Something to consider before you choose your next book

If you've read this blog, well, once, you probably know I'm in love with reading. 

I'm always looking for new books, and there is one highly acclaimed book that I've seen on the shelves over and over again for the past two years - The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot - and I've always passed it by. Why? Because I thought it was mostly about science.

I was wrong. 

I'm a huge fan of science of course, but it isn't on my top 100 list of what I love to read about in my free time. However, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is no ordinary book about science - it reads as exciting as a fiction book, with drama, depth, and grit, and by page 60 I knew it was going to be one of my favorite books of all time. And I just had to tell you about it.   

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks features the story Skloot uncovered after ten years of research into the life of the woman who died in 1951, whose cancer cells are still alive and used in research today - something Henrietta never knew. Skloot's depiction of Henrietta and her family illuminates issues of ethics, race relations, and the pain and long-term effects endured by those who live in poverty.

If, like me, the thought of reading a book with a plot that revolves around a scientific discovery terrifies you, don't worry. The plot is really anchored on the woman herself, Henrietta, and her family's crises to make sense of it all. The scientific information that is weaved in the story is related to cancer research and other medical break through's you will recognize - the behind-the-scenes knowledge will grip you. Skloot brings science to life. 

(And if you do love science that is just icing on the cake.)

Skloot's quiet dedication to unearth the story behind the famous HeLa cells featured in almost every biology textbook is moving, as is the charming chaos and insight gleamed from the Lacks family's plight. I left some crinkled teardrop stains on the pages for sure (sorry Seminole County Library). 

Some of the underlying themes that shone throughout the book were the privilege of knowledge, the power of learning, and the necessity to help others understand. 

I cannot fully do this book justice. All I can say is: don't pass it by like I did. It's one of those books that makes you feel like the world is bigger, smaller, darker, and more precious. It's one of those books that you close and wish you could open again for the first time. It's one of those books that add a forever color to your lens.

And remember me and my love for this book next time you're browsing the shelves of your favorite library or bookstore. Choose a book you may not normally choose. It will expand you into new shapes, and make you better. 

Top 3 books to save you from the real world blues

I love books. Like, really love. Like, still-use-my-library-card-every-week love. And I'm a huge fan of reading non-fiction books during any stage of life where you don't feel like you are 100% confident on the best ways to succeed in that stage (i.e. every stage of life). 


College success books are awesome (e.g. if I didn't think that I wouldn't have written one), but sometimes once you get out of college is when the real learning (and confusion) begins. 


When I graduated I brought stacks and stacks of books home from the library, devouring them with hopes to uncover some secret treasure map to lead me out of this crazy post-graduate jungle of confusion. 


While I never found that map, the books taught me that the map doesn't exist - no one has it. And that made me feel so much better. The books also gave me practical tips on what to do and how to survive in this new world without exams and grades and awards and constant-friends. 


Below are my top three favorite post-grad books (in no particular order) that I highly recommend in order to get your post-grad life started on the right foot. 

Life After College by Jenny Blake shows you that while there is no magical treasure map, there is such thing as a practical road map to help you see the big picture and figure out what you want to do with your life. 


She shares the practical road map that helped her on her journey - a journey that led her to a job as a Career Development Program Manager at Google. 


Jenny writes in a way that makes you feel like she is sitting across from you at a coffee shop, sharing her story and advice.


That's how she is in real life too. She is seriously one of the nicest people I've ever met.


Jenny chronicles her experience as an overachiever who felt burned out at age 25. It all changed when a career coach asked her "What do you feel like you were born to do?"


This is a perfect book to get with a few friends and talk about once a week for a few months. I actually started a post-grad book club out of college when I was feeling super lonely - and it was amazing. This is a perfect book to start with.


You'll want to read Jenny's book with one of those pens that have a highlighter on the back. It is really a workbook that invites you in to be the author of your own life. From figuring out your core values to learning how to still have fun and relax in adulthood, this book will bring you into that conversation. And the treasure you will uncover at the end of this road map, is you.  

Getting from College to Career by Lindsey Pollak is a fantastic books that embodies the idea that career exploration is an adventure. As Lindsey puts it: "I didn't know my right career path until I saw it, heard it, touched it.This is why throughout the book you'll notice my obsession with taking action, trying new things, meeting new people, and having a wide variety of experiences" (p.xiii). 

I love this. It is so true. 

Lindsey's book is packed with practical tips to get you moving in the right direction to discover more about yourself and the opportunities that are out there for you. This is a book to act on now - while in college - and when you graduate. It lays out everything you need to do before you walk into that first interview. It will get you moving fast towards getting your first job out of college.  

They Don't Teach Corporate in College by Alexandra Levit is a great reminder that while getting your first job out of college seems like the hardest part, sometimes managing the new corporate world is the real battle. 


School is comfortable. As Alexandra puts it, "We know how the story goes: if you work hard, you get good grades and everyone is happy. The business world, however, is another animal entirely" (p.17). 


While Alexandra explains no one holds your hand or is there to break your fall on the corporate ladder, her book will make you feel like she is holding your hand the whole way.


You can enter the corporate world without this book and you will learn most of the lessons it shares - but you will learn them the really hard way. And many people never come to understand how to use the things Alexandra teaches in this book to move forward in their careers and their lives. Reading this book will give you a huge advantage. 


Each of these books will clear out new paths that you didn't know existed - and warn you against the treacherous ones -  as you begin your adventure-trek into adulthood and the "real world." Happy reading! 


Jenny, Lindsey, and Alexandra are also all pretty wonderful people and dynamic college speakers - you can follow them on Twitter. 

Say This, NOT That, to Your Professor: a review of a book every college student should read

I dedicated a third of my book to elucidate the value of building relationships with professors because it is one of the most important factors in your college success. In addition to improving your grades, your relationships with your professors will directly impact the amount of scholarships and awards you win and can also give you incredible guidance when it comes to finding your first job out of college.

And when you move into a mentorship relationship with a professor you will gain some of the most invaluable benefits - the kind that occur when a professor looks you in the eye and tells you what he or she sees in you, your potential.

I owe so much to the wonderful professors I met in college who raised my bar higher than I had set for myself. There is nothing more powerful in college.

But building these kinds of relationships with professors is not automatic. It takes time, hard work (in class), and specific communication skills. 

The answer to building these communication skills and knowing exactly how to handle every professorial situation is Say This, NOT That to Your Professor, Ellen Bremen's new book. 

Ellen is an award-winning community college professor and writes the blog The Chatty Professor. 

She is also a great friend and partner to me. We wrote our books around the same time and had many great conversations about student success. What impressed me most about Ellen is how much she cares about you. 

Ellen has a very busy life (i.e. 2 kids). In addition to being a professor and a mom, she goes above and beyond in her professional life. It was so clear from talking to her that she didn't have any self-interest in writing this book. She is still a professor and is very happy in this role. She isn't trying to be a "writer" or gain fame and fortune. This book was a labor of love to help you.

And wow, will it help you! 

This book is such a useful, practical guide that will give you exactly what to say and what to do in the most common challenging scenarios that you will encounter in college. 

As I read Ellen's book I found myself thinking....yes....yes...yes....YES!!!!

She shares insider advice that you can't get anywhere else. 

My favorite part about the book is that you don't necessarily have to read the whole thing all at once. I highly recommend purchasing it and having it in your backpack during each semester. The chapters are organized so that you can quickly turn to the section you need most. For example:

Did you get a zero on a test? There's a chap for that.

Do you want to find out what's on the test? There's a chap for that.

Do you need to conquer procrastination? There's a chap for that.

Do you need help when work is conflicting with class? There's a chap for that.

Do you need to know the best way to email a professor? There's a chap for that.

Do you need to report a professorial problem? There's a chap for that.

Say This, NOT That to Your Professor is also jam packed with interesting, entertaining, and even funny stories Ellen has encountered with students. You will relate to the scenarios she explains, and will be able to see yourself or your classmates in these stories. The book opens with the following scenario:

Nicole, a student advisee, sat in my office, firing off complaints about her professor.

In this case, Nicole was pissed because she couldn’t follow what was happening in class.

I said, “So what have you told the professor about this?”

Nicole replied, “Nothing. I don’t know what to say.”

I said, “Well, how can the professor help you if she doesn’t know that you’re struggling?”

Nicole shot back, “I’m just going to fail. I know it.”

“Well, you don’t have to fail. You could go talk to the prof.”

“But I don’t get what’s going on. She doesn’t really care, anyway. If she did, she’d know that I’m struggling. It’s not like my grades have been good.”

“Do you want her to come to you?” I challenged, sincerely, but firmly.

Nicole didn’t answer.

“Seriously, Nicole,” I said, looking right in her eyes. “What’s your role in getting your needs met here? Isn’t this your education?”

Nicole still didn’t say anything.

Just reading our exchange, you may think I was being confrontational, but Nicole and I had an excellent relationship. I knew I could speak to her straight. But my words weren’t making an impact.

I realized that the student just didn’t know what to say.


Ellen's book will give you the words to say, and help you build the kind of professorial relationships that top students enjoy. It's not about sucking up. It's not about being perfect. It's about knowing what to say so that your true self can shine through and you can make the most of the relationships with the incredible people standing up to teach you every day. 


If you ever have any questions about your professorial relationships/scenarios, Ellen is so great at offering personalized helpful advice. You can contact her here. 

A 24-year old loses her husband, and learns how to keep moving (book review)

I didn’t read this book with the intention of writing about it. Most book reviews I’ve done for you are specifically for college success. Signs of Life by Natalie Taylor was originally a book I picked up just for me. A memoir – my favorite (for those of you who might not be a library-obsessed book lover like me, a memoir reads like a novel but is a true story of the author’s life).

Natalie and her beautiful son Kai

But upon turning the last pages of that book just a few minutes ago, I felt compelled to open up my laptop (late at night) and share this book with you. I just can’t keep it to myself; Natalie also sheds light on many of the themes at the heart of why I love community college students so much.

Signs of Life chronicles Natalie’s experience losing her husband to a carve boarding accident when she was twenty-four-years-old and 5-months pregnant with their son.

Twenty-four years old. Her husband. Who she had an incredible relationship with. Twenty-four…

When I first read that on the back of the book my heart sank. I am twenty-four, I thought. This isn’t supposed to happen to twenty-four year olds. Once I read the book I also noticed that she and her husband got married on the exact same day, to the year, that I got married.

My heart literally ached.

This book takes you to the depths of Natalie’s aching and incomprehensible loss. The memoir was built from her actual diary entries, and there are many moments where it is so, so very raw. It physically hurts to read at times because it is so honest, and that is what makes it, to my mind, such a brilliant book and Natalie, a truly talented writer.

What is most surprising about the book is that, despite it’s heart-wrenching topic, it’s not actually what I would classify a “sad” book. Natalie brings lightness and a humor when you least expect it (she has a down-to-earth made-up Fairy Mom Godmother that helps her survive as a new mom that is brilliantly, laugh-out-loud, funny), and she takes the reader through her grief process with entertaining anecdotes and insights from her profession as a high school English teacher.

The moments she has with her students and the new ways in which she relates to them after going through such an intense hardship herself is incredible. She reads and teaches Gatsby in a new way. Kafka’s Metamorphis. Macbeth. Of Mice and Men. Grapes of Wrath. The Catcher in the Rye. As a self-proclaimed HS English nerd, I fell in love with this.

There is a moment in class where Natalie has her students practice how to create an outline using an article about how and why teens succeed (and don’t succeed) in high school. One aspect of the article troubles the students: the author said research found that “low-income students were statistically low achievers because they get to school with a lower vocabulary than their higher-achieving, higher income peers” (p.79).

Their hands shoot up and Natalie has, what I would like to call because I’m super-into Boy Meets World right now, a Feeny moment (though Natalie has more of that young-teacher-Mr.Turner kind of vibe).

All of the students are engaged in one of those rare moments in high school when you are really mulling over information that strikes a chord – and you really want to figure it out. The students debate on whether where you come from and the circumstances you are born into effect your opportunities, in essence, effect your American Dream.

Natalie blows me away in the way she handles this classroom experience. She facilitates the students to debate, draw their own conclusions, and come into their own understanding, many for the first time, about social class and opportunity.

Natalie could sense some students were really troubled by this statistic, and seemed to be wondering if they would really be able to succeed, or if their background already doomed them, no matter how hard they tried. The conversation evolves into the statistics of success if grow up with only one parent. Natalie could obviously relate.

“[Knowing my son will only grow up with one parent] doesn’t scare me and it certainly does not make me believe that my son will be a low achiever. I think statistics are just that – statistics. Numbers that represent a student that someone performed on a group of people. But they certainly are not my destiny, nor are they yours. So if you come from a low-income house and you look at this article and it makes you mad or it makes you think that you are going to prove it wrong, that’s good. That’s amazing, actually. That means that you are already a step ahead of the game and that you probably will be a high achiever, despite what this article says about you. Because, remember, it’s not even talking about you, it’s talking about people like you. Only you can decide what you are going to do.”

This theme of how your circumstances – especially those you did not choose – affect your future is poignantly threaded throughout this book. And it made me think about you.

Because as the tagline of this blog says, going to community college doesn’t mean you couldn’t get in anywhere else. The stigma is just wrong. Going to community college may mean you had some unfair circumstances stacked up against you. But going to community college means you’re still going. You’re still moving. And nothing is going to stop you.

That is what Natalie inspires in this book, and I highly recommend it.

In closing I have to leave you with two of my favorite quotes from the end of the book:

1 -“I’ve reached a place where I can say that grief is not about recovery or resolution or being fully healed. It’s about living without someone, but still embracing life. It’s about understanding that time is not as linear as we thought, but perhaps it’s more like laying pictures one on top of another” (p.305).

2- Natalie was an athlete. A year after her husband died she competed in a triathlon and, while running thought to herself, “I thought this part of me was dead. I am so happy to know it isn’t. I guess it was just dormant. And dormant and dead are two very different things” (p.301).

Never be afraid to unleash parts of you that time makes dormant. Never be afraid to defy the odds. And never underestimate the power of connecting with a brilliant book. There is nothing like it.

Taylor, N. (2012). Signs of life: a memoir. New York: Broadway Paperbacks.

How to make money helping people

I’ve met so many college students whose answer to the question “what do you want to major in” is:

“I don’t really know yet…I just know I want to help people.”

I love this answer mostly because it reveals the genuine heart and one of the best parts about this generation. While there are many issues Millennials have to overcome – one of the greatest things about the Millennial generation is that most of them really do want to impact social change in their work.

But whenever I hear the "help people" answer, I know we have to go deeper. Because the truth is, there are millions of ways you can help people in the work that you do – because a lot of work helps people, and it doesn’t even have to be in non-profit or in a start-up. And it doesn't have to be in the traditional social change industries - we need positive change in many areas of the world and business.

However, if you are one of the students who really wants to help people and make an impact on the world in a way that promotes social change – the hardest part can be figuring out how to make money and do it full time, beyond volunteering. 

I just read the most amazing book on this subject, and it’s called Making Good by Billy Parish and Dev Aujla. 

Billy and Dev are living their dreams and make money from organizations that are having a huge impact on the world. Dev cofounded the Energy Action Coalition (an incredibly group of college students making a serious impact in the global climate crisis) and is now president of Solar Mosaic, a solar energy company.

Dev is the founder of DreamNow, an organization that helps young people fund social change projects.

Making Good is the most comprehensive book I’ve ever read on this subject, and is a book anyone who has even a little bit of interest in social change should read. 

Billy and Dev write in a really engaging and conversational way and take you through step-by-step of exactly what you need to do to make change, make good, and make money so that you can do it full time.

They do this by first giving the most amazing overview of some of the biggest global crises in our world and reveal some of the big gaps that need to be filled. This will help you think about where your interests and passions lie and will stimulate your creativity in how you could impact one of these large global issues in your own unique way – and get paid to do it.

The key to making money while doing good is being creative, thinking globally, and filling a need in the economy with your change initiative. You can also partner with companies and other organizations to help fund your social change projects or organizations. And in addition to being an entrepreneur, Dev and Bill also share how you can be an advocate of social change in almost any job or industry, by working within your organization.

The book is filled with incredible content and tools that will inspire you to pursue your dreams and think bigger about how you can help solve our world problems full-time.

You are uniquely equipped with talents and passions that can indeed help people. It doesn’t mean you have to come up with the idea to stop world hunger. It just means you have to start taking small steps by learning constantly and engaging in what you love in small ways, every day.

The first step I recommend? Get a copy of Making Good right now.*

*As always, I only promote things that I love and want to shout from the rooftops because I think they will help you too. No one asked me to review this book, and I do not know Dev and Billy – though I really hope to meet them sometime soon. You can also check them out on their recent MSNBC appearance!

To read more about Isa's personal story & how you can build relationships to: make positive friends, be more successful in academics and work, find the right people to connect with, and access the hidden job market, grab a FREE e-copy of the first chapter of Community College Success: How to Finish with Friends, Scholarships, Internships, and the Career of Your Dreams! Claim your free copy on the Facebook page! Or if you're just amazing - you can buy your paperback or Kindle copy on Amazon.com right now :) 

Why you should “Stop Saying You’re Fine”

Have you ever felt stuck in your life? Ever felt like you don’t like how your life has turned out so far? Ever wished something in your life would be different?

And when someone asks you “How are you doing?” have you ever answered with “fine” even when deep down you know you’re not fine?

I have been there. And as I grow older and into adulthood I realize more and more that this seems to be an epidemic of modern adult life. We have so many choices, so many opportunities, so many things at our fingertips – and yet we are often bored, stuck, and wondering if we should have made a different choice. Wondering how to make our lives better. Wondering how to find fulfillment.

As a post-grad, this reality typically hits really, really, really hard. And yet no one prepares us for that. It’s easy to feel completely out of control during the times when an area of your life isn’t where you want it to be. However, the truth is, you actually have more control than you realize.

And that is what the book Stop Saying You’re Fine, by Mel Robbins, is all about. Mel Robbins is another one of my non-fiction mentors whom I’ve never met (previous ones I've written about include Wes Moore and Darren Hardy), and I hope you’ll consider inviting her wisdom into your life too by checking out her book.

Below are some of the key points she addresses that really inspired me personally:

1. In almost any context, watch how little kids act versus adults. You will always learn something. Mel points out a time when she watched adults and kids doing yoga (p. 92). During the tree pose (a pose where you stand on one foot while the other rests on your calf), the adults remained tight-lipped and clenched. The kids got a kick out of falling out of the pose and trying again – that was the best part to them. 

As we get older we are so focused on getting it right/perfect. Kids never feel “stuck” or “bored” in the same way we do when we’re adults. Why? Because they are constantly exploring and have a shamelessness about them that often gets kicked out of us around middle school. Embrace that sense of experimentation and exploration, and don’t be afraid to tumble.

2. Being uncomfortable is a good thing (p.97). And the hardest part about enacting change in our lives is making that first step and fighting our brain (which tells us uncomfortable is “bad”). For example, my brain tells me every day not to work out. It tells me it’s boring, that I have other things to do, that it probably doesn’t make a difference any way, and that it is too hard and painful. If I listened to that part of my brain, I would never exercise. I also know that exercise is really important for my health. But often, the former part of my brain wins and I skip out on exercise. 

This book really transformed my thinking and reminded me that being uncomfortable is a good thing, and that most things worth having often require discomfort. I would never “want” to work out. Just knowing that helped me push through, and ever since I started reading this book a few weeks ago I’ve worked out every single day (something I’ve never done before in my life). It’s amazing what a simple change of mindset can do. And this book will give you so many ideas of how and in what areas of life you need a mindset shift. The results will blow you away.

3. Once you admit that you are not fine and you commit to overcoming the part of your brain that wants to keep you comfortable, stagnant, and "safe," it is time to figure out what you want. Mel explains that you must write it down and put it somewhere you can see every day (I also teach this in my goal-setting workshop). This is more powerful than you realize. If you take any action from this post, I hope you: #1 buy Stop Saying You’re Fine/reserve it at your local library and #2 write down one goal that you have for your life and put it up in your room. 

The rest of Stop Saying You’re Fine will teach you how to enact change in your life every day and move towards the life that you really want but are often to afraid to talk about out loud. It is possible for you. It really is. You have more control than you realize. We all need a reminder of that constantly, and this book is a great one!

Have a wonderful weekend :)

And for more tips on how to overcome your fears and move towards the life you want in college, check out my book Community College Success now available on Amazon.com =)

Robbins, Mel. Stop saying you're fine: discover a more powerful you. New York: Crown Archetype, 2010.

Why you should read The Other Wes Moore

As you will soon read in my book, there are people you will meet in your life who will serve as your mentors and change your life forever. There are also people who will do this that you will never meet - they are called non-fiction authors. If you want to be successful in your life then you must get into the habit of reading beyond what is required in your coursework. Listen to audio books in the car. Download them on your kindle or nook. Check them out for free at the library. Find whatever works for you – and read. 

The authors I’ve "met" in non-fiction books have changed my life for the better. I am grateful to so many of them, and I want you to share in that same growth and discovery and success that comes from reading.

Thus, to help get you started I am going to start sharing with you some of the most life-changing books I have come across thus far in my life. 

The first book I want to share with you is the NY Times Bestseller The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore. 

In short, this book helped me better understand both the world that we live in and helped me understand a world I’ve never known. The first world is the one where the environment you are born into and the daily choices you make can chain you to a life you would never have chosen if you had really known you had a choice. And the second is a world of drugs and violence that I’d only seen in movies and heard about in rap songs. This book elucidates these two worlds from the very real lives of two men, both named Wes Moore. Both men grew up in Baltimore, MD. One Wes Moore wrote this book, is a Rhodes Scholar, and an absolutely incredibly successful man and role model. The other is serving a life sentence in jail.  

The book’s tagline says it best: “One name, two fates. The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his.”

Books like this could never be fully captured in a review, so I highly recommend you buy it and read it as soon as possible. For me, the best memoirs are the ones that make me forget it’s a memoir. They make me feel like I’m reading the most vibrant, literary, exciting, terrifying, chilling, and intense fiction book and then every few pages or so say to myself wait, this really happened? Whoa. The Other Wes Moore is that kind of book. 

It is a story that will have you on the edge of your seat, wondering what will happen next. But what is most important about it, is that it’s a true story. It’s a memoir. It elucidates real life lessons about pain, loss, choices, fate, hope, and the power role models and mentors can have in our lives.  

I was deeply and personally impacted by reading this book and I know you will be too because it illuminates realities that are often brushed away in dark corners.  

There are a lot of reasons that can be deduced about why these two men who grew up near each other and even had the same name had such different life outcomes. I cannot pretend to know. But what struck me most of all was the people they had in their lives to look up to. What seemed to be the most powerful influencer in their young lives (especially as neither grew up with their father - one passed away, one uninvolved) was their friends and the older men in their lives. Unfortunately, not all of the role models were positive ones.

It really made me think about the people in our lives and what the word "role model" really means. It make me think about how quickly a life can go astray without love and support from someone who believes in them. 

The good news is, however, is that it works both ways. Lives can be saved when people are given that love and support in their lives. Too many kids do not have people in their lives who believe in them, and it breaks my heart. That is why this book meant so much to me.  

The Other Wes Moore dives into this issue in an important way, and I highly recommend reading it with an open mind, an open heart, and a commitment to do something about the issues it elucidates after you read it. Tell a friend what you think they are capable of. Be a positive role model for someone in your life. And do whatever you can to find positive role models in yours. If you don’t know any right now, I can recommend one. His name is Wes. 

Wes Moore was recently named the Phi Theta Kappa Distinguished Alumnus for 2012 and got his start at a two-year college: Valley Forge Military College. He also hosts a really cool show called Beyond Belief on OWN.You can buy The Other Wes Moore on Amazon.com.