Kate Grant’s No Woman Left Behind is part personal memoir, part global health crusade, and all heart. It follows Grant’s journey from an ad executive climbing the corporate ladder to a relentless advocate for women suffering from obstetric fistula—a devastating childbirth injury that ruins lives and is almost entirely preventable. With striking honesty and compassion, Grant details how she helped transform the Fistula Foundation into a global force, funding over 100,000 surgeries across Africa and Asia. Along the way, we meet the incredible women she fought for, the trailblazing doctors she partnered with, and the deeply human messiness of finding purpose.

What struck me most was how personal this book felt. Grant doesn’t sugarcoat her path. She begins in the glossy world of 1980s advertising, full of cocktail parties and leather tile floors, but inside, she’s unraveling. The chapter “Let’s Go Crazy” hit me especially hard—her life literally cracked open by the 1989 San Francisco earthquake and a crumbling relationship. She’s raw, vulnerable, and funny in that self-aware way that makes you feel like you’re hearing this over coffee, not reading a polished memoir. The moment she walked into the Fistula Hospital in Addis Ababa and met Dr. Catherine Hamlin, my heart broke and healed at the same time. That scene with Hanna, a teenage girl who lost her baby and was abandoned by her husband due to fistula, will never leave me.

I also loved how the book balances tough realities with hope. Grant takes a problem most of us have never heard of—one affecting millions of women—and brings it front and center. But she doesn’t stop there. She shows how change can happen. In “Smile Train of Vaginas,” she cheekily but cleverly compares her mission to the well-known cleft surgery nonprofit, and it works—because it should be that recognizable. Her passion is contagious. At one point, she says, “They will break your heart,” speaking of the women with fistula. And yes, they do. But Kate Grant will also make you want to do something about it.

If you’ve ever wondered whether one person can make a difference, this book answers that with a resounding yes. It’s for anyone who’s ever felt lost and hoped their pain might lead somewhere better. For nonprofit leaders, aspiring change-makers, or people craving more meaning in their work—this is your read.

Pages: 256 | ASIN: B0DK5YPQ69