WATCH: 90 Seconds With Tamika D Mallory

Tamika D Mallory is an Entrepreneur, Social Justice Leader,  Movement Strategist, Author &amp; Harlem Girl.

Transcript

00:00The title, I live to tell the story, I did.

00:03I lived, I'm still here.

00:05It's been a rough road.

00:07I've been through some things.

00:08If you know anything about my story,

00:10there's some painful moments,

00:12but I'm still standing

00:13and I don't look like what I've been through.

00:15So resilience is a key part of the book.

00:19And I live to tell the story is a real title

00:21that applies to my real life.

00:23Hey Essence, this is 90 seconds with Tamika D. Mallory.

00:27The hardest truth that I've had to accept about activism

00:31is that not all black folks are going to be on the same page.

00:35It makes it kind of hard when you're hoping

00:37that everyone will move on one accord

00:40and you find out that there'll be many different opinions.

00:44And sometimes those opinions are so conflicting

00:48that it makes it hard for us to move the ball forward.

00:52I think the hardest thing about being a black woman

00:54in leadership is that the tears of other women,

00:57particularly white women, can really get you hurt.

01:02You can be harmed severely.

01:04And I certainly have experienced what it's like

01:07for a white woman to say that I offended her

01:10and the whole world believes her over me.

01:13When readers walk away from my book,

01:15I want them to have at least one lesson

01:18and that would be resilience is real.

01:20Like we can bounce back from anything,

01:25but if you give up, you'll never know

01:26whether you were able to,

01:27whether you were strong enough to get through.

01:29More than likely, you're strong enough to get through.

01:33So just keep going.