Meet Cazzy Zahursky | Author and illustrator

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

Hi Cazzy, how does your business help the community?
Aside from the deeply rooted artistic desire to express myself and the fierce passion I feel toward writing and illustrating my children’s picture books, the objective behind my business of authoring and illustrating books is also intended to have a positive social impact on the world.  With children being vulnerable sponges, it is important to inspire and educate them at a fundamental level.  There’s no more effective way to do this than through the age old means of storytelling.  My mission is to not only educate young readers, but to help provide stories aiding them to better navigate difficult emotions through social emotional lessons, which ultimately molds an upstanding moral compass for our youth.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
One way I believe my art stands out amongst the rest is the fact that the stories I write, accompanied with the illustrations I draw are eclectic. I don’t tend to stick with a single style, as I like to change my style to match the feel of the story that I’ve written.

The artwork in my book, Perspective Detective is the work I’m most proud of, to date, as it challenged me to illustrate in a more scientific and abstract manner. I dabbled with pointillism and optical illusions, which was a new kind of mind space for me.

Throughout the course of my author/illustrator journey, I have encountered many obstacles along the way. I started out knowing nothing about the process, but after years of research, joining various author communities and trial and error, I feel I have overcome many of these obstacles. As the author, the illustrator, the formatter, the marketer, and more, I wear many hats in the process, so I’ve had more than my fair share of obstacles. Anything from learning industry standards, dimensions, marketing challenges, etc. Like anything, I am constantly learning, even now.

I hope my stories and my art leave a lasting impact on the hearts of young readers and their parents, worldwide.

I am excited to release several books this year. Some of which will be sequels to my current stories. So be on the look out.

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?
To be honest, I’m a bit of a homebody, hence my desire to create my own worlds through my writing. That being said, if my best friend were to pay me a visit, I’d likely take her to a good sushi dinner, a trip to the beach either in Santa Monica or Malibu, a yoga class at Black Dog Yoga, and a visit to the Getty Center.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Bear with me here as my shout out list is anything but short as I’m fortunate to be surrounded by many supportive people in my life. I’d like to pay a special shout-out to so many people in my life, I fear I might miss more than a few. But here goes: I’d like to pay a shout out to my parents, my husband Dustin, my brother, my kids, my Author Force friends (Irenee Chan, Eugenia Chu, Tasche Laine, Becci Murray, Francesca Watt, Alex Antipa, Denise Nicole, Becca Porter, Anna Smithers, Kris Wyatt Reguera, Kim Wilch, and Marcela Brie-Lotz), Kim Ann, Tina Marie Young, Carli Valentine, Stacy Bauer, Mike Crowder, Kathleen Gauer, Brooke Young, Sarina Siebenaler, Czarina Bernette, Misty Black, Katie Weaver and so many more! All of whom I enjoy sharing this author journey with. I would also like to pay a shout out to Ruth Ho, Maria Velissaris, Karen Weza, and my tribe, whom I wish I lived closer to, but still manage to get your support from afar. I’d like to give a shout out to my editors and beta readers, Rob Daniel, Sam Cabbage, Brooke Vitale and Evan Bauer. Thank you all for keeping me on my toes, or rather, on my computer. I’m positive I missed many of you, but you know who you are.

Website: www.Circletimebooks.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/cazzycreates

Twitter: www.twitter.com/cazzycreates

Facebook: www.facebook.com/Circletimebooks

Image Credits
Dustin Zahursky, Andrew Golomb