Walk Through Fire: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Triumph (Hardcover)
By Sheila Johnson

The cofounder of BET and first African American woman billionaire shares her deeply personal journey through love and loss, tragedy and triumph – an inspiring story of overcoming toxic influences, discovering her true self, and at last finding happiness in her work and life. She is also a philanthropist and patron of the arts and sits on a number of Boards, including the Metropolitan Opera.

Sheila grew up in a middle-class family that encouraged her love of the arts and music. But when she was sixteen, her beloved father announced he was leaving for another woman, an act that shattered her mother and destroyed Sheila’s trust. She vowed she’d never be in her mother’s position – dependent on a man for her sense of self-worth and for financial security. Yet when she was barely out of her teens, Sheila married a man who would take her right down that same unfortunate path.

Filled with sharply drawn, emotionally powerful scenes, Walk Through Fire traces the hardships Sheila faced in her marriage and her professional life. She vividly details those struggles, including battling institutional racism, losing a child, suffering emotional abuse in her 33-year marriage, and plunging into a deep depression with her divorce. And yet, out of that pain came renewed purpose and meaning. In the third act of her life, Sheila Johnson has not only made her mark as the founder of Salamander Hotels & Resorts and the only Black female co-owner of three professional sports teams, she has also, finally, found true love.

Walk Through Fire is a uniquely American success story. And it is the deeply personal portrait of one woman who, despite heartache and obstacles, finally found herself and her place in the world.

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (September 19, 2023)
• Dimensions: 6” W x 1” D x 9” H

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