YOU'VE BEEN CHOSEN

A memoir from the first Black woman to be named the CEO of an NBA franchise.

Marshall has a history of being first. She was the first Black president of her high school, the first Black cheerleader at Berkeley, the first Black female officer at AT&T, and the first Black CEO of the Dallas Mavericks. She is also a cancer survivor. The author attributes her many blessings to her strong Christian faith and the love and support of her family. Marshall shares her career journey as well as intimate details of her battle with cancer and memories from her early life growing up poor in Richmond, California, where she and her family endured her father’s violent temper. However, even though her mother was “a victim of terrible domestic abuse for more than twenty years,” she provided Marshall and her siblings love and structure. Her mother always stressed the importance of school and church, places that provided the safety they lacked at home. “All six of us went to school, no matter what, just as we went to church. Structure and routine were our ways of handling my father’s unpredictable outbursts,” she writes. “Education and faith were our paths out of the projects.” Throughout, Marshall is candid about the many hardships she has endured in her life, and she shows how her faith has helped her find opportunities for growth. She also shares Bible verses that have encouraged her to continue her fight and entries from the journal she kept during her cancer treatment. Reading Marshall’s story, it is apparent that her confidence and strong will have been primary contributing factors to her success. On several occasions, the author describes times when she would seemingly forego the feelings and concerns of others in order to meet her needs or to stick to her plans. Hers is truly a story of survival.

Regardless of religious affiliation, readers facing adversity will find Marshall’s story encouraging.