A Woman on a Mission

I sat down last week with Erika Walser, twenty-four-year-old local resident who became the manager of Prospero’s Books on Center Street in Manassas last month. And it didn’t take long to realize that she is a woman on a mission.

“Books are my life. It’s as simple as that,” she stated as mid-morning traffic passed by outside twenty feet away outside the store. She credited her family and her college experience for her love of books and reading. “I had an amazing professor at NOVA,” she smiled, “who really put me on to history.” She then transferred to Virginia Tech and found not all the education took place in the classroom.

“I worked in a dining hall and met local people. Blacksburg is smaller than Manassas, so I could go to Kroger at midnight and see someone I knew. There was truly a sense of community there.”

Walser worked at…