The DEI Work You Won’t Find on Social Media

The Write Spxt is a weekly newsletter from a book marketer with a decade of experience at two Big Five publishers. It’s for writers seeking publishing tools, readers looking for great recs, and humans who love to journal, observe, and reflect.Today, Amanda Armstrong-Frank serves as the Senior Director of Workplace Culture & Diversity Initiatives at Simon & Schuster. But over the course of her 30-year career in book publishing, she has filled many roles, transforming many lives. More than ten years ago, I found Amanda on LinkedIn. I was living in South Florida, trying to figure out how to work with books. My approach back then was simple: find familiar faces in publishing and ask if they’d be open to me asking them a few questions. It didn’t work. No one knew who I was and time is precious. So, I packed my bags and moved to the publishing capital of the world: New York. I told my husband, “I need to put a face to my name!” A year of hustling later, when I finally walked through the doors of a Big Five publisher, it was Amanda’s office I went looking for.In this conversation, Amanda speaks the kind of truth that changes lives, including my own. It’s the work done behind the scenes: patiently and intentionally.In this chat, we dive into…* what real DEI work looks like behind the scenes* how to build a purpose-driven career that lasts* why staying can be as powerful as speaking upMedia mentioned while chatting with Amanda * “Worse than Slavery” by David M. Oshinsky READ * The Coldest Winter by Sister Souljah READ * 50 Cent Publisher Page BROWSE* Spike Lee Publisher Page BROWSEThanks for reading The Write Spxt! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Ways You Can Support My Work* Visit my Stan Store and buy one of the workbooks or other resources I have available.* Subscribe to my newsletter.* Share this newsletter with someone you think would enjoy reading it.* Send an email to [email protected] if you believe your work is aligned with The Write Spxt for a feature.You can find me here, too:Instagram | Facebook Get full access to The Write Spxt at thewritespxt.substack.com/subscribe