If I Ruled the World, which has been compared toThe Devil Wears Prada and Empire, takes readers on a wild and immersive journey through cut-throat NYC in the late 90s – based on DuBois Barnett’s real-life experiences working as a Black editor at major American magazines.
To set the scene, the central character is Nikki Rose – the only Black editor in her team at a prestigious fashion magazine that she believed would help her rise to the top of the industry as an editor-in-chief. But after repeatedly hearing her boss say that “Black girls don’t sell magazines”, she decides to leave and take charge of Sugar, a struggling hip-hop and lifestyle publication that she believes has far more potential than anyone else can see. With six months to save Sugar and a string of other challenges – including dealing with her her married, powerful ex-lover and former boss – Nikki has quite the journey ahead of her.
The book is a messy, honest love letter to the trailblazing Black women and men who shaped the pop culture, fashion, and hip-hop landscape we know and love today, and as Sunny and Allie delve into DuBois Barnett’s debut novel, they discuss everything from representation, the politics of power, and the book’s upcoming Hulu adaptation.
As a mixed-race Black woman working in Australian media, Sunny says several themes particularly resonated with her. Representation of women, and especially BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People Of Colour) women is important, but it’s not just about having diversity at the table. What responsibility comes with having a seat? When do you speak up to evoke further change? When do you need to pick your battles so to speak, because the stakes are arguably higher for you and you don’t want to rock the boat?
“I definitely related to some of the conversations about, like, when do you compromise?… because it is hard when you are the only one, and you’re doing the best with the access you’re afforded,” Sunny reflects.
“You’re mindful of… I’ve got to sit at the table, but the whole idea here is that I’ve got to hold the door open for people behind me. How do you do that while keeping your seat?”
Both Sunny and Allie discuss how important it is that DuBois Barnett depicts the characters as multidimensional people.
“The characters of colour should be allowed to explore the full spectrum of humanity – good and bad – without it being a statement on the entire community, in the same way that communities who aren’t of colour have been able to do since millennia.”
“That actually just reminds me of, like, so different, but the Emily Henry line,” Allie adds, referring to the Book Lovers line: “Not every decision a woman makes is some grand indictment on other women’s lives”.
“There’s also a lot of commentary about that in Beach Read, right?” Sunny responds. “About how immediately, because a story is penned from a woman’s perspective, featuring a woman written by a woman, it’s like ‘women’s literature’ instead of just being ‘literature’, because the only people that have authority over mainstream canon are white men.
Of course, Sunny and Allie break down lots more around whose stories get to be told in what genres, and the concept of “women’s stories” and “Black books”, when they discuss this brilliant read. So, make sure you check out the full episode of Booksmart here.