You Don't Need a Reason (Paperback)

You can have the career.

The house.

The money.

The passport.

The freedom.

So why do so many women still hesitate before eating alone in a restaurant, taking the trip, speaking their mind, saying no or doing something simply because they want to?

Why do we still feel the need to explain ourselves?

At seventy years old, Angel Cicerone thought she'd figured life out—until one seat at a New York City bar changed everything.

What began as an experiment in dining alone became an unexpected journey into the invisible rules women inherit, follow, and rarely question. Somewhere between being a good daughter, a good businesswoman, a good wife and a good person, Angel realized she'd confused independence with freedom.

In this witty, deeply relatable blend of memoir, cultural observation, and laugh-out-loud storytelling, she explores the hidden "cage" that teaches women their lives must always serve a purpose, justify themselves or earn approval.

Inside you'll discover why:

• We feel guilty relaxing.
• Being alone is often mistaken for being lonely.
• "Present. Useful. Chosen." became the unspoken job description for generations of women.
• We keep waiting for permission long after no one is standing in our way.
• The smallest acts—ordering dinner for one, taking the class, buying the ticket, saying yes to ourselves—can become revolutionary.

Filled with unforgettable stories, sharp humor and hard-earned wisdom, You Don't Need a Reason isn't about becoming someone new.

It's about finally meeting the woman you've been all along.

Because life isn't an audition.

You don't have to earn your place at the table.

Or the bar.

Or anywhere.

You never needed a reason.

Angel Cicerone has spent her career telling businesses what to do-and, occasionally, doing the exact opposite herself.A former advertising executive, entrepreneur, marketing consultant, and small-business strategist, Angel has owned an advertising agency, built businesses, written books, spoken to audiences around thecountry and worked with companies large and small.Then, at sixty, she moved to New York City.Living alone in a city where she knew no one turned out to be lessabout starting over and more about discovering what she'd beenmissing. She began going places alone. Restaurants. Bars. Museums.Jazz clubs. Neighborhoods she'd never explored. She sat at bars, talkedto strangers, got lost, got found and gradually stopped worrying quiteso much about what other people thought.That experience became Notes from a Barstool-and eventually thisbook.Angel writes about women, business, aging, independence and thewonderfully inconvenient business of being yourself. Her work is lessinterested in telling women how to age gracefully than in asking whythe hell they should have to.She lives in New York City, where she is still working, still curious, stillgoing out alone and still occasionally ordering dessert first.She has no plans to behave.