I did not know of Dr. Hallmon before reading this book, but I’m so glad I’ve heard of her now! “No One Is Self-Made” is a great book to gift an entrepreneur or college kid in your life. It showcases the power of networking and community and how important they are to success. In America, we are sold this idea that success is an individualistic Hunger Games process, and that, to succeed, someone else must fail. The reality couldn’t be further from the truth, and I’m glad this book emphasized community so much. We are in a new world where we can recreate the rules of success and the roadmap to get there, and this book can be a guiding hand in that.

Dr. Hallmon’s memoir-style storytelling leads us through the ups and downs of building a business, systemic barriers to achieving success, finding purpose, and more. While everyone reading this may not face the exact struggles, aspire to be an entrepreneur, or be from the same background as her, there are still plenty of takeaways that make this a must-read.

Thank you to #NetGalley for a review copy of #NoOneIsSelfMade. All feedback is my unbiased opinion, not paid, and simply for the love of books.

At its core, this book is a very encouraging and helpful book for entrepreneurs, particularly Black entrepreneurs. It’s also quite a lot of memoir about Hallmon’s journey from teacher to running a huge nonprofit that supports Black businesses in her community and around the country. I found a lot of helpful advice that I plan to use in running a free community arts center that our family runs and also a lot of good advice for myself personally. It’s a great resource.

I read a digital ARC of this book via netgalley.

This is a very thoughtful and important text for the 21st century. Having built a modern civilization, we have forgotten how we got here and how to maintain it. This book, while authoritatively striking down the self-made myth of the modern American ethos, also solidifies the steps needed to establish communities of support (especially in marginalized communities). I would highly recommend No One is Self-Made to all audiences.