The Penguin Speakers Bureau

In her own words…

Book One
I’ve always been a bibliophile and an avid reader, but I still consider myself an accidental bookseller and now an unlikely author. My road into the book business definitely took a few twists and turns. Growing up in Chicago, Illinois, the thought of opening my own bookstore in New York City was the last thing on my mind. I was on an entirely different career path. I had a passion for helping people and studied psychology, earning an undergraduate degree in education and psychology from Roosevelt University and a master’s in social work from Loyola University. I got married, worked five years, had two children, and became a stay-at-home mom. Then, after a vacation to Colorado, we somewhat impulsively decamped and moved to a town just outside of Denver. What can I say—the Rocky Mountains photograph great and Colorado has one hell of an ad campaign.

With the girls in school all day, I began working as the chief psychiatric social worker in the department of behavioral science at Denver’s Children’s Hospital. I was good at what I did and I loved my job. After a few years I was promoted to director of the program and eventually became assistant hospital administrator.

Book Two
Working at the hospital had been great, but I’d gone as far as I could or even wanted to go, so I decided to leave and return to school for a new direction in a doctoral program in the Graduate School of Social Work and the College of Law. I took a temporary job as the manager of employee relations at the United Bank of Denver in order to fund my rather expensive education. But after a few semesters of law school, I quickly realized that a legal career was not in the cards and I had no interest in going back to social work. Soon I was climbing the corporate ladder at my “temporary” banking job and quickly rose to become the vice-president of human resources and strategic planning before—gasp—getting fired! I’d pushed too hard against the corporate ceiling and it pushed back, so I left and took the opportunity to start my own business. In 1984, I opened my first bookstore and for the next fifteen years I was the proud and tired owner of the Hue-Man Experience, the largest African-American bookstore in the country. During that time, I became a member of the American Booksellers Association (ABA) and served on its board for seven years. My association with ABA helped to solidify my status in the bookselling world and I was able to build a brand for the bookstore. Hue-Man was known as the biggest and the best. I became the industry “go-to” person for African-American books and authors, but did I mention how tired I was? So in 2000, I sold the store, retired, and planned my move to New York City. I had visions of round-the-world cruises and leisurely lunches with my daughters and grandchildren who lived in Brooklyn.

Book Three
Press those brakes. Before I could even finish salivating over travel brochures, I was approached by a developer, obtained a new set of partners, and in 2002 opened the Hue-Man Bookstore in Harlem, New York City. It’s a 4,000-square-foot bookstore with a café and is now the largest African-American bookstore in the country. The store became a destination for book tours and we had the privilege of hosting famous authors including James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Terry McMillan, E. Lynn Harris, Colin Powell, and Walter Mosley. Just before my re-retirement in 2003, we hosted Bill Clinton and were one of two bookstores to hold a signing on the day his book was released. That day, 2,119 books were sold and signed.

Epilogue
So now I really have retired, sort of. I work as a business coach and conduct workshops for banks and community organizations about how to prepare for entrepreneurship. I was initially inspired and motivated to teach others about business from informal conversations I had with budding entrepreneurs. As bright and shiny as they were, their enthusiasm was not matched by their preparedness. And at the workshops, people always took copious notes and by the end of the class were asking me if I had a handout or better yet a book. Now the answer is yes. My book Down to Business: The First 10 Steps to Entrepreneurship for Women was published this Fall.

Check out Clara Villarosa’s website at www.claravillarosa.com.