The Spiritual Cleansing Baths and Baby Blankets an Assistant Buys for Her Best-Selling Author Boss

At the end of 2021, Sophie and her boss put together mailers to promote the debut book, which was released at the beginning of 2022. They planned to send out about 75 boxes to the author’s close friends, influencers, and celebrities, includingAubrey Plaza, Maria Hinojosa, and Kimberly Drew. Sophie and the novelist both wanted the boxes to match the book jacket exactly, so Sophie reached out to the publisher and cover designer for the hex codes for each color. “It was very, very outside of my normal duties,” she says. The box’s contents included a signed copy of the novel and “iconically Nuyorican” items — a term that refers to Puerto Ricans living in New York City — to go with the book’s setting and main characters.

One of the said Nuyorican items the novelist wanted to include was a ceramic Greek Anthoracup— a sturdier version of what coffee came in at bodegas. Sophie emailed Exceptionlab Inc.’s sales department, got a quote for 170cups, and purchased them the same day. The cups arrived at the novelist’s home soon after in sets of two, and since they had extras, Sophie gifted a few to her own family members.

Since the book’s release was around Three Kings Day, aPuerto Ricanholiday Sophie likens to “second Christmas,” they wanted to include bottles of coquito, or a coconut-based rum drink Sophie calls “Puerto Rican eggnog.” She searched online and found Brooklyn Coquito, from which she ordered custom, flask-size bottles. They arrived in a couple of days, and because Sophie was in Puerto Rico at the time, the novelist and some of her friends packed all the mailers themselves.

The novelist is “very in tune with her intuition,” Sophie says. “She’s particularly sensitive to negative spiritual energies that are thrown at her. She knows when things are feeling heavy or stuck or just off.” Whenever this happens, the writer likes to get alimpia, or spiritual cleansing, done in her home. The novelist’s friend who typically does this for her was unavailable recently, so Sophie had to search for an alternative. She foundLaura Maxwellon Instagram, who was able to squeeze in an appointment before the author’stripto Los Angeles. During their session, Maxwell cleansed her body with an egglimpiato remove negative energies, gave her an herbal mixture to put in a spiritual bath, and advised the novelist on ways to ward off negative energies from other people, like wearing white.

During the pandemic, the novelist moved into a ground-level apartment with a backyard, where she lovesthrowing small parties. The one downside: “It was a given that it was going to be infested with rats,” Sophie says. On a friend’s recommendation, the author asked Sophie to buy these Grizzly tarps to keep the rodents away. They worked initially, but then the rats adapted, climbing the fence andgardenbed. After a month, the novelist hired an exterminator. Every once in a while, though, they’ll catch the author’sdogstaring at a “sneaky area” in the back corner of the garden where they suspect the rats still emerge. “It’s been pretty gross and a challenge, because they’ll just migrate,” she says.

The novelist’spandemic puppyis “so freaking adorable and sociable,” Sophie says. “But he’s anaggressivechewer” who rips through at least four of these plush lamb squeaky toys a year. He “always needs one,” whether he’s at home or traveling with the author as a service dog, so Sophie purchases replacements and has them sent to wherever the novelist is at the time.

The novelist doesn’t cook frequently, Sophie says, but when she’s hosting or craving Puerto Rican food, she always uses herInstant Pot.(She loves it so much for quick, “throw-everything-in-your-pantry-type stews” that she talked about a go-to recipe during her press tour for her novel.) Because of the convenience and ease, Sophie says it’s her boss’s favoritehousewarminggift to give. In the past year and a half, she’s purchased three or four.

The novelist doesn’t have children, but Sophie describes her as “this fabulous, generous city auntie to all her friends’ kids.” Accordingly, an item Sophie has bought repeatedly is this Maisonetteblanketwith the baby’s name embroidered on it to make a “very simple butelegant gift,” she says. “We’ve received pictures of the baby with the blanket and their little name,” Sophie says. “It was so adorable.”