Take it, Read it, Give it: Indianapolis women inspire, empower with books this Women's History Month

INDIANAPOLIS — In celebration of Women's History Month, an Indianapolis law firm will be placing dozens of books throughout the greater metropolitan area for women to take, read and give.

Brene Brown, Oprah Winfrey, Margaret Atwood — these are just a few of the renowned authors whose books will be sitting with a pink ribbon around it in your favorite Indy coffee shop, boutique, or grocer.

Partners at Indiana Divorce Lawyers, Clare Corado and Megan Pastrana — with the help of 20 other local women-owned businesses — will be sporadically placing brand new books by best-selling female authors throughout Indianapolis ahead of International Women's Day on March 8.

RTV6/Shakkira Harris

"I thought, 'Oh, I could just buy this book in bulk and just drop it around the city!' because it's just so life-changing," Corado said when she finished reading "Nice Girl Syndrome" by Beverley Engel. "And different books can impact you this way. And, you know, a lot of time people are handing out religious material, but what about good ol' day-to-day advice that is life-changing? I thought, 'Why doesn't anyone do that?'"

Corado and Pastrana love to read. Often, the divorce and immigration lawyers can find the inspiration they need between the lines of a book — a feeling they both wanted to find a way to pass along to others purposefully.

"We're always looking for ways to inspire and empower women. Helping them to find self-determination ... and we're always looking for creative ways to do that," Pastrana said. "We both love to read. We loved the idea of sharing good books that we've read that touched our lives in some ways with other women."

The idea is loosely based on a New York non-profit, called the "The Book Fairies." The group collects and hands out reading materials for people of all ages throughout the metropolitan area of New York.

"We wanted to take our own spin on it (The Book Fairies) and celebrate International Women's Day. So we decided to get a whole bunch of books that provide women with empowerment and inspiration and hope to bring them a small smile when they find the gift of a book in the city," Pastrana said.

The law firm decided not only to take a day, but to make it a week-long event of playing fate and chance with books.

"We talked for quite a long time about all of the books we've read, and we wanted to pick a large spectrum of books that really embodied women's empowerment and inspiration — we have books from fiction to memoirs, successful entrepreneurs and business owners to books about having self-determination and finding happiness — anything a woman could need," Pastrana said. "I think fate works in finding the book that was meant for them, with the message they need at that time."

Over 20 businesses helped assemble and sponsor the books. The collaborators and volunteers grew organically and with ease, as they grew to more than 150 books in a matter of just 48 hours.

Although the women want fate to work organically, Pastrana and Corado also want people to know that taking the random book with the pink ribbon is okay.

In plain sight or hiding, the books will be in businesses throughout the Indianapolis metropolitan area. The businesses, Pastrana and Corado said, are places they "think women will be."

The women both hope that each one of the books they purposefully place into the world finds its way into multiple hands.

"Hopefully, most of these books will have a multiple-phase life, as they're passed around," Corado said.

How it works

RTV6/Shakkira Harris

1. Look for a pink ribbon around a book
2. Find the special note that goes something like this:

3. Take the book.
4. Read the book.
5. Use the hashtag #nextchapterindiana on your social channels to share what your book was, and to see what others stumbled upon.
6. Pay it forward: Give the book to someone in your life who you think can get meaning from it, or place it in the spot of your choosing in the city.

This is IDL's first year passing out books with a pink ribbon, but they plan to make this an annual event.

RTV6/Shakkira Harris