Cori the Reader

“Book Expert”

I’ve been reading for as long as I can remember. In fact, my mom loves to share that I taught myself to read around the age of three. I’ve had multiple rewarding career experiences, but reading was always just a passion and hobby until about eight years ago. When…

I became a part-time bookseller at our local indie bookstore! I continued working as full-time faculty and at the bookstore until the pandemic started. Then unexpectedly, I lost my teaching contract. This became a huge professional turning point, and I began working full-time at the bookstore as one of our book buyers along with still being a bookseller. I loved immersing myself in this world and learned so much about handselling books to customers, the publishing industry, and retail business. This chapter of my life recently ended, but I am not ready to stop talking about books. 

I love the psychology and detective work of talking with someone to help determine what book they want to read. I’m gonna be bold and say I’m extraordinarily talented at it.

What allows me to be so good at it beyond my personal passion for reading?

I am constantly reading book reviews and synopses. I continue to remain current on publishing and social media trends and books being released by reading and listening on a variety of platforms. And of course I read every day and write reviews weekly! All this literary immersion allows me to draw from my vast library of information and connect the dots to what a reader is looking for.

Other Bookish Professional Experiences

Over time, I’ve led several different reading groups at my places of employment, including the bookstore. Currently, I facilitate a monthly book club for our local Barre3 studio. I’m a founding member of my personal book club, and we’ve been meeting monthly for 14 years!

I also co-hosted a podcast called Books and Tea for about three years where we had “a book club for two.” We worked our way through a wide range of genres where we’d each pick a book for that genre; we’d both read the selected books and then discuss our reading experience and the particulars of that genre over a cup of tea.

What I Do When I’m Not Reading

I grew up in Indiana, and travelled for work throughout my 20’s. Flagstaff, Arizona has been my adopted home for the past 15 years after landing here to pursue a Master’s in Sustainability Education. I married my best friend about 18 years ago, and we’ve known each other for 25 years. We have 2 dogs and 2 cats to round out our little family. 

We both love living in the mountains and the easy access to outdoor adventure. Yes, I said mountains. We live at 7000 feet. It’s not the desert, but it is a short drive away for a nice warm escape in the winter. I dabble in a lot of things, but I particularly love playing tennis, paddleboarding, biking, hiking, camping, and backpacking. I also love travel, food, beer, and wine.

Professionally, I’ve mainly been drawn to jobs that prioritize education, helping others and advocacy work. I consider myself to be a social scientist and an educator. I worked in higher education for almost twenty years, with sustainability education being a primary focus. I’m currently working as a Workforce Career Coach for our county government through a non-profit organization.