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| photo: Sammy Tunis | |
Alisha Fernandez Miranda is chair and former CEO of I.G. Advisors, a social impact intelligence agency that consults with nonprofits, foundations and corporations on their philanthropy and social initiatives. Her clients include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ford Foundation and UN Women. Her writing has been featured in Vogue, Business Insider, Romper and the Huffington Post, among others. At the beginning of 2020, Miranda paused her high-powered career to pursue a series of internships: backstage on Broadway; with contemporary art dealer Blain and with fitness studio Retroglow; and in the kitchen of the Kinloch Lodge. My What If Year (Zibby Books) reflects on those experiences.
Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:
My What If Year is a hilarious memoir (mine!) about leaving my job as CEO to take internships at the dream jobs of my childhood.
On your nightstand now:
This year I have been guest-hosting Zibby Owens's podcast, Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books, so I have been focused on powering those authors' (fab) books in order to record those episodes. But now that those are done, the winter for me is all about comfort and joy. Next up, I've got Lucie Yi Is Not a Romantic by Lauren Ho and the upcoming Hedge by fellow Zibby Books author Jane Delury.
Favorite book when you were a child:
I was obsessed with series about groups of girls finding their way in the world: the Baby-Sitters Club, Sweet Valley Twins, the Saddle Club. But my number-one was a book called This Place Has No Atmosphere by Paula Danziger. It's about a girl who has to move to a moon colony with her parents. It's set in 2057, and I couldn't wait for all that future tech to come true. (AirPods did!)
Your top five authors:
My answer to this depends on the day and my mood, because I am a person who loves deeply and fangirls hard, so I have a lot of favorites. But the top five whose next book I would pick up, without even needing to read a blurb about it, are: Emily Henry, Curtis Sittenfeld, Xochitl Gonzalez, Gabrielle Zevin and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Book you've faked reading:
In high school, I could not get through more than three pages of Moby-Dick without falling asleep, but with great determination, I passed AP English, thanks (embarrassingly) to the CliffsNotes.
As an adult, I'm embarrassed to say that I have referenced Freakonomics many, many times in conversation without ever having read it. Maybe 2023 will be the year I actually do.
Book you're an evangelist for:
When I love a book, I tell everyone about it. Currently, that book is Anand Giridharadas's The Persuaders. Everyone I know is tired of hearing me talk about it, but it's given me hope for the future of democracy and political discourse. I found myself (as I have with his previous books) fascinated and challenged in equal measure.
Book you've bought for the cover:
I'm not such a sucker for a pretty cover (although I am partial to pink), preferring to pick up recommendations by friends, Instagrammers or booksellers whose tastes run similar to mine. But I remember being very attracted to the image of a woman with her head face down on a desk on the cover of There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura and buying it with no other information. It was a great decision. I loved that book. Also, it was pink.
Book you hid from your parents:
This is embarrassing, because I am in my 40s, but probably the A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas, just this year. Those books have SO. MUCH. GRAPHIC. SEX. My mom and I share book recommendations, but I didn't tell her I was reading these for fear she would start them and then that would be a whole awkward situation. Instead, I told her I was reading "something with a depressing ending." That's not to her taste, so she didn't ask any further questions.
Book that changed your life:
For many months, I had the idea of taking a bunch of internships in my dream-careers--but not the guts to do anything. I mentioned it in passing to my friend Vanessa who said, "That sounds like Cork Dork. Have you read Cork Dork?"
Bianca Bosker's journey to embed herself completely in the wine industry, with the hopes of becoming a master sommelier, was both an inspiration and a revelation. She did it, so maybe I could, too? I devoured her story at a critical juncture, and I like to think it gave me the push I needed to take the leap and look for my first internship.
Favorite line from a book:
Jane Austen was the absolute OG of the witty line. I still laugh out loud when I (constantly) reread her work. From my favorite of her novels, Mansfield Park: "Nothing ever fatigues me but doing what I do not like."
Five books you'll never part with:
I love nothing more than passing on books I have loved to friends, but there are a few that won't ever leave my shelf:
My original copy of Bea and Mr. Jones, a children's book by Amy Schwartz, that I've had since childhood. It even has the Reading Rainbow sticker on it. When they were little, I let my kids "borrow" it, but we all know it's mine.
An uncorrected proof of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (my favorite in the series), with a mistake in it, that I got as a teenager when I worked at Books & Books in Coral Gables, Fla.
A battered paperback of Marjorie Morningstar by Herman Wouk. I have read that book at different stages of my life, finding new meaning each time. One of the best things about rereading a classic is that the text never changes, but your interpretation is rarely static.
My current copy of A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. It's one of my favorite books of all time, and I am always giving it away if someone comes over and says they've never read it. Before travel became such a huge part of my life, books were my way to experience the world, and that novel helped embed my deep love for and fascination with India.
My twins' copy of Happy Birthday to You! by Dr. Seuss, which I read to them every year on their birthday. I had a few difficult years on my road to being a mom, so for me every birthday is a miracle. We got that copy as a gift when they were born, and I'll never part with it.
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
I read The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien my first year of college and was so absorbed in the story that my roommates hid the book from me until finals were over. They were worried I wouldn't be able to put it down to study. (They were not wrong.)
Tolkien is a master at worldbuilding. As he constructed the trilogy to such a satisfying finish (Sharkey diversion notwithstanding), I just wanted to learn everything there was to learn about Middle-earth. I can remember the anticipation of needing to know what came next; I'd love to feel that way again.