Amy DuBois Barnett walks into one of Houston’s oldest indie bookstores unassuming to her storied editorial career. Her honey-colored long braids cover the back of her dark sweatshirt with ruffled sleeves that she pairs with a mulberry ankle-length, pleated skirt and white boots that peek from underneath. She takes in the intimate-sized room that is Brazos Bookstore. A literary nook in the heart of West Central Houston, known for its prestigious surroundings of residential homes and businesses. Multiple rows of gold folding chairs decorate the center area of the space. And it is where Amy will sit to welcome guests, eager to arrive for her book tour of her debut novel If I Ruled the World. The story of Nikki Rose, a Black editor in 1999 who leaves a top fashion magazine to save a struggling hip-hop publication, Sugar. It is a “coming-of-power” story exploring ambition, friendship, and romance, set against the backdrop of late-’90s NYC media.
I was terrified. I was afraid. Take that step outside your comfort zone. Walk through those doors and become who you were meant to be – Amy DuBois Barnett on following her career
We gently wave to catch Amy’s attention from the backroom. We had previously arranged to interview the former Editor-in-Chief of “Ebony” and “Honey” magazines before the start of her event. And before she had arrived, we quickly and creatively staged the space at the go-ahead of the general manager, Randi.
Amy greets us warmly with a hug and gathers our names. She’s amused at our long-running twin joke, ‘I’m the oldest’ and the younger one of us responding, I have to respect my elder.’ She laughs. We notice a slight accent as she speaks. which we can’t quite place. Perhaps it’s a bit of Chicago, where she was born. Mixed with her California and New York ties…and all of her world travels that we hear. Shortly after, walks in the moderator of the evening. Antonia Adams, a digital creator and literary socialite, who Amy hand-picked for the Houston leg of her tour. We snap a photo of the two before Antonia makes her way back to the front of the bookstore.
As twin sisters who built a media company from the ground up, which includes an award-winning magazine, we felt a kindred connection to the first black woman EIC of a mainstream magazine, Teen People (Amy assumed the role in the early 2000s). We expressed to Amy that levels of her work influenced ours, to which the author gave a sincere “Thank you.” And when the conversation landed on the statement “Be good to people, because you never know if or where you will see them again,” Amy nodded her head understandably of what women, especially black women, face in media. “I was terrified. I was afraid,” she says. “Take that step outside your comfort zone,” she advises, and “Walk through those doors and become who you were meant to be” are words she has for those going after their dreams.
Amy sits down in a white chair in front of us, places a copy of her book in her lap, and flips a single braid that is out of place, over her shoulder. “We use the same braider,” she responds after it’s said, ‘she reminds us of Holly Robinson Peete in braids.’ We then claim the remaining time to ask her about the 90s era behind the book.
Do you think there will be a time when the magazine industry, music, and fashion will merge again, like in the late 90s and early 2000s?
“Man, I wish, I love magazines so much,” says Amy, who shares some of her fondest cover story memories are of Barack and Michelle Obama, Jill Scott, and Mary J. Blige.
“This book is a love letter to New York City, to Hip-hop, and also to magazines because it’s set in the heyday, when they were so powerful. I wanted readers to have a sense of that—of what it felt like with magazines that could make or break a star and when the office environments were pressure cookers because there was so much at stake. And… I just love print. There’s something about creating something that functions as a piece of art every month or every week, whatever the cadence is. I think that larger-scale magazine brands may not come back, but I do think there are magazines coming back in more niche form, so that’s kind of nice to see. But what’s more interesting about that era… was just the ways in which music and media and style coexisted., and drove culture forward in ways that are really interesting and innovative. That is something that excites me! I think it’s still existing in some ways, and I do think there are certain kinds of media brands that coexist alongside culture, (and that’s pushed culture forward). Is it the same innovative energy? I’m not sure, but I’m optimistic.”
Amy stands and reaches inside her large hobo bag to locate a pen to autograph our book copy before she walks out to greet the crowd of women event goers. Facing the ladies and with Antonia ready to dive into a discussion, Amy thumbs through a few pages of her novel to read to the women, whose full attention she has. That when it came time for Q&A, her BTS “industry” stories she shared with us about Lil Kim and Mary J. Blige not liking her (all is good now) also surprised and jokingly entertained her book tour guests too.
We made a quiet exit as the evening wrapped. With Amy signing autographs and an announcement that she would be authoring a new novel. No, not a sequel to “If I Ruled the World,” but another fiction page turner nonetheless that she says, “Is already in the works.”
Looks like Amy will be visiting Houston again, soon!
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Credit: amyduboisbarnett.com
