Badass Ladies You Should Know

This week’s profile, NYT bestselling author Sabaa Tahir, shares her picks for more badass ladies YOU should know:

“Michelle Obama, Malala Yousafzai, Florence Welch, Mary Doria Russell, and Alison Croggon…

and some badass writers you need to know: Holly Goldberg Sloan, Renee Ahdieh, Laini Taylor, I.W. Gregorio, Kelly Loy Gilbert, Margaret Stohl, Sana Amanat (Editor of Ms. Marvel), Tahereh Mafi, Stacey Lee, Marie Lu, and Ellen Oh.”

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Sabaa Tahir grew up in California’s Mojave Desert at her family’s eighteen-room motel. There, she spent her time devouring fantasy novels, raiding her brother’s comic book stash, and playing guitar badly. She began writing An Ember in the Ashes while working nights as a newspaper editor. She likes thunderous indie rock, garish socks, and all things nerd. Sabaa currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family.

Learn more about Sabaa at her website, www.SabaaTahir.com, on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and Pinterest, or in her Badass Ladies You Should Know profile!

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“Badass Ladies You Should Know” is brought to you by Kate Hart (kdhart), author of AFTER THE FALL, coming 2016 from Farrar, Straus & Giroux. If you add her book on Goodreads, she will love you forever.

elloellenoh:

Well, how cool is this?!! I feel honored.

(Source: harrypotterhousequotes)

This week’s profile, Kaye M., shares her picks for more Badass Ladies YOU Should Know!

Kaye: It’s so hard to list ladies once it comes down to it, because I’m always scared I’ll forget someone – and my cup runneth over, literally, in having so many awesome people to look up to and be inspired by and gush over awesome things with. But let me try.

(And if you’re looking for a short-hand answer – look at my Twitter interactions! My followers and the people I follow! There is a wealth of good people there!)

I admire Debbie Reese ( debbiereese​ ) so very much for her candidness, her determination to urge good, respectful representation, and how she stands up for what she believes in. She’s definitely inspired me as a diversity advocate. Her enthusiasm and her passion are contagious. 

If you haven’t met Shveta Thakrar, you really should. She has a heart of gold, a poet’s gift for language and she writes reaffirming, magical stories that makes me want to hug them to my heart and pass them out to all the Desi girls I know. She also gives excellent, excellent advice. On everything. Everyone needs a Shveta in their life

(Can I talk about the ladies at yahighway​, too? They are everything. In a lot of ways, they are the reason why I started understanding why what I wrote was considered YA, opened a lot of the doors of communication that led to me making friends in the writing community, and are just…very epic ladies to look up to, all around.)

I adore Aisha Saeed ( aishacs​ ). She is my baji, my inspiration and just…the type of Muslim writer I want to be: the one who embraces her voice wholeheartedly and instills her faith into her art and is likeable and warm and simply indomitable. (And, while we’re talking about Aisha, I already mentioned Ellen Oh ( elloellenoh​ ) earlier but the ladies of weneeddiversebooks​ are all incredible, incredible people.) [ed’s notes: check out our previous profiles of Ellen and Aisha!]

And, talking about Muslim women I admire specifically – Sabaa Tahir ( sabaatahir​ ) (another beloved baji). My dear, dear Laila Alawa – I can’t believe people waste time talking about me when they could be dwelling on every single thing Laila does within the span of a day. Ayesha Mattu. Aaminah “Jay” Khan. Jennifer Zobair. Sabina Khan-Ibarra. Zareen Jaffery (I could probably write a sonnet, if my arm was twisted, on the amazing person that is Zareen). Saba Sulaiman. ALL THE AWESOME MUSLIM LADIES. 

I think it’s pretty well-known by now that I respect Nova Ren Suma so very much. Kelsey Macke and Robyn Schneider are the big sister figures I turn to for makeup and life advice. Dahlia Adler is that YA person who knows everything about everyone and is just so absolutely sweet – and trust me, when she says you need to try a macaron? You need to try a macaron.

Mikki Kendall’s taught me a lot in the last year about putting my foot down and doing what I need to for myself. I will always, always appreciate and respect her for what she does and how eloquently she does it. And I cannot forget Sydette (@Blackamazon), or any of the other ladies on Twitter who start campaigns and raise awareness and shake up our world on a daily basis.

I’d also be remiss to give a shout-out to Nicole Brinkley, the blond-haired, dragon loving editor behind yainterrobang​. The world needs more Nicoles.

(I am sure I am missing a lot of awesome people, because I know so many awesome women on here. Once again, if you look at my Twitter interactions…)

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Kaye M. is a Muslim magical girl (in training), YA writer, English major and online diversity advocate. She is best known as the creator of the 2014 viral feminist hashtag, #YesAllWomen, #NotYourStockMuslim and as a former member of the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign team.

Learn more about Kaye in her Badass Ladies profile, and stay tuned for part two, coming tomorrow!

Six Badass Ladies You Should Know

Don’t miss any of their inspiring interviews!

Ellen Oh: Author, attorney, activist
Interview  /  Bonus materials

Léonicka Valcius: Book buyer, activist
Interview  /  Bonus materials

Pallavi Yetur: Therapist, film buff, singer
Interview  /  Bonus materials

Maya Rock: Author, freelance editor, journalist
Interview  /  Bonus materials

Sarah Enni: Writer, journalist, podcaster
Interview  /  Bonus materials

Jessica Metcalfe: Boutique owner, academic, professor, poet
Interview  /  Bonus materials

If you have suggestions for Badass Ladies to profile, please use the ask box – or submit links!

SHORT ANSWERS: Bonus “Badass Ladies” Material!

Learn even more about this week’s Badass Lady You Should Know! And if you missed Ellen Oh’s long form interview, be sure to check it out for advice on kicking failure to the curb and supporting other ladies. 

Kate: What would your superhero costume look like? 

Ellen: No capes. All black, like a ninja. In fact, I would most definitely be a ninja. But with superpowers like invisibility, super strength, super vision, super hearing, super accurate throwing and shooting, and the super ability to eat anything I want without gaining any weight or having any health consquences at all. 

Kate: What’s the best compliment you’ve ever gotten? 

Ellen: Someone once told me I intimidated the crap out of them. This made me very happy.

Kate: Who are some badass ladies we need to know & why?

Ellen: My Mom. She is without a doubt the toughest woman I know. And my absolute inspiration. She is the most remarkable person I know. Tough as nails, super smart, and more energy than the energizer bunny rabbit. She taught me that you can make some thing good for yourself no matter how hard your circumstances are. She taught me to never give up and to chase down your dreams and then work your ass off to keep them. There’s no one else in the world like my Mom. She’s the reason that I am who I am today.

Kate: Give us 3 random facts about you.

Ellen: I belch like a linebacker. I would put Shrek to shame.

I love donuts. Krispy Kremes are my Achilles heel. I would forgive just about anything if you brought me a hot box of Krispy Kreme donuts. 

I sometimes read the end of a book before I finish it. (Usually bc I can’t take the tension and I need to know who survives.)

Kate: What are 3 things you’d like to learn?

Ellen: I would love to learn to be a gourmet chef one day. No, this is a lie. I would love for someone to cook gourmet food for me every day.

I would love to learn how to knit a sweater. No, this is a lie. I want someone to knit me a sweater. Or a hat.

I would love to learn how to swim. No, not really, I’m afraid of the water. But I’m also afraid of drowning so I really do need to learn how to swim one day soon.

I would love to learn to break cement blocks with my bare hands. Yes, truly. This one for sure.

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Ellen Oh is a Korean American writer who grew up in New York City. A mother of three daughters, she graduated from NYU and Georgetown Law Center, practiced corporate and entertainment law, and taught college courses before authoring the Dragon King Chronicles. She also contributed to the Diverse Energies anthology, and founded the We Need Diverse Books campaign, which recently incorporated as a nonprofit organization.

You can learn more about Ellen at her website, or follow her all over the internet:

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“Badass Ladies You Should Know” is brought to you by Kate Hart, author of AFTER THE FALL, coming 2016 from Farrar, Straus & Giroux. If you add her book on Goodreads, she will love you forever.