THE FOUNDERS
Meagan Lyle
she/her/hers
Meagan grew up in New Hampshire and Vermont and moved to Birmingham six years ago. Something about this city pulls her in, in ways she never expected and in ways she hasn’t been able to articulate fully yet. She is beyond grateful to have built relationships with radical teachers, community leaders, organizers, artists and bakers from across the southeast who have taught her to dream big and seek deeper understanding of this complicated place. Meagan has discovered so much about herself in Birmingham. She fell deeply in love here and found community and friends that hold her accountable and challenge her. And yet, it is not always easy to live here. There are countless barriers keeping people apart and preventing creative collaboration and genuine relationships, collective healing and safe refuge. She is committed to bringing her whole self and her love for feminist literature, facilitation, community art projects and cooking to the Burdock Book Collective.
Katie Willis
she/her/hers
Katie grew up in Birmingham. She wore Nascar t-shirts and played on bad co-ed sports teams and sat listless in a church pew every Sunday. Growing up here, the city felt small and cold and exclusive and she wanted nothing more to fly away as soon as she graduated high school. After graduating with a degree in Women and Gender Studies and living in and traveling to many different cities around the United States, Katie felt the warmth and experienced the transformational power of feminist bookstores and books. In those spaces of safety and community, members and visitors found the freedom to dream and to create and to build and they empowered her to honor her roots and her home, and to know that love is not always easy, love is never painless. So somehow, Katie found her way back to Birmingham. And she saw in this city powerful, creative, compassionate people. People working to love a city that didn’t always love them back.