Meet the Woman Dominating the Book Club Business With Literati: Jessica Ewing

Welcome to Second Life, a podcast spotlighting successful women who've made major career changes—and fearlessly mastered the pivot. Hosted by Hillary Kerr, co-founder and chief content officer at Who What Wear, each episode gives you a direct line to women who are game changers in their fields. Subscribe to Second Life on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your podcasts to stay tuned.

Literati, an innovative experiential company built for book lovers of all ages, is a true labor of love. Founded by Jessica Ewing, an author and unapologetic lover of literature, Literati is dedicated to connecting people through the power of reading and reimagining how books are discovered and read together. It's a book club like no other. The Literarti team of visionaries curates monthly reads by notable authors, intellectuals, and changemakers including Stephen Curry, Richard Branson, Roxane Gay, Megan Rapinoe, Elin Hilderbrand, Cheryl Strayed, Jesmyn Ward, and more—while remaining committed to highlighting the authors and artists behind every story.

Literati launched in 2017 first as a unique try-before-you-buy book-curation service for kids, and in August of 2020, the brand expanded to offer book clubs through its app, giving members exclusive access to voices and perspectives that historically haven't been heard before to advance the definition of a book discussion. Today, Ewing has raised $40 million in Series B funding and was just included on Inc. magazine's esteemed Inc. 5000 list at #77 in the U.S. There's no denying that Ewing's modern approach to reading has completely reshaped how we can further connect through books, and it all began with her passion for literature. 

In 2009, Ewing left her high-profile job to pursue a lifelong dream of writing a novel. Throughout that process, Ewing experienced firsthand the difficulties and intricacies behind book discovery and publication. Thus, she became determined to create a company that supports the expansion of the publishing industry by bringing imagination to bookselling and creating a better book-discovery experience. But before she made the major leap into following her literary dreams, Ewing began her career as a product manager at Google, where she worked directly for both Marissa Mayer and Sundar Pichai for five years developing consumer products. In fact, Ewing was featured in Fast Company as one of Google's 12 Most Innovative Minds in 2007, and she is the co-owner of five different patents in consumer technology design.

Listen to the latest episode of Second Life to hear how both Ewing's past career and personal experiences led her to create a life-changing company for artists and creators in the publishing industry that is truly solving the problem of book discovery. And in the spirit of gift-giving, click here to gift a membership to the book club.

Up next: Meet Sabeena Ladha: Founder and CEO of Deux, the Good-for-You Cookie Dough Brand