E178 Building a publishing company + a Book store from scratch with Dr Artika Tyner

So You Want to Start a Business with Ingrid Thompson

Dr Artika Tyner is an amazing woman, a human rights lawyer, book publisher and book store owner! Planting People Growing Justice

She lives by the credo: When you see a problem, find a solution.

She tells us that she realised that "a reader is more likely to find a black dog on the cover of a book than a black person" and set about to find a solution. She started publishing books

Her first book stores were pop-ups - at festivals and markets, offering the early books she published.

In 2017 Planting People Growing Justice was named as small business champion which was extremely fortuitous as this gave them access to business training and a mentor.

She says having this mentor as well as others has been indispensable to their success. And successful they indeed are.

She talks honestly about in the beginning she dreamt of "buying a building for her book store" and then didn't have step 2 ... no pricing plan, no overall strategy for financial viability - which is why the mentors were so important.

Dr Artika realised "I had to reconcile in my mind: this is a business, this is not a hobby. For this to last for the generations to come meant that we had to have a very sound strategy in place from the outset!"

She tells us some pretty disturbing data from the US:

"1 in 4 children are not reading at grade level by 4th grade

If you're not reading at grade level by 4th grade you are 4 times more likely to drop out of school

And if you drop out of school you are 3 and half times more likely to enter into the tangled web of incarceration and be arrested

Planting People Growing Justice is NOT just about selling books alone it’s about increasing literacy and engagement"

Dr Artika is truly on a mission and when you listen to this conversation I believe you will be as inspired and uplifted as she is to bring about change in real time.

In recognition of her leadership and service, she is the recipient of more than two dozen awards that include: Women in Business, American Small Business Champion, International Educator Citizen, and American Bar Association Difference Makers.

She has been featured in a variety of media outlets.

She is a prolific, award-winning author of adult and children’s books that includes: Amazing Africa: A to Z and The Inclusive Leader: Taking Intentional Action for Justice and Equity.

She serves as a global citizen by supporting education, entrepreneurship, and women’s leadership initiatives in Africa. In furtherance of her philanthropic efforts, she created Planting People Growing Justice Leadership Institute, a nonprofit organization committed to promoting literacy and diversity in books.

You can find Planting People Growing Justice here:

https://www.ppgjbooks.com

https://www.artikatyner.com

Instagram:

@ppgjbooks

@plantingpeoplegrowingjustice