In a world where content is created at lightning speed, preserving authentic stories and ensuring they stand the test of time has never been more important. For many authors, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders, publishing a book is often viewed as the finish line. Yet for visionary publisher and storyteller April Sheris, it is only the beginning.
As the founder of Upland Studios, April Sheris is redefining what it means to build a lasting legacy through storytelling. Her work extends beyond traditional publishing, helping creators transform their ideas into intellectual property, cultural experiences, films, conversations, and archives that continue to impact future generations. At the heart of her mission is a commitment to preserving the voices, stories, and contributions of those who have too often been overlooked, particularly Black women and underrepresented communities.
In this exclusive interview with Connected Woman Magazine, April Sheris shares the inspiration behind Upland Studios, her perspective on the future of publishing, and why documenting our stories today is one of the most powerful gifts we can leave for tomorrow.
What inspired you to create Upland Studios, and what gap did you see in the publishing and storytelling industry that needed to be filled?
I created Upland Studios after spending more than twelve years watching talented authors pour themselves into publishing a book, only to discover that the industry had very little infrastructure for what came next. The book would launch, the campaign would end, and the author was often left trying to determine how to keep the work visible and expand its impact. I saw authors with powerful stories but no long-term strategy for transforming those stories into films, public conversations, live experiences or bodies of intellectual property that could continue serving people. Upland Studios was created to help close that gap. The common thread is preservation and expansion: helping meaningful stories move beyond a single release to become part of a larger cultural record.
Why do you believe it is especially important for Black women to intentionally preserve and share their stories?
Black women have shaped families, communities, industries and cultural movements, yet our contributions have often been inadequately documented, misinterpreted or remembered through someone else’s perspective. Preserving our stories allows us to establish the record in our own language. It protects the complexity of our lives. It protects the ambition, tenderness, ingenuity, sacrifice and joy that can disappear when history reduces us to a single narrative.
Documentation is also an act of ownership. When a Black woman records her ideas, experiences and body of work, she gives future generations more than inspiration. She gives them evidence that she was here, that she built something and that her contribution mattered. We should not have to wait for another institution to decide that our stories are historically significant. We can recognize their value now and preserve them accordingly.
What would you say to entrepreneurs, creatives, and professionals who believe their story isn’t significant enough to document or publish?
Significance is not determined by fame. Some of the most valuable stories belong to people whose names may never become widely known but whose decisions changed a family, built a business, strengthened a community or created a path that did not previously exist.
You do not need to have reached the end of your journey before you begin documenting it. Your methods, failures, discoveries and defining moments may become a roadmap for someone who is trying to build what you have already survived or accomplished.
I would ask: If your story disappeared today, what knowledge would disappear with it? And that answer usually reveals that the story is far more significant than the person initially believed.
As technology continues to transform the creative landscape, how do you see the future of publishing evolving over the next decade?
Publishing will become increasingly multimedia, direct-to-audience and centered on intellectual property rather than a single book format. A story may begin as a book but continue through audio, film, live programming, education, licensing and immersive experiences. Artificial intelligence will accelerate production and expand creative possibilities, but it will also make provenance more important. Readers and institutions will increasingly want to understand how a work was created, where its ideas originated and what role human authorship played in its development. The future will require both innovation and accountability. Technology should help people create and distribute meaningful work, but it should not erase the human experience behind that work.
I believe the most enduring publishing organizations will do more than release content. They will protect authorship, document the creative process and build trustworthy records around the people and ideas shaping culture.
What legacy do you hope Upland Studios leaves for future generations, particularly for Black women and underrepresented voices whose stories deserve to be preserved?
I want Upland Studios to leave behind an institution that recognized important voices before the rest of the world knew how to value them. I want future generations to discover books, films, recorded conversations and cultural experiences that reveal the fullness of who we were. Not only what we endured, but what we imagined, designed, built and protected. For Black women and other underrepresented storytellers, I hope Upland represents permission to treat their work as something worthy of care, investment and permanence. I want them to understand that their stories do not have to become famous to become part of the record.
Ultimately, I want Upland Studios to be remembered as a home for human stories: a place that helped authors preserve the origins of their ideas, expand the lives of their work and leave behind evidence that they were here.
Please share how readers can stay connected with you as well.
Readers can learn more about Upland Studios and our publishing, film, podcast and cultural programs at uplandstudios.com.
They can also follow Upland Studios on social media and listen to Books Are The New Rich on their preferred podcast platform. For partnership opportunities, media commentary, speaking engagements or inquiries about working with Upland, readers may connect with us directly through the website.
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