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In this episode, I chat with Christina Pascucci Ciampa, founder and owner of All She Wrote Books, an intersectional, inclusive, feminist, and queer independent bookstore in the Boston area.

Shelf space is never neutral, and Christina has built a bookstore that treats that truth as a daily practice. We talk about how a mission-driven shop becomes a real refuge for readers who rarely feel represented in mainstream recommendations.

Christina shares her path from a decade in corporate marketing and sales to launching the store as a pop-up, then growing it into a community-centered bookshop with events, thoughtful curation, and a team empowered to lead. We get honest about the stress of small business ownership, what delegation really looks like, and why strong leadership is the difference between burnout and sustainability.

We touch on radical bookstores, community safety, and the modern challenges of organizing in an online world. We also dig into gaps in the publishing industry, the ongoing pullback in LGBTQ+ support, and why small independent presses and zines are crucial when big marketing dollars decide what gets attention. Finally, we land on reading as an empathy muscle, including a powerful recommendation, So Many Stars by Caro De Robertis, and why balancing heavy nonfiction with restorative fiction can keep you engaged without going numb and teach us empathy.

All She Wrote Books

So Many Stars, Caro De Robertis

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