When Kristi Hemmer was eight, she was the Connect Four champ; nobody wanted to play with her. When she was twelve, she was on the Future Problem Solvers of America championship team; people told her that if she was too smart, boys wouldn't like her. When she was eighteen, her professor told her she was too smart to be a teacher. When she was thirty-three and principal of an all-girls school, a city council member told her she was too young. The underlying message is one that every female of every age is told again and again: You're too much. Quit being you. You don't belong. Wait your turn. Be quiet. Quit being so good.
Quit Being So Good is a collection of fifteen stories from the frontlines of being female. It is a call to action for women to unapologetically be their most powerful selves for the sake of building a safer, more equitable world. The key to being unapologetic (maybe even dismantling the patriarchy itself) is in these three simple steps: 1). take up space, 2). be first, and 3). look for the helpers.
Reading this book will inspire women to be self-assured, to be their "possible," and to take up the space they need to be more of themselves—not less. And in the process, women will indeed change the world. As Malala says, "You will never know who stands with you if you don't stand up first."
It's time for women to stand up. To take up space. To put more women in power. To create a safer and more equal world for women and girls. And to MOXIE on. Join Kristi at kristihemmer.com
Why do women and girls shrink in a classroom, boardroom, and conversation? This question made Educator Kristi Hemmer so mad that she quit her six-figure job in Tokyo to answer the question and solve the problem. For four years, she traveled the world on twenty dollars a day learning about social entrepreneurship. In the process, she founded Academy for Women's Empowerment (AWE). AWE has inspired thousands of changemakers around the world to disrupt the systems of power and create a safer and more equitable world for women and girls. Kristi has a master's degree in education. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and everywhere else in the world, for that matter.
"If it's moxie you're looking for, Kristi Hemmer's new book has plenty of it! With humor, candor, and a distinctive approach, Hemmer provides suggestions for how you can get your needs met directly and unapologetically. Not for the faint of heart, but rather for women ready to break out of their self-imposed constraints with abandon and gusto." - Lois P. Frankel, Ph.D., Author of Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office
"In Quit Being So Good, Kristi Hemmer mixes stories from her childhood, and from her grown-up travels and work all over the world, to show girls and women they can find the deepest fulfillment from growing to become more of themselves, not shrinking to be less of who they are. She continually illustrates that thriving in life is a goal that can take as many forms for women and girls as it can for men and boys, even when it means that girls and women defy expectations of how they should act or exist in this world. This book is like a series of long talks with your best girlfriend, aunt, or mentor. It leaves you inspired, resolved, and ready to use your power for good in your own life, and in the lives of others." - Emily Yellin, Journalist and Author of Our Mothers' War
"Hemmer's personal anecdotes and expansive life view provide a courageous and unapologetic roadmap for women and girls everywhere." - Romy Newman, President and Co-Founder of Fairygodboss
"In Quit Being So Good, Kristi reminds readers that much of what holds women back is in our heads. Combining her own experiences with a three-step process, she encourages readers to dig deep, question everything, and use our power to topple structural inequities in our professional and personal lives." - Renee M. Powers, Founder and CEO of Feminist Book
