The Unlikely Disruptor: South Carolina’s First Black Woman to Run for Governor Paperback – March 14, 2026

The Unlikely Disruptor: South Carolina’s First Black Woman to Run for Governor is a powerful, unflinching memoir by Mia S. McLeod, a principled, trailblazing leader who has spent her life disrupting systems that were designed to exclude her.Mia was the first person to serve in multiple historic roles across South Carolina’s executive and legislative branches including: the first Black woman to run for governor of South Carolina and one of only two Black women from her state to receive the prestigious John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.The Unlikely Disruptor is a portrait of fearless leadership rooted in faith, moral clarity, and transformation.ABOUT THE AUTHORMia S. McLeod is a barrier-breaker, truth-teller, political trailblazer and 2023 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award recipient. She was the first woman to represent South Carolina House District 79 and South Carolina Senate District 22 and the first Black woman in her state’s history to run for governor.Her first book, The Unlikely Disruptor: South Carolina’s First Black Woman to Run for Governor, is a deeply personal account of what it means to lead with courage and conviction—revealing how faith, authenticity, and fearlessness fueled her fight to transform South Carolina politics and power. Read more