Raised a Warrior by Susie Petruccelli

Raised a Warrior by Susie Petruccelli

A star athlete shares her trailblazing account of triumph in the face of sexism, self-doubt, and injury, gives a remarkable global tour of the women's soccer world, and presents a stirring call-to-action to secure equal pay and conditions.

When Susie Petruccelli won a place on Harvard University's soccer team, she felt on top of the world--talented, strong, and worthy. Unfortunately, after sustaining injuries and developing health problems, she felt her worth slip away. In this remarkable memoir, Petruccelli reveals how she battled her way back onto the field and continued to fight even after she hung up her cleats. She distills the significance of not giving up on oneself and inspires players of all sports who've faced injuries to persevere. She also brings to light the inequities and discrimination female athletes face that she's traveled the world to see and document firsthand, and introduces the international athletes and activists fighting for equal pay and conditions. In so doing, she reveals the progress made, as well as the battles ahead and the force of the movement.

Raised a Warrior is the winner of the Vikki Orvice Prize and has been praised by a wide range of sports icons from Pelé to Billie Jean King.

Susie Petruccelli is a former captain of the Harvard women's soccer team, youth coach, and activist. Susie is currently producing the documentary Warriors of a Beautiful Game, which tells the stories of barrier-breaking female soccer players from around the world, alongside Kely Nascimento-DeLuca, the daughter of the legendary Brazilian soccer star Pelü¾Ž–”¼, and Julie Foudy, the US women's national soccer team legend and sports broadcaster. Susie has worked with Billie Jean King and the Women's Sports Foundation and serves on the Coaches Across Continents's Ask For Choice Advisory Team, which uses play to instill positive attitudes, skills, and knowledge on six continents based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. She is a proud ambassador for the Equal Playing Field Initiative, which has broken four Guinness World Records to advance women's equality in sports, and she is executive producer of the Equal Playing Field documentary. Susie is also an executive producer of the suicide awareness film Last Call. With a background in programming, systems administration, and web design, Susie invests in female founded projects and startups like Build & Imagine, a women-owned toy company that designs STEM building toys for girls that was acquired by Melissa & Doug. She is the recipient of the 2019 Vikki Orvice prize for her proposal for Raised a Warrior. Born and raised in Southern California, she currently resides in New York.