Ghanaian-American | Queer | Femme | Bibliophile | Neurodivergent 

In 2019, Isis Asare founded Sistah Scifi, the first Black-owned bookstore focused on science fiction and fantasy in the United States, as recognized by the American Booksellers Association. In 2023, Sistah Scifi launched three book vending machines located in Seattle and Oakland, CA.

In addition to serving as CEO of Sistah Scifi, Isis is the Executive Director of both the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) and Aunt Lute Books, a nonprofit feminist press dedicated to publishing voices often underrepresented in literature. She is also the contributing editor of Afrofuturism: Short Stories, forthcoming from Flame Tree Press in November 2025.

Isis attended Stanford University, where she majored in Psychology and minored in African and African-American studies. She holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard University. She lives in Oakland, CA, with her supportive polycule in a home full of plant babies.

Her journey has taken her across industries and continents from serving in the Peace Corps in Ghana, where her parents are from, to leading in the tech space at Microsoft, Shutterfly, and Brightroll. She also founded Sistah Sinema a film platform celebrating queer women of color. Sistah Sinema supported crowdfunding campaigns for queer women of color filmmakers, including Cheryl Dunye, by amplifying their projects, mobilizing community support, and helping secure funding to bring their stories to the screen.

A lifelong bibliophile, Isis launched Sistah Scifi after a conversation about Afrofuturist literature sparked a deeper mission to amplify Black and Indigenous speculative fiction authors and build a vibrant literary community. In 2023, Isis Asare expanded Sistah Scifi by opening three Sistah Scifi Book Vending Machines in California and Washington, bringing these stories to even more readers. 

Interviews & Media Features

• Girls That Create: 
  
  

• Take the Doughnut:

  

• The Vault Podcast: 

  

• Facebook Interview:

  
  

•  Troora Magazine
  
  
•  Inchy's Bookworm Vending Machine
  
  
  
•  Atlanta Sci-Fi Film Festival
  
• Visit Oakland
  
  
• All Arts
  

Speaking Engagements