Meet Bridgitte Jackson-Buckley | Writer, Author & Bookstore Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Bridgitte Jackson-Buckley and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Bridgitte, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
In 2018 my first book was published, The Gift of Crisis: How I Used Meditation to Go from Financial Failure to a Life of Purpose. Between the book’s publication and the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, I was trying to get my foot in the door with appearances at book festivals and on author panels, mostly unsuccessfully. Then the shutdown took place, in-person book events were canceled and I had some time to sit and think.

It occurred to me that my love of books and passion for sharing information about books was always at the forefront of what I’m doing, and that opening a bookstore of my own would give me a space to host authors I’ve met and tell people about wonderful books they may not know about. I continued to vacillate on the idea, until the murder of George Floyd in May 2020 provided a devastating reminder that life is so fleeting, and you need to use your time doing what you love and what calls to you.

I decided to not waste any more time waiting for a door to open and started working toward making my bookstore a reality. Initially, I planned to have a bricks-and-mortar store, but at that point in the pandemic, that was not happening. In-person events were still on hold, which precluded doing pop-ups, so I launched Little Visioneers as an online store. The name comes from the fact that we all have little visions for ourselves, our lives, our communities and the world at large, and little visions are the small beginnings from which great things can come.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Little Visioneers is a Black woman-owned online independent bookstore located in California. We host pop-up bookstore locations throughout Los Angeles, Ventura and Orange County.

Our mission is two-fold:

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-to provide immediate access to a wide variety of books by women, and

-to celebrate the rich and indelible contribution of women to the literary and artistic world.

At Little Visioneers, our goal is to curate books that inspire community, collaboration, creativity and love, and our gifts items are no different. All gifts are locally sourced, small-batch, handmade items to highlight artistic creativity in support of women entrepreneurs.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
My favorite spots in the city are, of course, independent bookstores:

The Ripped Bodice (Culver City)
The Salt Eaters Bookshop (Inglewood)
Malik Books (Los Angeles)
Eso Wan Books (Los Angeles)
Mystic Journey Bookstore (Los Angeles)

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I also drew inspiration from a quote posted on director Ava DuVernay’s Instagram feed, which read: “Stop waiting for a door to open to follow your passion. Build your own door, then walk through with your own creative aspirations and accomplishments and hold it open for those behind you.”

Website: https://www.littlevisioneers.com/

Instagram: @littlevisioneers

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BridgitteJacksonBuckley

Other: https://bookshop.org/shop/littlevisioneers https://www.bjbuckley.com/

Image Credits
@akin_rw @herafter.la Bridgitte Jackson-Buckley