Avery Brese is a true Athens area local.
Avery Brese was born at Saint Mary’s in Athens and grew up in the greater Athens area, graduating from Oglethorpe County High School, where her father was a teacher. After high school, she studied media studies at the University of North Georgia, landing an internship at a magazine that took her to New York City for a summer, before transferring to the University of Georgia. At UGA, she studied entertainment and media, along with women’s studies.
Avery currently works as Book Operations Manager at Books for Keeps, a nonprofit dedicated to inspiring joy around reading and learning. Books for Keeps hosts an annual Community Book Fair, where anyone and everyone can take home up to 100 free books per day, as well as a Spring Book Distribution at every elementary school in Clarke County. Each student gets to go home with 12 brand new books before summer break. Avery also serves on the annual AthFest Music & Arts Festival’s planning committee, and joined the AthFest Educates Board of Directors just over a year ago. Her introduction to nonprofit work began at age 18 with We Rock Camp (formerly Girls Rock Camp). She currently participates in LEAD Athens, a year-long leadership development program run by the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce.
Avery lives on the East Side of Athens with her wife, Tara, and their son Theo, who is almost 3.
What do you love most about the work you do?
With Books for Keeps, I think there are two parts to it. I love being in the warehouse, hauling books around, and working with our incredible volunteers. That is super fun. But on a deeper level, I really love working for an organization that supports the future of our community. I just want to support a new generation of informed and engaged citizens.
When you’re not working, what do you like to do in and around Athens?
Some of my favorite things to do are treat-motivated. So I love a good spot to get a coffee or food. Pretty Boy is definitely my favorite at the moment. I also like to visit my buddy Seth over at Hendershot’s. That and Pretty Boy are both so close to my office, so they’re where I go a lot. But I also love Sunroof Coffee and A Thousand Faces. Sips is also great.
If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would you go and why?
So this is kind of a cheat answer and it’s Greece, but it’s because we’re going to Greece this summer. So it’s the only place that I can focus my energy and I’m so thrilled. Tara is going on a school trip, and then I’m going to meet her out there with Theo, and she’s going to stay an extra week or so. And so we’re there after the school trip and make a big family vacation out of it.
If you could put one message on a billboard, what would it be?
Something that’s been resonating with me for a while is the idea of joy as an act of resistance. I think that I’d say “Joy is resistance.” I am kind of thriving on that right now. It’s getting me through the state of the world that we’re in.
Do you have a favorite movie or movie that you find yourself rewatching?
I’m not the kind of person that has a favorite anything for the most part. So I don’t have a favorite movie, but Tara and I did recently watch the Lilith Fair documentary, Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery and it was great.
Do you have a favorite book or do you have a book that you find yourself rereading, referencing or gifting?
So, this feels like a similar answer where it’s like a yes, but no. I gravitate towards a memoir, typically a memoir written by a female musician. If you put that in my hand, I will probably tell you it’s my favorite book. Hunger Makes the Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein, Rebel Girl by Kathleen Hanna, Girl in a Band by Kim Gordon. I have probably considered all of them my favorite book at one point or another.
What advice would you give to your younger self?
You don’t have to have it figured out. I feel like I spent so much of my youth trying to figure out who I was or where I needed to be and not enough time just being young and kind of carefree.
If you could see any band anywhere, at any time, who would you see? And where?
I would kill to see Portishead. I don’t think that they’re officially broken up, but I also think they don’t really play together right now. I’d see them somewhere small, like the 40 Watt or like if Caledonia was still around. I just want a dark, moody environment. And if they could just play the album Dummy, front to back.
If you could have lunch with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and where?
So I have two first instinct answers. Patti Smith or Toni Morrison. But I know that I would be way too intimidated by both of those people to actually have a productive lunch. So I’m going to go a little more grounded and say Ilana Glazer. She’s an incredible activist, an incredibly powerful woman, but also— down to earth and humble and just hilarious. If this is the ideal world where I can just casually have lunch with Ilana Glazer, it’s probably the same world where Pretty Boy has lunch.
What three words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word home?
Warm. Not just because I have the fireplace on, but… Just the warmth of home. Joy. I feel nothing but joy in the walls of my home. And… Probably love. I think that’s maybe a cliché one, but it’s not cliché for no reason.
