Stand

In 2014, women professional cyclists stood on the Champs-Elysees to race at the Tour de France. An epic day, after a century of being sidelined by ASO, owners of Le Tour. The journey of making this historic change happen, however, was anything but smooth. For Bertine, a former columnist and editor at ESPN and a budding professional athlete, advocating for gender equity wasn't even on her radar in 2008. A few years later, everything changed. Global petitions, documentary filmmaking, pressure groups, secret meetings, bullying managers, brain injuries, devastating depression... the seven-year span of one woman's foray into activism was rife with difficulties. But also a journey of hope, passion, courage and victory. With unabashed honesty, irreverence, history, humor and authenticity, Bertine's memoir takes us behind the scenes of what really happens when we stand up and fight for what we believe. And why we must. Proving how we all have the power to create change, STAND delivers a timely and poignant message: The journey toward equal opportunity is always worth the struggle.