Episode 13

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Published on:

13th Jul 2023

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]


TIMESTAMPS

01:06 Brain Lair Books

07:22 The day-to-day of owning a bookstore

11:17 Investing and Revenue Streams 

16:27 Building community

18:52 Defining success








RESOURCES

Brain Lair Books



CONTACT

Nick Kuhn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kuhnnick/ 

Bethany Hartley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethanyhartley/

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About the Podcast

Rooted and Reaching
Stories about local Startups and Founders in South Bend and Elkhart
There’s a job to do, and in the South Bend - Elkhart region, a midwestern work ethic is changing the narrative from rusty to ready. Our cities are opening up and working together as a region—universities are engaging beyond their campuses, sharing their brainpower and realizing that they’re bigger and better with the community behind them. Organizations are reaching out to newcomers and helping them build local networks, leveling the playing field. Infrastructure is being creatively adapted to be gathering places where new deals are made, new collisions happen, and new entrepreneurs take root. Join the Rooted & Reaching podcast, where we discuss the startup life with entrepreneurs with connections to the South Bend - Elkhart region.

In doing this, we will inform the general public and ourselves about what resources are available and the major pain points of entrepreneurs in our region. This podcast is also intended to tell the amazing stories of our local entrepreneurs in the hope that it will inspire another person in the region considering an entrepreneurial pursuit to take that leap of faith and see the supportive atmosphere in the area.