The Doyennes

Little Black Book by Otegha Uwagba is a compact and handy collection of tips for the modern working woman - aka for the many of us who work full-time or part-time in the creative industries, without set office hours and salaries. Although a lot of the advice includes tips you probably already know (like that it’s smart to make lists and schedules so you have to hold yourself to your promises to get things done), that’s also what’s so great about it: sometimes, you do need to be reminded of these things to actually do them. Little Black Book does that in an organized, no-frills manner, which makes it easy to implement the advice in your own life.

 

Personally, I’m a grumpy hater of inspirational quotes with no substance, but at the same time, a big fan of practical advice from women I admire. One of the things I like about Little Black Book is therefore that Uwagba has interviewed smart women on the top of their fields (aka doyennes), who give solid pointers on what you need to do to get to where they are. Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Refinery29 co-founder Piera Gelardi and editor of The Gentlewoman Penny Martin are just some of the impressive names featured. Uwagba’s own advice are equally useful as well – I especially liked her tips for how to determine your work’s market value (which can be tricky if you’re new to an industry or anxious to work as much as possible to make a name for yourself), and the section on the importance of brand building and networking in an ever more globalized and connected world.

 

Long story short: a good purchase. We recommend.

 

PS: Just to let you know - the author of this recommendation, The Doyennes co-founder Maggie, did a short interview with the newly started, feminist publishing company Zille Books earlier this year. The translated version of Little Black Book was later sent as a (surprise!) thank you to all the women who had contributed to their podcast, so we did receive this book for free. However, we were not under any obligation to promote or write about it at all – and we never feature anything we don’t think is recommendation worthy!