Token Black Girl

A Memoir

By: Danielle Prescod

Narrated by: Danielle Prescod

Racial identity, pop culture, and delusions of perfection collide in an eye-opening and refreshingly frank memoir by fashion and beauty insider Danielle Prescod.

Danielle Prescod grew up Black in an elite and overwhelmingly white community, her identity made more invisible by the whitewashed movies, television, magazines, and books she and her classmates voraciously consumed. Danielle took her cue from the world around her and aspired to shrink her identity into that box, setting increasingly poisonous goals. She started painful and damaging chemical hair treatments in elementary school, began depriving herself of food when puberty hit, and tried to control her image through the most unimpeachable, impeccable fashion choices.

Those obsessions led her to relentlessly pursue a career in beauty and fashion—the eye of the racist and sexist beauty standard storm. Assimilating was hard, but she was practiced. And she was an asset. Their “Token Black Girl.” Toxic, sure. But Danielle was striving to achieve social cache and working her way up the ladder of coveted media jobs, and she looked great, right? So what if she had to endure executives’ questions like “What was it like to drive to school from the ghetto?” Or coworkers’ eager curiosity to know if her parents were on welfare. But after decades of burying her emotions, resentment, and true self, Danielle turned a critical eye inward and confronted the factors that motivated her self-destructive behaviors.

Sharp witted and bracingly candid, Token Black Girl unpacks the adverse effects of insidious white supremacy in the media—both unconscious and strategic—to tell a personal story about recovery from damaging concepts of perfection, celebrating identity, and demolishing social conditioning.

©2022 Danielle Prescod (P)2022 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Former BET.com style director Prescod narrates her scathingly honest life story and social analysis about living and working in predominantly white spaces.… As a narrator, Prescod speaks with a matter-of-fact tone, changing inflections only when mimicking the various microaggressions and racist remarks that she was subjected to.… More than half of the audio covers Prescod's eating disorder; these passages are relayed frankly and without pretense. A unique expose of fashion media that is recommended for fans of Kenya Hunt's Girl Gurl Grrrl or Tressie McMillan Cottom's Thick.”—Library Journal

“A trenchant, honest, and unique memoir about body image, fashion, and Blackness.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Former BET style director Prescod lays bare the toxic scaffolding of the fashion and beauty industries in her piercing debut…As she reckons with [these] small- and large-scale oppressions, Prescod maintains a striking self-awareness and even hope that these problems have solutions. The result is sure to galvanize those who are looking to make change from within fraught spaces.”—Publishers Weekly

Best book I’ve read all year

Thank you Danielle for writing such a beautiful, honest and moving book. I laughed, I definitely cried, and I felt so seen as a girl who grew up in Hawaii with 1% black people. This book was healing.

I Wanted To Like It

When I first saw this book recommended I thought that the title was bold and that I wanted to learn of a different perspective than my own. I had hopes that maybe I’d relate to some of the experiences being a Latina, as often times our black and brown brothers/sisters have shared the same oppressor. In the beginning I thought accountability was lacking and that some moments were heavily glossed over to which I experienced mental whiplash. Overall, not sure what it was that didn’t quite hit the mark for me. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it for being “good” but I recommend that people give it a shot and form their own opinions without heavily relying on reviews. Also, sometimes things aren’t always good or bad, they just are. Her experiences were her own and sometimes it is what it is, if you take anything of value from her experiences then that’s a bonus.

Listened via Audible
Read via Kindle Unlimited

Danielle Prescod's view on racism...

Danielle Prescod's view on racism. She grew up well, basically with a silver spoon in her mouth. Therefore, with mostly white people around her. So she is well spoken and is viewed as entitled I would say. But, its hard to take some of her views seriously. Not saying her feelings aren't valid. But she did compare racism to sexual assault.

Wow - a must-read

I wish I didn’t identify with so much of Danielle’s story. I also wish every single non-black or brown person in the country would read this.

It’s thoughtfully written and lays bare the things that black women deal with daily. I know black men have it tough, too, but we’re focusing on us right now.

I, too, have been the “only” in countless situations. I’ve left jobs because I was treated as though I didn’t matter and people seemed surprised that I would actually value myself more than a job that was a guaranteed paycheck with guaranteed annual raises. I even surprised myself.

Well done, Danielle. I’m proud of you for finally choosing you - and a better version of you, at that.

Honest and Real

This book makes you think if you were ever that Token Black Girl did you experience the constant micro aggressions the author spoke about. I was the Token Black Girl, but in the south. That adds a whole other layer of anxiety and self-doubt. But like the author, I found my confidence as I grew older and wiser, and had my eyes opened to what it is to be black, female, dark skinned in America/world. I love this book! Thank you Danielle for sharing your experience. I feel seen.

Important issues addressed

This book addresses an extremely important topic as tokenism is a huge problem. The author raised very important and compelling points and poignantly discussed many of her experiences and did so very honestly and openly. Memoirs can be hard to rate, and so sometimes I don’t. I hesitated to do so here. In the end, I did rate it. I’ve read a lot in this genre, and while there were elements I thought were insightful, it is not my favorite in the genre. I think other reviewers (particularly Black reviewers here on Goodreads) have done a good job unpacking why that may be the case. For those who love fashion and media, this one may resonate with them though. And it did discuss some important elements.

Important and Essential

Every young black girl growing up in predominantly white spaces should read this. The second half of the book was also really eye-opening and validating.

it is a memoir and a lesson

you bring up so many instances and scenarios that I never thought of and it was a very interesting perspective. thank you

Not sure if the challenge was..

Being the token black girl or being a soul that was not grounded in a value system that could withstand being underrepresented or different. I wonder if the lived experience would’ve been any different if Danielle had grown up in predominately black spaces. I still envision her being mean, resentful and letting comparison be the thief of her joy. I think that the emptiness and absence of empathy and substance would’ve still existed. I hope that this next chapter brings Danielle some peace, contentment and faith in something beyond wordly things.

A wonderful critical analysis of the impact a world can have

My favorite feature of this book is how the author unpacks the levels and layers of racism and the historical biases that persist in todays systems. Calling out specific examples in the hyper critical and very visual fashion industry gave me more tangible ripples to follow and understand how sometimes implicit exemption or tokenism impacts the audience. I appreciate the analysis and deep dive on racism and the authors experience. Highly recommend this read for individuals who like to peel back the layers of any topic to get to the motivation and meaning.