ABOUT
It’s time to tell the truth about women of color and social justice. From the streets, to the ballot box, to elected office, no other demographic group stands up more consistently and unequivocally for human rights, democracy, and the planet. Yet when they are in leadership positions, women of color face persistent and unfair obstacles. For them, too often, the game is rigged.
How much more could humanity be winning if we unrigged it? What might be possible, in this clutch moment of history, with so much on the line, if movements stopped benching our best in ways that negatively impact the scoreboard for everybody?
Unrig the Game: What Women of Color Can Teach Everyone About Winning (Random House, March 4, 2025) draws on interviews with 45 of the most powerful women of color movement leaders of our time, as well as my own experience as a leader, organizer, and funder. It offers effective women of color leaders and everyone who supports them a playbook for unrigging the game so we can all win.
Advance praise
“This book is a treasure! Amazing, instructive, and inspirational. Enlightenment, satisfaction and enrichment for the time spent reading - especially now when there are so many demands on our eyes. Everyone should read this book.”
— Dolores Huerta, Labor leader and civil rights activist, Co-founder (alongside Cesar Chavez) of the United Farm Workers union
“Reading this book is like sitting in a sister circle with some of the greatest movement leaders of our time. It is a balm and an inspiration.”
— Ai-jen Poo, President of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and Director of Caring Across Generations
“Unrig the Game speaks to the heart of every woman of color movement leader who has been undermined, underpaid, and underestimated. This book is a reaffirmation of our experiences and our pain but also our triumphs and potential. I didn’t know how much I needed this book until I turned the pages.”
— Linda Sarsour, Author of We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders: A Memoir of Love and Resistance
“An immeasurable gift to anyone trying to understand movement today, the many roles women of color leaders play, and the conditions in which they make the impossible possible. If you are looking for an accessible assessment of the conditions facing WOC leaders, a road map for being a strong WOC leader, and how to flank WOC who answer the call, then this book is for you.”
— Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson, Former Co-Executive Director, Highlander Research and Education Center
“Brave and essential reading for everyone who wants progressive movements to win. A guide for women of color leaders to move beyond the boundaries that others have set for us, to reclaim our power and expand our imagination of what is possible. A call to bring what has battered women of color leaders out from the shadows and into the public square to be faced and changed. Vanessa invites us to the task with a collective testimony that is enthralling, nourishing, and full of heart.”
— LaTosha Brown, Co-Founder of Black Voters Matter and Southern Black Girls Consortium
“Vanessa has brought to life the sacrifices and sisterhood that being a social justice warrior entails. Both are crucial strategies to justice in a world we want to leave behind as our legacies.”
— S. Mona Sinha, Global Executive Director Equality Now and feminist funder
“An excellent and necessary book. In my decades of work with leaders, this may be the most honest and poignant account I've read of what women of color leaders experience. A wonderful mirror for those of us who’ve been in the work for so long, and a guide for those just beginning.”
— Akaya Windwood, Lead Advisor, Third Act, and Author of Leading with Joy
“I've had the good fortune to work alongside many of the remarkable women chronicled in this deeply reported and powerful volume — they are among the greatest leaders on our planet, and this is a remarkable chance to learn from their vast experience (and to make sure that their leadership is as valued and protected as it should be). For people who want to make change in the world, this will be a well-thumbed reference.”
— Bill McKibben, Founder of 350.org and Third Act