Walking a Tightrope Backward in High Heels: A Memoir

Summary

From the halls of the Philadelphia City Council to the challenges of single motherhood, Blondell Reynolds-Brown’s memoir Walking a Tightrope Backward in High Heels offers an unflinching look at what it takes to succeed in the bruising arena of big-city politics. As one of Philadelphia’s most influential councilwomen, Reynolds-Brown shattered glass ceilings and championed transformative legislation for women, children, and families during her remarkable twenty-year tenure. But behind the headlines and policy victories lay a more intimate story: that of a divorced single mother navigating the delicate balance between personal ambition and family obligations.

With remarkable candor, Reynolds-Brown reveals the storms she weathered, including a public campaign controversy that threatened to derail everything she’d built. Yet through it all, she demonstrates how to “adjust the sail” when the winds of change blow fierce.

Part political memoir, part leadership manifesto, this powerful account from a pioneering public servant shows what’s possible with equal measures of moxie and grace. Reynolds-Brown’s journey from educator to accomplished legislator offers an inspiring blueprint for anyone who’s ever had to fight twice as hard to get half as far-and emerged stronger for it.

“You will be enlightened by Blondell’s transparency of her personal failure and career stumbles that left her stronger and clear-eyed because of her faith. ‘Everyone has a copyright on their own life,’ including Blondell."—Sheryl Lee Ralph Hughes, Actress, Singer, Author, Soror & State Senator Vincent Hughes, Seventh Senatorial District, Philadelphia, PA