Tiffany “The Budgetnista” Aliche (@thebudgetnista) is one of America’s favorite personal financial educators. She’s a former preschool teacher of ten years and has her master’s degree in education.

My name is Shalise Gardner, I am a mother of three young adults and a grandma to my first grandson Malik. I have an MBA and MPA. I have worked in the social work field for over 20 years.

My name is Dr. Evona Lee Smith and I am a wife and mother of five children and a native of New Orleans, Louisiana. I received a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from Dillard University at New Orleans as well as a Master of Science degree in nursing and a Doctor of Nursing Practice from Loyola University at New Orleans. I practiced as a registered nurse since 2003 and a family nurse practitioner since 2009.

I am a wife, mother, educator, and now new author. I have been
teaching for fifteen years. Writing children’s books have always been a
dream of mine. Working with children for years and having two
children of my own provided the insight that I used to help write my books.

My family and I have lived in several different states over the years. I’ve lived on the east coast, in the south, and currently reside in St. Louis, MO. with my husband and two daughters. Originally from Springfield, Ohio, I am happy to be back in the mid-west. Volunteerism is a passion of mine and over the years I’ve worked with several amazing organizations like the YWCA, Girl Scouts, Junior League, and Jack and Jill of America just to name a few.

I grew up in Napa, California, raising a family with a now grown son and daughter who are my rocks. My life partner of 13 years is my best critic as he is always willing to share constructive criticism in regards to my writing (when requested of course). Lol I worked in law enforcement for several years – later being offered a full-time position at my local district attorney’s office. While the pay was great, I always felt there was something missing. The wine industry in Napa was booming and the population grew to immense numbers with wineries being the staple point, wine bars on every corner and the tourists were more catered to than the locals. I started to miss the old small town Napa I grew up in and needed to make some changes in my life for this and other health-related reasons.I moved from Napa to a quaint country town in Lake County, up in the mountains, high above Napa. I spend endless hours in my writing cave (which overlooks the lake),especially during this unfortunate pandemic.Here, in my writing cave, I create my stories (both novels and children’s books), editing,formatting and marketing each book after endless hours of author forums, webinars and zoom meetings in order to improve my niche.
I also ghostwrite, format and market books for others, treating each story as my own. My latest venture has been to create a Book Marketing Plan for future authors, which provides everything they would need from the beginning stages of the process to the end. Between writing projects and marketing, I am a criminal court reporter for my local newspaper. While I enjoy keeping my local community versed on the crime in my county, I am blessed to balance my brain with the lighthearted stories from within my heart along with stories forwarded to me for edits and formatting.
Life is good.I wouldn’t have it any other way. I am grateful for all of your support!

I am a mother to three little turkeys ages 5yrs, 3yrs and 1.5yrs. We have lots of fun reading books and doing art projects and generally playing outside. We live in the Cayman Islands with our dog Breezy.

Q: First tell us something about yourself?

Well, I was born in SE Washington DC, by a single mom who struggled to make sure I had the necessities in life. As an only child I spent a lot of time imagining things that I could become. I loved Reading, TV, Film but most of all Comedy and Dogs. Growing up in the PG County MD and DC was rough but it made me appreciate a good struggle which I never knew would prepare me for the road to come. Long story short, I joined the DC Improv Comedy School and before you know it, I was performing on the biggest stage in DC. Won a Standup Comedy Competition on Ourstage.com; found myself on DC101’s Elliot in the morning for an interview; 94.7 Tommy McFly’s Show for a voice over; appeared in a Washington Post Weekend Section and a Food Network Show (Dinner Impossible) which coincidentally led me to filming my own pilot show for Food Network that never aired. I never thought anything like this could happen to somebody like me. While doing all of that, I was volunteering in an animal shelter working my way up to what’s called Quarantine spending a lot of time learning how to deal with dog behavior especially fear and aggression. For the last 8 years I started an advocation for Pitbull Awareness, took in two amazing Pitbulls (Chloe and Jordan, both with AKC CGC Accreditations); help rehome animals and I run around helping people change the behavior of their dogs.

Q: How and when your journey started as a writer?

When I moved to the United States I didn’t know how to speak English. I went to a very good school located in the New York suburbs and they had a good English Second Language program. We spent a lot of time on creative writing.

Q: When did you write your first story?

Is it published or not? I wrote my first (Young Adult) story when I was in College student. I kept the manuscript for many years because I wasn’t sure if I wanted to publish it. I have since decided that the story needed to be told so it will be published in early to mid 2021. Please follow me on social media for updates.

Q: Tell us something more about your books?

My current book “Mommy, I Need My Wheels” is a story about a young boy named Eddy who just realizes that his training wheels are missing. He doesn’t think he can ride without them so he is begging his mother to put them back on.
However, Eddy’s mother and father are not letting him give up. Even as he tries and falls, his parents continue to encourage him to keep trying. This book is also published in Haitian Creole “Manman, Mwen Bezwen Wou Mwen Yo” because I think it’s important for children to learn to read in other languages early.

Q: Why do you choose kids as your reader ? is there any specific?

I am a mother to three young children and they love to read. My oldest child can read a young adult book in one day so I wanted to create something they could appreciate.

Q: How did these stories and characters come to your mind?

My middle son was three years old when he learned to ride his bike without
training wheels. I remember watching him trying and falling in our backyard and then one day, he did it. “Mommy, I Need My Wheels” features an interracial family. You see, Eddy and his mother are black but his father is white. I have an interracial family and I wanted my children to see our family in a book. When they see the pictures, they don’t ask any questions related to race because it feels normal to them that Eddy and his father have different skin tones. When people see my book’s pictures, I don’t want them to get caught up in the characters’ race, I want them to simply see a family enjoying their lives.

Q: Do you want to give any message for your readers?

Read as many books as you can and keep an open mind. Try to expose yourself and your children to diverse books as much as possible. There’s just so much to learn from those who appear to be different from us.

Q: First tell us something about yourself ?

I am Anthony Newland and I was born and raised in South London. After completing a degree in criminology I have worked many roles ranging from customer services to roles within the criminal justice system. I have always been creative and wish to fill the world with my best and favourite ideas.

Q: How and when your journey started as a writer?

I have enjoyed writing since I was a child in primary school. I would often write short stories and even wrote and acted in plays for my family at family gatherings. I was always an avid reader and would often read books above my age range which I believe stemmed the birth and growth of my writing journey. Over the past ten years I have written plans for novels, short stories, poems and also music. “When Cow Lost Her Moo” is my first published story and is the first step in my official author journey.

Q: When did you write your first story? Is it published or not?

“When Cow Lost Her Moo” is my first children’s story but I have written a number of short stories and other mediums over the years. After writing this story I felt it was the right time to release my work into the world. Starting in children’s literature was never initially my intention but after writing this story it felt right and very special to me.

Q: Tell us something more about your books?

This is my first story but I have many ideas ready to go and intend to follow this story up soon. So keep your eyes peeled!

Q: Why do you choose kids as your reader ? is there any specific reason?

The reason I was inspired to write this particular story is the many inspirations around me. There have been an influx of young children within my family and I am inspired by them constantly. Watching them grow and build their personalities is fascinating and has been very surreal to me. My wife is a primary school teacher which is also a huge inspiration for me. She has supported me through the entire process and this has helped me take this direction.

Q: How did these stories and characters come to your mind?

Interestingly, when I write stories I usually plan them out in my head first starting from genre, to basic story thread, with characters and titles coming last. This story however took a very different process. I was sitting on a bus thinking what should my next story be about? I remember feeling a bit lost and having a moment where I had a lack of inspiration. Then the title “When Cow Lost Her Moo” came to me and skipped my usual steps of storytelling. It is a title I then sat on for some time before fleshing out the plan and story structure. I believe how I felt at the time inspired the title but overall it was one of these ideas that you pluck out of the deeper unexplored parts of the mind. As if gifted to you by a third party.

Q: Do you want to give any message for your readers?

The message I want to give is that without a doubt in life there will be moments in which we lose ourselves. Moments in which our “Moo” is missing. However there is always light at the end of the tunnel and finding ourselves is a matter of self-exploration and belief. Always use the tools around you but most importantly always believe you can!