If I Ruled the World - Amy DuBois Barnett

It is 1999 in New York City where 20-something Nikki Rose has spent the last 3 years working her way up the chain at StyleList, a fashion magazine rivaled only by Vogue. As the only Black editor on staff, Nikki’s never had it easy, but the constant microaggressions turn macro when Nikki pitches Tyisha, supermodel and host of “America’s Next Cover Girl”, for the cover of StyleList’s January issue. Her Editor-in-Chief responds simply: “Black girls don’t sell magazines.”

Determined to find a place for young Black women in the magazine world, Nikki hustles her way into a job offer as Editor-in-Chief at Sugar, a floundering hip hop music and lifestyle publication with untapped potential. She’s faced with a difficult decision: say goodbye to her prestigious job (much to the chagrin of her academic parents and investment banker boyfriend) or bet on herself and enter an entirely new world of extreme wealth, decadence, and debauchery. She chooses herself.

Now Nikki must deal with a whole new set of challenges as she fights to save Sugar, including facing off with its vindictive former Editor-in-Chief and winning over her skeptical staff, learning to navigate the urban music industry while staving off its influential bad boys and power players—and perhaps the most difficult, evading the Alonzo Griffin: her very married, very powerful ex-boyfriend, former boss, publishing powerhouse, and well-known womaniser, who is on a mission to take Nikki (and Sugar) down. 

As Nikki struggles to make her way in the media and music industries during one of the most dynamic eras in pop culture history, she needs to game the system to win. But what happens when winning means sacrificing everything you hold dear?