
Walk Through Fire
A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Triumph
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Narrated by:
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Sheila Johnson
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By:
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Sheila Johnson
About this listen
The cofounder of BET and first African American woman billionaire shares her deeply personal, “highly readable” (Kirkus Reviews) journey through love and loss, tragedy and triumph—an inspiring story of overcoming toxic influences, discovering her true self, and at last finding happiness in her work and life.
From humble beginnings as a schoolgirl and a young violinist in Maywood, Illinois, Sheila Johnson rose to become one of the most accomplished businesswomen in America. A cofounder of Black Entertainment Television, she became an entrepreneur and philanthropist at the highest levels.
But that success came at a painful personal cost.
Sheila grew up in a middle-class family that encouraged her love of the arts and music. But her idyllic childhood ended at age sixteen when her beloved father announced that he was leaving for another woman, an act that shattered her mother and destroyed Sheila’s trust. She vowed she’d never be in her mother’s position—dependent on a man for her sense of self-worth and for financial security. Yet when she was barely out of her teens, Sheila married a man who would take her right down that same unfortunate path.
Filled with sharply drawn, emotionally powerful senses, Walk Through Fire traces the hardships Sheila faced in her marriage and her professional life. Despite her skills as a violinist and music teacher, as well as her obvious entrepreneurial talent, she had to fight to overcome self-doubt and fears of failure. Sheila vividly details her struggles, including battling institutional racism, losing a child, suffering emotional abuse in her thirty-three-year marriage, and plunging into a deep depression with her divorce. And yet, out of that pain came renewed purpose and meaning. In the third act of her life, Sheila Johnson has not only made her mark as the founder of Salamander Hotels & Resorts and the only Black female coowner of three professional sports teams, she has also, finally, found true love.
Walk Through Fire is a uniquely American success story. And it is the deeply personal portrait of one woman who, despite heartache and obstacles, finally found herself and her place in the world.
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Story
A 2022 Pulitzer Prize finalist and former Wall Street Journal writer exhaustively examines his family’s legacy of post-enslavement trauma and resilience, in this riveting memoir. I Am Nobody’s Slave tells the story of one Black family's pursuit of the American Dream through the impacts of systemic racism and racial violence. This book examines how trauma from enslavement and Jim Crow shaped their outlook on thriving in America, influenced each generation, and how they succeeded despite these challenges.
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Outstanding
- By Anonymous User on 03-05-25
By: Lee Hawkins
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American Negra
- A Memoir
- By: Natasha S. Alford
- Narrated by: Natasha S. Alford
- Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Award-winning journalist Natasha S. Alford grew up between two worlds as the daughter of an African American father and Puerto Rican mother. In American Negra, a narrative that is part memoir, part cultural analysis, Alford reflects on growing up in a working-class family from the city of Syracuse, NY. In smart, vivid prose, Alford illustrates the complexity of being multiethnic in Upstate New York and society’s flawed teachings about matters of identity.
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Relatable to those who grew up in America
- By Oronde Creal on 03-24-24
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I Am These Truths
- A Memoir of Identity, Justice, and Living Between Worlds
- By: Sunny Hostin, Charisse Jones
- Narrated by: Sunny Hostin
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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The Emmy Award-winning legal journalist and co-host of The View Sunny Hostin chronicles her journey from growing up in a South Bronx housing project to becoming an assistant US attorney and journalist in this powerful memoir that offers an intimate and unique look at identity, intolerance, and injustice.
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South Bronx Stand Up
- By SJM on 10-01-20
By: Sunny Hostin, and others
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MOVE: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy
- By: Curtis Bryant, Kevin Arbouet
- Narrated by: Tariq Trotter
- Length: 5 hrs and 19 mins
- Original Recording
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This searing audio documentary brings listeners deep inside the unforgettable story of MOVE, gaining unprecedented access to surviving MOVE members, elected officials from the era, eyewitnesses, and historians to create an indelible portrait of an American tragedy.
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Balanced Examination of History
- By James Peacock on 08-14-24
By: Curtis Bryant, and others
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Walking Through Fire
- A Memoir of Loss and Redemption
- By: Vaneetha Rendall Risner, Ann Voskamp - foreword
- Narrated by: Vaneetha Rendall Risner, Cristen Paige
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Vaneetha Risner contracted polio as an infant, was misdiagnosed, and lived with widespread paralysis. She lived in and out of the hospital for 10 years and, after each stay, would return to a life filled with bullying. When she became a Christian, though, she thought things would get easier, and they did: carefree college days, a dream job in Boston, and an MBA from Stanford where she met and married a classmate. But life unraveled. Again.
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Hope
- By Kimberly J on 03-05-25
By: Vaneetha Rendall Risner, and others
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Sideshow
- Living with Loss and Moving Forward with Faith
- By: Rickey Smiley
- Narrated by: Rickey Smiley
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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How do you live with the pain of watching someone you love suffer from addiction? And how do you cope with the grief of losing them, especially when your job is to make people laugh every day? You find comfort in walking the hard path with others, peace in holding the good with the grief, and strength in the One who is bigger than your pain.
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nothing stood out! The book wasn't interesting like I thought it would be!
- By Anonymous User on 05-10-25
By: Rickey Smiley
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Undefeated
- Changing the Rules and Winning on My Own Terms
- By: Shaunie Henderson
- Narrated by: Shaunie Henderson
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Today, Shaunie Henderson is a force to be reckoned with—a TV personality, producer of multiple hit reality shows, entrepreneur, philanthropist, mother of five children, First Lady of her husband’s church, and role model. But before she found her voice and her purpose, she was one more young woman trying to find her way as a partner, a parent, and a person. In Undefeated, Henderson opens up about the struggles, heartbreaks, losses, and triumphs that have made her who she is today.
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Interesting take on things
- By Risque on 12-25-24
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Thicker than Water
- A Memoir
- By: Kerry Washington
- Narrated by: Kerry Washington
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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While on a drive in Los Angeles, on a seemingly average afternoon, Kerry Washington received a text message that would send her on a life-changing journey of self-discovery. In an instant, her very identity was torn apart, with everything she thought she knew about herself thrown into question.
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Technical issues are ruining an otherwise good story
- By Lindsay on 09-27-23
By: Kerry Washington
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The Life of Herod the Great
- By: Zora Neale Hurston, Deborah G. Plant - editor
- Narrated by: Blair Underwood, Robin Miles
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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In the 1950s, as a continuation of Moses, Man of the Mountain, Zora Neale Hurston penned a historical novel about one of the most infamous figures in the Bible, Herod the Great. In Hurston’s retelling, Herod is not the wicked ruler of the New Testament who is charged with the “slaughter of the innocents,” but a forerunner of Christ—a beloved king who enriched Jewish culture and brought prosperity and peace to Judea.
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like the lion needs no weapon but himself
- By william t. on 03-25-25
By: Zora Neale Hurston, and others
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Lead to Win
- How to Be a Powerful, Impactful, Influential Leader in Any Environment
- By: Carla A. Harris
- Narrated by: Carla A. Harris
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Powerhouse Carla A. Harris examines the journey from individual contributor to leader. She targets the essential skills necessary to succeed, such as the importance of taking risks, creating a vision, and leveraging assets like relationships and partnerships. At the heart of this book are the eight things you must be intentional about every day—authenticity, building trust, creating other leaders, clarity, diversity, innovation, inclusivity, and voice—qualities that you need to hone and manifest to become a powerful, impactful leader no matter where you work.
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Is Everyone's Fingerprints on the Blueprint?
- By Shalena D.I.V.A. on 05-11-24
By: Carla A. Harris
Excellent!!
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Excellent!
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Inspiring
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What an amazing life!
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Inspirational
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Love love love
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To look at her, you’d never know…
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Much appreciation for sharing your story!
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Phenomenal!!
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A must read/listen.
Loved it.
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