The Power of Words: Charity Alyse

Have you every been told that you can't do something and you think about giving up? In this episode, Charity Alyse shares how she turned racism, rejection, and a terrifying health scare into power, purpose, and a pop-up bookstore. Her grit, kindness, and creativity will inspire all of us.

Check out Charity's Instagram and discover Austen's Shelf.

For more, visit She What? on Instagram.

Brought to you by Capital Health

Credits:

Producer and Host: Jess Downey

Producer and Host: Maureen Petrosky

Producer and Editor: Leigh Iacobucci

Artwork: Peter Yates Design

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Transcript

Charity Alyse (00:03):

Books and reading and words have always inspired me to be bolder and I wanted to see myself in the stories that I loved so much.

Jess (00:21):

I'm Jess Downey. You might know me as Editor-in-Chief of Real Woman and Thriving Magazines for Capital Health.

Maureen (00:27):

And I'm Maureen Petrosky. You might have seen me on the Today Show or CBS mornings as an entertaining expert or know some of my books like Wine Club and Zero Proof Drinks

Jess (00:36):

And we're two friends who created She What?

Maureen (00:39):

<laugh> a podcast that digs into the personal and often surprising stories of women who inspire us

Jess (00:45):

And they get real about the wins, the fails and everything in between.

Maureen (00:51):

Here we invite her to tell the whole story, the pain she endured, the triumph she celebrated, the friends she made along the way and maybe even how she reinvented herself.

Jess (01:02):

These are the kinds of stories that make us think. They make us laugh, they keep us going.

Maureen (01:07):

Need a dose of inspiration. It's here. Need a fresh perspective. We got that too.

Jess (01:18):

Hi Maureen.

Maureen (01:20):

Hi Jess. What have you been up to?

Jess (01:22):

Ooh. Well I recently came across the craziest picture of myself when I was little. Maybe like six or seven. I have a total bowl haircut, <laugh>. I'm filthy dirty and I'm running around with my shirt off. You look at this picture, you can just feel how carefree I am. Do you ever think about when that changes during childhood?

Maureen (01:43):

Ooh. I think for everyone there's that turning point when you're a kid. When you go from like the sense of wonder and anything is possible to the harder edges of reality. And it comes at different times for all of us, but it always comes.

Jess (01:56):

Mm, it does. But today's guest, author and entrepreneur, Charity, Alyse had an experience in childhood that could have easily derailed her.

Maureen (02:05):

Definitely. We're not gonna give away what happened, but it will resonate with all of you. And there's so many parts of the interview you'll see and hear her magic and superpower her "She What?" <laugh> is that it propelled her into so many wonderful things. You will love it and love her. So stick around.

Maureen (02:26):

Charity Alyse, welcome to She What?

Charity Alyse (02:29):

<laugh>. I love that. <laugh>. I'm sure that catches a lot of people by surprise. Huh? <laugh>.

Maureen (02:37):

We're so happy that you are here. We've got a lot to talk about. The three of us are all book nerds right off the bat. So we have that in common.

Charity Alyse (02:46):

I love that. First of all, thanks for having me here. I'm really excited to be here.

Maureen (02:49):

Already we could spend the whole conversation talking about books and our favorite writers, but your story is one of a kind. So let's start with like, take us back. How did this all stem?

Jess (03:00):

Like was it your kindergarten teacher that early on, you know, you how you were propelled in so many ways into literature and writing?

Charity Alyse (03:08):

Yeah. Okay. So we're gonna like start it from the way beginning. <laugh>,

Maureen (03:12):

We like to tell the whole story on She What.

Charity Alyse (03:15):

To go way, way back. Alright. So where I grew up was like a predominantly white area. It was like a suburb. I was one of the few black kids in the school besides my siblings. And so I encountered a lot of racism and things growing up, specifically in the area of literature, which I loved. I remember just cozying up to green eggs and ham even as a kid and like reading it over and over and over again. And I remember having indoor recess and instead of playing like dolls or everything, I would rewrite little Disney princess stories and I would always put black characters at the center. Cinderella would have braids and Prince Charming would've dreadlocks.

Jess (03:52):

That's the best. <laugh>

Charity Alyse (03:53):

<laugh>. And I wanted to see myself in the stories that I loved so much. And so I ended up showing my kindergarten teacher and I was expecting her to say like, oh my gosh, this is so cute. I love it. But she did the exact opposite. She told me that I was practicing copyright infringement stop. Um, that it was completely <laugh>, right?

Maureen (04:16):

That's s little heavy for a little kid.

Jess (04:17):

I cannot believe that.

Charity Alyse (04:19):

I was terrified.

Jess (04:20):

That's crazy. That's absolutely outrageous.

Charity Alyse (04:23):

It's insane. I was terrified. She said I could go to jail for it.

Maureen (04:26):

Oh my goodness. Yeah.

Charity Alyse (04:28):

She was like, if you keep doing this, you're never gonna be a writer. You're never ever ever gonna be a writer. No one wants to read these books.

Jess (04:34):

How many ways can she squash your dreams right from jump.

Maureen (04:38):

Yeah. Way to go teacher.

Charity Alyse (04:40):

Great kindergarten teacher <laugh>. So, and and like that terrified me. I remember like emptying out my cubby, throwing away all the little stories that I had. Yeah. Vowing to never write again. Yeah.

Maureen (04:52):

That's so sad.

Charity Alyse (04:53):

Yeah, it, it wasn't a fun experience. And then a year later I wanted to check out a Junie B. Jones book in the library and I was given like a literacy test and so I was not able to check out the books 'cause I couldn't read some of the words. But the little white girls in front of me that I knew also couldn't read the words. 'cause we were all so young. We were in the same class. They were able to take out their Junie B. Jones books and I wasn't allowed to. So my first grade teacher ended up sending a note home to my mom and I thought that I was in trouble, but she's like, Hey, I think it's time to start having these conversations because I witnessed charity experiencing something that wasn't fair. And I think it's more based on the color of her skin than anything else. And so we went to Barnes and Noble that night, my parents took me and we brought like the whole box set of all the Judy B. Jones books. And so my love for reading just continued since then and it just hasn't stopped.

Maureen (05:41):

Okay. Props to the first grade teacher. Props are we had, yeah, A good teacher and bad teacher story. And then good parents.

Jess (05:47):

Good parents, good teacher, bad teacher, all the things. And that's, that's real life. So I'm glad you had sort of that range of experiences that led you to a better place.

Maureen (05:57):

Yes. But even at such a young age, you had spunk and you had creativity inside of you. Like writing those stories and being able to kind of bounce back from some of that tough situations in such a young age. I mean, I'm an adult and if someone's thrown around copyright infringement, I'm like kind of freaking out. So <laugh>, I mean as a little kid to be able just to get back on the horse and get back into school and go back to the library again. So it sounds like you've always had this inside of you, a little bit of spunk, but I think it's so important to talk about inclusivity and representation even at such a young age. And obviously Jess and I are too white women, so our upbringing was a little different. You know, Cinderella did look like people we knew and now we see that as different. I mean you mentioned Disney, but you know, as one of the major franchises, do you see more of this now? Is it better? Is there still room for work in this area? What are your

Charity Alyse (06:51):

Thoughts? Yeah, I think there's always room for growth just in anything. But I do really like the direction that it's taking. I have a niece who's two years old and I'm able to like find books with main characters that look like her now. We didn't have Princess Tiana I think until I was maybe like 13 or 14 years old. So it's just, it's nice to see that we're practicing diversity in, in our children's literature now. So I think that's really special.

Maureen (07:15):

I love that.

Jess (07:15):

Totally. Take us a little bit further on your journey though, how you got to a place where you started writing for reels for reels and you published your first book.

Charity Alyse (07:25):

Yeah, so speaking of good teachers, it was my, I wanna say junior year of college. And I was in my creative writing class and we were given the responsibility of just writing anything we wanted to do as long as it was targeted as like for youth. And so I took kind of the things that were going on at that time. Um, it was like the Black Lives Matter movement was kind of gaining headway and the Trayvon Martin stuff and everything. And so it really affected me, but I'm normally like a quiet person, so I wasn't really like talking about it. I wasn't going to the protest or anything, but I was like, okay, no, like books and reading and words have always just inspired me to be bolder. So I ended up choosing my story and I did like a Romeo and Juliet retelling and it was about like a racially divided town separated by train tracks.

Charity Alyse (08:11):

And on the white side of town you had this boy that was super bold and he was from Philly, so he's like used to culture and black people <laugh>. And he's like trying to cross to the other side of the tracks and he hands up falling in love with a ballerina and a dreamer on that side and they start to fall in love. But then a black boy's murdered on the white side of the tracks by a police officer. And so both towns just erupt into a war zone. And then we have these two main characters caught in the middle. And it was a 10 page story and I presented it to my class and I was so nervous. I was like, okay, everyone's gonna hate this. They're all gonna think I was, I'm crazy. And everyone cried like we were sitting around. I literally remember seeing like, oh my gosh, my words have power.

Charity Alyse (08:53):

Like I'm not gonna get in trouble for a copyright infringement with Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet <laugh>, um, <laugh>. And I remember my professor pulling me aside and she was like, Hey, you really need to submit this, like this needs to be published. She's like, there's this book coming out, it's called The Hate You Give, like I think it might do good. And she's like, but I I think you should write something. I think you should turn this into a book. So I ended up writing it and submitting it and I got over 200 rejections from agents. They were saying, this isn't like the market that we have right now. We don't think anybody's really gonna wanna buy this. And um, I remember sitting again with my wonderful mother and I was like, I'm done. It's been years I've graduated. I'm a kindergarten teacher now. No, I'm gonna invest my time in these kids. She's like, just submit it one more time. And I did and I ended up getting an agent and then Simon Schuster and Harper Collins both really wanted the book. And so we went to auction and it ended up being sold to Simon Teen and that was years ago, 2022. And now I'm on deadline for my second book with Simon Teen. So Yay girl. It's exciting. <laugh>.

Maureen (10:02):

Okay, so tell us the title of the first book so everybody knows.

Charity Alyse (10:06):

Oh duh. Um, <laugh> <laugh>. It's called Other Side of the Tracks.

Maureen (10:10):

Okay. And then does the new book have a title yet or a release date?

Charity Alyse (10:15):

It has a title. I think we're gonna keep the title. It's called Laced in Gold as of right now, and then it's supposed to release fall of 2026. So pretty soon, pretty far away, but yeah.

Maureen (10:25):

Well those are huge accomplishments.

Jess (10:27):

Yeah. Thank you. Amazing. I love that because I remember reading somewhere a long time ago that she ine had insane number of rejections for the Giving Tree. And I always think that persistence when it comes to having really doing anything but especially getting a book published is you just, so I love that you're giving this mesh is like you have to stick with it. You can't just quit when you get, I mean, 200 rejections sounds like a lot, but you persevere, so that's incredible.

Charity Alyse (10:54):

Yeah, it's incredible. Yeah. And I always say like living in the 200 rejections, it's like, it's easy to say it, but like actually opening up your email every day and seeing another no for two, three years, it was so, so hard. Totally. But it's, it's worth it to just persevere. And I think like if you believe in your dream, you know, and you know that other people will benefit from it, I think it's worth it to just keep pushing.

Maureen (11:17):

I love that you say that, that other people will benefit from it because you do have great messages and there is something that drives you bigger than just wanting to be a writer. It's not a vanity project for you. It's actually got a message and I think that it resonates and it's, it's funny that you then turned out to be a kindergarten teacher after you might not have had such a great time in kindergarten with that other teacher. Um, but now you seem to be doing something that's also very young and hip with your popup bookshop. I mean, just even having books in a medium that seems to be relevant and new and fun and interesting. So tell us a little bit about Austin's shelf.

Charity Alyse (11:54):

Yes, yes. I love talking about Austin Shelf <laugh>. So Austin Shelf is my mobile bookstore and it operates out of a seven by 14 cargo trailer that over the summer my husband, myself and a contractor renovated and it started out as just plywood, but now there's bookshelves and laminate flooring in the ceiling and a hand painted fireplace mantle and wallpaper. It's so cute. Thank you so much. I appreciate that

Jess (12:21):

<laugh>. Why Jane Austen, can you talk about your relationship with her and why, why you decided to name it after her?

Charity Alyse (12:29):

Yeah, so it's kind of like long story short story I found out about Jane Austen when I was in, I wanna say like fifth grade. I ended up being pulled outta school and being homeschooled and we had like a little homeschool group in our southern New Jersey town. I remember being invited to a sleepover and I was like, what are we gonna do? Just kind of like stare at the wall, like what do we do <laugh>? And one of my friends just brings out this huge box set of all these movies and it's like pride and prejudice and there's like this BBC box set and I'm like, what is this? And like, why are they wearing bonnets? Like what is happening <laugh> and <laugh>? And they plugged it into their VCR and we started watching Pride and Prejudice and I was just completely enamored and me being obsessed with books, my friend told me she's like, these are, these are based on books.

Charity Alyse (13:21):

And just since then Jane Austen's just been like my comfort. Uh, whenever I'm going through really hard season in life, I always just kind of like pop in pride and prejudice or I'll take my anthology and I'll read. And she's such a, an amazing woman, especially for the time that like she lived when women were just expected to be married and have children and she chose her writing over marriage and she chose to take these novels and not just, you know, write about like love and romance, but to have so many layers to them with society and things that are expected of women at a certain age. It's just that was so bold for that time and I could talk about her for hours, but um, when I was thinking about the name for uh, my bookstore, I have this big Jane Austen bookshelf <laugh> next to my couch in case my husband wants to watch something actiony. I'll just grab one of the books and read it. <laugh>,

Maureen (14:18):

I love that idea actually. <laugh>

Jess (14:20):

An emergency Jane Austen Shelf. Yeah, I like it.

Charity Alyse (14:24):

I just looked over and I was like, wait, what should I name it? Like charity's place? No, like books on the go. Like I didn't know <laugh> and I ended up just being like, no, like Austin Shelf. I think that it just feels comforting, I hope.

Jess (14:41):

Yeah. I did wanna ask you about, I know some major things have happened in your life since we last spoke. You, first of all, you said you alluded to you got married.

Charity Alyse (14:49):

Yes, I did get married.

Jess (14:50):

So you have to tell us that story. Congrats. Thank you. How did you meet your hubs?

Charity Alyse (14:55):

Yeah, so we met through a mutual friend, actually we both had the same best friend and he was like, Charity likes music, Julian likes music, I think you guys should should talk. And we lived in two different states. So I'm in New Jersey, he was in Virginia. And so we like FaceTimed and like chatted on the phone and then by the third year that, you know, we knew we liked each other and then sometimes he would come visit, he ended up moving here to New Jersey and so he ended up proposing shortly after. And yeah, I'm married now,

Maureen (15:25):

The rest is history.

Charity Alyse (15:26):

The rest is history.

Jess (15:28):

On the less happy side of the spectrum. You had a really scary breast cancer situation. Can you share a little bit about that?

Charity Alyse (15:36):

Yeah, so that's kind of goes along with like how Austin Shelf started. I just wanna back up just a little bit because I think this is really special to share and I haven't really shared it before. My mom, um, she's a hospice nurse and she was taking care of one of her clients and her client was obsessed with Jane Austen. My mom said, like she was, she's like an older version of me and she lived in England and she ended up like getting so many like Jane Austen things while she was there, but as she was like passing away from um, cancer, she wanted someone to give all of her her Jane Austen things too. And so my mom had mentioned me and she's like, no. Like I, I want her to have everything. And so she actually provided everything that's like on my little Jane Austen shelf. So I have a lot of fun like anthologies and things from, from England. That's amazing.

Maureen (16:25):

So I have goosebumps from that story <laugh> that is just so beautiful and generous and like just sharing from generation to generation.

Charity Alyse (16:34):

Yeah. And um, in her like being a black woman, she asked my mom, has she ever felt kind of like that book and like Jane Austen and like this has just been a comfort through everything that she's might have faced in life. And my mom was like, yeah. And so it kind of goes along with my story because maybe about a couple weeks after she passed and everything, I ended up going to the doctors because I had had like two lumps that were on my breast and I thought it was nothing. And I was like, no, it's probably just hormonal. Um, and my husband just really pushed me to go get it checked out. And so I went to my primary and she referred me to go get an ultrasound and a mammogram and she's like, you're 29. This isn't normal for you to need to get a mammogram, but like I think I think you need to go.

Charity Alyse (17:17):

It's not going away. And I remember the appointment was supposed to be 25 minutes and it turned into two hours because they just kept wanting to re-scan and double check, which is amazing. And I'm glad that they took that special attention. And I remember being in the gown and they were going to go get my husband actually 'cause they were like, we, we need to talk to you. Is there someone here that like for support that you would like to be here? And so they were gonna go get him. And I remember like just sitting there and looking in the mirror and I was like, okay, if this turns out to be like breast cancer, then what's something that I've always wanted to do but just was never bold enough to do it or I wanted to save it for retirement. And it was open a bookstore after they had told me that they were scheduling a biopsy because you know, the tumors really didn't look like hormonal, they didn't look like cysts. And we got in the car and my husband's kind of just like, you know, like, we're gonna get through this. I'll be by your side. I'm like, I wanna open up a bookstore, <laugh> <laugh>.

Charity Alyse (18:14):

And he was, yeah, he was like, okay, like let's do it. And so literally two weeks later we, we had a rental car. We didn't even have like the car towing capacity to pull the trailer, but we had a little trailer attached to the back of the, the rental pickup truck and we were making our way from PA back to New Jersey. And so that's kind of like the start of everything. And and it was such a beautiful thing I think throughout this whole process of like going to doctor's appointments and scheduling surgery and things to have something that like keep me busy and like to, to distract me. And, and that's what Austen Shelf's just been able to do. And so I had surgery July and I got the tumors removed. I do not have cancer so that's amazing. But I am really proud of like what was birth out of such a terrifying experience.

Maureen (19:03):

Yeah. Once again, this seems to be like your ongoing thread throughout your stories is your resilience and it doesn't seem like anything can knock you down. Tell us a little bit more about the bookstore. Like how can people find it? How do they know about where you're popping up and how

Jess (19:17):

Do you get your books? That's what I'm really curious about.

Maureen (19:19):

Yeah. How do, do you pick?

Charity Alyse (19:20):

<laugh>? How do I pick? Yeah, because we're only working with like 98 square feet, so there's like barely room. I kind of go off of like obviously we have a lot of Jane Austen books and like historical romance and historical literature, but I go off of like what I think she would read if she was still here, all genres. But things that I think nod to some of the themes that she wrote about in her novels. So that's kind of how I pick. I literally will have my coffee and like carve out like three or four hours to just go on like the different websites, like the wholesale websites. And I'll go through like book by book and like read what it's about and then kind of pick and choose that way.

Jess (19:58):

Yeah, I love that you're like handpicking books that move you. That's incredible.

Charity Alyse (20:03):

It's really cool. Yeah, it's, it's a lot of fun.

Maureen (20:05):

Alright. So then once it's full, your little trailer, how do people know where to come see you?

Charity Alyse (20:11):

Yeah, so we have our schedule posted on Austen's Shelf.com um, and then also on social media, which is really funny because I had no idea like that anybody would even like kind of wanna come and my husband told me, he's like, Hey, if this doesn't work out we can just park it in the backyard and you'll have like a little library <laugh>. I love that. I was like cool. <laugh> <laugh>. Very supportive. But people have kind of just been like following us on social media and I'll talk about where we go and we had our grand opening at our local mall and like 1500 people showed up. Wow. Which was insane.

Maureen (20:44):

Did you sell out of books or what? I mean how many titles can you have have in there?

Jess (20:47):

Yeah, 400 books.

Charity Alyse (20:48):

Yeah, about like 400, 480, you know, 'cause we wanna have space and yeah, we sold out completely. Like I felt so bad on the last day that we were there. We had like five books. <laugh>. Aw <laugh>,

Jess (21:01):

The dregs. That's so, I'm sorry <laugh>. I'm so curious about h how you feel about sort of your generation or where we're moving in the book world. Like with so much social media, with so much like digital distraction, do you feel in your experience that people are still really into reading? Do you still see that passion and how do you sort of infuse that into others in your generational cohort?

Charity Alyse (21:27):

Yeah, I think that that's something that like, I really wanted to promote with Austen's Shelf. I think when people walk into these really big bookstores, especially if they're not readers, for us it's like Candy Land. And I think for others it can feel a little bit like, okay this is a lot. Um, it can be a little bit intimidating I think in bringing Austin Shelf to places where, you know, people feel most comfortable like their local coffee shop, maybe a farmer's market parking it in the middle of a city. I think that that kind of creates that, you know, like you're welcome to come in here and there's no pressure to buy anything. There's no pressure to read anything.

Jess (22:05):

Accessibility kind of thing. Yeah,

Charity Alyse (22:07):

Yeah, yeah. And so that's really helped. But no, I'm very surprised. Like I had no idea. We did an adult book fair in Hadden Township, New Jersey and the line was like three blocks long and people waited like an hour just to get into the trailer. Wow. People that don't even like to read just wanted to see it and left with a book. So I, I think also like the fact that they're like, okay a mobile bookstore, I need to see this. I need to check it out. And so yeah, I'm really surprised with the amount of people that have been coming. 'cause I'm like you, I didn't think that this many people still read <laugh>.

Maureen (22:38):

I just love reading so much. Like I honestly at night I'm like, I'm gonna read this so hard. I read so hard until I, until I can't keep my eyes open anymore because it is so, it transports me. It really does. It takes the whole day away. And even nights when I'm tired and my eyes are tired, I'm like can't wait to get upstairs and read. Like it's one of my favorite parts of my day. And I think like Jess, when you talked about social media and all, you know, ai, all this stuff that we're inundated with all day long, you can't replace a book. You can't replace the feeling of sitting with something and holding it in your hands. And I know a lot of people use e-readers now and do audio books, but I still just love the feeling of holding a book. And I think there's so many things that are being replaced by technology that's something that you can't replace. And so I think hopefully people will continue to be drawn to that. But like we said, you're offering it in such a unique, interesting, fun, current way with a popup that I would wanna see it too. I'd be curious, I'd wait an hour to get in that line. But you also do something else. You do these audio book walking tours. Tell us a little bit about that. That sounds right up my alley.

Charity Alyse (23:45):

Yes. Because I am a strong believer that audio books are still books. I know that's like that whole discourse. It's like, are you reading if you're listening to it? Like I say yes,

Jess (23:54):

High five girl, me too.

Charity Alyse (23:56):

High five.

Maureen (23:56):

I believe that too. You're getting to the same place, right? You're still being transported, you're still letting your mind wander into a completely different, you know, space. So I think I agree with you.

Charity Alyse (24:07):

Yeah. I was talking to one of my friends the other day and um, she just, she's a mom. She just doesn't have time to sit and read as much as she would like to. So she's able to get through like three or four books in a week doing laundry and like cleaning the house and everything. So, and she also listens at like 2.5 speed, which is crazy.

Jess (24:26):

<laugh>, my sister does this too. I think it's insane. I think it makes everything sound like a micro machines commercial. I can't even handle it. <laugh>.

Charity Alyse (24:34):

That's what I told her. I'm like, it sounds like the lady at the end of the pharmaceutical commercials that's giving the side effects. Exactly. I'm like, I don't understand how you're doing this, but yes, we have an audiobook walking club. We had over 250 people sign up. Wow.

Maureen (24:47):

Yeah. There's power in this. Yeah,

Jess (24:49):

There is. Yeah. I love that. I, I have to add something that I was thinking about on my summer vacation. I went to see, my dream was always to go see Ann of Green Gables in Prince Edward Island. And the thing that blew my mind was people came from all over the world to be there and I was trying to figure out what that was about. And I think it's because books can get inside you in ways that other things don't. They just like wiggle their way in and it's like foundational. And so these people were coming from like the Netherlands and you know, all over the world because they've always wanted to see it. And I just thought there was such comradery and like identity in that.

Charity Alyse (25:28):

Yeah, I think that's beautiful. I've also always wanted to go, so if you go again, please let me know.

Maureen (25:34):

Oh, don't get her started, Charity. She'll, she's gonna, she's gonna sign you right up for her next trip and at her wife will be happy about that. Amita will be very happy that someone else will take her.

Jess (25:44):

Someone else will take me. I did learn 'cause they have these little, um, redheaded wigs that you can put on with the braids and it's mostly for like little girls and stuff, but we put them on, she does not look good as a redhead. That was my thing. <laugh>. It was like actually horrifying, but...

Charity Alyse (26:00):

Stop. I love that. I'm sure my husband would love to try that on, yeah.

Jess (26:04):

Oh <laugh>, I wanna see that selfie. You, you better send that along.

Maureen (26:08):

Uh, there was a similar display recently up at the Morgan Library in New York. I don't know if you got to see this charity, but it was a Jane Austen celebration. There were women lined up around the block and from all over the world to come in and see this. I was stunned. Honestly. I I love the books. I love listening to you talk about her in that way. That sounds so different than what I remember. It kind of makes me wanna go back and revisit them a little bit. But the same thing like you were saying, just these are like rock stars for book nerds, you know? Yeah.

Jess (26:43):

Well on that. So you mentioned Junie B. Jones, like is there a character, like for me it was Ann of Green Gables and Joe from Little Women, but like, is there a character either in Jane Austen's books or any books that just like really resonated with you? 'cause you talk so much about representation and things like that.

Charity Alyse (26:58):

That's a really good question. I think that kind of depends on the season of life that I'm in. Okay. Um, I think in my whimsical era, it definitely was Ann. And in my, whenever like the holiday season comes along, I'm always like, I'm Joe. Like I'm gonna write the next great novel <laugh>.

Jess (27:18):

<laugh>.

Charity Alyse (27:18):

There's a book that I've been kind of like recommending to everyone that's walked in the shop. And I would say like right now I'm kind of in like my Jane Eyre era. Okay. Just like someone, and I know that's like a weird thing to say, but like someone that kind of like grew up not really maybe like understanding who she is and having like a lot of people that she trusted, like, you know, older people hurt her and then kind of like taking this adventure and stepping outside of herself to like give herself like a second chance to fall in love and to explore the dark places. It's just like, there's like this mental connection that I have with her that, you know, when I walked through the whole thing, like with the breast cancer scare, it just felt like I was in like Mr. Rochester's home. Like I was in such a terrifying, scary place and there's noises, like things in the attic <laugh>. And I, like, I chose to like walk in there and kind of like explore those emotions and I came out in the other side more sure of myself and realizing like I'm not the scared little girl that I was in the orphanage <laugh>. Like I'm, I'm bolder and I'm braver. So yeah, I'm kind of like in my Jane Ayre era right now, <laugh>

Maureen (28:27):

Listener, she did put orphanage in air quotes, so you're clear she was not in an orphanage.

Jess (28:33):

Her orphanage era.

Charity Alyse (28:35):

<laugh>.

Jess (28:38):

Oh gosh. I feel like the three of us could sit here and definitely nerd out for a few hours. I definitely am feeling the - yes - the vibe.

Maureen (28:45):

Me too. The book vibe, the book vibe, Charity. What do you think about all of these celeb book clubs and like the New York Times bestseller list and how they're dictating so much success of books? Do you follow those at all or do you just have your own Charity's Book Club?

Charity Alyse (29:01):

<laugh> I think the New York Times bestsellers list is like the magazine, or like the Cosmo magazine of the publishing world. It's like when you're a teenager, you always kind of compare yourself to the person on the front cover. And I think as an author it kind of goes hand in hand with New York Times. But I know a lot of my author friends that have made the list and that's like the thing, like you wanna make the list. They're never like really satisfied. They're always like, they feel like they're never gonna reach that same point, so they're kind of like competing against themselves and it's, they're finding it hard to push their other books because everyone's like, oh, but it wasn't as good as this one. One. Yeah. I have a friend that made the list and she worked so hard and her book was number one and then it like shot down on number six and apparently that was like such a big deal to whoever was interviewing her and it like really, really bothered her. She's like, okay, I, I made number one. Like I think that that should be something to celebrate, but in the same sentence, it's like she was number one for a week and then it shot down in number six <laugh>. So it's crazy. Insane.

Maureen (30:09):

Come on. That's insane. Yeah.

Charity Alyse (30:11):

Insane.

Maureen (30:12):

We will not be to print that reading that person's stories or following that person because the way to knock a girl down. Geez, it's interesting to hear your perspective from the side of a writer. I was thinking more as someone who curates books and curates this bookstore, what you think about those books that are on those lists and do you follow that like for yours?

Jess (30:33):

Like Reese or Oprah?

Maureen (30:36):

Oprah. Oprah. Jenna.

Charity Alyse (30:37):

Oh, oh. Um, sorry, I'm like going full writer mode. <laugh>.

Maureen (30:42):

No, I like that. It's fun to hear both perspectives. I mean, everyone has a book club now. My perspective is there's so many more books out there.

Jess (30:49):

It's interesting, these different book clubs are sort of like on the one hand getting more people reading, which is a wonderful thing. Yes. But it's also like, like you said, Maureen really narrowing the path to having a successful book. I don't know if that's how you feel Charity, but...

Charity Alyse (31:05):

No, I would agree. I think it's on the, on one end it's like, it's really good because it is helping people kind of get into reading. But at the same time I think that it's also only putting, and and again like I'm kind of thinking with, with like my publishing mindset, it's like there's so many politics kind of behind the whole thing. Like with what gets in a book club, it's not necessarily because it's good, it's just because the amount of money that your marketing team is like able to put in or wants to put in. So yes. Yeah, I don't know. I, I think that there could be more diversity with these book clubs and um, I think new authors, especially debut authors should kind of get more of a chance to shine for Austen's Shelf. I really don't pay much attention. I really, really like to connect with local indie authors. If I have that responsibility and I get that responsibility to kind of like curate books and put them in front of people, I think that the lesser known voices deserve kind of a chance to to get their books out there.

Maureen (32:03):

I love that, I love that because yes, it limits the amount of exposure that other books get, but it also, like you said Jess, there's good to it and there's bad and I don't wanna discredit anyone that's made those lists or made those book clubs. Those are huge accomplishments in their own right. I just would hope that readers would know that there's other things out there that they can find. I know like my local indie book shop has like staff picks and it's kind of like, you kind of know which person on staff likes what you like, and then I kind of go right to their section. So I get it in that vein in that it helps us all in our busy lives, you know, quickly choose something that we know is gonna resonate with us. But at the same time, um, I'm looking forward to getting in the door of Austen's Shelf and seeing what you're putting together for your readers out there.

Charity Alyse (32:52):

Thank you. Thank you.

Jess (32:54):

I wanted to ask you if you could go back and tell your kindergarten teacher something, what would you tell her?

Charity Alyse (33:01):

Oh my gosh, I've never thought of this. That's a really good question. I honestly, I think that I would ask more questions than what I would like wanna say. Yeah because I think her own experiences in life kind of built, you know, how she sees people and um, you know, even the little black girl in her class. And so I think I would wanna know more about like her upbringing and like the books that she read and the stories that inspire her and kind of try to understand where she's coming from and her perspective on things and you know, hope that we could have a good conversation on maybe how some of those things could change. I love that. I don't think I'd be like, you suck...

Jess (33:39):

<laugh> <laugh>.

Charity Alyse (33:40):

I would say,

Maureen (33:42):

Look at me now. No...

Jess (33:44):

Look at me now, exactly.

Maureen (33:45):

I love that your curiosity is still driving force for you. I mean, your curiosity as a reader, your curiosity to go back and reevaluate those situations in your life. Yeah, you could have easily said, you know, suck it to her, but you didn't <laugh> you chose the high road. So that's contagious for me. So I really loved having you on She what today and I cannot wait to see what you do next. I'm sure Jess would definitely agree.

Jess (34:10):

Oh, I'm gonna be following you, seeing what you're reading, what you're up to. I gotta check out Austen's Shelf. I'm gonna do all the things.

Charity Alyse (34:17):

Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you for having me on She What.

Jess (34:21):

I already miss her <laugh>.

Maureen (34:28):

Same. I know.

Jess (34:29):

I'm gonna call her tonight and tell her what I'm reading and find out what she's reading.

Maureen (34:33):

I wanted to ask her if she circled words like I do and then like as a writer, use those words then like I just, I had so many questions and she's just so genuine and kind,

Jess (34:44):

Kind. I know I wanted to tell that kindergarten teacher to pound some sand and she wasn't having it. <laugh> true

Maureen (34:52):

Testament to her character that she did not take debate on that one from you. And she just once again rose above. So taking everything from that conversation, I am gonna see the world a little lighter and a little brighter because of her.

Jess (35:05):

Me too. And I can't wait to get into that Austen's bookshelf and

Maureen (35:08):

Shop.

Jess (35:08):

Get reading girl.

Maureen (35:10):

Yes, let's do it.

Jess (35:12):

She what Comes to You from Real Woman Magazine, A Product of Capital Health. This episode was produced by Lee Ucci, with Music by Epidemic Sound.

Maureen (35:22):

Please, please leave us a rating and review. We want the show to be so great and we need you to help us do that. So follow, subscribe, and next time bring your friends too. Until then, I'm Maureen Petrosky.

Jess (35:34):

And I'm Jess Downey.