Managing a story is one thing, owning wine is another.

Hey folks, welcome back to another episode of How They Got There.

My conversation this week was with Annie B. Jones, Annie is the owner of the bookshelf,

an independent bookstore in downtown Thomasville, Georgia.

Now, what you're going to hear in this conversation is her story of how she started her career

by pursuing law journalism and ultimately volunteered her way into the dream job.

Through her work in the literary community, Annie has been featured as one of the Southern

Living magazines, 50 innovators changing the South.

The bookshelf was also listed in the top 10 of the 2016 independent small business of

the year awards and in 2017.

It was named Small Business of the Year by the Thomasville, Thomas County Chamber of Commerce.

We currently co-host from the Front porch, a weekly podcast about book small business and

life in the South.

Here's my conversation with Annie B. Jones.

Well, Annie, I want to start with the early days.

When you began to realize that you loved stories, it wasn't just books, but just stories.

How did the love of stories and books become clear for you?

For me, I mean, I have loved stories since I was a little girl.

For me, that mostly is true about books and literature, but as I got older and went to

college and took some great books, courses, and interacted with interesting, captivating

people.

Then, even post-college, read Donald Miller's book called A Million Miles in a Thousand

...