"it just felt like the universe conspired to make this happen"
L'Oreal Thompson Payton on living out the Hallmark movie dream of founding her own bookstore, Zora's Place, and how it's reaffirmed her faith in community
Hello there! Welcome to Be Less Careful. We’re exploring how to sustain a creative practice in a busy life, the big and small reinventions of midlife, and how to be happier at home.
This is an interview in a new series I’m starting, chrysalis, about women making big changes in their home, family, career, and community. In a post about why we love a midlife reinvention story, I wrote: What does it look like to change your life if you don’t want to totally blow it apart? Or, if you do make a big shift—ditch the spouse, change careers, decide you do want kids after all—what happens next?
These interviews are a chance to explore those questions. If you have an idea of someone I should talk to, or a kind of big change you’d like to explore, I’d love to hear from you—just respond to this email.
When I started thinking about this series, L'Oreal Thompson Payton was one of the very first people who came to mind. I was already an admirer of her warm, encouraging newsletter, LT in the City Weekly, and I’d featured her in the good creatures interview series:
So it seems fitting that in this interview, L’Oreal will be talking about pursuing another long-held dream of hers. Earlier this year, she opened Zora’s Place, a Black feminist bookstore and community hub in Evanston, IL, outside Chicago. I’d been so excited for her when she announced that she’d found a space and was going for it. From the outside, it felt like she was absolutely flying after her dream, but, as you’ll hear in the interview, creating this kind of community space is something she’d been thinking of for a long time. When all the pieces came together, she said it felt “like the universe conspired to make this happen.”
You can watch the whole interview here and find a couple highlights below.
on the mission of Zora’s Place
Zora’s Place is a Black feminist bookstore in Evanston, Illinois. We’re just outside of Chicago, and we carry primarily Black women writers. There’s a few Black men, in our children’s section, because I want our boys to have representation as well. And we also sell, gift items, puzzles, journals, pins, candles, rugs, you name it, that are also by Black women-owned businesses, primarily in the Chicagoland area.
We also do a lot of community events, and we have a family storytime once a month. We have done author talks and book signings. We recently partnered with a local organization of teachers, in Chicago and Evanston to put together these Liberation Libraries, so we had a packing party, and it was legit a party! There was a DJ and everything, and they packed about 60 or 64 boxes of diverse books for children whose families don’t feel safe sending them to school with the ICE presence that we have here currently.
I’ve said from the beginning, this is more than a bookstore. It’s really intended to be a community hub and sanctuary, essentially, for Black women. Our tagline is Read, Rest, and Resist. Seeing all of that come to fruition has just been so rewarding.
on the inspiration for Zora’s Place and the “divine alignment” that helped it come together
Back in 2019, I visited Cafe con Libros in Brooklyn. They’re an intersectional feminist bookstore. I just tucked the idea in the back of my head, like, someday, I’m gonna open a bookstore. And I just pushed it to the back burner, accepted that that was, you know, a retirement dream, because who am I to open a bookstore?
The years go on, I publish my first book, have my daughter, and there’s this wonderful space that Zora’s Place is actually located in. We are part of the Aux Wellness Collective, and it’s this huge, 25,000 square foot commercial space that’s founded by Black women. I was taking the tour at Aux, and she showed me the space that we’re in now, and it was truly love at first sight. Immediately, I imagined the orange sofa, the artwork by Black women, and just having it be this bright, vibrant community space and rooted in wellness.
It did come together very quickly. I had started to play around with the idea back in May. By June, we had launched the crowdfunding campaign. The soft opening was September 6th and a couple of different, pop-up events in between, and then the grand opening September 20th. So, when people were like, oh, I feel like it came together really fast, I’m like, it did.
I feel strongly that when you are rooted in your purpose, and walking in that mission and feel very grounded, divine alignment is so true. There was an ease to it that I’d never experienced in my career before, because it just felt like the universe conspired to make this happen.
on going for the big dreams in midlife
It’s never too late. We can do it. We may not have a blueprint in our personal lives. Our parents may not have done it, or closest friends, but it’s possible, with help, right? You can’t do it alone, but it is possible with help.
as L’Oreal writes, “none of us were ever meant to do life alone”:
the book L’Oreal recommends to anyone who’s overwhelmed in the holiday season, or this season of life
Less is Liberation by Christine Platt. She also wrote Afro Minimalist, which I read back in 2021. It changed my life, because I think, with Pinterest and Instagram, when you hear minimalism, it has a very kind of dark and depressing vibe, and she really says no, minimalism can be colorful and vibrant. Afro Minimalist was more about decluttering your physical space. This is about decluttering your mind and your calendar.
how to support L’Oreal and Zora’s Place
If you’re in the Chicago area, what are you waiting for? Go swing by Zora’s Place, sit on that divine orange couch, and buy books for all the readers in your life. If you’re not in the area, you can buy print and ebooks via their Bookshop and get audiobooks via their Libro.fm shop. (I also hear they’ve got cute merch in the works, so keep your eyes peeled for that!)
🍵 let’s chat: your dream community space
I’d love to know: do you have a community space like Zora’s Place where you are? Or what would your dream spot be? (Books + coffee + fitness hits pretty much everything I love . . .)
I’ll share my fave spot in the comments, if you want to know . . . 👇
✨ join us Sunday, December 7th at noon eastern for a zoom workshop on how to get out of your own way ✨
Our first zoom workshop, on creative urgency in dark times, was really wonderful, and we’ve had a great chat going about the projects we’re finishing each week. If you’d like more connection and gentle accountability as you knock out a couple more items at the end of the year, I’d love for you to join us.
🌟 December workshop: how to get out of your own way 🌟
I tend to rush headlong into the future—new year, new goals, big plans, big dreams—but this year, I’m really feeling the pull to be reflective. I’ve been considering my habits and practices, as well as the beliefs and self-talk that shape my creative work—and I’m trying to figure out what to let go of before the new year starts.
On Sunday, December 7th at noon via zoom, we’ll talk about practicing self-compassion in your creative life and engage in some deep reflection about creative practice, including the habits that sustain us and the beliefs we’re ready to shed.
This workshop is open to all paid subscribers. If you’d like to spend some time reflecting on the thought processes, beliefs, and habits that are holding you back so you can dream even bigger in the new year, upgrade today and join us. (You’ll get the zoom info in your welcome email!)
If this newsletter has helped you in your creative life, you can support me by sharing it online or with a friend, or by ordering my new book, The Good Mother Myth.
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Thank you so much for the wonderful writeup! Would love to give you the grand tour if you ever find yourself in Evanston 🥰
Wonderful conversation! Zora's Place sounds like an absolutely incredible community space!