The former editor-in-chief of Ebony and Honey magazines sits down with Essence Features Editor Bridgette Bartlett Royal to talk about her debut novel If I Ruled the World — a sharp, glamorous, and deeply personal story set in the late '90s New York City publishing world. Equal parts ambition and survival, the book follows a Black editor fighting to save a hip-hop magazine in an industry that wasn't built with her in mind. Think The Devil Wears Prada — but Blacker, bolder, and with a soundtrack to match. Barnett draws from her own journey through the corridors of power, weaving together themes of race, ambition, and what it really costs to hold your ground in a boys' club. The result is a novel dripping in '90s nostalgia, industry glamour, and hard-won truth.
