I’m Judging You: Luvvie Ajayi’s Do Better Manual Is All the Things

Luvvie Ajayi’s new book, I’m Judging You, is pure delicious, juicy, super smart, hot foolery on a platter. Buy it. Right here. Right now. Because you know her debut tome is worth every… single… penny.

I may be a little biased, yes. Full disclosure: Luvvie is my booski—my friend, a mentee of mine in this publishing world and, most certainly, a mentor to me in this social media game. I met her at BlogHer back in 2010, when I was all wet behind the ears, breath still smelling like Similac in the blogging world. I’d long been a fan of her website, AwesomelyLuvvie.com, a non-stop party of poking fun at everything: Eddie Long’s “White Party” attire; Demon Canta Melon Babies, Bernie Sanders’ hair; Aretha Franklin’s inauguration hat; jollof rice wars, Jermaine Jackson’s hairline. And I’d supported her Red Pump campaign with posts here on MyBrownBaby encouraging women to follow through on Luvvie’s mission for us to get tested, know our HIV status and have safe, protected sex. So when I met her face-to-face, I was giddy to meet the funny woman—the legend.

Though I’m no fan of Thai food, somehow we found our way to a Thai restaurant for dinner—Luvvie’s love of rice, no matter the sauce covering it, is stronger than my hate for Thai food, duh—and we talked for hours about writing, blogging, comedy, Saturday night live and, of course, book publishing. We spent another 40 minutes on a random street corner in Manhattan, with me telling Luvvie that if she ever decided to become a comedian, she should totally let me be her manager and also that she better write a book dammit.

I can’t remember if Luvvie thought I was nuts for saying she should write a book or if she was just expressing measured excitement at the possibility or if it was a combo of the two. What I do know is that when she told me last year that she had an idea and an agent and was about to craft a proposal, I couldn’t be more proud of my friend. I mean, do you know how many people tell me they want to write a book? Do you know how many actually do it? I suck at math, but I’d be pretty accurate if I put the ratio at 100:1. No lie.

And now, here we are: Luvvie’s I’m Judging You is in bookstores today and it’s everything I knew it would be and more. Divvied up into four sections—Life, Culture, Social Media, and Fame—Luvvie The Side-Eye Sorceress goes all the way in on everything from Facebook family feuding to the unfortunate souls who wear wig hats, to those who go to house basement plastic surgeons for phat yanshes (that’s Luvvie’s word for booty), and she gets serious, too, jabbing a judgmental finger at rape culture, white privilege and even the incredibly foolish habit of the ignorant to refer to Africa as a country, rather than a continent.

To put it succinctly, I’m Judging You is all-the-way live.

Get. You. A. Copy. Stat.

I’m so proud of this woman I don’t know what to do with myself. Over the next few weeks, you will see a veritable Luvvie Blitz in a city near you, plus features in some of the biggest news outlets of record because Luvvie is a marketing freakin’ genius. And because, well, it’s Luvvie, which means… hella dope. And most importantly, because her book is amazingly funny, smart, in-your-face, and full of undeniable truth.

I’m already tapping my watch, looking for book two.

Get to it, Luvvie.