Building Empathy and Community through a Bookstore: A Conversation with Kathy Burnett of Brain Lair Books

This week hosts Nick Kuhn and Bethany Hartley talk with Kathy Burnett, the owner of Brain Lair Books. Kathy shares her experiences of owning a bookstore that focuses on uplifting marginalized voices,  highlighting authors and illustrators from underrepresented communities. She discusses navigating challenges during the pandemic, implementing revenue streams, and seeking advice from other entrepreneurs.South Bend business owners and entrepreneurs, if you’ve been in business for five years or less reach out to us to be featured on the Rooted and Reaching Podcast!QUOTES "Knowing when to pull back, knowing when to push, and being on the forefront of what's happening in the book business is to know what I should be doing next basically." -Kathy Burnett [08:25]“I feel as if the store is something that's necessary, especially in the climate that we are now. The biggest thing that I say is we wanna help people build empathy and build community. And you do that through reading about other people's studies showing that fiction helps people be empathetic toward other people.“ -Kathy Burnett [06:44]TIMESTAMPS01:06 Brain Lair Books07:22 The day-to-day of owning a bookstore11:17 Investing and Revenue Streams 16:27 Building community18:52 Defining successRESOURCESBrain Lair BooksCONTACTNick Kuhn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kuhnnick/ Bethany Hartley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethanyhartley/ Mentioned in this episode:Proof of Concept Funding for South Bend & Elkhart RegionProof of Concept Fund