Token Black Girl: A Memoir

Former BET.com style director Prescod narrates her scathingly honest life story and social analysis about living and working in predominantly white spaces. Born within an affluent family in Westchester, NY, Prescod was the only Black student in her private school. She was oblivious about race until age 10 when a classmate said she didn’t like her because of it. From there, she spent the next 20 years minimizing aspects of her culture. Body-image issues gave way to struggles with an eating disorder, which became more pronounced as she worked her way up from intern to editor within the fashion industry. 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. While some listeners may be disappointed that she doesn’t touch on the multiplicity of Black women’s experiences, they will likely appreciate her authoritative presentation of statistics and scenarios about the toxicity of the fashion industry. More than half of the audio covers Prescod’s eating disorder; these passages are relayed frankly and without pretense.