Happy 1st Birthday LWBC
This week is our birthday. Woot woot!!! Today I’m talking about how Literate Women Book Club (LWBC for short) came to be, the wins of year one, and sneak peeks at what we’re looking forward to in year two.
How It All Got Started
Starting a bookstagram/booktok was a fun way to evolve the way I was sharing my personal passion for reading.
It all truly originated on my personal Instagram story (they are still up for anyone interested). One day in the heights on COVID, I finished a book for the first time in 2 years and just for fun and posted about it on my story. From there I would share book reviews on my story as I got more into it. To my surprise, I connected with so many people through it. Friends would reply and share books they also enjoyed, send their recommendations, chat in DMs about the book. In a time where the world felt really isolated (2020-2021) this was really impactful to me.
I felt a huge sense of renewal while I was on vacation in Spain and Portugal last May. I had taken off a full week of work. Yes, I did bring my laptop and worked a bit on my time off – but I had real moments of disconnect. Let me tell you, you are very unreachable rock climbing a cliff off the coast of Cascais, Portugal. I felt so fresh ending that trip and the thought came to me: it was now or never.
Let me take a few steps back so you can get the full picture. In 2022 I was in two book clubs and they were pockets of community that really poured into me, and places I felt joy watering into. Coming off a ton of alone time, this felt really good. The book clubs started very organically via Instagram DMs and word of mouth.
In December of 2022, I sat down with my goals list. For years, I explored the idea of creating content as a personal goal. Whether it was lifestyle, travel, beauty, fashion, or fitness. You can go dig through my personal TikTok and see a few mini vlogs that I made. I even made a few YouTube videos back in 2017. It was always something that called to me since the early 2010 YouTube days. I am honestly still dying to film a “what’s in my bag” video so If anyone wants that I am happy to oblige.
Even since the Myspace days I loved creating an online presence. I would take great pride in my layout, music selection, bio, etc. This continued with the inception of Instagram. I fell in love with iPhone photography and creating a moment through photos for all my experiences. Whether it be through the meal I’m eating, the outfit I’m wearing, sharing the interesting parts of the place I’m in, or the drink I’m having. I have always loved to share these things from my lens and share what speaks to me. But I always felt a little disingenuous “creating content” or becoming a vlogger. It felt…. self-absorbed. This always stopped me. A little fearful thought that it was just me being obsessed with me. And if I’m being honest, I was a little scared to be judged. Getting older has taught me that people will always have their opinions. Not everyone is going to like you. Not many people will ever know your full story, or what’s in your heart and mind. And if they’re judging you without asking you directly, it doesn’t matter. So I’m happy to say these thoughts no longer control me as they once did in my younger days. But getting back to it, I knew I wanted to do something that would connect with people and share more, and with books I felt like I finally found my place where it could be less about me, and more about a community and sharing with true purpose and substance – with a hint of me 😉.
This is no knock to any influencer or content creator. There are several content creators I love and share on the topics mentioned above. However, I felt all the avenues I wanted to be in were saturated. Working so intimately in the beauty industry and focusing on trends I could see this and knew I wanted to create my own lane while incorporating those elements of other things I love.
So on my 2023 goals list I wrote down under my side hustle category: create a social media community centered around reading. Take this with a grain of salt, I had written various versions of this down plenty of times but I never felt ready to actually do it. Five months passed. I hit a career milestone that I was very proud of and had been chasing for almost 10 years. After letting that absorb, on that trip to Spain and Portugal I had an epiphany - it occurred to me while scaling down a cliff in Portugal. My heart thrumming through my body.
I got really honest with myself. It had been 10 years+ I had been saying I was going to start something like this. I saw what I was able to achieve when I was consistent in my professional career and even though starting LWBC wasn’t “traditional” I didn’t want this dream to die. I also felt a huge sense of urgency. The gap between my current life and the next phase of my life where I got married and had a family felt smaller and limited. I realized how lucky I was in that moment to be in a position to start. I realized that it was only going to get harder to start. I told myself I had at least 3 more years of my current life to dive in as much as possible. And so it began. It was a very carpe diem moment, and some may think it’s cheesy. But it pushed me 🙂.
I initially got started just sharing book reviews on the page. Like I said, that was where I started on my personal IG so it seemed right. My goal for the first 3 months was very simple: share daily/as much as possible. I knew if I wanted to do this, I needed to get into the habit.
I kid you not, if you want to be humbled and let go of any ego you might have, start an Instagram from scratch and try to grow it. There would be posts I would get three likes on. There would be posts I’m sure no one read. Errors that made me want to die! P.S. To all my supportive friends who would like, share, comment, engage and follow, that was really important to me so I thank you. You’re so special to me!
It’s a hot take but not all of your friends and family are going to understand and support every single thing you do. It may not call to them. What helped me during any thoughts that drained me, or gave me self-doubt was reminding myself I am making this for those who want it, and it may not have reached them yet. Long story short, if you exist and actually like what you’re putting out, someone else will too.
How the Book Club Got Started
After about 4-5 months of posting consistently and building a small but engaged audience, I had a silly little thought. What if we had an actual book club? And it grew through Instagram?
It’s literally terrifying to open yourself up to strangers on the internet and ask them to join your book club. Our first event was completely free and held at The Book Club Bar in NYC. Going into this my intentions were: I wanted this to be a book club I personally wanted to join and a place to create connection. We started off with two free events to test the waters and see if people would actually come.
We had 13 people at our first event, and 20+ RSVP’d to our second event. It’s nothing insurmountable but it was so freaking cool that people showed up! I had a ton of nerves leading up to the first event but tapped into my executive presence training from my corporate girly job and my experience with the book clubs I was in. Not all your skills are meant for just one area of life! They can carry out in so many ways.
I knew I was on to something after each event. I felt so energized from everyone who came and shared and the conversations held. Since then we’ve had two more events, which have now turned into paid events. And in 2024 we’ve already had two events and there will be 4-6 more events hosted throughout the remainder of the year. Not only in Northen NJ and NYC, so stay tuned!
I have one super huge big happy idea that I really wanted for this year. But with my career, the events planned, Pilates Teacher Training, and keeping up with my normal life it’s more of a 2025 goal but that’s OK with me. True greatness TAKES TIME. It’s something I have to remind myself, a lot.
How We Got Our Name
Now onto our name! I had recently helped name one of the book clubs I’m in: Literate Women. It is inspired by a hilarious episode of The Toast, and I wanted to take this into my journey. I love to giggle and laugh until my belly cramps so naming this book club around something that genuinely made me laugh and stood for so much more seemed right. If you listen to the episode you will get an idea but the bottom line is, women support literate women and literate women who read and pour into themselves are fabulous, contagious, and make the world go round.
Wins + the Future
There were so many wins big and small in our first year. Here are a few wins from our first year.
4 book clubs hosted
1 book club confirmed (6.2.24!)
Over 60 attendee’s amongst all our events
1200 followers between TikTok and Instagram
370+ posts between TikTok and Instagram (some are duplicate posts but a majority aren’t!)
35 personal books read
Launched a podcast and published 26 episodes!
Created our website
Started the blog
Here are some things that are exciting for year 2
Events in more places (South FL + Southern NJ ladies, get ready!)
More content as I evolve as a creator (hopefully better content!)
Collaborations with brands + indie authors
A brand that serves to build community and literacy amongst women
A product of sorts (stay tuned)
More laughs, more fun, more literate women <3
Chapter one is closed and filled with all the promise and anticipation of what chapter two holds. Although I had some moments where I felt like I was screaming into the void, the majority of time I felt so alive and bubbling with idea’s and excitement to make this space.
Thank you to everyone who has become part of the community. We couldn’t continue to grow without you and I am so grateful for each and every one of you <3.
