Deesha Dyer is the former White House Social Secretary under President Obama, meaning she was THE person responsible for state dinners, official functions, visits by Popes and presidents, performances by Beyoncé (!), and more. Deesha‘s new book UNDIPLOMATIC pulls back the curtain on White House life to funny, winning effect, but even more so, it documents a young Black woman’s struggle to belong in our nation’s most prestigious spaces.

In 2009, at age 31, Deesha Dyer’s finances were… messy. She’d dropped out of college, accruing a mountain of debt but no degree. She had an eviction on her record and bad credit. She plugged away at an admin job, while freelancing as an organizer and blogger of her beloved hip-hop / soul scene in Philly. (Hello, Jill Scott!)

Inspired by the Obama campaign, she applied for a White House internship that she knew was a longshot. These jobs were for phenoms from Harvard and Howard. Not part-time community college students in their thirties with zero connections. To her shock, Deesha got the gig. For the first time in her life, she had a full-time job that reflected her passion for change. In just five years or so, she was in charge of a whole White House department.