We had the good fortune of connecting with Lattifa Bryant and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lattifa, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I’m from a small town called Douglas Georgia…and no, NOT Douglasville!

Douglas, Georgia, well…it’s not exactly a metropolis, but it has a lot of good people and great food. We recently got a Chic Fil A in 2021; it’s great to see my hometown growing up with me!

I moved away to make way for more opportunities, but my hometown is the fuel behind my fire. I have so many people standing with me in support of me from my hometown that I hold close to my heart.

Growing up in a small city made me hustle and move different. I knew I didn’t want to work at a warehouse for the rest of my life, and where I’m from is very industrial. Instead, I chose to do what my mother told me: never work as hard as she had to work—in and out of warehouses—and instead work towards owning one myself. I have a book warehouse coming soon, where I will house the books that I publish, and create more publishing deals to help close the gap between African Americans and Traditional Publishing Companies. Our stories deserve to be told too

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I started publishing books because I wanted to be the yes to book deals for African Americans in a world full of no.

I used to write letters to my father in prison at two years old, and those letters turned into poems, and books. It’s true: the little girl who dreams and writes will turn into the grown woman with a vision and books. And that’s what I am today—a grown woman with a vision and many, many books.

But it wasn’t always this way. When I was younger, I thought publishing was impossible for me—I didn’t see any examples of people like me who had made it happen. But then I started writing poetry (and other things) and posting them online, and people liked them! So then I started thinking: maybe my voice could be heard through something more than just words on a screen? Maybe my thoughts could be turned into something tangible that people could hold in their hands?

Well, guess what? It can be done! Because now there are so many more examples of people like me who have published books that are just as great as anything else out there. And today? Today is your day—the day where YOU can make your dreams come true by publishing a book with me. My publishing company is black women owned, located in Atlanta, GA, but we service men and women all over the world. There is no book or publishing deal too hard for us.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Okay so boom, if a friend is in Atlanta for the week, then I’m ready to take my friend to all of the best places!

First stop: Gurl Mobb Museum! We can get some awesome photo ops while we’re there. Then we’ll head over to The Bakery CoWork and get some work done so that we can focus. For lunch, we are definitely stopping at Tassilli’s Raw Reality, and we may take a stroll downtown to get some nice photo ops.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to shoutout Mary “Mz. Skittlez” Seats for believing in me, for pushing me beyond measure, and for teaching me how to NEVER FOLD, during moments that I wanted to fold on my business.

Mz. Skittlez has been my sister boss since the beginning of my company, and she has taught me so much about the business world and how to be a successful authorpreneur.

She has helped me grow into the person that I am today, and I could not have done any of this without her guidance and support. She pushed me to be better than what I thought was possible for myself, and she never let me give up when things were hard or when it seemed like things could not get any better.

I would not be where I am today without her support along the way! She taught me how to NEVER FOLD on my business during moments that I wanted to fold more than just my books and spine.

Thank you for leading by example!

Website: www.buildyourownbooks,com

Instagram: TheAuthorQueen

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lattifa-bryant-410792219

Image Credits
Images by Kamia Portraits

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