NAIBA’s board has named a new executive director—Liz Hottel, formerly of Politics & Prose—but you aren’t leaving anytime soon. Why the long goodbye? NAIBA is very complex. It’s a hard job and there’s a lot of moving pieces. So I’m staying until the end of the year, to assist Liz. Liz is already working with the team members, learning their jobs, being trained in our systems. I came in on NAIBA’s ground floor, so everything that we do, I’ve built or helped guide somebody. Liz needs to understand everything we do, and that’s hard if you’re also the sole person responsible for moving things forward. So, we’re working alongside each other while she learns every aspect of what NAIBA does.
How has NAIBA changed since you stepped up to be its first executive director in 1999? It’s almost like what’s old is new again. When I think back, we had so many specialty stores: children’s only, cookbooks, travel, and gay bookstores. They all went away, but now they’re coming back, and maybe in a different way. It’s kind of nice to see a new focus on all those different genres.
What’s next for you? I’m working on building a mentorship program for young women with older professional women who want to share their life lessons. It will have four components: financial, career, relationship, and health. We would have women in all those areas giving advice. So, yes, this is moving beyond bookselling.
