Minisode 2.2: "Dear Little Brown Skin Girl" w/ Tiffany Kuadio

DESCRIPTION

Literacy is at the core of everything we do! That’s why before season 3, we’re making it a point to share books centered in diversity! Today, Michelle Person is interviewing author, Tiffany Kuadio. Her book, “Dear Little Brown Skin Girl” is a little reminder that our girls, no matter what color, are special and their future is bright. This is more than just a story, this is reality. FIND OUT WHAT ELSE YOU CAN DO ON YOUR RE: WOKE JOURNEY

TRANSCRIPT

Speaker 0 00:00:00 Hello, my ambitious and inspired tribe and welcome to ReWalk rewriting our kids education podcast. We are still on hiatus preparing for season three, but you know, we wouldn't leave you without your weekly dose of woke info. Literacy is at the core of everything we do. So this week we are sharing another adorable story. Dear little brown skin girl written by Tiffany Claudio is a reminder to all girls that they are special and their future is bright. Enjoy the interview and have a productive week. Speaker 2 00:00:41 Tiffany. I am so excited to have you here. I'm doing great. Thanks for having me, her book, dear little brown girl is such an amazing story and we are going to jump right in and she's going to tell us all about it. Tiffany, tell us about your journey. How did you start the process for writing the story? Where did the desire to write this story come from? So my book is entitled a little brown skinned girl, and it came from my daughter's story. So this is a true story. Non-fiction um, my daughter's coming to, uh, realizing that she was brown in a class, um, where it was majority white or other colors that were not like her. And, um, I remember the conversation she had with me in terms of wanting to be like her white friends and even to the point of wanting to paint herself white, he really didn't understand that at the age of four, that that was not possible. Speaker 2 00:01:41 And so we had to have a real in-depth conversation about who she is, where she came from and why her color is the color she is and why it will stay that way if he can still shine herself in her brown skin. And so that is pretty much this book in a nutshell, it went from just that experience to making it into an actual story. Um, so tell us, tell us what the, so, so tell us a little bit more about what the book is about. Like when readers read the book, what's the story about? So the story is about, it goes from her birth to her realizing her skin. And so initially it just starts off with the day she was born, her little quirks as a baby, the library time that she loves in terms of reading and then moving, there's a little snippet in there with the map of the states of the United States of America and all the states then kind of where we were, where we are now. Speaker 2 00:02:40 And, um, then her going to school in the state, we moved to and realized she was brown. And then just me really just pouring into her in terms of inspiration of where she has come from and regarding her ancestors to where we are now regarding just present day shining of brown people in general, across the world and to where she should look forward to and can be in her future. Sure. Well, just like me is all about empowering our youth. And that's one of the reasons why I, when I saw this book, I said, oh, we have to make this one of our, just like me pick books, because that's what we do. We want kids to be able to see themselves in pages, so good about themselves and pages and be able to relate to the characters that they see. Um, are you working on anything else? Speaker 2 00:03:28 Like are, so is this, is this a one and done for you or are there other projects in the works what's going on with you? Um, a lot of getting a lot of messages about, can you write one for boys? And I have a son as well, he's younger, so we didn't have any experience yet with him, but I am working on a deal with a brown skin boy to go hand in hand with a girl. We love to travel. We've been to Africa twice and, um, just around the world in general. And so I'm working on a ABC, let's go through the continent of Africa with me book as well, just to highlight, um, African countries. And so I'm working on that and I've got some more things sleeve maybe for like the adult realm as well. Um, when you become an author, it just kinda like gets you like Kickstarters to like continue writing and you get ideas and you're in all these author groups and, you know, just receiving all of this energy. Speaker 2 00:04:25 And so I'm keeping that energy as long as I can. And, um, yeah, I'll be working on some more things coming in there. It is so funny when you're like, yeah, you start this journey and you end up doing all these other things that like, if you look behind me like that is, it started with that. Just like we books. And from there, we bond to the podcast to meanwhile, in Africa, our program about Africa and teaching kids and our math, like that is how, and you're right. It just it's snowball. So that's awesome. So you mentioned some of the things that you did as an author that helped you figure out that snowball. Do you have any specific advice for authors who like, are trying to struggle to write their first book or in the middle of their book and are thinking like, I want to grow this into something? Speaker 2 00:05:05 Like, what advice do you have for other authors who, um, who are out there beginning and want to be where you are? I think that it's important to just finish your story. Um, that's like the first thing also, even before that don't be intimidated or discouraged when there's a story like yours, that little brown skin girl is, you know, my story, my daughter's story, there's many books about brown girls. So it doesn't necessarily stand out in terms of like, oh, you know, there's not, there's never been a story about a brown girl or her journey about a brown girl, but this story is unique because it's my story. And I can only tell my story. And so it's the other authors out there. I would encourage you to always be always remember that no one can tell your story like you can, and no one exactly has your story. Speaker 2 00:05:54 Some of my recommendations to authors. Okay. Where can listeners find a copy of your book? My book about Amazon, um, it is also available. Wherever books are sold to my knowledge base of my publishing company. It is not on Kindle yet, but it will be on Kindle unlimited. I'm also my personal website, rising young readers. That is where you can purchase sign copies if you would like to sign. And you can also now purchase a copy of her book off the, just like the website on the, just like me pick section. And because she has officially joined the, just like me, family, Tiffany, thank you so much for coming on today and telling us about your phenomenal book. Everybody. I encourage you to go and grab a copy of it because it is really awesome. And remember, if our children can see it, they can achieve it.