Did you feel inspired seeing Megan Rapinoe excel – and take pride in that excellence – on a global stage? Did you feel moved by her strength of purpose and empowered by her words of wisdom?

You’re not alone. Women around the world have responded to the way the star soccer player has handled her newfound fame. They love her gleeful post-match celebrations, they love her DGAF-ery when it comes to certain political personas, they love the way she rocks a tailored suit. Women love Megan Rapinoe.

And, it turns out, Rapinoe wants to give back. The athlete has announced that she will pen a book about her life, her athleticism and also her authenticity for Penguin, slated for release in 2020. 

“A lot of women, great women soccer players, have written memoirs,” Penguin editor in chief Ann Godoff told the New York Times. “Megan has a different platform… She’s just operating from this very honest and straightforward and ‘This is who I am’ place. I think that’s what many people aspire to.

Rapinoe’s book will combine personal history and anecdotes with advice, inspiration and essays. Speaking to the New York Times, Rapinoe added “I hope this book will inspire people to find what they do, and in turn inspire other people around them to do the same.”

Some of the subjects that Rapinoe will address in the book include sexuality, equal rights and the fight to close the gender pay gap, a subject that the US women’s soccer team has continued to speak out on since filing a lawsuit to achieve pay parity on International Women’s Day 2019. The US women’s team is now officially the world’s number one team, bringing in more revenue, more merchandise sales and more trophies than the US men’s team. Despite this, the female soccer stars are paid just 38% of what the men are paid.

It’s why, after the women’s team soared to victory at the World Cup in Lyon last month, the ecstatic crowd began to chant “equal pay!” over and over again.

And it’s why a book from Rapinoe, diving deep into why pay parity in sport matters to all women, could not be coming at a more crucial time. As Rapinoe herself said during a speech after the World Cup: “We have to be better. It’s our responsibility to make this world a better place.”  

Images: Getty