Life After Ambition

Amil Niazi is a writer and producer. She writes The Cut’s series on parenting, The Hard Part, and covers work and motherhood and how the two intersect. Her writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, and The Washington Post.

“Niazi has made a career of being the person you turn to for advice on balancing kids, work, relationships, and all the other facets of a busy life. What’s so appealing about her new memoir, though, is its absolute avoidance of prescription. Niazi is refreshingly candid about how miserable she was, trying to do things the ‘right’ way for most of her life. Life After Ambition offers no tidy conclusions; Niazi is telling her story in medias res, inviting readers to figure the whole mess out with her—and in this era of gentle-parenting TikToks and general advice oversaturation, that feels like a gift.”—Emma Specter, Vogue “Niazi leans in to the relatable tone of her popular essays, inviting a genera­tion of working parents to join her as she con­siders ‘the possibility of “enough.’ Though her story is unique, it is this universal questioning that will ring true to any reader also considering the monumental step into parenting. The authenticity of her desire comes through in her voice, especially as she attempts to recon­cile her career goals and her role as a devoted mother. Readers will appreciate her honesty here, just as they did as she first found her audience. Perfect for anyone who believes there is more to life than work, more to par­enthood than juggling packed calendars and more than enough reasons to be good enough."—Sara Beth West, BookPage “Niazi's Millennial peers will relate to her realization of the never-arriving payoff of working one's way up in a so-called meritocracy, and to her terror at bringing children into a world they've been told is ending their whole lives, yet doing it anyway.”—Booklist “Niazi’s storytelling is perceptive and relatable, beautifully drawing connections between her individual experience and systems of oppression. . . . Overall a powerful and generous work. A warm, vulnerable memoir about trading ambition for sincerity and joy.”—Kirkus Reviews