma, calls herself the “18-year overnight success,” and suggests traditions like the Oriki, which is kind of like giving yourself a massive title akin to Game of Thrones Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, first of her name. But the gist is this: Be unapologetically big.
And if that’s uncomfy, Ajayi Jones has explicit ideas and easy-to-access techniques on how to help you bridge that fear.
“We gotta fight fear like it called our mama a ‘bald-headed, trifling bitch,’” she writes. “We aren’t doing it because we are unafraid of consequences or sacrifices… We are doing it because we have to. We know we must still charge forward regardless…”
On the eve of her second book release, Ajayi Jones talked to ZORA about success, Twitter, humility, and braggadocio. Here’s what else she had to say.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
ZORA: Manifestation Mondays and Twitter LLC are full of advice to think it, be it, and somehow become it. Your book deviates from the conventional wisdom.
Luvvie Ajayi Jones: I’m not distilling…
