Heather Patchett is a life long student who spent her fundraising career at colleges in Alaska, Minnesota, South Carolina and Tennessee. She is a mother of two and grandmother of three, and has also served as a fire fighter, emergency medical technician, woodworker, theater stage manager and fundraising consultant. Heather returned to Parnassus four years ago to work with her sister, author Ann Patchett, to build a robust special sales program for the store. She is thrilled to welcome Hooks Book Events to the Parnassus family, expanding the store’s ability to bring relevant books to people while remaining committed to personal service and attention.
Niki Coffman has over fifteen years of work experience in the literary world, including at a top-tier literary agency, the Nashville Public Library Foundation, and several bookstores. Prior to joining the Hooks Book team, she served as the Director of Events at Parnassus Books, where she oversaw an event program which hosted nearly 400 events per year. During her time at Parnassus, she delighted in building relationships between authors, readers, and the community. Together with her husband and young son, Niki now resides in Tupelo, Mississippi, where she continues to work tirelessly to support the literary arts.
Ginger Knight has spent more than 20 years in the book industry. She joined the Parnassus Books family in 2015, and was a 13 year veteran of Davis-Kidd Booksellers. She is thrilled to be back in the book business after spending three years working as a librarian in Bowling Green, Kentucky, where she lives with her family. She serves the community there as the market manager for the SOKY Farmer’s Market and operates a hobby farm called Fable Stables that is home to goats, sheep, chickens, dogs and cats.
Chelsea has been a bookseller at Parnassus Books for four years while also dabbling in the bookkeeping and accounting world on the side. Before bookselling, Chelsea was a middle and high school educator, teaching both English and mathematics. With her young son Henry and husband Bryan, Chelsea lives in the suburbs of Nashville and enjoys watching hockey (go Preds!) and going on family walks.
Robin is a seasoned strategic marketing executive with over two decades of global marketing experience in Fortune 500 organizations as well as small, private companies across the technology and finance industries. She is the founder of Blue Egg, the marketing department for growing businesses.
Prior to founding Blue Egg, Robin led marketing for Updata Advisors, a leading investment banking firm serving the information technology industry; and Updata Partners, a growth-stage venture capital firm investing in software and software-enabled services companies. Earlier, she managed marketing and business development programs for a number of innovative technology companies.
Robin began her career with a decade of experience in AT&T’s Caribbean & Latin America regional organization. She earned an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and a BA from the University of Notre Dame.