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Heart Of Our City: The next chapter

Emma Payne is the student behind the Little Brown Books non-profit

Between working as a legal assistant, running an online non-profit, running for fun and earning her bachelor’s degree, Emma Payne is busy — but not too busy to give back.

When the Rupertite started the Little Brown Book company for a school project, she didn’t know how well it would do, but she knew where she wanted the proceeds to go: the school district’s breakfast program.

“When I was trying to think of somewhere locally it could go, it was the first thing that came to mind. I know it’ll get put to good use,” Payne said. “It was a program that I utilized when I was in high school. The fact that they are even able to offer that option to students is awesome, but as with any funded program there’s not always free-flowing money to be able to go to that.”

The gently-used books, wrapped in plain brown paper have descriptions of the plot. The idea is simple: potential readers can’t judge a book by its cover if they don’t see it first. Each book goes for $10, which last fall added up to a $500 donation for the breakfast program.

“It felt really good, because I had invested quite a bit of time in the project,” Payne said. “The fact that it was success and I was able to give back to the program was the cherry on top. It made all the time and the work extra worth it.”

READ MORE: Little Brown Book raises more than $500 for Prince Rupert breakfast program

Her project did so well that out of the 19 other business plans students in her program came up with, Little Brown Books was voted as the most viable. Now the non-profit has launched online. This time, the proceeds will go to the Ronald McDonald House.

“Part of a love of reading is bringing people together,” Payne said. The Ronald McDonald House helps families stay close to hospitals where a loved one is being treated.

Payne herself has always been a big reader. She said that when she would get in trouble as a kid, her parents would take away the TV, video games, but never books.

“That was always the one caveat to being in trouble,” she said with a laugh. “I read all through my childhood and take that into my adulthood as well.”

For now, Payne’s reading list is primarily dictated by her program. She’s in the final year of her bachelor of commerce in entrepreneurial management from Royal Roads University. After two years of business and accounting courses at the Northwest Community College in Prince Rupert, Payne decided to continue her education online.

She had many reasons to stay in Rupert, such as her family, friends and a job she loves. At NWCC she took a law course and around the same time, found a job posting for a legal assistant.

“I thought, that’s a great way for me to get my toe in the water to even see if it was something I wanted to pursue,” she said.

From that experience and her current program, she’s discovered an interest in business law.

“It turned out to be something I’m interested in. If you had asked me 10 years ago if it was something I liked, I probably would have told you no,” she said with a laugh.

What does the next chapter have in store for Payne?

She’ll likely hit the books again, maybe at law school. But after her graduation in August, Payne hopes to take a break from the student life.

While Payne didn’t think she’d come back to Rupert — and stay — she said everything has fallen into place for her here.

She said coming back to the North Coast reminds you of the sense of community you can’t always find elsewhere.

“As someone who was born and raised in Rupert, you think you’re going to come back for a few years and end up staying. That’s what happened when I came back from Kamloops, I thought I’d only come back and figure out what I want to do and then head off, but Rupert had different plans for me,” she said.

Read more Heart of Our City profiles here.

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Emma Payne’s non-profit, Little Brown Books, is now online. (Keili Bartlett / The Northern View)