Professional Troublemaker

Luvvie Ajayi Jones, a Nigerian American author and speaker, opens her second book by defining the concept at its center: a professional troublemaker is not a troll or a contrarian, but someone who critiques the world, challenges broken systems, and holds people accountable while remaining golden-hearted. She frames this book as the practical companion to I'm Judging You: The Do-Better Manual (2016): While that book addressed what people need to do better, this one addresses how, specifically by confronting fear. Her central thesis is that fearlessness does not exist; the goal is to move forward despite fear rather than to eliminate it. She acknowledges that marginalized identities compound the risks of troublemaking but hopes the book empowers readers to fight fear anyway. Interwoven throughout is the life of her grandmother, Olúfúnmiláyò Juliana Fáloyin, a direct, fiercely honest Nigerian elder who serves as Ajayi Jones's foundational model of professional troublemaking. The book is organized into three sections: BE (internal work), SAY (using one's voice), and DO (taking action).

The BE section begins with the argument that knowing oneself is the foundation for fighting fear. Ajayi Jones introduces the oríkì, a personal praise greeting from the Yorùbá tradition of Nigeria that connects a person to their lineage, history, and destiny. She shares her grandmother's oríkì, sung at Mama Fáloyin's funeral, and draws parallels to modern practices such as Game of Thrones character introductions and rap boasts. She provides templates for readers to write their own oríkì and life mission statement, arguing that knowing who you are clarifies who you are not.

Ajayi Jones then tackles the fear of being labeled "too much," arguing that such labels are demands to shrink. As an opinionated Black woman, she has been called aggressive or loud for being direct, a pattern she connects to the broader targeting of Black women. Her grandmother exemplified unapologetic excess: her sixtieth birthday in 1991 in Ibádàn, Nigeria, was a seven-day celebration with rented tents spanning three city blocks and a cow slaughtered daily. Ajayi Jones recounts her own adjustment after moving from Nigeria to the United States at age nine, choosing to go by "Lovette" instead of her given name, Ifeoluwa Ajayi, to shield it from mispronunciation. She later reclaimed her Nigerian identity in college, where she started the blog that launched her career.

The chapter on dreaming audaciously traces Ajayi Jones's path from aspiring doctor to accidental writer. She pursued a premed track until a D in Chemistry 101 forced her to change course, a decision she hid from her mother until graduation. Friends encouraged her to start a blog in 2003, but she treated it as a hobby for years, afraid to claim the title of "writer." Career shifts followed, including a nonprofit marketing layoff in 2010 and a pivotal moment covering the 2012 Academy Awards red carpet, which led her to recognize writing as her gift. In 2015, she wrote I'm Judging You, which debuted at number five on the New York Times bestseller list, fulfilling one long-held dream and enabling another: telling her mother, Yemi Ajayi, she could stop working.

In "Own Your Dopeness," Ajayi Jones challenges the culture of excessive humility. At her grandmother's Cherubim and Seraphim church, where Mama Fáloyin held the elder honorific "Most Senior Mother-in-Israel Prophetess," services stopped upon her arrival so she could dance down the aisle. Ajayi Jones recounts nearly missing Oprah Winfrey's SuperSoul 100 list in 2016 because she assumed the notification email was spam. The BE section closes with "Trust Where You Are," which recounts her 2017 TEDWomen talk. Initially invited by curator Pat Mitchell, she declined, then was re-invited just two weeks before the event. She drafted a second decline email, but a phone call with her friend Eunique Jones Gibson changed her mind: Gibson told her that everything she had done until now had been her coach. Ajayi Jones wrote the talk in an Uber, delivered it from memory, and received a standing ovation. The talk has since received millions of views, a pointed irony given that a talk about refusing to let fear lead decisions nearly did not happen because fear led hers.

The SAY section opens with "Speak the Truth," where Ajayi Jones provides a three-question checklist for speaking up: Do you mean it? Can you defend it? Can you say it thoughtfully or with love? She introduces the concept of "spending your privilege," credited to disability rights advocate Rebecca Cokley via activist Brittany Packnett Cunningham, arguing that privilege is limitless and using it for others does not diminish it.

"Fail Loudly" contains the book's most vulnerable narrative. In 2018, on the day Aretha Franklin died, Ajayi Jones tweeted dismissively about a musician suggested for a tribute. The backlash escalated to questions about her Nigerian identity and her place in African American cultural discussions. Rather than apologizing, she responded defensively and wrote an unapologetic blog post, which worsened the situation. She retreated from public writing for a year until the death of Toni Morrison on August 5, 2019, jolted her back; her tribute to Morrison became the catalyst for this book. She extracts lessons about accountability, humility, and the responsibility that accompanies a growing platform.

"Ask for More" reveals that despite her outward boldness, Ajayi Jones struggled to ask for help, a pattern her therapist exposed. "Get Your Money" confronts the taboo around compensation for women, describing how she publicly challenged a European tech conference that offered her "exposure" while paying white male speakers. "Draw Your Lines" argues for establishing boundaries as self-preservation.

The DO section opens with "Grow Wildly," which contains the most detailed account of her grandmother's backstory. When Fúnmiláyò was about sixteen, her father was chosen to rule the town of Orún Èkìtì, uprooting the family from Lagos. Both parents died within a short period, leaving her orphaned at roughly eighteen. She briefly served as regent before being placed under a cruel uncle who seized her father's property and arranged a marriage to a stranger. Fúnmiláyò took her thirteen-year-old sister Fólóunshó and fled to Ibádàn, where she met Ajayi Jones's grandfather, Emmanuel Oládìípò Fáloyin, and built the family from which Ajayi Jones descends.

"Fire Yourself" addresses the compulsion to control everything, tracing Ajayi Jones's evolution from solo entrepreneur to team builder. "Take No Shit" distinguishes between niceness and kindness, arguing that the obsession with civility often obstructs justice. She recounts her grandmother arriving at a school with scissors after a teacher cut her mother's hair and tells of Mama Fáloyin standing outside a pastor's office until he produced a certificate she had earned. In one of the book's most moving passages, Ajayi Jones describes the women of her grandmother's church bathing, praying over, and dressing Mama Fáloyin's body after her death in 2011, an act she characterizes as the culmination of a life lived openly and on its own terms. "Build a Squad" identifies five essential friend groups, and "Get a Nigerian Friend" celebrates Nigerian culture with humor.

The final chapter delivers the culminating argument: fear is biologically permanent, and the only meaningful response is to acknowledge it and charge forward. Ajayi Jones cites Urbach-Wiethe disease, which damages the brain's fear center, as evidence that the absence of fear is itself a disorder. She returns to her grandmother, describing the gold filigree ring Mama Fáloyin gave her that she wears on the middle finger of her right hand. She redefines "fearless" as refusing to do less because of fear. An epilogue written during the COVID-19 pandemic warns against toxic positivity, and a bonus chapter provides a seven-step practical guide to truth-telling. Ajayi Jones concludes that courage is not a personality trait but a habit, built through repeated choice.