Push Back Virtual Book Tour

 

 

Healthy communication doesn’t always come naturally, especially when speaking up feels risky or uncomfortable. In Push Back: Live, Love, and Work with Others Without Losing Yourself, Tonya Lester invites readers to rethink what assertiveness really means — and why so many of us have been taught to fear it.

As a practicing psychotherapist, Lester has spent years helping clients who struggle with saying “no,” voicing their needs, or setting boundaries at home or work. Her book uncovers the social pressures and emotional habits that make people — especially women — shrink themselves to preserve peace. Through relatable examples, self-assessment tools, and real client stories, Push Back demonstrates how to engage in conflict without aggression, express needs without guilt, and find confidence in authenticity. Lester’s approach blends psychology with practicality, offering readers a roadmap for stronger communication and deeper self-trust. It’s not about becoming tougher — it’s about becoming truer.

 

Tonya Lester is a licensed psychotherapist and writer based in Brooklyn, known for her empathetic yet straightforward approach to emotional wellness. Her Psychology Today blog, “Staying Sane Inside Insanity,” reaches over a million readers, and her work has appeared in Newsweek, Fatherly, Well + Good, and The Guardian. She also mentors and consults with other clinicians, helping them build practices rooted in authenticity and self-awareness. Connect with her on Instagram, TikTok, or through her website.

 

Amazon: https://amzn.to/4qzHJKe

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/214569834-push-back

 

Author Interview

Where do you get your ideas?

I get my ideas from both my personal life and my work with clients. Push Back was born during a time when nearly everyone around me—my clients, and even my sister, who was going through a divorce—was struggling with the same dynamic: over-accommodating in relationships and losing themselves in the process.

At some point, I realized that while I was coaching women to push back and reclaim their voices, I wasn’t fully practicing that in my own life. That realization became the seed of the book. I wrote it for them—and for me.

 

What sets your book apart from others in your genre?

A complaint I’ve long had about many self-help books is the assumption that once women start speaking up and setting boundaries, everyone around them will respond positively. That’s simply not true!

Part of pushing back means standing your ground when the inevitable backlash comes. As I write in the book, the relationships that cause us the most pain are often working just fine for someone else. Push Back doesn’t shy away from that truth—it helps readers prepare for it.

What makes the risk worthwhile is the confidence, self-respect, and deeper emotional intimacy that live on the other side of asserting yourself. That’s the promise of Push Back: that the short-term discomfort of standing up for yourself leads to long-term freedom and connection.

 

What’s your favorite compliment you’ve received as a writer? 

I’ve been told I have a clear, warm writing voice, that sounds exactly like how I am in person.

 

Do you write every day? What’s your schedule?

I get up at 6am and write for one hour on weekdays. I don’t write for long, but I am consistent!

 

Where do you write—home, coffee shop, train?

I write at home on my sofa with my dog, Trouble, and my cat, Luke, tucked in around me.

 

Any quirky writing rituals or must-have snacks?

Coffee, always and forever.

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