About Beach Reads
Whether you are searching for a piece of great escapist fiction or an intriguing non-fiction book to expand your mind, Beach Reads seeks to become your go-to site when looking for the next engrossing read. Our personal recommendations will always be positive because we don’t see the point of posting reviews of books we don’t care for (and frankly, we probably won’t finish them anyway).
Beach Reads is operated by two women who met as alumnae of Harvard Business School and bonded while participating in a book club for women beginning in 2007.
Elizabeth Clark
Elizabeth Clark has 15 years of professional experience at The White House, Dell Inc., Motion Computing, Saks Fifth Avenue and B. Dalton Books. She has published whitepapers and developed website content in the high-tech industry, and has also been interviewed and/or quoted by the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, PC World, PC Magazine, CNET and InfoWorld.
An aspiring novelist, her interest in writing was sparked during an internship at The White House, where she worked in the Office of Presidential Speechwriting supporting Tony Snow, former U.S. Press Secretary, and his team of 6 other speechwriters by researching and editing speeches delivered by the President.
She participates on the boards of the Harvard Business School Alumni Club of Austin, the Christian Women’s Job Corps of Austin and the Multicultural Artists’ Partnership. Elizabeth has been a lifelong avid reader and writer (her favorite thing in the world to do is to read and write on her boat!) and she hopes to help you find more of your own literary favorites by sharing her own top book picks with you.
Kirsten Billhardt
Kirsten Billhardt spends her days developing marketing programs for a high tech company in Austin, Texas. A native of Michigan, Kirsten started her career as an automotive engineer and moved through strategy consulting, product planning, and manufacturing planning at General Motors.
Kirsten grew up as a bookworm and marks the years through Little House on the Prairie, Encyclopedia Brown and Elizabeth and Jessica’s adventures at Sweet Valley High.
Kirsten is a board member of Austin Shakespeare and the Harvard Business School Alumni Club of Austin, and enjoys running, cooking and the Austin social scene. But most every day ends with a chapter or two from her latest book.
