Cindy Dach
Books, Arts, and Odd Routes with Cindy Dach
July 31, 2008 | by brett | Permalink
Cindy Dach is the General Manager of Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe and can be credited with creating First Friday events in downtown Phoenix . In addition to maintaining these vibrant communities, she’s inadvertently developed a skill for dry walling.
I had this advice from a very cool, radical grandmother about always taking this odd route. And I do think I ended up coming back to that advice.
When I moved here, I did not like living in Arizona . Because of the sprawl, it was really difficult to meet people here. It’s hard to find the “like mindedness.” I basically hated it. Every time I had to renew my registration, I would say, “Okay. I’m on a two year plan.” Although, for my first six years, I only renewed it for one year because I was convinced that I was going to leave.
Then I realized I didn’t know where to go, where life would be that different. Because in many ways, we live the same lives in different places. We watch the same TV shows, we eat the same type of food. And we find our network of people. It was more up to me to find the life here.
I got very involved in this growing arts community in downtown Phoenix . At the same time I got very involved in what my passion was, which was working in a bookstore. By following the things that I enjoyed most, which was the arts community and books, I was able to find a community.
I ended up buying what were former crack houses and turning them into art spaces. What’s interesting is that we put more money into fixing them up than the actual purchase price for the building. That got so popular that we opened a second arts collective down the street. And a third. We bought another building that the contractor said looked worse than Baghdad .
Taking a step back, I’m not a trust fund baby. The way I did it was in a very unconventional way. At the time, I was getting lots of credit card offers with zero down. So I actually bought my first building by taking all the money off a credit card, and then refinancing the building six months later to pay back the credit card. I don’t think that option exists anymore.
My view now is that Phoenix is the right city at the right time. It’s a catalyst. There’s so much happening here and there’s so much opportunity. First Fridays are one of the largest art walks in the country. And we can’t find it sitting on our couch watching Survivor. We can’t always find it in the bar. But we can find it by engaging and stepping outside of our comfort zone. I think you find an interesting life here if you do that.
Every couple of years I look back and I’m still surprised at where I ended up. Like General Manager of a bookstore? I kicked and screamed that I swore I never would be doing that. But it’s like every year you get smarter and you learn things and you face a new challenge.
So I no longer say, “I have no idea what I’m going to be doing when I’m 60.” I’ve been lucky enough to find something that gives me passion in both my personal and professional life. My daily life is pretty amazing.
Pursue the Passion presents interviews with people passionate about their work. Visit www.pursuethepassion.com to view more career related interviews and videos, and to learn about the impact the program is having on Arizona education.
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Steve Says:
August 2nd, 2008
It’s interesting. You can walk into this lady’s store and buy a book and what out and never know the depth of her experience, story, and message that she has to share - which is a great message. The PTP tour has given us readers a deeper look into this person and her experiences that we pass by every day. WOW, you guys are awesome.
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