We had the good fortune of connecting with Tyonie Patterson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tyonie, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
My name is Tyonie Patterson and I am a Speech Language Pathologist and Author of the Tamia T. Scott Series. My thought process behind starting my own children’s book series was recognizing the lack of diversity within children’s books and thinking of a solution to change that reality. According to the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wiscison-Madison (2019) the percentage of children’s books main characters are 41.8% White, 29.2% Animals, 8.5% Asian/Asian American, 11.9% African/Black, 5.3% Latinx, 3% LGBTQ+, 3.4 Disability, 1% First/Native Nations, and 0.05% Pacific Islander, etc. There’s a dispositionally large amount of children’s books with Animals and White people as the main characters and that paradigm needs to be shifted.

Prior to becoming an author, I had been following a self-published Author who shared her book publishing process, and I made the decision to begin writing my vision for my book. My thoughts were to write a story of me and my grandmother counting and sharing different food items from the garden. I wanted my story and products to be relatable, educational, and representational. I can not recall reading a lot of books that had characters that represented my ethnicity or culture (e.g., food, music, fashion, religion, hairstyles, skin, etc). However, although the percentages are low, we have a larger quantity of multicultural children’s books for children to read, learn from, identify with, and celebrate.

Cooperative Children’s Book Center. (2019, June 16). The Numbers Are In: 2019 CCBC Diversity Statistics. CCBC School of Education University of Wisconsin-Madison. Retrieved from https://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/the-numbers-are-in-2019-ccbc-diversity-statistics/

What should our readers know about your business?
My business is called Tamia T. Scott Series LLC. I have a children’s book and companion items such as a double sided puzzle, board game, and worksheets. My business is unique because it’s a series of educational and interactive activities that enhance speech and language development. The book and activities highlight concepts such as colors, counting, vocabulary, flavors, etc. Additionally, on my social media, I create content to inform people on different ways they can use the book and activities to support their children’s speech and language development.

My proudest moments are seeing pictures, hearing stories, and seeing videos of children engaging with the story and activities. It’s honestly the best feeling in the world especially when the children refer to themselves as being the main character. Witnessing those moments confirms that representation matters!

Doing research, being consistent with advertising, participating in pop-up shops, posting social media content, doing book tours, and networking has brought me a lot of success. I enjoy discovering and doing a variety of things to promote and sell my books and activities. Being an author is not easy but it’s not hard. I believe my passion overrides the challenges, because I know my content is valuable and it will be successful. I’ve learned that consistency and networking are key when it comes to having a business. I’m excited about the current and future success of being a children’s book author!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would take my best friend to the Venice and Santa Monica beach, 3rd Street Promenade, a variety of restaurants throughout the city, Downtown LA, LA attractions, Inglewood attractions, Hollywood attractions, museums, amusement parks, hiking trails, pop up shops, wineries, etc. There’s a ton of places to go to in Los Angeles.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Shoutout to all entrepreneurs setting the foundation, breaking barriers, and being mentors!

Website: www.tamiatscottseries.com

Instagram: tamiatscottseries

Facebook: tamiatscottseries

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