Stop Waiting for Perfect

”““Life is hard, but sometimes the way we talk to and about ourselves can be harder. So getting sound advice from someone who’s not only going to remind you of your greatness but also help you get out of your own way is a joy. “”
—Phoebe Robinson, ​​New York Times bestselling author, actor, and comedian

““An incomparable blueprint for any person, especially those among us who are marginalized, who want to get off the hamster wheel of perfection and reclaim their ability to be simply human. Let L’Oreal’s book serve as a brilliant and urgent reminder that we are already enough, regardless of what we’ve achieved.””
—Evette Dionne, award-winning author of Lifting as We Climb and Weightless

““With tongue-in-cheek charm and down-to-earth sense, L’Oreal Thompson Payton makes it easy to live life loud (or, at least, louder) and act with enthusiasm, courage, and trust in your own talent.””
—Minda Harts, workplace and equity consultant and author of The Memo

““For generations we’ve been fed the lie that being perfect—or close to it will save us. Stop Waiting for Perfect allows us to find practical ways to heal those wounds of deceit …So grateful that this book empowers us and our communities to let go of the trap of perfectionism and make room for our purpose.””
—Melissa Kimble, culture writer, producer, and founder of #blkcreatives “

L’Oreal Thompson Payton is an award-winning journalist and the author of the forthcoming book, Stop Waiting for Perfect- Step Out of Your Comfort Zone and Into Your Power (BenBella Books, August 2023). She is also a health and wellness reporter at Fortune where she covers women and wellness in the workplace. Her professional writing is often inspired by her own personal experiences of trying to navigate the world as an ambitious Black millennial woman who was raised to believe that she could outwork all obstacles, but who has come to learn over time that success is not always guaranteed even if you follow all of the “rules.”

Her personal essays, feature stories and celebrity interviews have been published in esteemed media outlets such as Bustle, Essence, SELF, Shondaland, People, Publishers Weekly, and Well + Good. Her writing, speaking engagements, and wellness facilitation work pull from her personal struggles with issues such as self-doubt, imposter syndrome, infertility, and postpartum depression to encourage and inspire other Black women to see, trust, and believe in the beauty of who they are as enough even as they strive to become more than that.

When she’s not busy writing-which, to be fair, isn’t often-she can usually be found reading, on her yoga mat or riding her Peloton. L’Oreal lives just outside of Chicago with her very patient husband and brilliant daughter whose laugh lights up her world.

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