Rachel Dolezal, the former head of an NAACP chapter who for years passed herself off as black, is giving some context about how her upbringing shaped her search for identity in her new memoir.

Now identifying as trans-black, Dolezal sat down with NBCBLK to discuss how her identity challenges white supremacy and why she just couldn't be a white ally.

"I said I tried the 'ally path' in my earlier young adulthood," Dolezal said. "I did a lot of work but it wasn't as much in harmony with me being seen and understood for who I am, and that just kind of all synchronizing, in my life."

She also wishes she had introduced herself and her identity, rather than have it come out when a reporter asked her, "Are you African American," and she was unable to answer.

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