Isis Asare
In 2019, Isis Asare founded Sistah Scifi, the first Black-owned bookstore focused on science fiction and fantasy in the United States, as recognized by the American Booksellers Association. In 2023, Sistah Scifi launched three book vending machines located in Seattle and Oakland, CA.
In addition to serving as the CEO of Sistah Scifi, Isis is the Executive Director of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA). She is the former Executive Director of Aunt Lute Books and is also the contributing editor of Afrofuturism: Short Stories, forthcoming from Flame Tree Press in November 2025.
Her journey has taken her across industries and continents, from serving in the Peace Corps in Ghana, where her parents are from, to leading in the tech space at Microsoft, Shutterfly, and Brightroll. She also founded Sistah Sinema a film platform celebrating queer women of color. Sistah Sinema supported crowdfunding campaigns for queer women of color filmmakers, including Cheryl Dunye’s BLACK IS BLUE and Pratibha Parmar’s ALICE WALKER: BEAUTY IN TRUTH, by amplifying their projects, mobilizing community support, and helping secure funding to bring their stories to the screen.
Isis attended Stanford University, where she majored in Psychology and minored in African and African-American studies. She holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard University. She lives in Oakland, CA, with her supportive polycule in a home full of plant babies.
