Culture

17 Best Self-Care Books to Read This Heritage Month & Beyond

Lead Photo: Art by Stephany Torres
Art by Stephany Torres
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Our Heritage Month is the perfect time to examine the different facets of the talent of our communities. It’s also the best time to showcase the voices that are breaking barriers and prioritizing self-care, mental health, and money management to help us in 2023 and beyond. Gone are the days of not talking about these things. Latines these days are not just bringing these conversations to the forefront, they’re establishing themselves as voices worth listening to. 

A Latine-owned business might be the goal, but there are plenty of people helping our communities on their road to just that by providing tips on how to manage and invest money, as well as how to care for yourself while doing so and almost as importantly, how to manage your mental health – both in the context of a business and for general wellbeing. 

From What Would Friday Do? to Break the Good Girl Myth, here are 17 books on self-care, mental health, and money management written by Latines to check out during Our Heritage Month!

1

Wealth Warrior: 8 Steps For Communities of Color to Conquer the Stock Market

Latina Linda García’s Wealth Warrior is a “much-needed conversational guide to the stock market by a financial expert empowers you to heal money wounds, establish financial literacy, and make your money work for you.”

Get the book here.

2

What Would Frida Do?: A Guide to Living Boldly

Puerto Rican Arianna Davis brings us What Would Frida Do?, a book that “celebrates this icon’s signature style, outspoken politics, and boldness in love and art—even in the face of hardship and heartbreak.” In the book Davis “conjures Frida’s brave spirit, encouraging women to create fearlessly and stand by their own truths.”

Get the book here

3

Overcoming Debt, Achieving Financial Freedom: 8 Pillars to Build Wealth

Ecuadorian-Honduran Cindy Zuniga-Sanchez Overcoming Debt, Achieving Financial Freedom delivers a practical and actionable blueprint for financial independence.” The author offers advice on how to transform people’s “financial situation with easy-to-follow advice from a first-generation professional.”

Get the book here.

4

Jefa in Training: The Business Startup Toolkit for Entrepreneurial and Creative Women

Mexican Ashley K. Stoyanov Ojeda’s Jefa in Training is “a solopreneur and small business guide. A business startup planner and toolkit for women in leadership, business, and beyond.” The book “offers women entrepreneurs the female empowerment needed to take a side hustle to the next level.”

Get the book here.

5

You Don't Have to Like Me: Essays on Growing Up, Speaking Out, and Finding Feminism

Puerto Rican Alida Nugent’s You Don’t Have to Like Me “invites readers into her most private moments of personal growth. From struggling with an eating disorder for most of her teen years to embracing all aspects of her biracial identity, she tackles tough topics with honest vulnerability making it a perfect gift for teens and young adults.” 

Get the book here.

6

Budgeting For Dummies

Latina Athena Valentine Lent’s Budgeting for Dummiesshows you how to create a plan that fits your lifestyle, manages everyday needs, and builds your savings.” The author, founder of the Money Smart Latina Blog “ offers step-by-step details for creating and following a budget without feeling like you’re depriving yourself.”

Get the book here.

7

Mujer De Color(es)

Mexican Alejandra Jimenez’s Mujer De Color(es) is an “ode to imperfections, an ode to the divinity within the mundane, an ode to our metamorphic culturas, an ode to the reverberant voices of brown women and femmes. It is one path, of a billion, towards healing one person and, through it, the collective feminine consciousness.”

Get the book here.

8

I Am Diosa: A Journey to Healing Deep, Loving Yourself, and Coming Back Home to Soul

Puerto Rican Christine Gutierrez’s I Am Diosa is a “raw and relatable guide to radical self-care and self-love” that “empowers readers to embrace the powerful Diosa within.” The author “welcomes women to join her in healing the wounds from past hurt or trauma to reclaim their worth and come back home to their true self and soul.”

Get the book here.

9

Break the Good Girl Myth: How to Dismantle Outdated Rules, Unleash Your Power, and Design a More Purposeful Life

Argentinian Majo Molfino’s Break the Good Girl Myth helps “build creative confidence and break free from disempowering myths once and for all.” The book helps you “discover how each myth negatively affects your relationships, career, and well-being and identify your primary good girl myth – the blindspot that’s zapping most of your power as a creative badass.”

Get the book here.

10

The Likeability Trap: How to Break Free and Succeed as You Are

Cuban Alicia Menendez’s The Likeability Trap examines how “Women are stuck in an impossible bind. At work, strong women are criticized for being cold, and warm women are seen as pushovers.” Menendez “examines this fundamental paradox and empowers readers to let go of old rules and reimagine leadership rather than reinventing themselves.”

Get the book here.

11

Mind Your Money: Insightful Stories and Strategies to Help You Reach Your #MoneyGoals

Dominican Yanely Espinal’s Mind Your Moneydelivers all the personal finance basics through insightful stories with a splash of sass. Whether you’re frustrated with your budget, dealing with debt, or struggling to raise that credit score, this book will motivate and inspire you to finally reach your #MoneyGoals.”

Get the book here.

12

Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader

Cuban Herminia Ibarra’s Act Like A Leader, Think Like a Leadershows how managers and executives at all levels can step up to leadership by making small but crucial changes in their jobs, their networks, and themselves.” This book will “help you devise a plan of action to become a better leader and move your career to the next level.”

Get the book here.

13

Thriving in the Fight: A Survival Manual for Latinas on the Front Lines of Change

Puerto Rican Denise Padín Collazo’s Thriving in the Fightoffers wise and compassionate advice on some of the most important leadership challenges facing Latina activists.” Collazo “explains how you can integrate family and work, step out of the background and claim your leadership potential.”

Get the book here.

14

Self Made: Becoming Empowered, Self-Reliant, and Rich in Every Way

Cuban Nely Galán’s Self Made examines “what it means to be self-made? It’s not just about having money, but financial empowerment is where it begins. It means getting out of survival mode, where you are one problem away from catastrophe. It means being rich in every way: rich in money, rich in family, rich in love, rich in time—abundant!”

Get the book here.

15

12 Ways to Cope With Your Latina Mom & Her Difficulties: a guided journal

Dominican Jasmine Cepeda’s 12 Ways to Cope With Your Latina Mom & Her Difficulties will guide you in “setting boundaries and acting towards self-validation and self-protection,” and help you “remother (or reparent) yourself and your inner child—to help you build your self-compassion.”

Get the book here.

16

12 Ways to Cope With Your Latino Dad & His Difficulties: A Guided Journal

Dominican Jasmine Cepeda’s 12 Ways to Cope With Your Latino Dad & His Difficulties looks to help people explore their “father-wound.” The author looks to guide people in “understanding how your relationship with your dad has affected your self-esteem, self-respect, and connection with others.” 

Get the book here.

17

Crying in the Bathroom: A Memoir

Mexican Erika L. Sánchez’s Crying in the Bathroom is a memoir and a collection of short essays “about everything from sex to white feminism to debilitating depression to the redemptive pursuits of spirituality, art, and travel.”

Get the book here.