(upbeat music) - Hi everyone, I'm Steve Adubato.

Recently my colleague Jacqui Tricarico and I traveled with our team to do a series of interviews down at the 2024 New Jersey Education Association Convention Annual convention.

We talked to educators, educational administrators, authors, poets, people engaged in a whole range of activities, impacting our kids, impacting our schools in the world of education.

Here now are those conversations.

Jacqui, myself and some really interesting people in AC.

- Hi, I am Jacqui Tricarico, Senior Correspondent for One-on-One, and I'm here at the New Jersey Education Association's Convention in Atlantic City.

And so pleased to be joined now by Kaila Boulware Sykes, the co-founder of Hidden Gems Literary Emporium.

So great to have you with us.

- Thank you.

Thank you for having me here- - Thanks for taking the time.

So let's talk first about Hidden Gems, it's something that you and your husband Raymond created a couple years ago.

Tell us about what it is, and how and why you wanted to start it.

- That's a good question.

Ray and I, we grew up as avid readers and so when we had our son, Truth, when he was one we automatically wanted to surround him with as many books as possible.

So we'd take him to sa book store in Ocean County and we were disheartened because we didn't feel welcome.

People were pointing at us and whispering, and when we were buying our books the manager makes a phone call and tells whoever he was talking to, that we were leaving.

So we just get in the car and we're really frustrated that we had this experience with our son who was so young, and he had to be exposed to that.

And so, but honestly, we just started praying and we asked for an opportunity where we can open a bookstore where everyone would be welcome, and we promised to make the books affordable and we said we even make them free.

And five weeks later we had the biggest event in New Brunswick, New Jersey, we had to shut the street down, there was over 500 people.

Everyone got a free book and that- when things happen for you like that, it was just a clear sign to us that we were on the right path.

- What was the community support at that time, because you had something happen to you that was negative and you turned it into a positive, which not everybody does.

- That's true.

- What was the community support like in New Brunswick?

'Cause I know you and your husband went to school there and you're living there now, so talk about the community support.

- It was amazing and the response was automatic.

People would donate books to us and we would just advocate for our goals and for the world of better books and more books, and better access that we saw.

And we were overwhelmed with 1,000s and 1,000s of book donations, we had to get a storage unit very quickly, and it really just snowballed.

- What's next for where you're looking to be able to deliver these free books to people who need them and people who really want them in our state?

- Yeah.

And it's interesting the way your experiences work and how they shape you, and how they kind of also remind you of where you started.

Because when we started we had this dream and this goal of creating what we call a book Fair on Wheels.

And it was a bus that was converted into a literary magical experience that we would do and bring to our programs on our book tours, and so we really feel like that's the direction that we're going now.

So all of our programming with schools and events, community events is still running regularly, but I actually just got a call from a woman-owned construction company.

They have a bus for us, they know about our book tours, our prayer is to go from New Jersey to California this summer, and so... - So a big road trip to bring books to kids, to people all throughout the country.

- All throughout the country.

- And this is one of many, there's been others in the past, you've done book tours.

- Yes, and they're literally- and of course the first time we did it, especially our parents, like, "Are you crazy?

You wanna drive cross country, give away free books?"

But we always felt like you have to meet people where they're at, and we love our work so much and we've seen it, what happens when you put the right book in a child or an adult's hand, and how it can change their day or even their life.

And so not everyone can make it to New Brunswick, but we can make it to however many cities as possible.

One time we got a call from Florida, they were having a back to school bash, and so we planned our tour around that event.

And it was just- (sighs) I would be here all day telling you about all of the magical stories of just that tour alone.

- Talk about how you envision and where your organization is going to keep making sure books get in the hands of kids, and how important literacy really is.

- And it's hard and we talk to teachers all the time, especially after COVID and how hard it was to teach children to read during that time, and the effects afterwards.

And from the beginning, all of our programming has operated off of the fun factor.

And so even through my program with public health, we talk about intrinsically motivated behaviors.

So we can say to our children as much as we want, "You need to read, you need to read, you need to read."

But if they don't feel inside that they want to read, it's not going to be something that they take with them for the rest of their lives.

Reading, I feel like reading can make you live longer, it can help to curb things like Alzheimer's, it relieves stress.

There's so many great things that come with reading, but we have to keep that fun element in it, when we're talking about children or adults.

- Give us an example of how you've seen your work directly impact kids in our community, I'd love to hear some examples of that, during the time that you've been doing this.

- We have a program called The Read Festival.

And so it's a half day long program where we come in, everything is literacy and literarily based, but it's fun.

We bring in DJs, we have games, we have prizes.

And I remember the first time we ever did that program, it was for 500 fourth and fifth graders in Piscataway at Arbor Elementary school, they're always asking us to come back.

And at the end of the event, the very last little girl I talked to, she pulls me on my skirt and she says, "Excuse me, I'm gonna remember this for the rest of my life."

And I'm like, "That was the goal," because we all remember being in school, meeting someone or listening to someone and now you're changed as a young person, and how that can affect you for the rest of your life.

So that little girl, I will never forget this little girl.

- How'd that make you feel?

- It made me- and I was still, I was a mom at that time too.

And so when, as a mom, when you're going into schools with other people's children, it's like now everyone is your child.

This is like the- one of the teachers said to me yesterday, "The mom network."

That's what it is.

And so I'm looking at this little girl and I don't know anything about her, but I'm like- I feel like I did my job for the day.

- What is the hopes for the future of the organization, the future for you, your husband, your family in this journey that you've been on?

- For any mom or for any just person that loves your family, you just want people, your family and the people who you meet, you, to live happy, healthy lives, doing whatever it is that you wanna do; and to follow your passion.

If this is your passion, my hope for you is that you do this for the rest of your natural born life.

So for my family, our passion is service, community service, giving through books.

We also have a food distribution program run through Treehouse Cares.

And so we're just givers and we're lovers, and we always tell people that we're servants of our creator and our community.

And so that's what I want for our family, for us to continue to do the work that we do and just be happy and healthy doing it.

And for Hidden Gems, I want us to travel the country giving away free books.

I want us to keep going into schools, putting on bigger and better festivals.

And I want, and now I'm pausing because sometimes when you see- you asked us a big question, like, "What do you see?"

But we can sometimes stop our own selves from accepting what's possible, but I want to see the literacy rates get better in our country.

By the time my son is 15, we should have a much better percentage of children and adults who can read in this country.

So can Hidden Gems help with that?

I think so.

That's why- - Yeah.

We all need to do our part.

- That's right.

- What else can we do?

What can people do right now to help with your mission?

- That's a great question.

Well, I think change always starts in your own home.

Make reading more fun for your children, for the children in your immediate circle.

We talked about parenting and easing up a little bit when we're teaching our children.

Let's ease up, let them have fun and let them tell us what they want to read.

As far as supporting Hidden Gems, you can always donate to our Book Bus.

And I feel like it's right there, I feel like it's so close, we would even be bringing it to this convention next year.

And so you can donate there at gofundme.com/hiddenGemsHome.

- Great.

And we'll have the information up so people can find out more.

It's been so great to learn more about Hidden Gems and your story.

- Thank you.

- Thanks so much for speaking with us today- - Thank you.

Thank you so much.

- So, for Jacqui Tricarico and myself, and our entire team down in Atlantic City at the 2024 New Jersey Education Association Convention, we thank you so much for watching, we'll see you next time.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

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