Today we’d like to introduce you to Kaelyn Montoya.
Kaelyn, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I am originally an East Coast gal who moved to Austin over 5 years ago now to pursue a master’s degree in Digital Marketing Data Analytics at St. Edwards University. Currently, I am the President of Your Local Book Club ATX (YLBC), a social club founded by my close friend, Mishayla Twyman; and this past Spring, I had the privilege of leading the Social Media team for ATX TV Festival. I like to joke that my professional path as a Marketing Operations Project Manager started off at very young age, because I grew up in an immigrant AND entrepreneurial household.
To the surprise of many, I was not a Marketing major in college, instead graduating with a Criminal Justice degree with a concentration in Criminal Profiling (that’s some serious stuff, huh?). On instinctual reaction, it may seem like my undergraduate degree is completely unrelated; however, many of the psychological and sociological concepts I learned studying human behavior can be applied to Marketing, as it’s also rooted in human behavior. When done right, Marketing makes a group of people (who all have unique lived experiences) feel a similar sentiment or emotion and it can bring otherwise unsuspected strangers together and I find there is magic in that.
I moved to Austin amidst active COVID-19 restrictions and even after the restrictions were lifted and we became comfortable in public spaces again it was difficult to meet people organically, The story of how I joined YLBC is charming: I’d made a TikTok friend with a girl named Nicole, who like myself was new to Austin and looking for like-minded women to connect with. We became Instagram friends and soon after she reposted a flyer on her stories about this public book club meeting for “I’m Glad My Mom Died” by Jeanette McCurdy – a memoir I’d recently began reading myself. So on a weeknight in September 2022, I worked up the courage through my nerves to attend the meeting and I have been a member ever since.
At that time, I didn’t know I was attending the first public meeting hosted by Your Local Book Club. It was a group of about 10 of us sitting around a table, eating light apps and having drinks, chatting over books… practically a perfect evening haha. I really do believe I owe the life I’ve built in Austin to book club in many ways. It introduced me to some of my closest friends and allowed me to rediscover who I am in this new, complicated post-pandemic world. As book club began to grow, we went from being a group of 10 to a group of 20, then 30 and suddenly we are hosting 50 people meetings. It was clear and obvious that I was not the only person feeling the need for community and connection with other people.
In August 2023, I joined Mishayla to continue support the expansion of book club meetings and events. It has been an incredibly fulfilling purpose to sustain something that not only gave me so much, but has grown to be a staple club for many people living in Austin.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There have certainly been challenges along the way. For starters, we operate with little to no revenue, which pushes our creativity but blocks aspirations we have to further the experience we can provide our members. Oftentimes, there is an impression that we operate for profit but it’s not really the case. Where we can’t invest financially, we invest our time, working odd hours after our day jobs, or on weekends because we really believe in the space that we’ve cultivated through diversity, authenticity and kindness.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Before I was anything else, I was a big sister first. I took on the role of listening, compromising and protecting my siblings very seriously, and it’s still the role I am most proud to have.
I think first generation children who navigate the complexities of growing up in a fragmented bicultural reality have a unique and vulnerable perspective to share and sharing that vulnerability is important. My parents gave me the gift of opportunity and it’s what allowed me to go to college, move across the country and even show up in spaces like Your Local Book Club to foster and build something authentic.
I think what I do best in life, is build connections. In both my professional and personal life I am not shy to speak up, ask questions, listen attentively and do my best to leave a person with more energy than they found themselves with. This is especially helpful as a project manager because most of the work is not timelines, budgets and scope. it’s translating vocabulary between teams, mediating miscommunication and most importantly building trust within your team.
What’s next?
I recently became a Power Yoga teacher and have been guiding yogis through flows and discovering this entirely different side of myself. I enjoy teaching free community classes and sharing my culture through my music selection. I am excited to continue honing in my teaching style and hopefully volunteer with organizations such as Prison Yoga Project.
I plan on taking the Fall to reset creatively and focusing on local partnership outreach, looking ahead to ways we are working on evolving Your Local Book Club for 2027.
In my personal life, I am wedding planning! AHHH, so exciting. My beau and I are getting married next year and are full speed ahead with finalizing all the details.
Pricing:
- Free to join!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.yourlocalbookclub.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kaelynvive/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaelynmontoya/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@kaelynvive
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/yourlocalbookclubatx/?hl=en
