She Brings Diverse Voices to Book Publishing-OxBig News Network

What are some specific examples of changes you’ve implemented?

I canceled our big standing acquisitions meetings, along with other reports and forms, as they didn’t serve our purpose of connecting more books to readers. Marketing and publicity directors came to editorial meetings, which before were only editorial. I hired 24 new people, which is reflected in every different department including art, marketing, publicity and editorial. Meetings are now structured so everybody gets a turn to speak. We’re buying more books as paperbacks to make them more affordable to readers.

What results are you seeing from the changes you’ve implemented?

Because we are a year or two out in terms of bringing a book to a reader, those results aren’t available yet. But the changes I’ve made have shifted the culture, the energy and vibrancy here. We’re starting to see the new DNA reflected in the people who are here and in the lists we are building. We’re buying new books with diverse voices in different categories. Our covers, copy and the way we market, even talk about our books, have changed.

How are you investing in diversification?

My commitment to diversity is not just about race, it’s about class and subjects of genres. And whom we hire, which are editors from diverse backgrounds like Nadxieli Nieto, who is the editorial director at Algonquin. Her mission is to lift up undiscovered voices who were being ignored — Southern voices, Latinx and writers of color, different forms of identity and orientation.

How will you guide the next generation of women entering publishing?

By helping them identify who they are, the space they want to create, and helping them see their diversity as an asset. By encouraging people to use their uniqueness as their superpower, and helping them find what their superpower is. That was not the message I got in publishing. It was all about conforming. Having people see an Asian woman in this position, especially since I didn’t see any people who looked like me, is helping other people realize they can achieve this, too. I’m also teaching them how to be a good editor and how to think like a publisher. And by giving people, especially other women, positions of power and the opportunity to buy books that they believe in, that will amplify underrepresented voices and authors.