MILWAUKEE — Surrounded by her favorite books, a Milwaukee woman is living her dream.
"I think about the distinct difference between reading and collecting books and really being surrounded by stories of all the things that you will never know, so it really is also a reminder to stay open, so I think I exist in that space."
Cree Myles doesn't just love books. She lives them. Books are her life and her livelihood.
“Really, I describe my job as a digital year-round campaign to celebrate and uplift Black literature," Myles said.
She is a book influencer for publishing giant Penguin Random House. She posts a blog, curates a website, and publishes videos on Instagram to her two accounts. There's a personal account, Cree Myles, with more than 34,000 followers, and a professional page, All Ways Black, with about 65,000 followers.
Her personal page is full of funny skits, rants, and discussions about her favorite books. Her professional page is what she is most passionate about. The goal of All Ways Black is to promote, not review, Black literature and authors. The page is supported by Penguin Random House.
“The tagline of the brand that we created is ‘There’s more than one way to be Black.’ So if I don’t enjoy the book, that’s not to say another person won’t enjoy the book," Myles said.
A self-published audit by Penguin Random House from 2019 to 2021 showed only 6 percent of its published authors were Black. Myles hopes her efforts change that.
"Giving a concentrated, dedicated space to uplift Black authors," she said.
Her love for books started as a child. In kindergarten, Myles admits she didn't want to read at all. But then one short year later, everything changed.
"There was a girl in my class who was getting all this attention because she was reading really like third-grade level books, and I love attention, so I was just like, let's knock this out."
Maybe not the way most parents expect their kids to be motivated to read, but nonetheless, she became a voracious reader.
"Once you pop, the fun don't stop," she said with a laugh.
Myles never thought her livelihood would revolve around books. Myles graduated from Alverno College with a community development degree. She was a digital organizer for Leaders Igniting Transformation in Milwaukee.
Slowly, she began making blog posts and publishing videos. During COVID, when everyone was at home, she organized a read-a-thon of the author Toni Morrison. A few months later, she signed a deal with Penguin Random House. From the beginning, her goal was to promote Black literature and shake up the book influencing space.
"The digital book influencing space was all like cozy mame, here's my mug and my knitted sweater, and I'm just going to read this romance novel, and I'm like, let's liberate ourselves with this literature, so it was very disruptive at the moment."
Watch the video to see the type of content Cree Myles posts...
Along with promoting the new books coming from Penguin Random House, she also wants people to realize that books that are considered literary classics or are in the canon of great books are actually more approachable than most people assume.
“Excellent literature is not an elitist art form. I think in a lot of spaces, people just don’t think of books as accessible because it’s like I have my MFA, and I go to these readings, and I wear turtlenecks.”
Instead, they are just as approachable as any other book you'd find in your local bookshop.
Myles is like a bridge between bookshelves and readers. She hopes her videos help you get a new author in your hand—or at least pick up that book you’ve been meaning to read for a while.
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