After a “sacred pause,” literary magnate Jennifer Rudolph Walsh teams up with beauty mogul Victoria Jackson to open a local bookstore, Godmothers. Business boomed.
Talk show legend Oprah Winfrey sat down with Tom Freston earlier this month to ponder Unplugged, his new memoir about the MTV co-founder and subsequent years of wandering from India and Afghanistan to Timbuktu.
At Godmothers, a boutique bookstore in Summerland, Calif., the home of fairy tales, Winfrey and Freston talk about their transformation from high-powered executives to thrill-seekers who string together wires and fly around the world.
Wearing a black blazer, Freston sat on a stage surrounded by bookshelves and trinkets, opposite Winfrey, who wore a head-to-toe mustard-colored ensemble. As the pair joked about their first conversation on stage, the packed crowd, sitting shoulder to shoulder in rows of wooden chairs, laughed and applauded.
Her “co-godmothers” included literary giant Jennifer Rudolph Walsh and beauty mogul Victoria Jackson. The bookseller duo, who coined the name Godmothers with the help of Winfrey and Prince Harry, have found success in Montecito’s backyard as independent bookstores have rebounded 70% since 2020 and the coronavirus pandemic.
“People need and want connection, and that’s what Godmothers is all about,” Jackson told USA TODAY. Godmothers’ live events regularly sell out, and the company boasts more than 45,000 followers on Instagram.
Walsh and Jackson, who have deep ties to some of the world’s most famous people, are currently writing a new chapter. Despite their A-list rolodex, the business partners are focused on fostering deeper understanding among their neighbors in affluent Santa Barbara County and beyond.
“We’re just trying to put a taste of this love out into the world and hope that people hear it, and they come because we’re waiting for them,” Walsh said.
How a “sacred pause” led to a lifelong friendship
Mr. Walsh, a former power agent at industry giant William Morris Endeavor, co-produced Winfrey’s “The Life You Want” tour in 2014 and has represented some of the country’s most famous writers, including Brené Brown and Arianna Huffington.
Mark Shapiro, president of WME’s parent company, credited her with strengthening WME’s publishing division. Walsh said he “ended” his time at the company in 2020 to take a “sacred pause” to intentionally withdraw from the corporate world.
Mr. Walsh left Manhattan for a small mountaintop avocado farm in Montecito. There, her husband Patrick, a miniature donkey, a tiny cow, and a dwarf goat had built a nest that was empty. Of course, the move required a lot of money, but it made Mr. Walsh’s life easier and his calendar lighter.
Walsh and Jackson first met in 2022 at a dinner party at Freston’s home and immediately found stories and similarities that connected them. Walsh and Jackson were born at the same New York hospital, Long Island Jewish Hospital, and they have one daughter and two sons. Their eldest son shares the same birthday in early January.
Their dinner conversation led to a lifelong connection that Jackson described as “kismet.” The two became “joint godparents.”
Prince Harry: Jennifer Walsh and Victoria Jackson are ‘Fairy Godmothers’
In January 2023, Prince Harry published a best-selling memoir, “Spare,” about his grief over the loss of his mother, Princess Diana, and how he met his wife, Duchess Meghan. At a release party held at one of Jackson’s homes, Prince Harry thanked Jackson, Winfrey and Walsh (Jackson’s three “fairy godmothers”) for their advice and wisdom.
Two months later, in March of the same year, Mr. Walsh was driving to meet Mr. Jackson when his sister, Elizabeth, called from a visit to Books and Bottles, a wine bookstore in Florida. It inspired her instantly.
“She said, ‘Oh my god, we went there every night. It was amazing.’ And I just blurted out, ‘Oh, I’m going to do that, too,'” Walsh said, imagining her gathering space there.
Ms. Walsh opened up about a conversation she had with her sister while having lunch with Ms. Jackson at the Inn at Mattei’s Tavern, a restaurant in the nearby coastal community. The two women decided to work together on a project to become godmothers.
Fellow Fairy Godmother: “You have to call it Godmother.”
A few days later, while the best friends were thinking of a name for their future store, a fellow Fairy Godmother suddenly showed up.
“When I talked to Oprah about it, she just said, ‘You should call me Godmother,'” Walsh recalled, noting that her own favorite words were both “God” and “mother.”
Jackson added, “Now I’m like, ‘Oh my god, why did I even spend a day thinking about that?'” That’s the name, so it’s always been that name. ”
Also on Ms. Walsh’s desk at WME was a walking stick given to her by one of her clients, Sue Monk Kidd, the novelist who wrote “The Secret Life of Bees.”
However, the women were not confident in making such a bold choice. “We thought, ‘Wow, this really represents our heart,'” Walsh said. “But once we made the decision, it was very fulfilling.”
Godmothers opened in September 2024.
Walsh and Jackson celebrated with fanfare and festivities over three days. Winfrey and Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan also attended. Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi are featured in black and white photos from the lavish three-day event. Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd also stopped by.
“It’s not about what happens, it’s about what happens next.”
While Godmothers is a site for witnessing A-listers, the store is also meant to be a space for transformation.
“When we talk about change, we’re talking about the human ability to change current circumstances and past events, no matter how limiting or permanent that change may seem,” Walsh said.
As an example, she cited best-selling author Shaka Senghor, who stopped by the opening weekend of The Godmothers to talk to Winfrey. He was serving 19 years in prison for shooting and killing a 19-year-old man. “He went from being in solitary confinement in prison for murder to being a best-selling author who was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey!” Walsh said.
“I like to say, ‘It’s not about what happens, it’s about what happens next,'” Walsh continued. “No matter where you stand, you can create a new reality for yourself and write a happy new ending to your story.”
Considering the location of The Godmother, it’s easy to be skeptical. The median household income in Montecito is about $225,000 a year, according to the Census Bureau. But Walsh argued that people need to identify their limiting beliefs and negative self-talk and remind themselves that feelings are not facts. “Other people’s stories inspire us and show us what’s possible,” she said.
That argument is echoed by some of Godmothers’ guest speakers. New York Times bestselling author Elise Ronen, a close friend of Walsh’s, spoke about the book she co-wrote, “Choosing Whole over Good,” about the societal narratives that distort women’s lives.
In a conversation with Walsh, author Austin Channing Brown reflected on her book, Full of Myself: Black Womanhood and the Journey to Self-Possession. And celebrities still stop by to promote their memoirs. Last year, Maria Shriver discussed her memoir “I Am Maria” with Winfrey.
“Create something truly beautiful”
The bookstore is housed in a 1920s barn restored by Jackson, who purchased the building.
Framed photos of the Godmothers who “lighted our path” – Harriet Tubman, Toni Morrison, Gloria Steinem, Maya Angelou, and Winfrey herself – are displayed in eclectic frames. “As soon as you walk in the door, you’re really getting a history lesson,” Jackson said.
The project was conceived by Jackson in collaboration with Martin Lawrence Bullard, a Los Angeles interior designer whose clientele includes celebrities such as Cher and the Kardashians. The space features some of the essentials of a bookstore, including comfy chairs, an open seating area, and a quiet environment that feels like home.
But Jackson’s background is not in design. A former Hollywood makeup artist, she helped pioneer today’s popular “less is more” look in the 1980s and ’90s, and with the rise of TV infomercials.
Her popular no-makeup makeup foundation products were part of a billion-dollar beauty brand. She also wrote a memoir in 2024 called We All Worry, Now What? In it, she spoke about a sexual assault she survived.
“I always had the spirit of wanting to do something that creates community,” Jackson said. “And this was an opportunity to do that in terms of creating something really beautiful as well.”
“When I go, I feel like I’m at home.”
Walsh and Jackson hope the store will become an essential place for women seeking personal sacred moments and change. Kim Devenne of @secondchapternomad, who adopted a nomadic lifestyle after her divorce, said she found refuge in Godmothers.
“As a nomad, I don’t have a home, so it feels like a dream home. When I go there, I feel at home, because it’s not just the books,” Devennes said.
She called the outpost a “community gathering place,” a term that comes after Americans have long sought additional third spaces outside of their homes and workplaces.
As Southern California tourists and locals flock to Godmothers, Jackson and Walsh are nodding to more than bookstore nostalgia. It is the magic of unity and transformation within our four walls.
