What unfolds when faith-driven creators stop flying solo, and start building together?
This week on Latter-day Lights, Scott Brandley and co-host Larry Johnson sit down with publishing veteran Steve Piersanti—founder and CEO of Berrett-Koehler Publishers, and the driving force behind LDSPMA (Latter-day Saints in Publishing, Media & the Arts). Together, they retrace Steve’s path to success; from launching BYU’s Century Two journal, to rallying 45 volunteers in 2015, and growing that circle into 2,800 members united by one mission: to spread light and truth through books, film, podcasts, music, and more.
They break down the process of building a volunteer-run nonprofit—from the early challenges, to launching pitching sessions, deep-dive workshops, and Praiseworthy/Spark awards—all the while emphasizing the faith-based community that keeps LDS creators and entrepreneurs coming back every time. Scott even throws in the serendipitous conversation that inspired Latter-Day Lights itself—and why showing up in media spaces matters just as much as showing up at Church.
If you have a talent that’s waiting to be seen, this conversation may be the nudge you need to step forward, link up, and create something that makes the world a better place. Tune in to find out how LDSPMA could be the bridge between your gift and the people who need it.
*** Please SHARE Steve's story and help us spread hope and light to others. ***
To WATCH this episode on YouTube, visit: https://youtu.be/ob4OwpaaPKQ
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To LEARN MORE about LDSPMA (keynotes, conferences, workshops, etc.) visit: https://ldspma.org/
To VOLUNTEER at LDSPMA, visit: https://ldspma.org/volunteer/
To DONATE to LDSPMA, visit: https://ldspma.org/donate/
To LISTEN to Scott & Alisha's guesting on the LDSPMA Podcast, "Called to Create," visit: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1696705/episodes/17374653
To READ Scott’s book “Faith to Stay,” visit: https://www.faithtostay.com/
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Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/latterdaylights
Also, if you have a faith-promoting or inspiring story, or know someone who does, please let us know by going to https://www.latterdaylights.com and reaching out to us.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Scott Brandley (00:00):
Hey everyone, I'm Scott Brandley.
Larry Johnson (00:02):
I'm Larry Johnson .
Every member has a story toshare, and one that can instill
faith, invite growth and inspireothers.
Scott Brandley (00:10):
On today's episode, we're going to hear how
one man's talent for writing,publishing and business led him
on a mission to share hispassion with thousands of others
around the world.
Welcome to Latter-day Lights.
Hey everyone, welcome back toanother episode of Latter-day
(00:34):
Lights.
We're so glad you're here withus today and I have a really
special treat for you today,steve Pierzonti.
Welcome to the show, steve.
Steve Piersanti (00:44):
Happy to be here, Scott.
Thank you for inviting me to beon the show.
Scott Brandley (00:48):
Yeah, I'm glad you're here.
I'm also excited to introduceLarry Johnson, my brother-in-law
, who, as my co-host, some ofyou may recognize him.
He's been on a previous episodeof Latter-day Lights where he
shared his story.
So welcome to the show, Larry.
Larry Johnson (01:05):
Thank you for letting me be here today.
Scott Brandley (01:08):
Yeah.
So, steve, you've got quite theresume that you shared with us,
and I'm really excited to getinto some of that story, but why
don't you tell us a little bitabout yourself before we jump in
?
Steve Piersanti (01:24):
Why don't you tell us a little bit about
yourself before we jump in?
Well, I am the founder and CEOof Barrett Kohler Publishers,
which is an award-winningindependent publishing company
of nonfiction books in the areasof business, leadership,
current affairs, personal growththat I founded in 1992.
(01:46):
I'm also one of the founders ofLatter-day Saints in Publishing
, media and the Arts, which is anot-for-profit professional
association that we'll talkquite a bit about during today.
I would mention that I live nowin Cody Wyoming with my wife,
(02:09):
kate, who joined me in foundingBarrett Kohler Publishers and
has been my partner now almostfive decades, and we have two
children.
We lived for 47 years in theSan Francisco Bay Area, but for
the last year we've lived inCody Wyoming.
Scott Brandley (02:32):
That's quite a shift.
How do you like Wyoming?
Steve Piersanti (02:37):
Well, we're at the eastern entrance to
Yellowstone National Park, soit's a beautiful place to live
and there are tons of things todo, and we've had many more
family members, grandkids,family relatives visiting us in
the past year here than we didin the Bay Area, so it tells you
something about the attractionhere.
Scott Brandley (02:59):
Yeah, it sounds like your house is party central
.
Everybody wants to go toYellowstone, nice.
Well, very cool.
We're really excited to hearyour story, so let's jump in.
Why don't you tell us whereyour story begins?
Steve Piersanti (03:27):
And I have been a book editor for over 40 years
.
I began in, but where the storystarts was I was a student at
BYU and I heard, went to anhonors program symposium where
everyone was complaining thatthere wasn't enough student
scholarship.
And so I got the bright idea ofstarting a student scholarly
(03:48):
journal in order to encouragestudent scholarship and managed
to get the universityadministration to give it a
green light, which was a bigdeal for a student publication.
The English Department, theCollege of Humanities, supported
it.
We started the studentscholarly journal.
Its purpose was to the idea wasthat if you had a scholarly
(04:10):
journal, it would lead to morestudents focusing on scholarly
pursuits, and so we were tryingto cover all areas of
scholarship.
We were trying to cover allareas of scholarship history,
(04:33):
science, physics, literature,religion, all areas of
scholarship.
It was called Century Two,started in 1976.
I'm not sure that which was kindof commemorating the second
century of BYU.
I don't know that it really didmuch.
It lasted for a few years,including a couple of years
after I left BYU.
I'm not sure it really did alot to advance student
(04:54):
scholarship, but what it did dowas it launched a number of the
volunteer staff, the studentstaff who ran the student
scholarly journal into careersin publishing or writing or
media.
And I was one of those studentsand what I learned is that this
(05:14):
was something that I reallyenjoyed was publishing.
I had some talent for it.
It kind of combined my businesstalent and my writing and
intellectual talents andinterests and so after I
graduated from BYU I startedlooking for jobs in publishing,
(05:35):
ended up taking a job in 1977 atJosie Bass Publishers in San
Francisco as a promotionalcopywriter.
We moved our young family thereand so I went on to become
marketing director at thiscompany.
Then eventually I becameeditorial director.
(05:59):
I became an editor at thecompany, an acquisitions editor,
then editorial director, thenexecutive vice president,
eventually president and CEO ofJosie Bass Publishers, and I
stayed there for 13 years andthen I left Josie Bass in 1991.
In 1992, I founded BarrettKohler Publishers, which is the
(06:23):
company where I am now.
Our company has the mission ofconnecting people and ideas to
create a world that works forall and, as I mentioned, we
publish in the areas of businessmanagement, leadership,
organizational change, currentaffairs, social responsibility,
(06:49):
personal growth, self-help inthose areas, and we've won quite
a few awards and are stillgoing now 33 years after we were
established.
So that's kind of my backgroundin the book publishing world
and, as I mentioned, my wife hasbeen Kate Piersanti, has been
(07:13):
supporting and been a part ofthis all along.
Scott Brandley (07:16):
Okay, awesome.
So how did you get the?
Was it your idea to start theLDSPMA, or how did that come
about?
Steve Piersanti (07:27):
Yes, it was my idea, and where that came about
is over the years because I'vebeen in book publishing for
decades now, since 1977, Inoticed that there were not very
many other Latter-day Saints inbook publishing and of people
that I knew about only outsideof Wasatch Front, of people who
(07:51):
worked at Desert Book orBookcraft, but outside of the
Wasatch Front I only knew ofmaybe a couple dozen people in
publishing, which was to me.
I could not understand that.
The Church of Jesus Christ ofLatter-day Saints was started
with a book, the Book of Mormon.
One of the very first, if notthe very first, asset that the
(08:13):
church had was a printing press.
Everywhere where the church hasexpanded it has set up
publications.
The church puts emphasis oneducation and learning and I
just could not understand whythere were so few Latter-day
Saints in book publishing.
So I decided to do somethingabout it and got the idea if we
(08:35):
could start a professionalassociation that would provide
professional development forLatter-day Saints in publishing,
that would encourage more youngpeople and students to go into
publishing careers, that wouldprovide networking so that those
could connect with each other,maybe we could expand the number
(08:58):
of Latter-day Saints.
I don't mean to put down otherkinds of careers, but there were
so many more people, latter-daySaints, who were in multi-level
marketing or dentistry or realestate all very reputable
careers but there's so much goodwe can do in the world through
publishing that I wanted to tryand expand that.
(09:18):
So what I did was I startedconnecting with other Latter-day
Saints who I knew wereinterested in this realm and we
started planning an organizingevent, which we did on April 3rd
2015 at the Salt Lake CityLibrary, and we had about 45
people who showed up at thisorganizing event and agreed to
(09:42):
found what was then called theLatter-day Saint Publishing
Professionals Association tosupport, and we made it a
not-for-profit 501c3organization.
We organized a board ofdirectors and that was the
founding of what later becameLDS PMA.
Scott Brandley (10:07):
Yeah, lds, pma Wow, 45 people.
It's grown quite a bit sincethen, which is pretty cool.
So what were some of?
Steve Piersanti (10:20):
the challenges that you had when putting that
organization together.
Well, so we now have 2,800members, so it has grown a lot.
But the challenges are similarto starting any not-for-profit
organization.
They are attracting members,they are getting enough funds to
start it.
They are having enoughvolunteers.
(10:42):
Ldspma has been a volunteer-ledorganization from the very
beginning, because we werestarting without a lot of
resources and just building itover time, with volunteers
basically doing most of theorganizing and the work.
Scott Brandley (11:12):
Yeah, so it's been interesting to see it today
because I've been to the LDMSPMA.
Steve Piersanti (11:16):
Actually that's the reason why this podcast
exists.
Scott Brandley (11:18):
Steve, I went to the LDS PMA and I've shared
this story before on the podcast, but I sat at lunch.
I sat by myself one day and agirl came and sat by me and we
started talking and she hadwritten a book called Early
Homecoming about missionariesthat come home for whatever
(11:42):
reason and how they cope.
And we just kind of got into aconversation and I asked her
well, how do you promote yourbook?
And she said well, I started apodcast and so that's so.
On my way home from that, fromthat lunch, I came up with the
idea for Latter-day Lights.
Wow, yeah, so that's so.
(12:04):
It's all because of you.
It's your fault.
Steve Piersanti (12:08):
That is a great case study of exactly what our
hope was in founding LDSPMA thatpeople would network with
others, they would get inspired,they would gain knowledge, they
would provide professionaleducational opportunities,
learning that could help them todo things, and that they would
(12:29):
just it would just becomesomething in their mind.
It wasn't ever a case thatLatter-day Saints didn't have
abilities to do more in themedia world, more in the
publishing world, but sometimesit just wasn't forefront before
them of what they could do orshould do.
So that's a great example.
Scott Brandley (12:50):
Yeah, at least when I went, there was a lot of
opportunities, like you said, toconnect with others.
One thing I love and I thinkthis was the first year you did
it when I went the first timewas had all the the book
publishers like Deseret book andCedar fort and some of the
other publishers that are nowaround today, and you could do
(13:13):
speed pitches with Right.
Steve Piersanti (13:17):
Yeah.
Scott Brandley (13:17):
We call that yeah.
Steve Piersanti (13:18):
We call that fast pitch, and it's something
that we've done.
We so.
So when we started LDS PMA, we,the first thing the board of
directors decided to do was tohold a conference.
So we held a and that's kind ofa prototypical Latter-day Saint
kind of thing to do.
We're going to, we're going tohold a big conference meeting to
(13:39):
get everyone together, which wedid in the fall of 2015, our
first conference.
But within a year or two, westarted adding other programs,
and so one of the things weadded as a part of the
conference was what we call FastPitch, which allows aspiring
authors to pitch their books toeditors and agents, editors for
(14:03):
other publishing companies.
So that's been one of our verysuccessful programs still going
on today, and we've added avirtual component of it in
addition to the in-person partat the conference.
Scott Brandley (14:18):
So when did the media side start coming into
play?
Steve Piersanti (14:23):
Yeah.
So that's a great question,because originally the whole
focus of LDSP it was calledagain Latter-day Saint
Publishing ProfessionalsAssociation.
The focus was really just onbook publishing in particular.
But world is that bookpublishing was becoming media
(14:50):
focused.
Every book publisher that Iknew of was launching media in
terms of e-books and thensometimes video publishing or
audio publishing.
It was becoming multimedia andit's become even more so now,
and so the people we wereattracting to our conference
(15:10):
were interested in more thanjust book publishing.
So the first kind of expansionof the concept of the
organization was Dad Media, andso we renamed it Latter-day
Saint Publishing and MediaAssociation, renamed it uh,
latter-day Saint Publishing andMedia Association, um, um and uh
and and then and so.
(15:33):
So that became the next uh uhjuncture.
And then a few years ago we werealso attracting a lot of people
interest in the arts,performing arts, musical arts,
and so we we again expanded,added the these, added these
tracks dealing with musical arts, visual arts, performing arts,
and so changed the name again towhat its current name is, which
(15:54):
is Latter-day Saints inPublishing, media and the Arts
Same initials now as we hadbefore LDSPMA, but it has a
different meaning and havingLatter-day Saints in publishing
media of the arts is reallyimportant for understanding it,
in the sense that the nature ofthe organization is to bring
(16:15):
together Latter-day Saints andfriends of Latter-day Saints.
It's not just, it's not limitedto members of the church we have
also had people who are notmembers of the church, who have
been presenters an associationof people uh uh involved in
publishing media and the arts inone way or the other, as
(16:50):
opposed to an organization thatis itself trying to produce uh
publishing media arts.
We don't.
We're not a publishing.
We don't publish um uh books orwe don't create films.
We're not that kind of anassociation.
Instead we're we're aprofessional development and
networking association.
Scott Brandley (17:08):
Right, okay, so when you talk about the tracks
the different tracks that youhave I know when I went there
were classes that you could takethat were related to the
different things that you wantedto do process or things that
(17:32):
somebody goes through if they'reinterested in one of those
particular areas.
How does that typically work?
Steve Piersanti (17:38):
No People can choose to go to any class they
want to go to, or session as wecall them, in any of the tracks
they can mix and match, andpeople do so.
For example, podcasting whatyou're doing.
Now there are typicallypodcasting sessions or classes,
(17:59):
and in the in the in the mediatrack, but sometimes they're
also in the marketing track,where it's how to use podcasting
to help market yourpublications, or in the editing,
design and production track howdo you actually produce a
podcast.
And so you may end up findingthat you're interested in
(18:21):
classes in three differenttracks rather than just one.
And I should also mention thefirst day of the conference,
which is a Thursday.
The main conference is onFriday and Saturday.
On Thursday, we have deep diveworkshops, which are four hours
going.
The typical sessions on Fridayand Saturday are just 50 minutes
(18:42):
long, but the deep diveworkshops are four hours and
they go into much more hands-on,developing more extensive
skills in their particulartopics.
Scott Brandley (18:57):
Okay, awesome, larry.
Do you have any questions?
It is fascinating and I wouldlove to actually be part of that
yeah, I think, like a lot ofmembers don't still don't know
(19:22):
that it necessarily exists outthere.
Um, the way I heard about it wasAlisha my coat, my normal
co-host.
She, she was writing a book andmy daughter was coming home
from her mission and we happenedto have lunch with them because
we went to pick her up and wehappened to have lunch with them
and I told her that I waswriting a book and she's like
(19:43):
well, I'm writing a book too andyou should come to this
conference with me, and sothat's where I first heard about
the LDMS PMA and so I actuallywent there, originally because
of my book, but then I startedthe podcast.
So it's kind of interesting how, how things go.
But, yeah, I agree with you,Larry, there's there's a lot of
(20:05):
people that don't know about it,but once you find out that it's
, there's all of these differenttypes of like publishing and
media and arts and and all thesekinds of things that you can
learn more about and ways thatyou can participate in in the
LDS market, it's it's prettyexciting.
Steve Piersanti (20:29):
Yeah, and and I should just to to, for you know
full disclosure there are ahalf a dozen different
(20:56):
organizations that supportLatter-day Saint writers.
Such as we say, provideprofessional development to
people of faith involved increating uplifting writing, art,
music and media, and we'reexpressly supporting the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-daySaints and supporting faith.
(21:22):
We believe that followers ofJesus Christ have a divine call
to share light and truth offaith-based is very prominent in
many of the sessions at the LDSPMA conference, which is
somewhat distinctive for most ofthe writing organizations.
Now, we don't.
(21:43):
The kinds of publishing that isdone and the kinds of
filmmaking and art is notnecessarily religious.
Many of the people, includingmyself, I've been the leader of
a publishing company that hasnever been a religious publisher
but that does seek to providepublications that provide
(22:10):
benefit to the earth, to peoplearound the world benefit to the
earth, to people around theworld.
So there's not one doesn't haveto be doing religious work in
order to find value in LDSPMA.
You could be publishing scienceor you could be publishing
architecture, you could bewhatever you're doing, but we're
trying to bring faith into theequation in it.
(22:33):
The other thing that reallydistinguishes LDSPMA is the
breadth of not being just aboutwriting and publishing, but also
about media, about filmmaking,about podcasting, about visual
arts, performing arts, musicalarts.
I don't think there's anotherorganization that has quite the
(22:56):
same breadth, which at timesthat's a challenge because in a
way, we're trying to bringtogether too many different
elements, but it's also thegenius of it, in the sense that
a lot of people end up havinginterests in multiple areas or
one area.
In your case, writing a bookled to doing podcasting, and so
(23:20):
there is some serendipity thathappens in terms of people
making connections that leadthem to broaden out what they're
doing or to bring in anotherelement.
So that's part of the magic ofLDS PMA.
Scott Brandley (23:36):
Yeah, I would agree.
So, speaking of magic, you'vebeen there since the beginning.
Are there any stories of peoplethat you've met along the way
that have stood out to you?
Steve Piersanti (23:54):
Yeah, and I think it's stories of people who
have started publishingcompanies.
One of the things that we'retrying to do is is to encourage
more Latter-day Saints to becomeentrepreneurs, not just to be
creators, not just to create,you know, write books themselves
or do a homemade film orsomething like that, but
(24:17):
actually to create companies ororganizations that are advancing
publishing, meeting the arts,and so some of our members have
started publishing companies,which is great, have started
publishing companies, which isgreat.
(24:37):
Some of them have gotten intodoing musical CDs as a result of
coming to LDSPMA.
One of the early things that weset out to do at the very first
organizing meeting in April of2015 was we wanted to encourage
(25:04):
more students, more young people, to pursue careers in
publishing and media, and inorder to do that, one of the
things we set out to do was toencourage BOU to change its, to
elevate its editing minorprogram into a publishing and
(25:24):
editing major program.
That took a few years, but muchfaster than we could have ever
predicted would happen.
Bou did convert their editingminor program into a publishing
editing major program, which alot of you know.
Many more people are now goingthrough that program young
people and graduating intocareers in these realms.
(25:47):
One of the things we've starteddoing in the last couple of
years is encouraging more youthages 12 and up to come to our
conference, and so a lot ofparents now are bringing their
youth, their children, to theconference as well, and the idea
(26:07):
is that if it can open theireyes to say, oh, there are
careers I never even knewexisted, that more will decide
to pursue careers in theserealms.
Scott Brandley (26:18):
Yeah, that's awesome.
So, as you look back on thelast 10 years of LDS PMA, what
are some of the things you'remost proud?
Steve Piersanti (26:32):
of.
It's just what we've beentalking about.
The stories of people's liveshave been changed in the, in the
sense that they've beeninspired to, to be creators and
ways that that they.
(26:53):
They needed some encouragement,they needed a little bit of a
push, they needed maybe someoneto help them, they needed
professional support or toactually start be entrepreneurs
and and start their ownorganization.
I think there's that.
I think it's also that we'vestuck to being faith-based,
where some organizations havestarted that way but, in the
(27:16):
interest of trying to appealmore broadly, may lose the faith
explicit faith component, andwe've kept that, which I think
is very important.
I think I'm also most proud ofall the volunteers.
You know of that original groupthat gathered in Salt Lake in
2015,.
(27:37):
Quite a few of them maybe halfof them are still involved in
LDSPMA in one way or the other.
A number of them maybe half ofthem are still involved in
LDSPMA in one way or the other.
A number of them becamepresidents I was the first
president and then several ofthem became subsequent
presidents of LDSPMA but arestill involved today.
The lifeblood of a professionalassociation is volunteers.
(28:00):
Association is volunteers, andwe've had a lot of volunteers
who have devoted large amountsof time to helping this
organization continue, alwayswithout any compensation.
We do have two part-time paidoperations people, but together
it's much less than a full-timeperson and most of what is done
(28:24):
in LDSPMA is done by volunteers.
Scott Brandley (28:27):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Yeah, so your current president, mike House he's been on our
podcast before because he's anauthor, right, he's a great guy.
He's a great guy.
I've met several people thatvolunteer time for LDS PMA and
we've actually had quite a fewauthors that have written books
(28:50):
and have been part of the LDSPMA on the podcast.
So it's interesting how thingswork, right, like you probably
never thought that that wouldhappen 10 years ago, but we're
just kind of promoting the workthat you've put into it and
helping these authors too, andI'm sure there's lots of other
people like me that are doingthat as well.
Steve Piersanti (29:13):
Yeah, right, and I would like to.
Another thing that I'm veryproud of is all the different
kinds of programs that LDSPMAhas developed over time.
So started out with the annualconference, but then we've added
a bunch of other things.
We've added our own, called toCreate podcast, which is very
(29:34):
prominent, very successful.
We've added an awards programpraiseworthy awards, spark
awards, lifetime achievementawards and the awards program
has become so successful that alot of people you know work very
hard to try and get theirpublications.
The awards program started outbeing awards for publications,
for books, but has expanded intoawards for videos, for musical
(30:02):
CDs, for different multimediapublications, and that has
become very prominent inencouraging a lot of people to
become more professional in howthey publish or how they create
(30:22):
videos or audio CDs.
We also have a mentoring program.
We have a program for let mejust think of some of the other
(30:47):
monthly free Zoom discussions.
We have articles that arepublished, written by many
different people, that arepublished on our website.
We have a newsletter.
We have an internship fair.
We've recently last year westarted a publisher's summit,
which is to give more specialattention to people who are
(31:09):
actually in the book publishingworld, because they can kind of
get lost sight of with all theseother things that we're doing.
We have master classes that arecarried on for, instead of the,
the conference is a is atwo-day or three-day conference.
The master classes go on forseven weeks, virtual classes,
(31:31):
both in different realms Imentioned the deep dive
workshops so we've added a lotof different programs over this
time, all volunteer-led.
Scott Brandley (31:46):
That's awesome.
Larry, did you have anythoughts?
Larry Johnson (31:52):
It's given me a lot of ideas.
So, just as you're talking, I'mthinking of a lot of ideas that
I'd like some help with.
So I appreciate that you knoweverything from yeah.
Steve Piersanti (32:07):
And and the organization LDS PMA wouldn't
itself provide that help to you,but what we would do is we
would connect you with peoplewho would the the networking
that takes place in our variousevents.
You, you would.
You would find people who arejust just the right people to
help you where you might needhelp, who are just the right
people to help you where youmight need help.
Larry Johnson (32:25):
Well, that's awesome.
Scott Brandley (32:27):
Yeah Well, what I've found, too, is those people
are quite accessible.
You know, when you go there, itfeels like everyone is very
willing to help you.
Steve Piersanti (32:38):
Right.
Scott Brandley (32:43):
And it feels kind of like a family which is,
which is pretty cool.
Steve Piersanti (32:46):
So, yeah, there is that vibe and and, and you
know, the vibe started, I thinkyou know, right out of the gate,
back in in 2015, in the firstmonths when we were organizing
LDS PMA with a board ofdirectors, we had about eight or
nine people from the original45 who were on their board and
(33:06):
we were having regular boardmeetings.
I was at the same time on twoother not-for-profit boards of
directors and no one for-profitand one not-for-profit board of
directors excuse me, twofor-profit and one
not-for-profit board ofdirectors.
Excuse me, two for-profit andone not-for-profit boards of
directors I was on, and one ofthe things I figured out very
(33:28):
quickly is it was just so mucheasier with the LDSPMA board
than any other board I was on,and I think it was because we
were so faith-based and we werevery united in what we were
trying to accomplish.
We were latterly saints.
We'd been brought up in aculture in which we learned how
(33:50):
to run meetings, how to worktogether, how to collaborate,
how to support each other, howto pursue a common cause.
It just made running thingsmuch easier than I had
(34:26):
experienced in these three otherboards of directors that I was
serving on and that originalgestalt of people supporting
each other.
I think has continued on, as youmentioned, to this day, that at
our conferences there is reallya vibe of how can I help?
I'd like to be of help to you,what can I do?
And that's the spirit of it allkind of united in this common
cause of taking the gospel ofJesus Christ around the world,
of helping the world servepeople's needs in ways that are
(34:47):
needed throughout the world.
Scott Brandley (34:50):
Yeah Well, and I really I think it's amazing
that you've kind of created this, this platform or this stage
for people to take advantage ofthat in a way that they in a
good way that they've that.
They've never had thatopportunity to do, or it's been
limited in the past, so thankyou for doing that.
So what do you think the futurelooks like for the LDS PME?
Steve Piersanti (35:19):
Yeah, well, I think the future depends upon
our ability to keep bringing inmore volunteers.
What happens with organizationsnot-for-profit organizations is
they often flourish or have abig burst for five, six, seven
(35:42):
years and then they kind ofdwindle.
And if they don't have more newgroups of volunteers coming in,
the old volunteers eventuallyget tired or retire or just, you
know, get distracted bysomething else health issues or
moving on to other things.
(36:02):
And so the real, in order foran organization like this to
succeed, it has to have newwaves of volunteers coming in
every year, and we've done apretty good job of that so far.
But we need more volunteers interms of how, in all kinds of
big and small ways.
We need people who are willingto lead a function.
(36:25):
We need people who are willingto just provide support in a
particular area.
There are about 20 differentareas in which people can
volunteer for LDSP, maybe 30different areas in which people
can volunteer we also need.
The future, I think, will dependupon being able to get more
(36:50):
donations to LDSPMA.
Thus far we've been mainlysurviving just on programmatic
income, income from ourconference especially, and a few
of our other uh, um, uhprograms.
Most of our programs are free,but but the, the conference and
a few others um do have a cost,and that's been what's
(37:13):
supporting us.
But we, in order, I think to,to succeed in in the longterm,
we're going to have to get, uhuh, more of an endowment, more
of a base, of fundraising base.
It's just it kind of requirestoo much when everything has to
be done by volunteers, and so Ithink that how well the
(37:39):
organization succeeds, we'retrying to do something that's
very challenging because we'retrying to have programs in all
these different areas, and if wehad a narrower focus it might
be easier.
But for better, for worse,we've chosen this broad focus,
which has blessings in terms ofconnecting people to different
realms and helping people dowhat you did move from an
(38:02):
interest in writing a book,working on a book, to podcasting
, and so there are real benefitsfrom this range.
But there are also challenges.
Another challenge is, up untilthis point, none of our
presenters have been compensated, not even our keynote speakers.
(38:26):
We've been just absolutelyblessed to have amazing keynote
speakers.
Last year, in 2024, keynotespeakers were Kristen Yee of the
Relief Society GeneralPresidency, michael McLean,
brigham Taylor from DisneyStudios, one of the leaders of
(38:48):
Disney Studios.
Ali Khandi, a best-sellingauthor just phenomenal keynote
speakers.
This year we have amazingkeynote speakers again with
Sherry Du, longtime president ofDesert Book.
With Sherry Du, longtimepresident of Desert Book, also a
(39:10):
former member of the ReliefSociety General Presidency,
harry and Deborah Bonner of theBonner family, which are among
the top Christian vocal groupsin the country.
Brad Pilo, who is the executiveproducer of the Chosen, and
(39:35):
he's the president of 5 and 2Studios, which is the media
company, that production companythat oversees the production of
the Chosen.
And then J Scott Savage, who'sa best-selling fiction author.
So we've been fortunate to beable to attract just phenomenal
keynote speakers without havingpaying out stipends to them just
(40:01):
because of connections of theone instance board, lds PMA.
Right, but over time we can'tbe so completely dependent on on
just goodwill and and we doneed to create more of a
financial base for theorganization if it's going to
survive and prosper.
Scott Brandley (40:20):
Yeah, yeah, I, I get that.
So if anybody's listening tothis, that has just tons of
money.
They don't know what to do withall the Steve.
Steve Piersanti (40:31):
Yeah, well, what you would do is on our
website, um, uh, on the websitethere is a um, a tabs, different
tabs to our different programs,and one of the tabs is called
Supporting LDS Company and onthat tab, underneath that, is a
tab for donating and a tab forvolunteering, and so we have
(40:54):
people that are volunteering allthe time.
Each month.
There are people volunteeringand that is so important for our
survival and we also need moredonations.
Scott Brandley (41:08):
Yeah, I have to say I've been to several classes
at the LDS PMA and the caliberof the teachers were amazing.
Steve Piersanti (41:19):
Thank you.
Scott Brandley (41:21):
And you could tell that the people that you
had chosen to teach thoseclasses definitely had
experience in that area.
They were well educated, theythey were willing to help anyone
that was in the class, whichwas great in a variety of
(41:41):
different topics, kind of likewhat you were talking to earlier
.
I did take um.
I took a podcasting class, um,after I'd already started the
podcast, cause I wanted to learnhow to do it better.
And I took um a class aboutbranding and um.
I let's see I've.
I took um, I took, I tookseveral.
(42:06):
I took like three or fourclasses while I was there, but
they were, they were all reallygood Um.
I would highly recommend anyonethat's that's listening out
there, that wants to, that has agift or a talent or that wants
to learn how to learn how toimprove their talents, to go be
part of the LDS PMA, because Ithink that they'd get a lot out
(42:28):
of it for sure.
Steve Piersanti (42:31):
Yeah, and all the classes, those are set up by
our track organizers.
Again, we have this group of,you know, 30, 40 different
volunteers, maybe 50 differentvolunteers through different
areas, and so for, like, thefiction track, there's a track
organizer for the fiction track.
(42:51):
For the marketing track,there's a track organizer.
The media track, there's atrack organizer.
And they just do it on avolunteer basis and they are
aware of dozens of differentpotential presenters and they
are very selective of whichpresenters they bring on and and
and people can also go on thewebsite and and apply to present
(43:13):
, and so it's a mixture of ofpeople applying and then the
track organizers selecting fromamong those who've applied and
the track organizers justknowing some very good
presenters or people who'vepresented in previous years who
did a great job, and let's bringthem back because they did such
a terrific job in theirpresentation.
So that's how that works, andeach of the programs has
(43:36):
volunteers leading it.
I'm not doing all that, so forme being the, so I mentioned my
own progression, as I wasinvolved in the founding LDSPMA
and the original board ofdirectors.
Then I became the firstpresident, then I stepped down
and others have been presidents,rotating each year since then,
(43:58):
but about five or six years agoI became the conference director
.
That became my role and it's avolunteer role.
I'm not compensated for thislike others in LDSPMA, and
obviously I couldn't If I wereto try to do this.
It would be far more than afull-time role.
So we have to have manydifferent people volunteering to
(44:19):
lead different dimensions.
So we have, for example, peoplewho are leading the fast pitch
we talked about before.
We have people who are leadingthe call to create podcasting,
several people lead the awardsprogram, and then there are a
couple dozen people who arejudges for the awards and so on.
Scott Brandley (44:44):
Yeah, yeah, wow, well, this has been awesome,
steve, thank you so much forcoming on and sharing some of
your experiences and for beingwilling to put all of that time
and effort into creating thisassociation that's helped so
(45:04):
many members in the future.
Could you maybe share any finalthoughts that you might have to
inspire people to create or, toyou know, take advantage of the
LDS PMA?
Steve Piersanti (45:25):
Well, the final thought I would have is just
going back to the purpose of theorganization, the original
founding purpose, which is tohelp Latter-day Saints step up,
become more involved inspreading light and truth around
the world, both as creatorsthemselves, but also supporting
(45:46):
other creators, in othercreators Also, as leaders,
latter-day Saints have our wholelives.
We learn how to be leaders, welearn how to delegate, we learn
how to organize, we learn how toget people together, we learn
how to do things.
And as we apply those talentsin spreading publications, media
(46:08):
art, performing arts,filmmaking in all different
media around the world andmessages of light and truth, we
can make the world better.
We can help spread the gospelof Jesus Christ.
We can make people's livesbetter.
We can help magnify our impactbeyond what we can do just in
(46:36):
our own lives or families byreaching out in the world.
So the potential impact is hugeof if you just think, for
example, what's going on withthe chosen, the impact of the
chosen around the world.
Now, that was not started by aLatter-day Saint, but a number
(46:59):
of Latter-day Saints have beenvery involved in it and have
been very supportive in keyroles, including Brad Pilo will
be one of our keynote speakersand others, and so sometimes
it's just learning how topartner with people of other
faiths.
It's not trying to do all thisourselves, and every conference
(47:21):
we have sessions on how do youpartner with people in other
faiths in ways that are actuallyhelpful, that are well-received
, and that's a talent intoitself, instead of just trying
to remain isolated ourselves,and so all of this it's kind of
building a bigger area ofcompetence and networking to
(47:45):
make a bigger difference in theworld awesome.
Scott Brandley (47:58):
Larry.
Do you have any last thoughts,inspiration to improve your,
your gifts?
I?
Larry Johnson (48:01):
know you like to play the piano and stuff I do
and I actually have been takingnotes.
So thank you very much.
I I have a few projects nowthat I I want to pursue and
learn more about, but I would Ilike I can concur here, because
spread light and truth and themore that we can do, that it's
(48:22):
it furthers, it just blesseseveryone, blesses the whole
world, and so thank you verymuch for for what you've been
doing.
Steve Piersanti (48:33):
Thank you, and thank you for for giving the
spotlight to for uh, not justfor me, but for many other uh
creators and media, people andauthors and so on.
Scott Brandley (48:43):
Yeah, it's been.
It's been fun.
Um, everybody's got a story andthat's and you know that, right
, Right.
So we believe that too here atLatter-day Lights, and that's
why we built this is so that wecan have people share their
stories and share that light outwith the world.
(49:03):
So we're kindred spirits, Steve.
Steve Piersanti (49:07):
Okay, yes, thank you Scott.
Thank you Larry.
Yeah, thank you.
Scott Brandley (49:11):
So if somebody wants to learn more, where do
they go?
Steve Piersanti (49:16):
to ldspmaorg.
That's our website, ldspmaorg,and there you'll find pretty
much all the information thereis to know about ldspma,
including all the details on theconference.
The conference is happeningOctober 16th through the 18th at
UVU in Orem, but on the siteyou will see all the keynote
(49:40):
speakers, you'll see all thebreakout sessions, all the deep
dive workshops, all thedifferent elements.
You can register for theseevents at the conference.
You'll see other things calledthe Great Podcast, starting to
be information about the manyother programs that LDSP May is
doing.
So all of that you can go thereas well as, if you choose to
(50:03):
volunteer, to donate.
Scott Brandley (50:05):
Awesome.
Well, thanks again, steve forbeing on the show and thanks
Larry for helping me out helpinga brother out, literally.
Larry Johnson (50:16):
Anytime.
Thank you very much.
Scott Brandley (50:19):
Awesome, Okay, Well, thanks again everybody for
tuning in to another episode ofLatter-day Lights.
If you have a story that you'dlike to share that you feel can
enlighten and inspire others, goto latterdaylightscom and tell
us about it, and till next weekwe will see you with another
episode.
Thanks again, Take careeverybody.
(50:40):
Bye-bye.
Larry Johnson (50:41):
Thank you.
Hey everyone, I'm Scott Brandley.
Larry Johnson (00:02):
I'm Larry Johnson .
Every member has a story toshare, and one that can instill
faith, invite growth and inspireothers.
Scott Brandley (00:10):
On today's episode, we're going to hear how
one man's talent for writing,publishing and business led him
on a mission to share hispassion with thousands of others
around the world.
Welcome to Latter-day Lights.
Hey everyone, welcome back toanother episode of Latter-day
(00:34):
Lights.
We're so glad you're here withus today and I have a really
special treat for you today,steve Pierzonti.
Welcome to the show, steve.
Steve Piersanti (00:44):
Happy to be here, Scott.
Thank you for inviting me to beon the show.
Scott Brandley (00:48):
Yeah, I'm glad you're here.
I'm also excited to introduceLarry Johnson, my brother-in-law
, who, as my co-host, some ofyou may recognize him.
He's been on a previous episodeof Latter-day Lights where he
shared his story.
So welcome to the show, Larry.
Larry Johnson (01:05):
Thank you for letting me be here today.
Scott Brandley (01:08):
Yeah.
So, steve, you've got quite theresume that you shared with us,
and I'm really excited to getinto some of that story, but why
don't you tell us a little bitabout yourself before we jump in
?
Steve Piersanti (01:24):
Why don't you tell us a little bit about
yourself before we jump in?
Well, I am the founder and CEOof Barrett Kohler Publishers,
which is an award-winningindependent publishing company
of nonfiction books in the areasof business, leadership,
current affairs, personal growththat I founded in 1992.
(01:46):
I'm also one of the founders ofLatter-day Saints in Publishing
, media and the Arts, which is anot-for-profit professional
association that we'll talkquite a bit about during today.
I would mention that I live nowin Cody Wyoming with my wife,
(02:09):
kate, who joined me in foundingBarrett Kohler Publishers and
has been my partner now almostfive decades, and we have two
children.
We lived for 47 years in theSan Francisco Bay Area, but for
the last year we've lived inCody Wyoming.
Scott Brandley (02:32):
That's quite a shift.
How do you like Wyoming?
Steve Piersanti (02:37):
Well, we're at the eastern entrance to
Yellowstone National Park, soit's a beautiful place to live
and there are tons of things todo, and we've had many more
family members, grandkids,family relatives visiting us in
the past year here than we didin the Bay Area, so it tells you
something about the attractionhere.
Scott Brandley (02:59):
Yeah, it sounds like your house is party central
.
Everybody wants to go toYellowstone, nice.
Well, very cool.
We're really excited to hearyour story, so let's jump in.
Why don't you tell us whereyour story begins?
Steve Piersanti (03:27):
And I have been a book editor for over 40 years
.
I began in, but where the storystarts was I was a student at
BYU and I heard, went to anhonors program symposium where
everyone was complaining thatthere wasn't enough student
scholarship.
And so I got the bright idea ofstarting a student scholarly
(03:48):
journal in order to encouragestudent scholarship and managed
to get the universityadministration to give it a
green light, which was a bigdeal for a student publication.
The English Department, theCollege of Humanities, supported
it.
We started the studentscholarly journal.
Its purpose was to the idea wasthat if you had a scholarly
(04:10):
journal, it would lead to morestudents focusing on scholarly
pursuits, and so we were tryingto cover all areas of
scholarship.
We were trying to cover allareas of scholarship history,
(04:33):
science, physics, literature,religion, all areas of
scholarship.
It was called Century Two,started in 1976.
I'm not sure that which was kindof commemorating the second
century of BYU.
I don't know that it really didmuch.
It lasted for a few years,including a couple of years
after I left BYU.
I'm not sure it really did alot to advance student
(04:54):
scholarship, but what it did dowas it launched a number of the
volunteer staff, the studentstaff who ran the student
scholarly journal into careersin publishing or writing or
media.
And I was one of those studentsand what I learned is that this
(05:14):
was something that I reallyenjoyed was publishing.
I had some talent for it.
It kind of combined my businesstalent and my writing and
intellectual talents andinterests and so after I
graduated from BYU I startedlooking for jobs in publishing,
(05:35):
ended up taking a job in 1977 atJosie Bass Publishers in San
Francisco as a promotionalcopywriter.
We moved our young family thereand so I went on to become
marketing director at thiscompany.
Then eventually I becameeditorial director.
(05:59):
I became an editor at thecompany, an acquisitions editor,
then editorial director, thenexecutive vice president,
eventually president and CEO ofJosie Bass Publishers, and I
stayed there for 13 years andthen I left Josie Bass in 1991.
In 1992, I founded BarrettKohler Publishers, which is the
(06:23):
company where I am now.
Our company has the mission ofconnecting people and ideas to
create a world that works forall and, as I mentioned, we
publish in the areas of businessmanagement, leadership,
organizational change, currentaffairs, social responsibility,
(06:49):
personal growth, self-help inthose areas, and we've won quite
a few awards and are stillgoing now 33 years after we were
established.
So that's kind of my backgroundin the book publishing world
and, as I mentioned, my wife hasbeen Kate Piersanti, has been
(07:13):
supporting and been a part ofthis all along.
Scott Brandley (07:16):
Okay, awesome.
So how did you get the?
Was it your idea to start theLDSPMA, or how did that come
about?
Steve Piersanti (07:27):
Yes, it was my idea, and where that came about
is over the years because I'vebeen in book publishing for
decades now, since 1977, Inoticed that there were not very
many other Latter-day Saints inbook publishing and of people
that I knew about only outsideof Wasatch Front, of people who
(07:51):
worked at Desert Book orBookcraft, but outside of the
Wasatch Front I only knew ofmaybe a couple dozen people in
publishing, which was to me.
I could not understand that.
The Church of Jesus Christ ofLatter-day Saints was started
with a book, the Book of Mormon.
One of the very first, if notthe very first, asset that the
(08:13):
church had was a printing press.
Everywhere where the church hasexpanded it has set up
publications.
The church puts emphasis oneducation and learning and I
just could not understand whythere were so few Latter-day
Saints in book publishing.
So I decided to do somethingabout it and got the idea if we
(08:35):
could start a professionalassociation that would provide
professional development forLatter-day Saints in publishing,
that would encourage more youngpeople and students to go into
publishing careers, that wouldprovide networking so that those
could connect with each other,maybe we could expand the number
(08:58):
of Latter-day Saints.
I don't mean to put down otherkinds of careers, but there were
so many more people, latter-daySaints, who were in multi-level
marketing or dentistry or realestate all very reputable
careers but there's so much goodwe can do in the world through
publishing that I wanted to tryand expand that.
(09:18):
So what I did was I startedconnecting with other Latter-day
Saints who I knew wereinterested in this realm and we
started planning an organizingevent, which we did on April 3rd
2015 at the Salt Lake CityLibrary, and we had about 45
people who showed up at thisorganizing event and agreed to
(09:42):
found what was then called theLatter-day Saint Publishing
Professionals Association tosupport, and we made it a
not-for-profit 501c3organization.
We organized a board ofdirectors and that was the
founding of what later becameLDS PMA.
Scott Brandley (10:07):
Yeah, lds, pma Wow, 45 people.
It's grown quite a bit sincethen, which is pretty cool.
So what were some of?
Steve Piersanti (10:20):
the challenges that you had when putting that
organization together.
Well, so we now have 2,800members, so it has grown a lot.
But the challenges are similarto starting any not-for-profit
organization.
They are attracting members,they are getting enough funds to
start it.
They are having enoughvolunteers.
(10:42):
Ldspma has been a volunteer-ledorganization from the very
beginning, because we werestarting without a lot of
resources and just building itover time, with volunteers
basically doing most of theorganizing and the work.
Scott Brandley (11:12):
Yeah, so it's been interesting to see it today
because I've been to the LDMSPMA.
Steve Piersanti (11:16):
Actually that's the reason why this podcast
exists.
Scott Brandley (11:18):
Steve, I went to the LDS PMA and I've shared
this story before on the podcast, but I sat at lunch.
I sat by myself one day and agirl came and sat by me and we
started talking and she hadwritten a book called Early
Homecoming about missionariesthat come home for whatever
(11:42):
reason and how they cope.
And we just kind of got into aconversation and I asked her
well, how do you promote yourbook?
And she said well, I started apodcast and so that's so.
On my way home from that, fromthat lunch, I came up with the
idea for Latter-day Lights.
Wow, yeah, so that's so.
(12:04):
It's all because of you.
It's your fault.
Steve Piersanti (12:08):
That is a great case study of exactly what our
hope was in founding LDSPMA thatpeople would network with
others, they would get inspired,they would gain knowledge, they
would provide professionaleducational opportunities,
learning that could help them todo things, and that they would
(12:29):
just it would just becomesomething in their mind.
It wasn't ever a case thatLatter-day Saints didn't have
abilities to do more in themedia world, more in the
publishing world, but sometimesit just wasn't forefront before
them of what they could do orshould do.
So that's a great example.
Scott Brandley (12:50):
Yeah, at least when I went, there was a lot of
opportunities, like you said, toconnect with others.
One thing I love and I thinkthis was the first year you did
it when I went the first timewas had all the the book
publishers like Deseret book andCedar fort and some of the
other publishers that are nowaround today, and you could do
(13:13):
speed pitches with Right.
Steve Piersanti (13:17):
Yeah.
Scott Brandley (13:17):
We call that yeah.
Steve Piersanti (13:18):
We call that fast pitch, and it's something
that we've done.
We so.
So when we started LDS PMA, we,the first thing the board of
directors decided to do was tohold a conference.
So we held a and that's kind ofa prototypical Latter-day Saint
kind of thing to do.
We're going to, we're going tohold a big conference meeting to
(13:39):
get everyone together, which wedid in the fall of 2015, our
first conference.
But within a year or two, westarted adding other programs,
and so one of the things weadded as a part of the
conference was what we call FastPitch, which allows aspiring
authors to pitch their books toeditors and agents, editors for
(14:03):
other publishing companies.
So that's been one of our verysuccessful programs still going
on today, and we've added avirtual component of it in
addition to the in-person partat the conference.
Scott Brandley (14:18):
So when did the media side start coming into
play?
Steve Piersanti (14:23):
Yeah.
So that's a great question,because originally the whole
focus of LDSP it was calledagain Latter-day Saint
Publishing ProfessionalsAssociation.
The focus was really just onbook publishing in particular.
But world is that bookpublishing was becoming media
(14:50):
focused.
Every book publisher that Iknew of was launching media in
terms of e-books and thensometimes video publishing or
audio publishing.
It was becoming multimedia andit's become even more so now,
and so the people we wereattracting to our conference
(15:10):
were interested in more thanjust book publishing.
So the first kind of expansionof the concept of the
organization was Dad Media, andso we renamed it Latter-day
Saint Publishing and MediaAssociation, renamed it uh,
latter-day Saint Publishing andMedia Association, um, um and uh
and and then and so.
(15:33):
So that became the next uh uhjuncture.
And then a few years ago we werealso attracting a lot of people
interest in the arts,performing arts, musical arts,
and so we we again expanded,added the these, added these
tracks dealing with musical arts, visual arts, performing arts,
and so changed the name again towhat its current name is, which
(15:54):
is Latter-day Saints inPublishing, media and the Arts
Same initials now as we hadbefore LDSPMA, but it has a
different meaning and havingLatter-day Saints in publishing
media of the arts is reallyimportant for understanding it,
in the sense that the nature ofthe organization is to bring
(16:15):
together Latter-day Saints andfriends of Latter-day Saints.
It's not just, it's not limitedto members of the church we have
also had people who are notmembers of the church, who have
been presenters an associationof people uh uh involved in
publishing media and the arts inone way or the other, as
(16:50):
opposed to an organization thatis itself trying to produce uh
publishing media arts.
We don't.
We're not a publishing.
We don't publish um uh books orwe don't create films.
We're not that kind of anassociation.
Instead we're we're aprofessional development and
networking association.
Scott Brandley (17:08):
Right, okay, so when you talk about the tracks
the different tracks that youhave I know when I went there
were classes that you could takethat were related to the
different things that you wantedto do process or things that
(17:32):
somebody goes through if they'reinterested in one of those
particular areas.
How does that typically work?
Steve Piersanti (17:38):
No People can choose to go to any class they
want to go to, or session as wecall them, in any of the tracks
they can mix and match, andpeople do so.
For example, podcasting whatyou're doing.
Now there are typicallypodcasting sessions or classes,
(17:59):
and in the in the in the mediatrack, but sometimes they're
also in the marketing track,where it's how to use podcasting
to help market yourpublications, or in the editing,
design and production track howdo you actually produce a
podcast.
And so you may end up findingthat you're interested in
(18:21):
classes in three differenttracks rather than just one.
And I should also mention thefirst day of the conference,
which is a Thursday.
The main conference is onFriday and Saturday.
On Thursday, we have deep diveworkshops, which are four hours
going.
The typical sessions on Fridayand Saturday are just 50 minutes
(18:42):
long, but the deep diveworkshops are four hours and
they go into much more hands-on,developing more extensive
skills in their particulartopics.
Scott Brandley (18:57):
Okay, awesome, larry.
Do you have any questions?
It is fascinating and I wouldlove to actually be part of that
yeah, I think, like a lot ofmembers don't still don't know
(19:22):
that it necessarily exists outthere.
Um, the way I heard about it wasAlisha my coat, my normal
co-host.
She, she was writing a book andmy daughter was coming home
from her mission and we happenedto have lunch with them because
we went to pick her up and wehappened to have lunch with them
and I told her that I waswriting a book and she's like
(19:43):
well, I'm writing a book too andyou should come to this
conference with me, and sothat's where I first heard about
the LDMS PMA and so I actuallywent there, originally because
of my book, but then I startedthe podcast.
So it's kind of interesting how, how things go.
But, yeah, I agree with you,Larry, there's there's a lot of
(20:05):
people that don't know about it,but once you find out that it's
, there's all of these differenttypes of like publishing and
media and arts and and all thesekinds of things that you can
learn more about and ways thatyou can participate in in the
LDS market, it's it's prettyexciting.
Steve Piersanti (20:29):
Yeah, and and I should just to to, for you know
full disclosure there are ahalf a dozen different
(20:56):
organizations that supportLatter-day Saint writers.
Such as we say, provideprofessional development to
people of faith involved increating uplifting writing, art,
music and media, and we'reexpressly supporting the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-daySaints and supporting faith.
(21:22):
We believe that followers ofJesus Christ have a divine call
to share light and truth offaith-based is very prominent in
many of the sessions at the LDSPMA conference, which is
somewhat distinctive for most ofthe writing organizations.
Now, we don't.
(21:43):
The kinds of publishing that isdone and the kinds of
filmmaking and art is notnecessarily religious.
Many of the people, includingmyself, I've been the leader of
a publishing company that hasnever been a religious publisher
but that does seek to providepublications that provide
(22:10):
benefit to the earth, to peoplearound the world benefit to the
earth, to people around theworld.
So there's not one doesn't haveto be doing religious work in
order to find value in LDSPMA.
You could be publishing scienceor you could be publishing
architecture, you could bewhatever you're doing, but we're
trying to bring faith into theequation in it.
(22:33):
The other thing that reallydistinguishes LDSPMA is the
breadth of not being just aboutwriting and publishing, but also
about media, about filmmaking,about podcasting, about visual
arts, performing arts, musicalarts.
I don't think there's anotherorganization that has quite the
(22:56):
same breadth, which at timesthat's a challenge because in a
way, we're trying to bringtogether too many different
elements, but it's also thegenius of it, in the sense that
a lot of people end up havinginterests in multiple areas or
one area.
In your case, writing a bookled to doing podcasting, and so
(23:20):
there is some serendipity thathappens in terms of people
making connections that leadthem to broaden out what they're
doing or to bring in anotherelement.
So that's part of the magic ofLDS PMA.
Scott Brandley (23:36):
Yeah, I would agree.
So, speaking of magic, you'vebeen there since the beginning.
Are there any stories of peoplethat you've met along the way
that have stood out to you?
Steve Piersanti (23:54):
Yeah, and I think it's stories of people who
have started publishingcompanies.
One of the things that we'retrying to do is is to encourage
more Latter-day Saints to becomeentrepreneurs, not just to be
creators, not just to create,you know, write books themselves
or do a homemade film orsomething like that, but
(24:17):
actually to create companies ororganizations that are advancing
publishing, meeting the arts,and so some of our members have
started publishing companies,which is great, have started
publishing companies, which isgreat.
(24:37):
Some of them have gotten intodoing musical CDs as a result of
coming to LDSPMA.
One of the early things that weset out to do at the very first
organizing meeting in April of2015 was we wanted to encourage
(25:04):
more students, more young people, to pursue careers in
publishing and media, and inorder to do that, one of the
things we set out to do was toencourage BOU to change its, to
elevate its editing minorprogram into a publishing and
(25:24):
editing major program.
That took a few years, but muchfaster than we could have ever
predicted would happen.
Bou did convert their editingminor program into a publishing
editing major program, which alot of you know.
Many more people are now goingthrough that program young
people and graduating intocareers in these realms.
(25:47):
One of the things we've starteddoing in the last couple of
years is encouraging more youthages 12 and up to come to our
conference, and so a lot ofparents now are bringing their
youth, their children, to theconference as well, and the idea
(26:07):
is that if it can open theireyes to say, oh, there are
careers I never even knewexisted, that more will decide
to pursue careers in theserealms.
Scott Brandley (26:18):
Yeah, that's awesome.
So, as you look back on thelast 10 years of LDS PMA, what
are some of the things you'remost proud?
Steve Piersanti (26:32):
of.
It's just what we've beentalking about.
The stories of people's liveshave been changed in the, in the
sense that they've beeninspired to, to be creators and
ways that that they.
(26:53):
They needed some encouragement,they needed a little bit of a
push, they needed maybe someoneto help them, they needed
professional support or toactually start be entrepreneurs
and and start their ownorganization.
I think there's that.
I think it's also that we'vestuck to being faith-based,
where some organizations havestarted that way but, in the
(27:16):
interest of trying to appealmore broadly, may lose the faith
explicit faith component, andwe've kept that, which I think
is very important.
I think I'm also most proud ofall the volunteers.
You know of that original groupthat gathered in Salt Lake in
2015,.
(27:37):
Quite a few of them maybe halfof them are still involved in
LDSPMA in one way or the other.
A number of them maybe half ofthem are still involved in
LDSPMA in one way or the other.
A number of them becamepresidents I was the first
president and then several ofthem became subsequent
presidents of LDSPMA but arestill involved today.
The lifeblood of a professionalassociation is volunteers.
(28:00):
Association is volunteers, andwe've had a lot of volunteers
who have devoted large amountsof time to helping this
organization continue, alwayswithout any compensation.
We do have two part-time paidoperations people, but together
it's much less than a full-timeperson and most of what is done
(28:24):
in LDSPMA is done by volunteers.
Scott Brandley (28:27):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Yeah, so your current president, mike House he's been on our
podcast before because he's anauthor, right, he's a great guy.
He's a great guy.
I've met several people thatvolunteer time for LDS PMA and
we've actually had quite a fewauthors that have written books
(28:50):
and have been part of the LDSPMA on the podcast.
So it's interesting how thingswork, right, like you probably
never thought that that wouldhappen 10 years ago, but we're
just kind of promoting the workthat you've put into it and
helping these authors too, andI'm sure there's lots of other
people like me that are doingthat as well.
Steve Piersanti (29:13):
Yeah, right, and I would like to.
Another thing that I'm veryproud of is all the different
kinds of programs that LDSPMAhas developed over time.
So started out with the annualconference, but then we've added
a bunch of other things.
We've added our own, called toCreate podcast, which is very
(29:34):
prominent, very successful.
We've added an awards programpraiseworthy awards, spark
awards, lifetime achievementawards and the awards program
has become so successful that alot of people you know work very
hard to try and get theirpublications.
The awards program started outbeing awards for publications,
for books, but has expanded intoawards for videos, for musical
(30:02):
CDs, for different multimediapublications, and that has
become very prominent inencouraging a lot of people to
become more professional in howthey publish or how they create
(30:22):
videos or audio CDs.
We also have a mentoring program.
We have a program for let mejust think of some of the other
(30:47):
monthly free Zoom discussions.
We have articles that arepublished, written by many
different people, that arepublished on our website.
We have a newsletter.
We have an internship fair.
We've recently last year westarted a publisher's summit,
which is to give more specialattention to people who are
(31:09):
actually in the book publishingworld, because they can kind of
get lost sight of with all theseother things that we're doing.
We have master classes that arecarried on for, instead of the,
the conference is a is atwo-day or three-day conference.
The master classes go on forseven weeks, virtual classes,
(31:31):
both in different realms Imentioned the deep dive
workshops so we've added a lotof different programs over this
time, all volunteer-led.
Scott Brandley (31:46):
That's awesome.
Larry, did you have anythoughts?
Larry Johnson (31:52):
It's given me a lot of ideas.
So, just as you're talking, I'mthinking of a lot of ideas that
I'd like some help with.
So I appreciate that you knoweverything from yeah.
Steve Piersanti (32:07):
And and the organization LDS PMA wouldn't
itself provide that help to you,but what we would do is we
would connect you with peoplewho would the the networking
that takes place in our variousevents.
You, you would.
You would find people who arejust just the right people to
help you where you might needhelp, who are just the right
people to help you where youmight need help.
Larry Johnson (32:25):
Well, that's awesome.
Scott Brandley (32:27):
Yeah Well, what I've found, too, is those people
are quite accessible.
You know, when you go there, itfeels like everyone is very
willing to help you.
Steve Piersanti (32:38):
Right.
Scott Brandley (32:43):
And it feels kind of like a family which is,
which is pretty cool.
Steve Piersanti (32:46):
So, yeah, there is that vibe and and, and you
know, the vibe started, I thinkyou know, right out of the gate,
back in in 2015, in the firstmonths when we were organizing
LDS PMA with a board ofdirectors, we had about eight or
nine people from the original45 who were on their board and
(33:06):
we were having regular boardmeetings.
I was at the same time on twoother not-for-profit boards of
directors and no one for-profitand one not-for-profit board of
directors excuse me, twofor-profit and one
not-for-profit board ofdirectors.
Excuse me, two for-profit andone not-for-profit boards of
directors I was on, and one ofthe things I figured out very
(33:28):
quickly is it was just so mucheasier with the LDSPMA board
than any other board I was on,and I think it was because we
were so faith-based and we werevery united in what we were
trying to accomplish.
We were latterly saints.
We'd been brought up in aculture in which we learned how
(33:50):
to run meetings, how to worktogether, how to collaborate,
how to support each other, howto pursue a common cause.
It just made running thingsmuch easier than I had
(34:26):
experienced in these three otherboards of directors that I was
serving on and that originalgestalt of people supporting
each other.
I think has continued on, as youmentioned, to this day, that at
our conferences there is reallya vibe of how can I help?
I'd like to be of help to you,what can I do?
And that's the spirit of it allkind of united in this common
cause of taking the gospel ofJesus Christ around the world,
of helping the world servepeople's needs in ways that are
(34:47):
needed throughout the world.
Scott Brandley (34:50):
Yeah Well, and I really I think it's amazing
that you've kind of created this, this platform or this stage
for people to take advantage ofthat in a way that they in a
good way that they've that.
They've never had thatopportunity to do, or it's been
limited in the past, so thankyou for doing that.
So what do you think the futurelooks like for the LDS PME?
Steve Piersanti (35:19):
Yeah, well, I think the future depends upon
our ability to keep bringing inmore volunteers.
What happens with organizationsnot-for-profit organizations is
they often flourish or have abig burst for five, six, seven
(35:42):
years and then they kind ofdwindle.
And if they don't have more newgroups of volunteers coming in,
the old volunteers eventuallyget tired or retire or just, you
know, get distracted bysomething else health issues or
moving on to other things.
(36:02):
And so the real, in order foran organization like this to
succeed, it has to have newwaves of volunteers coming in
every year, and we've done apretty good job of that so far.
But we need more volunteers interms of how, in all kinds of
big and small ways.
We need people who are willingto lead a function.
(36:25):
We need people who are willingto just provide support in a
particular area.
There are about 20 differentareas in which people can
volunteer for LDSP, maybe 30different areas in which people
can volunteer we also need.
The future, I think, will dependupon being able to get more
(36:50):
donations to LDSPMA.
Thus far we've been mainlysurviving just on programmatic
income, income from ourconference especially, and a few
of our other uh, um, uhprograms.
Most of our programs are free,but but the, the conference and
a few others um do have a cost,and that's been what's
(37:13):
supporting us.
But we, in order, I think to,to succeed in in the longterm,
we're going to have to get, uhuh, more of an endowment, more
of a base, of fundraising base.
It's just it kind of requirestoo much when everything has to
be done by volunteers, and so Ithink that how well the
(37:39):
organization succeeds, we'retrying to do something that's
very challenging because we'retrying to have programs in all
these different areas, and if wehad a narrower focus it might
be easier.
But for better, for worse,we've chosen this broad focus,
which has blessings in terms ofconnecting people to different
realms and helping people dowhat you did move from an
(38:02):
interest in writing a book,working on a book, to podcasting
, and so there are real benefitsfrom this range.
But there are also challenges.
Another challenge is, up untilthis point, none of our
presenters have been compensated, not even our keynote speakers.
(38:26):
We've been just absolutelyblessed to have amazing keynote
speakers.
Last year, in 2024, keynotespeakers were Kristen Yee of the
Relief Society GeneralPresidency, michael McLean,
brigham Taylor from DisneyStudios, one of the leaders of
(38:48):
Disney Studios.
Ali Khandi, a best-sellingauthor just phenomenal keynote
speakers.
This year we have amazingkeynote speakers again with
Sherry Du, longtime president ofDesert Book.
With Sherry Du, longtimepresident of Desert Book, also a
(39:10):
former member of the ReliefSociety General Presidency,
harry and Deborah Bonner of theBonner family, which are among
the top Christian vocal groupsin the country.
Brad Pilo, who is the executiveproducer of the Chosen, and
(39:35):
he's the president of 5 and 2Studios, which is the media
company, that production companythat oversees the production of
the Chosen.
And then J Scott Savage, who'sa best-selling fiction author.
So we've been fortunate to beable to attract just phenomenal
keynote speakers without havingpaying out stipends to them just
(40:01):
because of connections of theone instance board, lds PMA.
Right, but over time we can'tbe so completely dependent on on
just goodwill and and we doneed to create more of a
financial base for theorganization if it's going to
survive and prosper.
Scott Brandley (40:20):
Yeah, yeah, I, I get that.
So if anybody's listening tothis, that has just tons of
money.
They don't know what to do withall the Steve.
Steve Piersanti (40:31):
Yeah, well, what you would do is on our
website, um, uh, on the websitethere is a um, a tabs, different
tabs to our different programs,and one of the tabs is called
Supporting LDS Company and onthat tab, underneath that, is a
tab for donating and a tab forvolunteering, and so we have
(40:54):
people that are volunteering allthe time.
Each month.
There are people volunteeringand that is so important for our
survival and we also need moredonations.
Scott Brandley (41:08):
Yeah, I have to say I've been to several classes
at the LDS PMA and the caliberof the teachers were amazing.
Steve Piersanti (41:19):
Thank you.
Scott Brandley (41:21):
And you could tell that the people that you
had chosen to teach thoseclasses definitely had
experience in that area.
They were well educated, theythey were willing to help anyone
that was in the class, whichwas great in a variety of
(41:41):
different topics, kind of likewhat you were talking to earlier
.
I did take um.
I took a podcasting class, um,after I'd already started the
podcast, cause I wanted to learnhow to do it better.
And I took um a class aboutbranding and um.
I let's see I've.
I took um, I took, I tookseveral.
(42:06):
I took like three or fourclasses while I was there, but
they were, they were all reallygood Um.
I would highly recommend anyonethat's that's listening out
there, that wants to, that has agift or a talent or that wants
to learn how to learn how toimprove their talents, to go be
part of the LDS PMA, because Ithink that they'd get a lot out
(42:28):
of it for sure.
Steve Piersanti (42:31):
Yeah, and all the classes, those are set up by
our track organizers.
Again, we have this group of,you know, 30, 40 different
volunteers, maybe 50 differentvolunteers through different
areas, and so for, like, thefiction track, there's a track
organizer for the fiction track.
(42:51):
For the marketing track,there's a track organizer.
The media track, there's atrack organizer.
And they just do it on avolunteer basis and they are
aware of dozens of differentpotential presenters and they
are very selective of whichpresenters they bring on and and
and people can also go on thewebsite and and apply to present
(43:13):
, and so it's a mixture of ofpeople applying and then the
track organizers selecting fromamong those who've applied and
the track organizers justknowing some very good
presenters or people who'vepresented in previous years who
did a great job, and let's bringthem back because they did such
a terrific job in theirpresentation.
So that's how that works, andeach of the programs has
(43:36):
volunteers leading it.
I'm not doing all that, so forme being the, so I mentioned my
own progression, as I wasinvolved in the founding LDSPMA
and the original board ofdirectors.
Then I became the firstpresident, then I stepped down
and others have been presidents,rotating each year since then,
(43:58):
but about five or six years agoI became the conference director
.
That became my role and it's avolunteer role.
I'm not compensated for thislike others in LDSPMA, and
obviously I couldn't If I wereto try to do this.
It would be far more than afull-time role.
So we have to have manydifferent people volunteering to
(44:19):
lead different dimensions.
So we have, for example, peoplewho are leading the fast pitch
we talked about before.
We have people who are leadingthe call to create podcasting,
several people lead the awardsprogram, and then there are a
couple dozen people who arejudges for the awards and so on.
Scott Brandley (44:44):
Yeah, yeah, wow, well, this has been awesome,
steve, thank you so much forcoming on and sharing some of
your experiences and for beingwilling to put all of that time
and effort into creating thisassociation that's helped so
(45:04):
many members in the future.
Could you maybe share any finalthoughts that you might have to
inspire people to create or, toyou know, take advantage of the
LDS PMA?
Steve Piersanti (45:25):
Well, the final thought I would have is just
going back to the purpose of theorganization, the original
founding purpose, which is tohelp Latter-day Saints step up,
become more involved inspreading light and truth around
the world, both as creatorsthemselves, but also supporting
(45:46):
other creators, in othercreators Also, as leaders,
latter-day Saints have our wholelives.
We learn how to be leaders, welearn how to delegate, we learn
how to organize, we learn how toget people together, we learn
how to do things.
And as we apply those talentsin spreading publications, media
(46:08):
art, performing arts,filmmaking in all different
media around the world andmessages of light and truth, we
can make the world better.
We can help spread the gospelof Jesus Christ.
We can make people's livesbetter.
We can help magnify our impactbeyond what we can do just in
(46:36):
our own lives or families byreaching out in the world.
So the potential impact is hugeof if you just think, for
example, what's going on withthe chosen, the impact of the
chosen around the world.
Now, that was not started by aLatter-day Saint, but a number
(46:59):
of Latter-day Saints have beenvery involved in it and have
been very supportive in keyroles, including Brad Pilo will
be one of our keynote speakersand others, and so sometimes
it's just learning how topartner with people of other
faiths.
It's not trying to do all thisourselves, and every conference
(47:21):
we have sessions on how do youpartner with people in other
faiths in ways that are actuallyhelpful, that are well-received
, and that's a talent intoitself, instead of just trying
to remain isolated ourselves,and so all of this it's kind of
building a bigger area ofcompetence and networking to
(47:45):
make a bigger difference in theworld awesome.
Scott Brandley (47:58):
Larry.
Do you have any last thoughts,inspiration to improve your,
your gifts?
I?
Larry Johnson (48:01):
know you like to play the piano and stuff I do
and I actually have been takingnotes.
So thank you very much.
I I have a few projects nowthat I I want to pursue and
learn more about, but I would Ilike I can concur here, because
spread light and truth and themore that we can do, that it's
(48:22):
it furthers, it just blesseseveryone, blesses the whole
world, and so thank you verymuch for for what you've been
doing.
Steve Piersanti (48:33):
Thank you, and thank you for for giving the
spotlight to for uh, not justfor me, but for many other uh
creators and media, people andauthors and so on.
Scott Brandley (48:43):
Yeah, it's been.
It's been fun.
Um, everybody's got a story andthat's and you know that, right
, Right.
So we believe that too here atLatter-day Lights, and that's
why we built this is so that wecan have people share their
stories and share that light outwith the world.
(49:03):
So we're kindred spirits, Steve.
Steve Piersanti (49:07):
Okay, yes, thank you Scott.
Thank you Larry.
Yeah, thank you.
Scott Brandley (49:11):
So if somebody wants to learn more, where do
they go?
Steve Piersanti (49:16):
to ldspmaorg.
That's our website, ldspmaorg,and there you'll find pretty
much all the information thereis to know about ldspma,
including all the details on theconference.
The conference is happeningOctober 16th through the 18th at
UVU in Orem, but on the siteyou will see all the keynote
(49:40):
speakers, you'll see all thebreakout sessions, all the deep
dive workshops, all thedifferent elements.
You can register for theseevents at the conference.
You'll see other things calledthe Great Podcast, starting to
be information about the manyother programs that LDSP May is
doing.
So all of that you can go thereas well as, if you choose to
(50:03):
volunteer, to donate.
Scott Brandley (50:05):
Awesome.
Well, thanks again, steve forbeing on the show and thanks
Larry for helping me out helpinga brother out, literally.
Larry Johnson (50:16):
Anytime.
Thank you very much.
Scott Brandley (50:19):
Awesome, Okay, Well, thanks again everybody for
tuning in to another episode ofLatter-day Lights.
If you have a story that you'dlike to share that you feel can
enlighten and inspire others, goto latterdaylightscom and tell
us about it, and till next weekwe will see you with another
episode.
Thanks again, Take careeverybody.
(50:40):
Bye-bye.
Larry Johnson (50:41):
Thank you.
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