Written by Anna Stowe, Hope College Creative Writing Major and Student Managing Editor for the English Department
What do you do now? And we’d love to hear a bit about how you got there as well.
I am currently the lead agent at Pande Lecture Management (PLM). We assist event hosts who are looking for authors to speak at their events. Our primary focus is amplifying groundbreaking authors who bring long-silenced perspectives to meaningful topics.
I also assist Ayesha Pande at Ayesha Pande Literary with managing foreign rights for the James Baldwin Estate. The books of James Baldwin are currently being translated into 27 different languages and will be available in more than 30 countries. Because August 2nd, 2024, marked 100 years since the birth of the notable author and activist, the last year has been a busy season as we fielded an influx of international publication requests leading up to the centennial. Most of my work is done remotely at my home in Michigan as the clients we interact with are located all over the world. However, our main office is in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City.
My journey to this role is perhaps a bit unusual and involves a career pivot in my thirties [cue that well-known scene turned GIF from Friends]! After graduating from Hope, I pursued a master’s degree in library and information science from Wayne State University while working part-time at Herrick District Library. I took a public librarian position at Portage District Library in Portage, Michigan, a few months after completing my graduate program. I served as a public services librarian and adult programming coordinator there for nearly six years. While working as a public librarian, I also volunteered with the Michigan Library Association and the Great Michigan Read program. My role as a librarian and my volunteer work provided me with opportunities to see the beneficial impact of author events and the important community conversations they inspired. Over time, I realized that cultivating meaningful event experiences with authors was my passion and I sought a position that would help me make a difference in this area.
How did your Hope English education shape you?
Hope provided me with the nurturing environment I needed to achieve my goals. My Hope English education was pivotal to my overall career trajectory and I would not be where I am today without the above-average care and investment given to me by Hope’s English faculty. To provide some context, I grew up on a dairy farm in rural Northern Michigan. I was educated at home until college. My education before Hope was different than the training received by many of my peers. Caring English faculty like Dr. Gruenler, Dr. Parker, and Dr. Burton (to name only a few!) provided me with the support I needed as a student.
Dr. Hemenway advocated for me to study abroad in Vienna to conclude my senior year and my experiences out of the country were invaluable. My time in Austria challenged my established biases and encouraged me to examine the world from new perspectives.
With their guidance, I honed my skills as a scholar, presented at my first professional conference, and celebrated my acceptance to both of my top two graduate programs.
The care I received at Hope also extended beyond the English Department. Even though I was only at Hope for two years, I was given an opportunity to work at Van Wylen Library by Rachel Bishop. I learned a lot about the information professions from the amazing Research and Instruction librarians I served under. I also worked at the Klooster Center for Excellence in Writing during my senior year. I think it was one of the librarians at Van Wylen who connected me with Dr. Van Duinen when she was looking for a few students to help with one of the first Big Read Lakeshore programs–one of the early inspirations for my current career!
Going into college, what career path did you see yourself in? Did that change during college? How similar or different is that path to what you do now?
I arrived at Hope as a transfer student for my junior year of college after two years at a community college. At that point, I knew I wanted to pursue librarianship. How to get there, however, felt a little fuzzy as there were few requirements necessary to be accepted to a graduate program in librarianship. I had decided I needed to study something practical (see below question about advice!), so I declared an Education major as a secondary candidate. This decision was not made out of a desire to teach high schoolers. I chose secondary education because it allowed me to pick a content focus in English.
My education major was an unnecessary safety net. Many folks cautioned me about spending time and money to study English and later pursue librarianship. I thought if something happened that prevented me from finishing grad school or getting a job as a librarian at least I could teach high school. It took some well-timed advice from the late Dr. Schakel, who was my advisor at the time, for me to realize I had chosen my degree out of fear of what might happen. With my newfound courage, I chose a degree that aligned with my desire to explore the power of the written word: A major in English literature with a minor in writing.
What advice would you give to current English majors or students considering an English major?
Don’t let the fear shackle you.
If you are reading this, chances are you have been on the receiving end of some advice–or criticism–regarding the practicality of studying English. Well-meaning people in my life questioned my decision to pursue English and I almost let their fear hold me back. It has been almost a decade since I graduated from Hope, and what I have discovered over the years is that an English degree can be quite practical. The skills you learn as an English major can be applied to many different career paths. My English degree provided me with some foundational professional skills that I have brought to every job throughout my career: creativity, critical thinking, attention to detail, and the ability to express myself with confidence in a variety of formats.
I have a bit of a caveat to my advice: Be sure to pick a practical career goal and work hard to take active steps toward this goal during your time at Hope. Do everything you can to gain professional experience in your chosen area and related fields while still in college. An English degree can be worthwhile and versatile if you approach your time in college as a professional training ground. Make educated choices. Seek out the odds of landing a position in your chosen career and what kind of lifestyle it affords. Go to events hosted by the English department and other departments and learn about the career paths of the guest speakers. Try to shadow people in your chosen career and ask them what they enjoy and dislike about their job. Think of your time at Hope as an opportunity to put some tools in your professional toolbox. Also, never stop asking questions and exploring new perspectives.
What do you now wish you had learned or done in college?
Looking back, I wish I had spent more time considering my limited elective coursework and what skills would make me a well-rounded professional. If I were to do it all over again, I would consider how a class or two from another department could fill gaps in my skillset. As a public librarian, it would have been helpful to have some more experience in social work or human behavior. In my current role at PLM, I have a hand steering our entire business, and it would be helpful to have more knowledge about various marketing strategies or other business management experience. I think it is important to consider the type of organization you want to work for and ask current employees about the training or skills they feel they still lack.
Favorite book read recently or in college?
This is a dangerous question to ask a former public librarian… I am always reading something new! I will stick to a recently published pick: One of the speakers I work with at PLM, Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz, came out with a brilliant new book in October called The Indian Card: Who Gets to Be Native in America.
