What’s On Your Nightstand: Monica Barnett

Today we have uber-stylish Monica Barnett sharing her latest reads. Not only is she a blogger and author, she’s also an active member of our From Left to Write book club. I’ve always admired Monica’s fashion sense and invited her to share what’s on her nightstand. 

On my night stand right now, I’m focused on “cleaning up” so I have over 13 magazines to thumb through, one e-book, The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson, that I’ve been wanting to read but haven’t gotten very far along and two actual books, In My Shoes by Tamara Mellon and Things I Should Have Told My Daughter by Pearl Cleage.

Each book is “on my night stand” for different reasons:

The Warmth of Other Suns is regaled as a fabulous accounting of African American history and migration and simply a must-read…I’m determined to get through it and, more importantly, to retain what I read so it may take me a bit.

In My Shoes by Tamara Mellon was signed by her last year and she’s one of my fashion industry icons for how she ascended to her current position. I imagine the book shares her wit, grit, perseverance and fashion prowess so I’m going to love it!

Things I Should Have Told My Daughter: Pearl Cleage is this wise, calming force, and I would read anything she writes. Again, she autographed this book during a signing earlier this year, and I’ve got to read it.

I’m not re-reading my own book, Without Saying A Word: The Silent Power of Style, but very hopeful that in reading these other books, I’ll get inspiration for my next book coming out in Q1 2015 (fingers crossed)!

Without Saying A Word The Silent Power of Style is my way of sharing great style insights with professional women. It’s a guidebook that does a lot of heavy leafing for you in terms of know-how but keeps it light and funny, and you get snippets of my life as well. You should walk away enriched with inspiration to nail your fundamentals and but also some levity in the process.

You’ll notice from the picture that my “nightstand” is actual this big comfy chair in my office aka “creative space”. I haven’t spent enough time in there as of late but, with this list, I’m going back in!!

More about Monica: As founder/editor-in-chief of Blueprint for Style, Monica knows how to develop the right style – the conscious selectivity of elements that work in concert to create a curated image.

Monica has been asked to guest lecturer at New York City’s famed Fashion Institute of Technology and a host of conferences and speaking engagements. She also works with major corporations such as Comcast, NBC Universal, and Time to conduct professional development seminars. Amid an active speaking calendar, Monica has relationships with Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue as a personal stylist; was selected to be part of Vogue Magazine’s elite Influencer Network; and is part of Lucky Magazine’s Style Collective, a group of socially networked bloggers who are style influencers and fashion trendsetters. Most recently, she has released a style guidebook called Without Saying A Word: The Silent Power of Style aimed at inspiring professional women to identify, embrace and building their personal style signature in a more thoughtful manner!

About The Author

Thien-Kim

Thien-Kim is Editor of From Left to Write. She sneaks in her reading time late at night after her family is sound asleep. She also writes at I'm Not the Nanny.