Hey, bookish friends, it is the third Thursday of the month, and we've just started a new

season of the podcast, which means it's time for a new patron bonus that I've affectionately

termed TROPE Thursdays with Katie and Boomi. This month, the first time we roll this out, I am so

excited to introduce you to Boomi Ashola, who is a longtime insider in the publishing industry,

and will bring an element of sparkle and behind the scenes that I cannot provide and that you cannot

get anywhere else. Boomi, welcome to Currently Reading Friend. Thank you, Katie, and I'm also laughing

because a long time is something that we argue about a little bit, because I've been in publishing

for, I guess, four, almost five years, which I love, and before that, I obviously was an avid reader

and cared about books, worked in a bookstore. My first job was at a bookstore, so I guess I could say

long term, but I sometimes feel silly about that. Hey, people call us long term podcasters now,

and we just finished our fourth year, so I think that makes you a long time expert in the publishing

industry. That's what I'm going to call you from now on. You're the expert. Fair enough. When I taught,

I was pretty much, I was a veteran in my 30 year, and I was like, how is this possible? But I was,

so in my school, I was the veteran, so I'll take it. See? Exactly. I love this. Okay, so because

this is our first month doing this, I want to take the top of the show here. We're going to have

a regular format, but this month, I want everybody to get a chance to get to know you. So first,

why don't you tell us a little bit about who you are, where you're from, and what you do, and why I

keep calling you a long time veteran of the publishing industry. All right, so I am Boomi Ashola.

First name is spelled B-U-N-M-I, but the N is silent because in your by the language that

my name is from, the U-N-N actually form a vowel together, and there's no equivalent for that in

English, obviously. So in English, just say it's silent, and that's the easiest way to go about that.

And I currently live in Washington State, like just outside of Portland, although I originally was

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