Token Black Girl is such a interesting, thought provoking read on racism, discovering your identity, trying to fit in all with slices of her story added in.
I loved reading this book and the important lessons inside of it. It was quite a read and one everyone needs to read.

After following Danielle Prescod on Instagram for a couple years, I was really interested to read this memoir and get to know more about her story. There is a lot I really enjoyed about this book and a lot of things that will stick with me. I appreciate the self-awareness that Danielle has, clearly coming from time spent in therapy and doing work to dig deep into her past and why she is the person that she is. Danielle gives a really interesting perspective of being the only black girl in a sea of whiteness for most of her life and how that affected her, not only at the time, but how that experience has shaped the way she sees herself in the world today.

She gives an, at times, painfully honest recount of her struggle with eating disorders, racism experienced while working in fashion and media, and toxic beauty standards set for and perpetuated by women, and sometimes even herself.

There are points of the story that seemed to go off on a tangent and left me temporarily confused, but it always circled back back to the point. I really appreciated all the pop culture references that reminded me of things I enjoyed in my childhood, even the problematic ones. Hello, Sweet Valley High! These references helped me connect with the author, especially as a millennial woman who grew up in the same era.

All in all, Danielle's story is an important one to be told and I'm glad she's telling it!

I tried to read this but could not get into it. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Pop culture, seen and defined by racial identity, all framed in the context of fashion, make this book something very unconventional, but fascinating.

Danielle Prescod and Little A manage to be subversive, in the best sense of the word, against the expectations that someone might have of a memoir of this style.

It's personal, brilliant, entertaining, and thoughtful in ways few readers would see coming.

As someone outside the fashion world, I never felt lost in descriptions or narratives. On the contrary. This book grabs the reader's attention and introduces them to a world full of new things to think about.

Wonderful. This book is wonderful.

I thought this was a very well, thoughtfully written book. It made me think about myself and my life and was not overly obnoxious as so many books of the genre can be these days. I highly recommend it. 5/5 stars.

This was a thought provoking and impactful insight into the realities of growing up as a Black girl in a predominantly white community. Filled with well worded yet hard hitting truths, this offered a perspective into how some of the underlying issues in society impact on a personal level, and how the intersections of them can hurt so much more. An absolute must read!

This was truely eye opening for me! I never thought some of these thoughts; Really can't wrap my mind . We women really aren't so different after ALL! Guess w have the media to thank! Having an Asian granddaughter who also has these ideas.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC of this book. I was very excited to read this book, as I have been following Danielle Prescod on Instagram for some time. Her social commentary is always insightful, but also funny, which is exactly the perspective I was hoping for in this book.

Token Black Girl follows Prescod through her upbringing, adolescence, college, and professional career. As someone who is roughly the same age as the author, I enjoyed her cultural references (Spice Girls forever), because I was consuming the same media. However, I was consuming them as the targeted audience (read: white). Prescod invites the reader to follow her on her journey of navigating racism and fatphobia in a poignant way, inviting readers to a behind-the-scenes look at how it truly feels to be a black girl growing up while receiving constant negative messages about being black. I also found her insight into the fashion world (which I really didn't know much about) fascinating, as she shares about all the ways that whiteness is centered in media.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. This book shows that Danielle Prescod has a talent for discussing and analyzing topics in ways that are transparent, relatable, and inspiring.

I felt like the book was almost too real! I mean, it was a memoir so it was real but she really put you right in her seat in these very white institutions she attended. I thought it was very relatable but I did feel like the first half was better done. The second half had her life in the media/fashion and jumped around a bunch more. I guess it is hard to leave the structure of school behind but it was almost like I was reading two different books.

Amazing memoir for anyone interested in fashion! Danielle beautifully tells the story of growing up black in a world with Eurocentric beauty standards and the way it hurts black women long-term. She worked in the fashion industry and tells about the way racism was and is a hug part of it even today.
Honestly she opened up my eyes for certain events, people and things I wouldn't have thought of as a white person.
Would give it 4.5 stars, but rounded up on Goodreads

Thank you NetGalley and Little A for the advance copy of this book. Next, I do not feel this book will be for everyone. We know how the world doesn’t hold black women to a nice standard—they’re actually below the totem pole but, this book will not tell you anything new about the black experience (coming from someone black) it mostly talks about fashion and stays surface level.

Danielle Prescod's poignant memoir is an in-depth look at the realities facing many millennial Black women, especially those working in fashion or related industries. From a close-up analysis of how internalized racism affected her childhood and teenage years to a heartfelt and painful account of her battle with an eating disorder, Ms. Prescod has the ability to be vulnerable while holding herself accountable, to explain complex ideas about how racism and misogyny control society's overarching narrative of Black women while also exploring deeply personal topics. A must-read for fans of nonfiction and those new to the genre and a stunning debut.

Token Black Girl is somewhat redundant. I know the author, Danielle, is extremely fashion conscious, but the entire book was about fashion. There has to be more to her life than that. I know she likes horseback riding yet there are no references to it. And she said precious little about her love life, little about her sister who she seems to be very close to, and very little about her parents, although they seem to be a close knit family. Another problem I had with the book was that she used several acronyms but didn't bother to define them. There were times when I wanted to put the book down because I lost interest. I would just like to know more about her life. She can't be so shallow as to elude to the fact that her whole life is devoted to fashion and nothing more. While she was clearly entrenched in it, I find it difficult to believe that there was nothing more to her life.

I have to say that the afterword was powerful. If the rest of the book had as much teeth it would have been a home run. Finally, I want to say that I'm a token Black girl so I know what she went through. There's nothing worse than having to indulge a diet of white supremacy on a daily basis. It really sucks! So I can really identify with her. And I get it about always trying to measure up. Fashion was a big deal to me too. It just wasn't all consuming. I will say that the book was not horrible. It just didn't hold my attention as much as I would have liked. But I couldn't tear myself away from the afterword.

When all has been said and done, this story needs to be heard.

I can't imagine wanting to be so different from my authentic self that I would starve myself (bulimia) and alter my appearance (caustic products used for hair straightening) for years. Granted, I was concerned about how I looked, but that did not include going to the nth degree to accomplish this, as the author did.
In her memoir, Prescod delves into her love of fashion and clothes from an early age which led to working in the fashion media world after college. Here, she spent years conforming to what the white world told her she must be and look like, at geat physical and emotionalj costs.
Her writing keeps the narrative flowing and there are even bits of humor throughout. It's hard to say I enjoyed a book that is full of physical and emotional struggles, but it is enlightening to say the least.
In her afterword, she sums up the effect of racism, "Blackness is so demonized that we end up on an endless quest just trying to prove our humanity." She wants to "...break up toxic beauty standards and encourage ...more influenced by abilities than aesthetics." She then gives a call to arms of sorts with, "Let's account for the harms that have been done to us" and "...share collective responsibility of correcting them."
I think this would be an excellent book for high school ( might be banned in some areas!) students, mainly for the white students. As a 69 year old white woman, I can't begin to imagine how differently I would have viewed the world having read this book at that age.

This isn't your usual memoir.

This is Danielle Prescod sharing her lived experience of being the token black girl growing up in a white world.
What is interesting to note here is that Danielle does an amazing job showing the racist undertones in what we all grew up with labeled as "normal". I enjoyed learning about Prescod's life and found myself devastated reading of her struggles with disordered eating.

This is an absolute must read.

Thank you to both Little A and NetGalley for this ARC.

I really enjoyed this memoir — Prescod deftly blends her real-life experiences and memories with pop culture analysis, and has written a really thought-provoking book. As someone who works in the media industry, I was particularly in those chapters, and enjoyed reading her POV as she became disillusioned by the Devil Wears Prada-like field, and pointed out the racism and fat phobia that still persists in the field. I don’t normally enjoy reading a lot about people’s childhoods in memoirs: I probably picked up a memoir because I’m interested in their career, not because I’m dying to hear about their upbringing, but the chapters about her schooling and family life were really interesting and provided a lot of basis for the arguments Prescod makes about fashion, race, and body image throughout the entire book. Really enjoyed this one and highly recommend giving it a read!

Danielle Prescod is a black fashion industry vet and social media influencer who bubbled up on my Instagram algorithm during the Black Lives Matter protests. I was actively diversifying my feed and gave her a follow and she's become one of my favorite content creators. While I was originally drawn to her thoughts on racism in the fashion industry and beyond, her dating TikToks have been a real highlight. Token Black Girl will give her social media fans more of what they love about Danielle's content, and likely also more of what might make them feel a little uncomfortable.

Danielle's description of growing up as the only black girl in many affluent white spaces is one that the white people like myself who occupy those spaces should read. We need to hear other people's perspectives of the white supremacy at work in spaces we would not call overtly racist. The way Danielle internalized beauty standards that idolized a standard of thin, white, WASPY beauty truly made her miserable for many years of her life. This is relatable to a point as a white woman, but to have the things you hate about yourself on such a deep level be tied to your race and genetic heritage is something we will never experience. While I've done a lot of anti-racist work, there were a few times my own attitudes were illuminated through the lens of race in ways I had not anticipated. This is the type of challenge I have come to really appreciate from Danielle.

The second major theme of this book was body acceptance. Danielle makes it clear she has more work to do here. Like some of her social content, the book does betray some fatphobic rhetoric and attitudes. I know it is hard to let these ideas go, and perhaps as someone older (and actually fat, and starting from a place of white privilege) I have just had more time to learn and grow to accept all body sizes. I was tangentially involved in the fashion industry for a period of my own career, and know that my body was part of the reason I did not go further in that field. Hearing this idea legitimized and confirmed was gratifying and upsetting in equal parts. Turns out there's still a little shame left in me. But, only a little, so I was able to take a deep breath and move on without letting intrusive thoughts take hold. But, if you are still working on unlearning fatphobic thought patterns and actively struggle in your daily life unlearn diet culture, this book may prove more challenging and upsetting. Danielle is careful not to divulge details of her eating disorder that could provide a roadmap for vulnerable readers, but the thoughts and attitudes that could send someone spiraling are still there. Least of all - Danielle is not even plus size. She describes herself as at the top end of most designer fashion ranges, which usually tops out around a US 10-12. This is, of course, the insidious power of body dysmorphia and the way our brains lie to us. But seeing a relatively thin person with a lot of "pretty privilege," financial resources, and luxury fluency discover in real time that designer fashion isn't actually made for everyone and be flummoxed by that fact does make you wonder where she's been all these years. But hey, many of us had blinders on to racial inequities for many years - which is far worse, so we have to respect another person's journey.

This book will be especially dishy and delectable to those readers who are obsessed with fashion and the era of the decline of print media and a few legacy media brands' chokehold on popular culture and fashion media. She names some names, and those she doesn't are easily googleable. I would have liked to have heard more about Prescod's romantic life, but I'm sure she wants to save something for the next book!

I raced through this book and if I had time to read it in one day I would have. We need to hear from more black voices in fashion and expose the racist realities in fashion and media. I can't wait to hear more from Prescod.

White women need to read this book. This book outlines the struggles that Prescod faced growing up as a Black girl and the disparities that were evident between her and white girls (people, in general). I felt as if I was taken to a moment in time: I hurt for her, grieved for this young child to be going through things that amounted in such a great deal of pressure, all for a young girl. Token Black Girl takes you on a journey that is eye opening and will allow you to be more empathetic in understanding the experiences of young Black women and what they have to endure. The writing was stellar as well. The book Token Black Girl releases October 4th, 2022.

ARC obtained from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Token Black Girl is a memoir that focuses on Danielle's experience as a Black woman in predominately white communities. The book starts with her childhood in white suburbia, and follows Prescod as she pursues a career in the fashion industry.

Danielle's experience as a token: a person who serves as a stand in for an entire community, sheds light on how damaging this tactic can be. Prescod felt the responsibility of representing the diverse and dynamic identity of Blackness as a whole, which is an impossible task. She expertly intertwines her own experiences with context from pop culture and history, which creates a fascinating examination of the persistence of antiblackness in society.

As someone who shared similar experiences (such as never really knowing how to do my own hair once I was too old to have my mother do it for me), it was deeply relatable. It was deeply moving to read about Danielle's perseverance in an industry that often imitates trends created by Black women while simultaneously erasing them. Every microaggression she faced felt eerily similar to ones I've experienced in my own life.

I highly recommend this book for Black and nonblack people alike. It serves to underscore what so many marginalized people experience while trying to break into white dominated industries.

This was an eye opening read. Being that I did not experience any of it nor had any experiences like it, it was nice to see the other perspective. This book is important and I hope everyone will give it a chance and read it.