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How We Heal: A Journey Toward Truth, Racial Healing, and Community Transformation from the Inside Out
In How We Heal, La June Montgomery Tabron, President and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, makes a powerful case for hope through racial healing.
From a vivid portrait of her childhood in 1960s Detroit to her leadership of one of the world's largest philanthropic institutions, La June shares her full-circle, American story—a coming-of-age journey where she gains a firsthand understanding of how systemic racism prevents our children and communities from thriving and learns about the transformative role healing can play in helping all of us transcend the legacy of racial inequity.
As she rises to her position as the first female and first African American leader of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, La June experiences the healing power of sharing and listening with empathy. And with the help of mentors and colleagues, she refines the message that will guide the foundation's mission for years to Healing can begin only with truth-telling.
Empowered by the mission set forth by its founder to support children and families "without regard to sex, race, creed, or nationality," the foundation explores a racial healing framework that transforms communities and individuals around the world—from small rural towns and big cities across the United States, including La June's own beloved Detroit, to Mexico, Haiti, and beyond.
This book serves as a testament to the power of transformation and a blueprint for how each of us, no matter who we are or how we lead, can use racial healing to bridge the empathy deficits in our communities.
How We Heal illuminates a path that all of us can follow—from trust to empathy, from understanding to repair—one conversation and one connection at a time.
From a vivid portrait of her childhood in 1960s Detroit to her leadership of one of the world's largest philanthropic institutions, La June shares her full-circle, American story—a coming-of-age journey where she gains a firsthand understanding of how systemic racism prevents our children and communities from thriving and learns about the transformative role healing can play in helping all of us transcend the legacy of racial inequity.
As she rises to her position as the first female and first African American leader of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, La June experiences the healing power of sharing and listening with empathy. And with the help of mentors and colleagues, she refines the message that will guide the foundation's mission for years to Healing can begin only with truth-telling.
Empowered by the mission set forth by its founder to support children and families "without regard to sex, race, creed, or nationality," the foundation explores a racial healing framework that transforms communities and individuals around the world—from small rural towns and big cities across the United States, including La June's own beloved Detroit, to Mexico, Haiti, and beyond.
This book serves as a testament to the power of transformation and a blueprint for how each of us, no matter who we are or how we lead, can use racial healing to bridge the empathy deficits in our communities.
How We Heal illuminates a path that all of us can follow—from trust to empathy, from understanding to repair—one conversation and one connection at a time.
- GenresNonfiction
284 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 14, 2025
6 people are currently reading
124 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 5, 2024
A nonfiction novel written by La June Montgomery Tabron, President and CEO of the W. k. Kellogg Foundation that discusses how systemic racism prevents children and communities from thriving and highlights the transformative role healing can play in helping all of us transcend the legacy of racial inequity.
La June provides a full-circle look into her coming of age story in America blended with facts about systemic racism and how it impacts our communities and the next generation. She demonstrated the healing power of sharing and listening with empathy to transform communities and individuals around the world.
La June provides a full-circle look into her coming of age story in America blended with facts about systemic racism and how it impacts our communities and the next generation. She demonstrated the healing power of sharing and listening with empathy to transform communities and individuals around the world.
July 9, 2025
Real Rating: 4.75* of five
The Publisher Says: In How We Heal, La June Montgomery Tabron, President and CEO of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, makes a powerful case for hope through racial healing.
From a vivid portrait of her childhood in 1960s Detroit to her leadership of one of the world's largest philanthropic institutions, La June shares her full-circle, American story—a coming-of-age journey where she gains a firsthand understanding of how systemic racism prevents our children and communities from thriving and learns about the transformative role healing can play in helping all of us transcend the legacy of racial inequity.
As she rises to her position as the first female and first African American leader of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation (Wikipedia link added), La June experiences the healing power of sharing and listening with empathy. And with the help of mentors and colleagues, she refines the message that will guide the foundation's mission for years to Healing can begin only with truth telling.
Empowered by the mission set forth by its founder to support children and families "without regard to sex, race, creed, or nationality," the foundation explores a racial healing framework that transforms communities and individuals around the world—from small rural towns and big cities across the United States, including La June's own beloved Detroit, to Mexico, Haiti, and beyond.
This book serves as a testament to the power of transformation and a blueprint for how each of us, no matter who we are or how we lead, can use racial healing to bridge the empathy deficits in our communities.
How We Heal illuminates a path that all of us can follow—from trust to empathy, from understanding to repair—one conversation and one connection at a time.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: We are at an inflection point in our development as a society. La June Montgomery Tabron knows this because she has lived through another inflection point: Detroit in the 1960s was on the front line of the Civil Rights struggle as African Americans asserted their right to be full participants in the US civil society that had systematically excluded them. Author Tabron is an MBA holder, thus a thoroughgoing participant in the system she is urging us to fix with her. As a professional administrator, her focus is on practical, achievable differences in one's personal behavior...listening, not simply expecting to be heard, is top of her list.
Given her long background in business, I'd expect nothing else from her. The way she brings readers along on her personal journey makes her commonsensical words all the more impactful. In a political climate of hatred and fear-stoking, of attacks on "DEI" efforts and their abandonment by many corporate entities, it is soothing to hear from the anti-DEI embodiment that is Author Tabron.
I felt I was sitting with my old friend and hearing her tell the whole story of what happened on her path to success as I read the book. It was that sort of personal connection I felt she was working to achieve, and mostly succeeded at presenting. In the moments where it was less successful it was down to not needing to be reminded of some important facts; hardly a sin in the story of a person's life.
What makes Author Tabron's point most effectively is the fact that she is drawing from her own life and her efforts to shift the course of a ninety-five-year-old multi-billion-dollar foundation as the first woman and the first African-American to head it. Her work there is clearly the source material of the book. The power of honest communication, coupled with empathetic listening, is very much the takeaway technique running through the whole story.
It is more important than ever to use our human capacity for empathy and our societally discouraged ability to listen instead of waiting to talk in order to combat the rising tide of politically motivated divisive language and ideas. The reasons for, and the ways to, apply both are in this easy-to-understand, easy-to-read, memoir.
I really hope some of y'all have reason to pick up the book to polish up the skills found inside its story.
The Publisher Says: In How We Heal, La June Montgomery Tabron, President and CEO of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, makes a powerful case for hope through racial healing.
From a vivid portrait of her childhood in 1960s Detroit to her leadership of one of the world's largest philanthropic institutions, La June shares her full-circle, American story—a coming-of-age journey where she gains a firsthand understanding of how systemic racism prevents our children and communities from thriving and learns about the transformative role healing can play in helping all of us transcend the legacy of racial inequity.
As she rises to her position as the first female and first African American leader of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation (Wikipedia link added), La June experiences the healing power of sharing and listening with empathy. And with the help of mentors and colleagues, she refines the message that will guide the foundation's mission for years to Healing can begin only with truth telling.
Empowered by the mission set forth by its founder to support children and families "without regard to sex, race, creed, or nationality," the foundation explores a racial healing framework that transforms communities and individuals around the world—from small rural towns and big cities across the United States, including La June's own beloved Detroit, to Mexico, Haiti, and beyond.
This book serves as a testament to the power of transformation and a blueprint for how each of us, no matter who we are or how we lead, can use racial healing to bridge the empathy deficits in our communities.
How We Heal illuminates a path that all of us can follow—from trust to empathy, from understanding to repair—one conversation and one connection at a time.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: We are at an inflection point in our development as a society. La June Montgomery Tabron knows this because she has lived through another inflection point: Detroit in the 1960s was on the front line of the Civil Rights struggle as African Americans asserted their right to be full participants in the US civil society that had systematically excluded them. Author Tabron is an MBA holder, thus a thoroughgoing participant in the system she is urging us to fix with her. As a professional administrator, her focus is on practical, achievable differences in one's personal behavior...listening, not simply expecting to be heard, is top of her list.
Given her long background in business, I'd expect nothing else from her. The way she brings readers along on her personal journey makes her commonsensical words all the more impactful. In a political climate of hatred and fear-stoking, of attacks on "DEI" efforts and their abandonment by many corporate entities, it is soothing to hear from the anti-DEI embodiment that is Author Tabron.
I felt I was sitting with my old friend and hearing her tell the whole story of what happened on her path to success as I read the book. It was that sort of personal connection I felt she was working to achieve, and mostly succeeded at presenting. In the moments where it was less successful it was down to not needing to be reminded of some important facts; hardly a sin in the story of a person's life.
What makes Author Tabron's point most effectively is the fact that she is drawing from her own life and her efforts to shift the course of a ninety-five-year-old multi-billion-dollar foundation as the first woman and the first African-American to head it. Her work there is clearly the source material of the book. The power of honest communication, coupled with empathetic listening, is very much the takeaway technique running through the whole story.
It is more important than ever to use our human capacity for empathy and our societally discouraged ability to listen instead of waiting to talk in order to combat the rising tide of politically motivated divisive language and ideas. The reasons for, and the ways to, apply both are in this easy-to-understand, easy-to-read, memoir.
I really hope some of y'all have reason to pick up the book to polish up the skills found inside its story.
February 13, 2025
Building that world together starts with conversation—honest, ongoing conversation. It starts with the hard truths that can provoke mutual understanding, mutual respect, and mutual recognition—with each of us seeing ourselves in each other. And it starts with the humility and the humanity to see that the path to repair and transformation runs through empathy and action. This is how we heal.
He was convinced, he said, that people “hate each other because they fear each other. They fear each other because they don’t know each other. They don’t know each other because they don’t communicate with each other. They don’t communicate with each other because they are separated from each other.” Dr. King continued, “God grant that something will happen to open channels of communication.”
“You don’t destroy the past,” he told me. “You surround the past with the present. You contest the past. And in that sense, you overwhelm the past with the positivity of the present.”
Racism is a system created by people. Perpetuated by people. And it can be dismantled by people, too.
The simple fact is that only when we allow for healing and connection can we realize the promise of our common humanity, of ubuntu: “I’m a person because you’re a person.”
He was convinced, he said, that people “hate each other because they fear each other. They fear each other because they don’t know each other. They don’t know each other because they don’t communicate with each other. They don’t communicate with each other because they are separated from each other.” Dr. King continued, “God grant that something will happen to open channels of communication.”
“You don’t destroy the past,” he told me. “You surround the past with the present. You contest the past. And in that sense, you overwhelm the past with the positivity of the present.”
Racism is a system created by people. Perpetuated by people. And it can be dismantled by people, too.
The simple fact is that only when we allow for healing and connection can we realize the promise of our common humanity, of ubuntu: “I’m a person because you’re a person.”
December 13, 2024
How We Heal is an inspiring, healing, and informational read from the first African-American female president and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. It is part autobiography, part history of racial injustice in America, and part guide on the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Truth, Racial Healing, Transformation. Tabron elegantly weaves everything into a quick read, and the inclusion of her own experiences grounds the solutions she is trying to speak throughout the pages.
In the book, Tabron draws herself as a hardworking, insightful fighter of injustice, willing to stick it out and fight in an environment that isn’t welcoming. She paved the way for others and used her intelligence to push through and be the best (as many Black women are forced to be) to gain the recognition she deserved from the start.
The writing was clear and concise, and following her journey helped frame the story. Some of the writing felt like she was trying to prove something to the reader, and it did lose me a little to know who she was writing to, but I still found the story engaging and a powerful read.
Thank you to Disruption Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
In the book, Tabron draws herself as a hardworking, insightful fighter of injustice, willing to stick it out and fight in an environment that isn’t welcoming. She paved the way for others and used her intelligence to push through and be the best (as many Black women are forced to be) to gain the recognition she deserved from the start.
The writing was clear and concise, and following her journey helped frame the story. Some of the writing felt like she was trying to prove something to the reader, and it did lose me a little to know who she was writing to, but I still found the story engaging and a powerful read.
Thank you to Disruption Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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March 21, 20252*, unrated so as to not artificially deflate the book’s score when there are so few ratings
My thing with this book is that I’m not sure why it was written in this way. It’s a memoir of a woman who has accomplished a lot in a spiritual sense, but since the whole story can be summed up in 2 to 3 main life events it feels a bit like an early draft of a more interesting future story.
On top of that, the book does not accomplish its main goal of talking about how to heal in specific terms. It gives vague philosophical advice but does not provide any information that has not been already written about in other antiracist literature. In short, I think this book is billed incorrectly — it’s not a memoir mixed with a guide for racial healing, it’s half a memoir with some discussion questions thrown in at the end that was published about a decade too early and five years too late at the same time. If this is your first foray into this genre you’ll do well with it most likely
My thing with this book is that I’m not sure why it was written in this way. It’s a memoir of a woman who has accomplished a lot in a spiritual sense, but since the whole story can be summed up in 2 to 3 main life events it feels a bit like an early draft of a more interesting future story.
On top of that, the book does not accomplish its main goal of talking about how to heal in specific terms. It gives vague philosophical advice but does not provide any information that has not been already written about in other antiracist literature. In short, I think this book is billed incorrectly — it’s not a memoir mixed with a guide for racial healing, it’s half a memoir with some discussion questions thrown in at the end that was published about a decade too early and five years too late at the same time. If this is your first foray into this genre you’ll do well with it most likely
January 24, 2025
This is the story of Tabron's life work and the efforts of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (of which she is the CEO) to promote and make possible the process of racial healing.
Her story, and this approach to ending our racial divisions, is both practical and inspirational. The guiding philosophy behind this could also be useful in addressing the other divisions that our country is currently grappling with.
Well worth the investment in time and personal reflection.
Her story, and this approach to ending our racial divisions, is both practical and inspirational. The guiding philosophy behind this could also be useful in addressing the other divisions that our country is currently grappling with.
Well worth the investment in time and personal reflection.
September 9, 2025
This book is a must read for anyone who wants to hear examples of what racial healing looks like in real life. La June expertly pulls us into her world, her experiences, and her reflections on how we each can effectively challenge systems and mindsets, and ultimately make a difference in our communities and our world. Every child should have an equal opportunity to thrive in this world and La June's journey inspires all of us to do what we can to make that dream a reality.
August 2, 2025
Super accessible. It was nice to read about racial healing initiatives but also to be aware of acts of violence done towards people of color. Now I know where in America is potentially most dangerous to live for people of color.
December 16, 2024
This book was an advanced proof
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews