Former FOX News host and attorney Eboni K. Williams believes that women shouldn’t hide their beauty. Instead, they should embrace it as a positive and powerful asset.

Williams describes how her own career has been positively influenced by making strategic and intentional decisions about her appearance, what works best and when, all while staying true to her own personal style and values. Regardless of the decade, whether they were entering the workforce, seeking a leadership role, or looking to ascend to the C-suite, women (and even men) have always felt the professional need to embody a certain aesthetic appeal and individual personal power. Women, especially, have been sold the lie that being “pretty” comes at the expense of being taken seriously and that being “pretty” and being capable are mutually exclusive. In Pretty Powerful: Appearance, Substance, and Success, Eboni K. Williams encourages readers to reject the knee-jerk reaction to be shamed by this potential advantage and to stop leaving this incredibly powerful asset unused.

In each chapter, Williams is joined by other powerful women like Meghan McCain, Marcia Clark, and Desiree Rogers and explores how many others have learned to balance their “prettiness” with substance—to both look the part and express their intelligence in a way that is authentic and respected. While opinions may have differed through time, one fact remains: a personal “pretty” brand is perhaps the most immediate and obvious tool in a woman’s professional arsenal.