Perfectly You: Embracing the Power of Being Real (2019 W Publishing, Nashville, Tennessee) by television journalist Mariana Atencio is part heartfelt autobiography, part warning to any slumbering member of her generation, and part road map for a better future for those bold enough to rise up and claim it. I personally started to notice Mariana Atencio as a reporter for news channel MSNBC when she was reporting on the ravages that Hurricane Maria had levied upon Puerto Rico in 2017, then the devastating Mexico City earthquake, then embedded with the so-called Central American “caravan,” and then during the heartbreak of family separation on the Mexican/U.S. border. She was certainly cute, there’s no denying that, but Mariana Atencio is much more than that. She had “it” whatever it is, and nobody really recognizes it until they see it up there on the television screen. Today’s journalists have to go well beyond,…
