Krishan Trotman

VP, Publisher

Krishan Trotman is the Vice-President, Publisher of Legacy Lit. She joined Hachette Books in 2016. In 2020 she launched Legacy Lit, an imprint dedicated to books that give voice to issues, authors, and communities that have been marginalized, underserved, and overlooked. This includes BIPOC authors, all women, and any group that they believe deserves a spotlight. The imprint is committed to promoting equality, equity, and inclusion for all people. The books are bold, mission-driven commercial works. Social justice and empowerment are Trotman’s passion. She likes to work with authors who are candid, bold, and, in their own unique way, not afraid to shake things up.

Her authors have included a range of award-winning and New York Times bestsellers, including congressman John Lewis’ Across That Bridge; journalist Stephanie Land’s Maid; MSNBC political analyst Malcolm Nance’s The Plot to Destroy Democracy; New York Times columnist Lindy West’s The Witches Are Coming and Shit Actually; UFC’s Mixed Martial Artist Paige VanZant’s Rise; Olympic medalist Ibtihaj Muhammad’s Proud; radio and TV host Zerlina Maxwell’s The End of White Politics; TV personality Ed Gordon’s Conversations in Black; journalist Talia Lavin’s Culture Warlords; Vanity Fair writer Nancy Jo Sales’ memoir Nothing Personal; BRAVO’s Million Dollar Listing star Ryan Serhant’s Sell It Like Serhant and Big Money Energy; Morning Joe’s co-host Mika Brzezinski’s Earn It! and Comeback Careers; The Today Show’s cohost Al Roker’s You Look So Much Better in Person; and empowerment coach Gina DeVee’s The Audacity to Be Queen, to name a few.

Krishan has been featured in the New York Times, Essence Magazine, New York Magazine, Publisher’s Weekly, Salon, Shondaland, Cheddar TV, MSN, CSPAN, and more. She is the self-described Beyoncé of Books and mom to her son Bleu.

Tara Kennedy

Publicity Director

Tara Kennedy is the Publicity Director at Legacy Lit. She has worked in book publishing for over twenty years and executed numerous campaigns that have launched several books onto bestseller lists, including those at the New York Times, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal.

Her work with bestselling nonfiction authors such as Carol Anderson, now a prominent and prolific authority on race in America, and Nicole Perlroth, winner of the 2022 FT Business Book of the Year award for her investigation of cybersecurity, has helped raise these authors’ profiles and create voracious media demand for their expertise. She has helped authors place essays and opinion pieces that top lists of most popular articles on newspapers’ sites, including that of The New York Times, and create opportunities for debate and conversation on critical topics that shape our world.

She has teamed up with in-house marketing and publicity units, film production companies, think tanks and businesses to help authors realize their potential and exceed their expectations. Authors she has supported include: Daniel Ellsberg, world-renowned Pentagon Papers whistleblower; Garrett Oliver, brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery; Kate Tempest, a Mercury Music Prize-winning recording artist; Bill McKibben, leader of the environmental campaign group 350.org; and Miriam Toews, author of the groundbreaking novel Women Talking, which is slated for a film adaptation that producer Brad Pitt has called, "as profound a film as anything made this decade."

She champions the work of writers, activists, artists, academics, and others through well-thought, strategic campaigns carried out with enthusiasm and care. She has long been interested in issues of social justice and empowerment and sees her work as a way to contribute to the national discourse on important, challenging subjects. She spends her free time daydreaming about where to travel next and caring for two fluffy cats, Willie and Busy.

Amina Iro

Assistant Editor

Amina Iro is an Assistant Editor at Legacy Lit. She started her publishing career as an Editorial Assistant at Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, where she worked on titles by esteemed authors such as Cicely Tyson and Zora Neale Hurston. A writer and performance poet originally from Prince George’s County, MD, Amina was a 2020 Fellow for the Watering Hole Winter Writer’s Retreat. She has performed at venues in the US, England, Nigeria, and South Africa. Amina is a graduate of the First Wave program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she studied Neurobiology and English Creative Writing. She is interested in nonfiction books with brave motifs that invite readers to the juncture of identity and social change and create new awareness through crucial, yet overlooked connections. In particular, she is passionate about social science, psychology, and narratives from women and people of color, as well as fiction, poetry, and literature that illuminate the many facets of Black and queer life.

Maya Lewis

Marketing Manager

Maya Lewis is the Marketing Manager for Legacy Lit Books. She began her publishing career at HarperCollins working with Amistad Book, HarperVia, and HarperCollins Espanol. During that time, she worked with bestselling authors including Cicely Tyson, Bakari Sellers, and the estates of Zora Neale Hurston and Dick Gregory among many others. She takes immense pride in working to establish diverse and BIPOC storytelling in the book marketplace and making sure that publishers work to find and develop underrepresented readerships. Maya studied English Literature and Sociology before receiving her Master's in Journalism from the City University of New York, where she focused on culture writing and documentary film. She is also a poet and mixed-media artist. Maya was a Brooklyn Poets 2021 Fellow, a 2022 Tin House Workshop alum and has exhibited work with sk.Artspace.