FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
October 3, 2024 

The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance is pleased to announce the results of its 2024 Board elections. Julia Davis, owner of The Book Worm Book Store in Powder Springs, Georgia has been re-elected for a second term. Davis currently serves as SIBA's President.

Also elected were Rayna Nielson, Events Manager at Blue Cypress Books in New Orleans, Louisiana, Cristina Nosti, Director of Events and Programming at Books & Books in Coral Gables, Florida, and Melissa Taylor, co-owner of E. Shaver Books in Savannah, Georgia. The elected slate will start their terms January 1, 2025, after completing training. SIBA's Board is run on the Carver Method.

"This was in many ways a historic election," says SIBA Executive Director Linda-Marie Barrett. "It was our first election under our new bylaws with its expanded definition of bookstore membership. It is also the first time we have voted to expand the board in over tweny-five years." In 2024 SIBA increased its board from five to seven members to better represent the organizations wide spread geographic territory and increasingly diverse range of bookstore business models.

The election was also a milestone for the organization in member participation and engagement. 74 bookstores in total voted, representing 33% of SIBA members. Barrett noted that voting percentage is the highest SIBA has seen in a decade, more than doubling the average turnout since 2014 and especially significant as SIBA's membership numbers have climbed steadily from 130 stores in 2014 to a peak of 225 in 2024.

She also noted that all the candidates on the slate received substantial numbers of votes and that it was a very tight race right up to when voting closed.

"That so many bookstores voted is a sign that they are engaged and invested in SIBA," said Barrett. "We are very pleased with the turnout."

SIBA booksellers can meet with their current board members and be introduced to the incoming slate at the SIBA Annual Meeting to be held on Zoom on October 23, 2024 at 4:00 PM ET/ 3:00 PM CT.

For more information, visit sibaweb.com or contact SIBA's main office at siba@sibaweb.com.

Incoming Board Bios:

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JULIA DAVIS

Julia R. Davis (she/her) was elected to the SIBA Board in 2021 and is currently serving as SIBA's President. In that capacity she has guided the organization through major changes, included the adoption of SIBA's revised bylaws in 2024. She was born and raised in New York. She spent over 15 years in the legal profession with 7 of those years managing law firms. Davis took ownership of The Book Worm Bookstore, located in historic Downtown Powder Springs, Georgia, in November 2020 when the former owner retired. Ms. Davis’ passion for promoting self-love and literacy has become the foundation that The Book Worm stands on.  The store's motto is "Where love is shared as much as stories!"

Julia also hosts a series of children’s events, appropriately titled “I Love ME!” designed to encourage children to love themselves as they are. In February 2014, Ms. Davis published her first children’s book “I Love me because….I’m DIFFERENT.” Currently, there are eight published picture books, one Chapter Book, and various self-love items in the continually growing I LOVE ME! Book Series.

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RAYNA NIELSEN

Rayna Nielsen’s formal training is in travel and tourism but her lifelong career is bookselling. She began her bookselling career in her home state of Florida then continued after moving to Louisiana in 2005. She has spent over a decade as a bookseller at independent bookstores in New Orleans, including her current position as Event Specialist at Blue Cypress Books. She is the creator and host of Book Banter, a virtual event series and she currently serves as President of the Independent Bookseller Association of Greater New Orleans.

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CRISTINA NOSTI

Cristina Nosti is Director of Events and Programming at Books & Books in Coral Gables, Florida. She programs and helps to market over 600 events a year. As a Latina-identified person, her approach is community-centric and interdisciplinary and stems from her background in the arts. Before coming to Books & Books, Cristina worked as Development Director for the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami. She was the Executive Director of the Cuban Museum of Art & Culture, in the early 90s, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Oscar B. Cintas Foundation to award fellowships in the arts to creators of Cuban descent. She has also worked as General Manager of Miami Dade College’s Department of Cultural Affairs and as Author Liaison for Miami Book Fair. She has also worked in Hollywood, California as a reader of screenplays and in the television industry (her father was a pioneer of Spanish-language programming in the United States). She lives in Coral Gables, Florida with her partner, the ghost of their beloved dog and lots and lots of books.

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MELISSA TAYLOR

Melissa Taylor is a bookseller with over 20 years of industry experience. She is currently the co-owner of E. Shaver, Bookseller which was named Best Bookstore in the South by the readers of Southern Living and is also included in the book 150 Bookstores You Need to Visit Before You Die. She is the cohost of the podcast Pull Your Shelf Together and serves on the Binc Finance Committee. She lives in Savannah with her husband (a former bookseller) and their two rescue dogs.