
Driven to Succeed
An Inspirational Memoir of Lessons Learned Through Faith, Family and Favor
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $16.09
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Dr. Hattie N. Washington
About this listen
In her new inspirational memoir, Dr. Hattie N. Washington reveals how a country girl from the backwoods of Meherrin, Virginia, succeeded through life with optimism, drive, and a belief in God to become an honor student, a master teacher, a parent to two accomplished daughters, and a foster parent to numerous abused foster boys over 22 years.
She writes about family, relationships, and the complexities of growing up during the segregation and desegregation era, when the strike at R.R. Moton High School in Farmville, Virginia, in 1951 led to the historic Brown v. Board of Education 1954 desegregation case.
©2020 Dr. Hattie N. Washington (P)2021 BG RecordsListeners also enjoyed...
-
Your Passport to Parenting
- Wisdom from Around the World to Help Build Happy Families
- By: Joanne Holbrook
- Narrated by: Joanne Holbrook
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Your Passport to Parenting explores parenting ideas from around the world, providing stories and lessons that demonstrate how values-based parenting can help create meaningful bonds between you and your child, while teaching them to be kind, secure, and empathetic.
-
-
Incredible book, incredible lessons
- By Heather on 12-31-21
By: Joanne Holbrook
-
Up Home
- One Girl's Journey
- By: Ruth J. Simmons
- Narrated by: Ruth J. Simmons
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born in 1945, Ruth J. Simmons grew up the twelfth child of sharecroppers. Her first home had no running water, no electricity, no books to read. Yet despite this—or, in her words, because of it—Simmons would become the first Black president of an Ivy League university. The former president of Smith College, Brown University, and Prairie View A&M, Texas’s oldest HBCU, Simmons has inspired generations of students as she herself made history.
-
-
Inspiring memoir
- By S. Fox on 04-13-25
By: Ruth J. Simmons
-
How Far to the Promised Land
- One Black Family's Story of Hope and Survival in the American South
- By: Esau McCaulley
- Narrated by: Esau McCaulley
- Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For much of his life, Esau McCaulley was taught to see himself as an exception: someone who, through hard work, faith, and determination, overcame childhood poverty, anti-Black racism, and an absent father to earn a job as a university professor and a life in the middle class.
-
-
An excellent story of Redemption
- By James Carmichael on 09-23-23
By: Esau McCaulley
-
Confucius Never Said
- By: Helen Raleigh
- Narrated by: Helen Raleigh
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This book is a four-generation family journey from repression and poverty in China to freedom and prosperity in the United States. Their lives overlap with many significant historical events taking....
-
-
Wake up America
- By K and J on 12-14-19
By: Helen Raleigh
-
Sleeping Giants
- Authentic Stories and Insights for Building a Life That Matters
- By: Dr. Nathan Mellor
- Narrated by: Dr. Nathan Mellor
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Your mental model is not rigid. At any point in life, you possess the ability to change your perspective. Have you found that success does not erase insecurity and self-doubt? Do you know what it feels like to long for a different life? Sleeping Giants provides practical insights into how ordinary people can choose to build lives that matter.
-
-
Like blurry eye sight that becomes clear
- By Dallas on 02-25-23
-
Vernon Can Read!
- A Memoir
- By: Vernon Jordan Jr, Annette Gordon-Reed - contributor
- Narrated by: Vernon Jordan Jr
- Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a young college student in Atlanta, Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. had a summer job driving a white banker around town. During the man’s post-luncheon siestas, Jordan passed the time reading books, a fact that astounded his boss. “Vernon can read!” the man exclaimed to his relatives. Nearly 50 years later, Vernon Jordan, now a senior executive at Lazard Freres, long-time civil rights leader, adviser and close friend to presidents and business leaders and one of the most charismatic figures in America, has written an unforgettable book about his life and times.
-
-
American History that’s missing from most American schools
- By Raelyn Harman on 05-31-25
By: Vernon Jordan Jr, and others
-
Your Passport to Parenting
- Wisdom from Around the World to Help Build Happy Families
- By: Joanne Holbrook
- Narrated by: Joanne Holbrook
- Length: 5 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Your Passport to Parenting explores parenting ideas from around the world, providing stories and lessons that demonstrate how values-based parenting can help create meaningful bonds between you and your child, while teaching them to be kind, secure, and empathetic.
-
-
Incredible book, incredible lessons
- By Heather on 12-31-21
By: Joanne Holbrook
-
Up Home
- One Girl's Journey
- By: Ruth J. Simmons
- Narrated by: Ruth J. Simmons
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born in 1945, Ruth J. Simmons grew up the twelfth child of sharecroppers. Her first home had no running water, no electricity, no books to read. Yet despite this—or, in her words, because of it—Simmons would become the first Black president of an Ivy League university. The former president of Smith College, Brown University, and Prairie View A&M, Texas’s oldest HBCU, Simmons has inspired generations of students as she herself made history.
-
-
Inspiring memoir
- By S. Fox on 04-13-25
By: Ruth J. Simmons
-
How Far to the Promised Land
- One Black Family's Story of Hope and Survival in the American South
- By: Esau McCaulley
- Narrated by: Esau McCaulley
- Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For much of his life, Esau McCaulley was taught to see himself as an exception: someone who, through hard work, faith, and determination, overcame childhood poverty, anti-Black racism, and an absent father to earn a job as a university professor and a life in the middle class.
-
-
An excellent story of Redemption
- By James Carmichael on 09-23-23
By: Esau McCaulley
-
Confucius Never Said
- By: Helen Raleigh
- Narrated by: Helen Raleigh
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This book is a four-generation family journey from repression and poverty in China to freedom and prosperity in the United States. Their lives overlap with many significant historical events taking....
-
-
Wake up America
- By K and J on 12-14-19
By: Helen Raleigh
-
Sleeping Giants
- Authentic Stories and Insights for Building a Life That Matters
- By: Dr. Nathan Mellor
- Narrated by: Dr. Nathan Mellor
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Your mental model is not rigid. At any point in life, you possess the ability to change your perspective. Have you found that success does not erase insecurity and self-doubt? Do you know what it feels like to long for a different life? Sleeping Giants provides practical insights into how ordinary people can choose to build lives that matter.
-
-
Like blurry eye sight that becomes clear
- By Dallas on 02-25-23
-
Vernon Can Read!
- A Memoir
- By: Vernon Jordan Jr, Annette Gordon-Reed - contributor
- Narrated by: Vernon Jordan Jr
- Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a young college student in Atlanta, Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. had a summer job driving a white banker around town. During the man’s post-luncheon siestas, Jordan passed the time reading books, a fact that astounded his boss. “Vernon can read!” the man exclaimed to his relatives. Nearly 50 years later, Vernon Jordan, now a senior executive at Lazard Freres, long-time civil rights leader, adviser and close friend to presidents and business leaders and one of the most charismatic figures in America, has written an unforgettable book about his life and times.
-
-
American History that’s missing from most American schools
- By Raelyn Harman on 05-31-25
By: Vernon Jordan Jr, and others
-
Truth Be Told
- My Journey Through Life and the Law
- By: Beverley McLachlin
- Narrated by: Beverley McLachlin
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With warmth, honesty, and deep wisdom, McLachlin invites us into her legal and personal life - into the hopes and doubts, the triumphs and losses on and off the bench. Through it all, her constant faith in justice remained her true north. In an age of division and uncertainty, McLachlin’s memoir is a reminder that justice and the rule of law remain our best hope for a progressive and bright future.
-
-
Impressive
- By Jean on 12-02-19
-
Affirming
- A Memoir of Faith, Sexuality, and Staying in the Church
- By: Sally Gary
- Narrated by: Sally Gary
- Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What is it like to discover that something you’ve believed all your life might be wrong? Sally Gary knew since her early adulthood that she was attracted to women. But as a devoted Christian, she felt there was no way to fully embrace this aspect of her identity while remaining faithful. Now, as she prepares to marry the love of her life, she’s ready to speak out about why - and how - her perspective changed.
-
-
Incredible Story
- By Larry on 03-22-21
By: Sally Gary
-
We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders
- A Memoir of Love and Resistance
- By: Linda Sarsour
- Narrated by: Linda Sarsour
- Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a chilly spring morning in Brooklyn, 19-year-old Linda Sarsour stared at her reflection, dressed in a hijab for the first time. She saw in the mirror the woman she was growing to be - a young Muslim American woman unapologetic in her faith and her activism, who would discover her innate sense of justice in the aftermath of 9/11. Now heralded for her award-winning leadership of the Women’s March on Washington, Sarsour offers a “moving memoir [that] is a testament to the power of love in action” (Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow).
-
-
Eyes opening!
- By Mmo on 06-20-20
By: Linda Sarsour
-
Where the Light Fell
- A Memoir
- By: Philip Yancey
- Narrated by: Philip Yancey
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Where the Light Fell is a gripping family narrative set against a turbulent time in post-World War II America, shaped by the collision of Southern fundamentalism with the mounting pressures of the civil rights movement and '60s-era forces of social change. In piecing together his fragmented personal history and his search for redemption, Yancey gives testament to the enduring power of our hunger for truth and the possibility of faith rooted in grace instead of fear.
-
-
The full sweep
- By Amazon Customer on 10-12-21
By: Philip Yancey
-
Growing Up X
- A Memoir by the Daughter of Malcolm X
- By: Ilyasah Shabazz
- Narrated by: Ilyasah Shabazz
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
February 21, 1965: Malcolm X is assassinated in Harlem’s Audubon Ballroom. June 23, 1997: After surviving for a remarkable 22 days, his widow, Betty Shabazz, dies of burns suffered in a fire. In the years between, their six daughters reach adulthood, forged by the memory of their parents’ love, the meaning of their cause, and the power of their faith. Now, at long last, one of them has recorded that tumultuous journey in an unforgettable memoir: Growing Up X.
-
-
A great book and insight into the legacy of Malcom
- By MJohns on 10-05-20
By: Ilyasah Shabazz
-
American Like Me
- By: America Ferrera
- Narrated by: America Ferrera, Bambadjan Bamba, Joy Cho, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America Ferrera has always felt wholly American, and yet, her identity is inextricably linked to her parents’ homeland and Honduran culture. Speaking Spanish at home, having Saturday morning salsa-dance parties in the kitchen, and eating tamales alongside apple pie at Christmas never seemed at odds with her American identity. Still, she yearned to see that identity reflected in the larger American narrative. Now, in American Like Me, America invites 31 of her friends, peers, and heroes to share their stories about life between cultures.
-
-
Not all chapters were narrated by the corresponding author
- By Katy F. on 03-09-19
By: America Ferrera
-
Where the Light Enters
- Building a Family, Discovering Myself
- By: Jill Biden
- Narrated by: Jill Biden
- Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"How did you get this number?" Those were the first words Jill Biden spoke to US senator Joe Biden when he called her out of the blue to ask her on a date. Growing up, Jill had wanted two things: a marriage like her parents' - strong, loving, and full of laughter - and a career. An early heartbreak had left her uncertain about love until she met Joe. But as they grew closer, Jill faced difficult questions: How would politics shape her family and professional life? And was she ready to become a mother to Joe's two young sons?
-
-
Wonderfully Jill
- By AmazonUserInNYC on 05-07-19
By: Jill Biden
-
Fifth Chinese Daughter
- By: Jade Snow Wong
- Narrated by: Andi Arndt
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
These memoirs of the author's first twenty-four years are thoughtful, informative, and highly entertaining. They not only portray a young woman and her unique family in San Francisco's Chinatown, but they are rich in the details that light up a world within the world of America. The third-person singular style is rooted in Chinese literary form, reflecting cultural disregard for the individual, yet Jade Snow Wong's story also is typically American.
-
-
Just as wonderful as I remembered
- By Anonymous C. on 09-30-22
By: Jade Snow Wong
-
Madison Park
- A Place of Hope
- By: Eric L. Motley, Walter Isaacson - foreword
- Narrated by: Brandon Maloney
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Welcome to Madison Park, a small community in Alabama founded by freed slaves in 1880. And meet Eric Motley, a native son who came of age in this remarkable place where constant lessons in self-determination, hope, and unceasing belief in the American dream taught him everything he needed for his journey to the Oval Office as a Special Assistant to President George W. Bush. This charming, engaging, and deeply inspiring memoir will help you remember that we can create a world of shared values based on love and hope.
-
-
The family historian we all long for
- By Brannon winter on 03-11-24
By: Eric L. Motley, and others
-
Pearls of Wisdom
- Little Pieces of Advice (That Go a Long Way)
- By: Barbara Bush
- Narrated by: Susan Larkin, Brian Troxell, Allan Robertson, and others
- Length: 5 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
First Lady Barbara Bush was famous for handing out advice. From friends and family to heads of state and Supreme Court justices, and certainly to her staff, her advice ranged from what to wear, what to say or not say, and how to live your life. She especially loved visiting with students of all ages, from kindergartners to college graduates. Full of Barbara Bush's trademark wit and thoughtfulness, Pearls of Wisdom is a poignant reflection on life, love, family, and the world by one of America's most iconic - and beloved - public figures.
-
-
Don't bother
- By kyteacher on 06-12-20
By: Barbara Bush
-
Overnight Code
- The Life of Raye Montague, the Woman Who Revolutionized Naval Engineering
- By: Paige Bowers, David R. Montague
- Narrated by: Robin Eller, Kevin Kenerly
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Equal parts coming-of-age tale, civil rights history, and reflection on the power of education, Overnight Code is the inspiring story of a Raye Montague, a groundbreaking African American female engineer who created the first computer-designed ship for the US Navy.
-
-
This was an awesome read.
- By Joi on 03-23-23
By: Paige Bowers, and others
-
Pregnant Girl
- A Story of Teen Motherhood, College, and Creating a Better Future for Young Families
- By: Nicole Lynn Lewis
- Narrated by: Nicky Sunshine
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An activist calls for better support of young families so they can thrive and reflects on her experiences as a Black mother and college student fighting for opportunities for herself and her child. Pregnant Girl presents the possibility of a different future for young mothers - one of success and stability - in the midst of the dismal statistics that dominate the national conversation.
-
-
Political
- By Amazon Customer on 01-16-23