A new four-part book series written by Hachette Books executive editor Krishan Trotman and co-authored by Brenda Jones entitled, “Queens of the Resistance” (Plume-Penguin Random House) will be available online at bit.ly/QOTRseries and at every book retailer June 30th. Trotman began her tenure as a senior editor in 2016 and was promoted as an executive editor in 2019.
Trotman enjoyed working with authors on narrative books that speak to social justice such as Zerlina Maxwell, author of “The End of White Politics”, Stephanie Land, author of the New York Times bestseller, “Maid.” “I also love to publish works that inspire the black community such as “Conversations in Black” by Ed Gordon.” Trotman said.
Her mission to empower women is ‘show through my authors’ such as Mika Brzezinski’s “Know Your Value” series with “Comeback Careers” and “Earn It!”
The book series are pocket-sized volumes and profiles four of America’s most influential and accomplished women in politics; including Elizabeth Warren, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, (AOC) Nancy Pelosi, and Maxine Waters. It’s a tribute to these four women combined with tongue-in-cheek humor and how they united against the divisive male-dominated world of politics and rose to the challenge of females leading the way.
Co-author Brenda Jones had a sixteen-year tenure as communications director for Rep. Lewis. She met Trotman when they collaborated on Lewis’s book, “Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and a Vision for America.” They decided to team up again to work on their own project which is now known as, “Queens of the Resistance.”
I had the opportunity to interview Krishan by email and she graciously gave me some insight into her new book series.
Her inspiration behind writing the book series was a series of events leading up to the 2020 Presidential Election.
“When Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 presidential election, I knew personally that we needed a sea change, and so did the over 100 women who ran for congress in 2018. Hillary embodied a strong candidate. She graduated Yale law at the head of her class. She was the first female partner of two law firms in Arkansas; First Lady of Arkansas; First Lady of the United States, but she didn’t stop there. She became the first female U.S. Senator from New York, a seat that had primed Robert Kennedy to run for president, and one of the first female Secretaries of State. She was the first woman ever to be nominated by a major political party to run for president. She was considered one of the most qualified people ever to run for president, even by her opponents, but she still lost.”
She added, “There are similar stories to be told about Kamala Harris in the 2020 race, who had to drop out of the race due to funding issues, a problem many of the candidates of color were confronted with. Elizabeth Warren had much to offer us but was almost ignored by the media. She had to drop out, leaving two white men Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. And now our primary candidate is Biden. Yet she remains a Democratic go-to person about how the economy can be saved post-COVID to support the middle class because of the work she did with creating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to better regulate the mortgages, student loans, etc. after the subprime housing crisis from 2007-2010. We wanted to tell the stories of change-makers. The road there has not been linear for any of these women in the “Queens of the Resistance” series. You’ll find the many challenges each of them faced, but to quote Maya Angelou, “still I rise.” And that’s the message we’re leaving by sharing the legacies of these four women Maxine Waters, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Elizabeth Warren, and Nancy Pelosi.”
Krishan wanted her book series published before the Democratic National Convention. The content they thought would be fun to create biographies from their perspective. Their goal was to publish books that celebrated women leading the way to make a dynamic statement about what they deem to be the future of American leadership.
“I hope the women will read and love the books as much as we did creating them.”
“We were on a tight schedule. We did it in about six months. Each of these women are public figures. There are volumes of articles and research on each of these icons. One key task was compiling and organizing vast quantities of information in a fairly short space of time. We used that information as a backdrop and dug into an understanding of their struggles, challenges, quirks, personal tastes, and work styles to humanize these women. We also sought out the secrets to their legendary status—the key qualities that made them rise to prominence as a way to inspire others.”
Her target audience is “intergenerational.” She wanted to make her books “fun to read.”
“We were intentional about making the books intergenerational and fun to read. We use colloquial language and added humor to make these stories about politics less stuffy, as they can be for some readers and a fun discussion for women of all ages– whether reading them amongst book clubs, between aunties and nieces, mothers and daughters, and sister-friends. My favorite part of this journey was working with a primarily female team, with some male allies. From the research assistant, editors, publisher, publicity, and marketing teams—we’re all queens and it was a big task to publish four books simultaneously, but we all got our crowns on and did it. I’m also very proud that Brenda and I are black women at the helm of this and so is our illustrator Jonell Joshua.”
So out of all the powerful political ‘Queens’ which one does she admire the most? Trotman says, “That’s a tough call.”
“I honestly connect with each woman in different ways. AOC and I are from da Bronx. I come from a working-class family. When writing about her and her mom’s experience after losing her dad were relatable. I had just lost my mom that year and she was also an inspiration to me as a single mother who did everything it took to get by.”
She talks about her other two ‘she-roes’ Maxine Waters and Nancy Pelosi.
“As a black woman in a corporate environment, I was very inspired by ‘Auntie Maxine’ (Waters) who was also raised by a single mother and it was through her tenacity that she worked her way into politics. Throughout the years, she has been a leader that we can depend on. She never undermined social justice for politics. To her social justice and politics go hand in hand. Her rise in politics was also due to other women uplifting her and I can relate because I wouldn’t be able to accomplish what I have without strong women. In the book, we write about her leadership in the Watts rebellion and then the L.A. rebellion; Auntie Maxine has been through it all with us in the black community and she has remained a consistent and faithful leader. She should be celebrated and taught about in schools. And that’s our intention with these books. I remember when the media used to make fun of Speaker Pelosi. They said that she smiled too much to be a serious leader and called her names. I’ve often been the underdog and not taken seriously but ha, she’s shown all the haters. Now she’s third in charge as a leader of one of the most powerful nations in the world.”
In the wake of the Covid-19 crisis with the elections, Trotman says, “It’s still too early to see how it will all play out.”
“The social distancing rules keep changing. It was moved to August. Trump is pushing for the RNC. It’s all risky but most importantly we have to get our young people charged up and excited about politics. That really helped President Obama’s first win. I just hope we can form a strong union to win because it’s a must right now. I want folks to use the “Queens of the Resistance” series to get voters thinking positive about the outcomes we can create with the right leaders in place.”
Trotman was asked what the ‘high point’ of her career is.
“The good news is any day of the week can be a high point for me because I’ve gotten to have conversations with figures like bell hooks; which was very early in my career. I continue to meet fascinating individuals like Susan Rice or Stacey Abrams when they are in talks with publishers. I meet a lot of different people and get exposed to their wonderful stories. That inspires me.”
Her message for her audience is, “The Queens of the Resistance” series is a celebration of women in politics, but it is much more than that too. These four books in the series will encourage women to be brilliant, to be prepared, to stand on the courage of their own convictions, and rise to the occasion when there’s a call to break barriers of gender, race, or age and to take on leadership. To buy books like #QueensOfTheResistance is your contribution to that statement—saying to media, publishers, politicians, whomever that this is what we believe politics should look like—diverse, female, inclusive, expansive, and more! So please buy the books.”