A (2:44)

Yeah, definitely.

B (2:45)

It feels like it's been, like, three days, but it has fully been, like, two months.

A (2:48)

But you're doing great, sweetie.

B (2:50)

Thank you so much. You're thriving.

A (2:53)

Okay. You're sort of an interesting employee here because everyone's been referred, but you were referred by it. Kind of like a cool person.

B (3:01)

Who referred you to Trey Johnson, author of Black Genius?

A (3:05)

Yes.

B (3:06)

And my friend.

A (3:07)

How do you know Trey?

B (3:10)

We actually worked on a book together. So I used to be a book editor, and I was editing a book of essays about the significance of Black Panther, the movie, and he had written a ton of pieces about Black Panther, so we reached out to him. It was right when I had moved back to Philly, and it was so funny. We had, like, one conversation where we, like, Kiki Ed, and then he was like, do you want me to help you move? I was like, oh, lovely. We're friends now. Yeah.

A (3:34)

I mean, that's how I feel about Trey. He did the podcast, but before I even invited him on the show, he was like, I'm gonna be in LA for my book tour. Can we. Like, I'd love to meet you. And I was like, okay. And I was like, but I'm not promising I have a spot for you on the show. But then I did have a spot for him, and then he came, and then we did lunch. So he didn't bribe me with lunch. That's not a way to get on the show, people. I just want to let you know.

B (3:58)

But only if you're Trey Johnson.

A (3:59)

Yeah. And then we're talking at lunch, and I was like, I need an assistant. And he was like, I know just the person. And he did know just the person because it was literally you. And now here you are working on the show. My executive assistant, because I'm an executive. Wait, are you from Philadelphia originally?

B (4:17)

Yeah.

A (4:17)

Where did you come back to Philadelphia from? New York?

B (4:20)

No, Oakland.

A (4:22)

Wait, did we not. Did we talk about that?

B (4:23)

I don't know if we talked about this.

A (4:25)

You know that's where I live from.

B (4:27)

Yeah. I lived in Oakland for, like, four years.

A (4:30)

I don't think we talked about this. I feel like that's something I would remember.

B (4:33)

Probably.

A (4:34)

Maybe not. Maybe when I was interviewing you, I was, like, too hot, trying hard to be like. Like, I was like, use your brain.

B (4:41)

You're just ignoring everything I said.

A (4:42)

Yeah. I was like, what is that? What does it sound like? Can she take a crazy person being in charge of her? Okay, I want to go back to your previous Job. Well, actually, let's just go there. Why did you leave being an editor? Because I feel like there are people who are listening to this who are probably like, that sounds like a dream job.

B (5:00)

It's a little complicated. I think that it's difficult for a person of color to be in that industry in general. It is like a white dominated industry. And I think as much progress that was promised in 2020, a lot of companies haven't quite lived up to that. So I was in my last job, I was in a position where I was specifically championing black books and black stories or diverse stories. And I think I found it hard to stay genuine to my goal as an editor, but also operate within a system that I didn't feel like was designed to support us.

A (5:46)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But before you left editing, you were the editor of Wash Day Diaries, which is sort of a favorite around these parts. A lot of stacks. Packers have read and loved that graphic novel. Graphic novel, yeah.

B (6:00)

Yeah. It's like my. One of my favorite things I've ever edited. It was so good.

A (6:04)

It's so cute. It's so good. And now what do you do when you're not with me because you have a real job that's not with me?

B (6:11)

Yeah, I'm a copy editor for a bunch of different, like fashion and beauty digital publications like who, what, where? Marie Claire and. Yeah, I just make basically make sure it sounds good.

A (6:25)

And now you copy edit here. So. Okay. Tell people about what you, what you're responsible for here at the Stacks.

B (6:35)

I feel like the biggest thing I'm responsible for is making sure the episodes are uploaded every week.

A (6:40)

Well, that's the biggest thing everyone's responsible for because that's actually what we do here. All the other stuff just bonus. But the meat and potatoes of the Stacks is, believe it or not, a podcast. So yeah, you upload the episodes, but you also do all the show notes. You link all the show?

B (6:58)

Yes, I decode your show notes and I link them out. I do like some of the ad. A lot of the admin, I guess behind the scenes, like updating the website. Updating bookshop. Yeah, and linking out substack.

A (7:16)

You confirm the guests?

B (7:18)

I do, I confirm the guests.

A (7:19)

You write the episode copy, which, yes, I feel like for people who have been listening to the show for a long time, if you want to play a fun game, it would be go back through the episodes and figure out when I stopped doing it. And then I've had other assistants and then Sahara's here. Now you can like Figure out when things change based on the way the episode copy is written. I swear, because everyone has, like, a slightly different style, and I try to, like, keep my hand in it to be like, would I say it like that? But you're such a better writer than me that usually when you send the copy over, my only notes are just like, oh, can you include the title of the book? Or, like, can you include this? Other times I'm like, can you totally rework this whole thing? Because it doesn't sound like me, but I think it's really funny. I feel like you could. I can tell, but maybe it's because I'm so close to it.

B (8:10)

Yeah. No, I mean, I like writing the episode descriptions honestly. Even though, like, I haven't read, like, any of the books that we. That you've talked about, it's kind of fun to pretend I have.

A (8:21)

Yeah.

B (8:22)

Myself in that mode.

A (8:23)

And I leave you Channel my inner Tracy. I leave you a few notes. I tell you what's in the episode, like, when I listen through. So for people who are at home, who are like, how does this work? Here's how it works. We book the guest. Sahara confirms them with their publicist or with them directly. I get on the thing. We record the episode. I upload it to a Dropbox, Christian, who y' all will hear from later. He edits everything. He sends it back to me. I listen through the full episode edit, and I give Christian notes. If there are any, like, take this part out or what happened to that part when I was being funny, Put that back in, obviously. And then while I'm listening through, I'm taking notes on two things. I'm taking, like, little notes on what we talked about for the episode description. And then I'm also writing down everything we mentioned for the show notes. At that point, I send it over to Zahara, and I say, do your best.

B (9:16)

So she goes through.

A (9:18)

She goes through all the bullets for the show notes, and she formats them correctly. So sometimes I might just leave her something that says, like, you know, blood in the Water by Heather. And she'll go back through and be like, find the full title. Or I'll be like, the Attica book by a lady named Heather. And she has to go figure out that it's Blood in the Water by Heather Ann Thompson.

B (9:37)

My favorite was when you said, like, that one book by that one lady. And I was like, I. I'm trying so hard. Can't figure this out.

A (9:45)

Well, because sometimes. Okay, so in that case, I actually thought that I was Gonna go back through the notes quickly before I sent them out, but I forgot to do that. But sometimes you can kind of piece together what I'm talking about, because it'll be.

B (9:55)

No, usually I can.

A (9:56)

It'll be like a series. Like, the conversation is going in a direction. So it'll like. It's usually like that one book about dogs by the guy, whatever. But I forgot to put the qualifier.

B (10:08)

And sometimes I'll, like, be listening to the. Like, I will have already, like, looked at the transcript. So it's like, okay, I can figure out.

A (10:13)

You can kind of figure out where I'm going.

B (10:15)

Yes.

A (10:15)

But sometimes I forget that someone else is following me because I used to do it all myself. So now, like, having help is such a privilege and such an honor and such a joy for me. But also I forget that, like, you have to decipher my nonsense. Okay. So that I pass it on to you. And then what do you do?

B (10:36)

You pass it on to me. I link everything. I format the Squarespace webpage the way that it's supposed to. To look. I upload everything to the distribution platform. And you do transcripts? Yeah, yeah. Go through the transcript, which is like. Honestly, it takes a while. But it's also kind of fun because I feel like I'm getting, like, a first look at the episode.

A (10:58)

Yeah.

B (10:58)

Sneak peek, which is. Yeah, a little sneak peek. Yeah. I go through the transcript and. Is that. I think that's basically it. I basically make sure everything is, like, scheduled on the right day. I say that's basically it, but, like, it's so much. It is so much more than it sounds.

A (11:21)

All right, that is the end of this bonus teaser. If you were liking what you were hearing, you can listen to the entire episode by going to either patreon.com the stacks and joining the Stacks pack, getting access to the Discord, being able to participate in our virtual book club and. Or you can go to tracythomas.substack.com and subscribe to Unstacked, where you're going to get my writing about books, pop culture, you're going to get other exclusive author interviews, and, of course, these bonus episodes. So go to one of those two places, join us, get to hear the rest of this episode, and support the work that I do by being a part of these wonderful communities. Thank you so much, and I'll see you in the stacks.