THIS WEEK
SABBY KAUR JIVANJI EMERALD PUBLISHING
B
eing a Yorkshire native and state school educated, Sabby Kaur Jivanji says: “I didn’t know anyone who
worked in publishing or anyone who could help me decipher my career pathways.” She overcame the strug- gle when she came across Emerald, the Bradford-based academic publisher, where she successfully landed work experience, and spent her gap year working across the sales, marketing and customer support teams. After graduating with a degree in international business from the University of Westminster, Kaur Jivanji was drawn back to Emerald, first working in sales and content licensing. Yet the pandemic found her switching gears, moving to the digital product team as Emerald pivoted to provide more online resources for the scholarly community; she has driven the vast upgrade of the user experi- ence on the Emerald Insight platform, to tap into academics who are work- ing remotely. She is keen to continue exploring user design, though she has plans to write a book (or two)—once “I’ve mastered the skill of sitting in one place long enough.”
CHERISE LOPES-BAKER TATE PUBLISHING
S
ince Cherise Lopes-Baker has been at Tate leading the award-winning chil- dren’s list, she has “devel-
oped a compelling new strategy and re-envisioned our programme to put an intersectional, inclusive ethos at its heart”, says Tom Avery, Tate’s publishing director. This year, she has been working with authors and illus- trators including Lucy Farfort, Joelle Avelino and Maliha Abidi to relaunch Tate’s children’s list with a focus on “the power of community, untold histories and the immigrant experi- ence in the West”. Lopes-Baker grew up with a passion for both books and human rights, and holds an under- graduate degree in law from Durham University, and an MA in Publishing from UCL. She entered publishing as a freelance for Jacaranda, which soon morphed into a full-time position, and she is also the co-founder of Desert Rose, a literary magazine platforming “femmes of colour”. Her dream is running her own imprint or publish- ing house, but the real motivation for her career is to be part of decolonising literature and making the industry more inclusive and accessible.
12 9th July 2021
Rising Stars Class of 2021
The dream is to be at the nexus of research and publishing... to disseminate ideas and books which move towards achieving a better, more just world
Shannon Kneis, Bristol University Press
SHANNON KNEIS BRISTOL UNIVERSITY PRESS
A
fter stints at Routledge and Zigzag Education, coming to the BUP sociology list four years ago was some-
thing of a homecoming for Shannon Kneis, as she studied sociology at Bristol. It was, in fact, Kneis’ dream to be in academic publishing, “to be at the nexus of research and publishing, a career which would allow me to be embedded within the academic community and work to disseminate ideas and books which move towards achieving a better, more just world”. She practices what she preaches: Kneis leads the press’ equality, diver- sity and inclusivity drives and is setting up a series focusing on decolo- nising the social sciences. Starting as an editorial assistant, she worked her way up and in her first full year of commissioning, hit 160% of her target; a highlight this year was publishing two of the four books shortlisted for sociology’s biggest books gong, the Philip Abrams Prize. Looking ahead, her priority is “curat- ing a cutting-edge sociology and gender books programme...[and] longer-term, I’m striving to be an editorial director”.
ZAIN MAHMOOD WATERSTONES W
ithin five years of starting as a part-time bookseller at Waterstones, Zain Mahmood was part of the team running the Piccadilly flagship. After various roles across the retail arm, he became e-commerce manager two years ago and stepped up to head of e-commerce in
2020. Mahmood helped to launch the Waterstones app and a transactional website for Hatchards. The pandemic presented a unique challenge, with the retailer’s website becoming the primary commercial element of the company overnight. “We needed to ensure the site quickly and competently adapted to a vast influx of orders,” Mahmood says. “The e-commerce team faced the chal- lenges with aplomb and creativity, and worked tirelessly to ensure customers had continued and reliable access to books… Through diverse and engaging curation across the site, a rapid expansion of email marketing and strong promo- tional online campaigns, our online sales exceeded any forecasts.” Mahmood was praised for his “extraordinary confidence” in helping the site to flourish.
[Cherise Lopes-Baker] has developed a compelling strategy and re-envisioned our programme to put an intersectional, inclusive ethos at its heart Tom Avery, Tate Publishing
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