Q: First tell us something about yourself.
Hello! My name is Ronesha. I’m a software engineer, author, and coding instructor from New Orleans, LA, currently living in Maryland. Since I was young, I always had two loves: coding and writing. Of course, at a young age, I didn’t know that when I was writing HTML and trying to build fansites for my favorite artists that I was doing something called “coding” and I had no idea that it could turn into a career. Interestingly enough, as life would have it, I was able to bring both of the things I loved as a child into my life as an adult.
Q: How and when did your journey start as a writer?
I’ve always loved writing. At around seven or eight years old, I began writing poems and short stories. Although I’d love to say that my interest developed naturally, I have to give credit to my mom. Now retired, my mom was a well-known English teacher in the New Orleans Public School system. Because of my mother’s love of reading, writing, and poetry, my sister and I spent a great deal of time reading and writing ourselves. It is likely why my sister became a Librarian and why I am an author.
Q: When did you write your first story? Is it published or not?
As a child, I wrote lots of poetry and short stories. The earliest poem I remember writing was at about eight years old. It was about sea otters. The poem was published in a poetry anthology. I’m certain my mother still has a copy. At nine years old, I also wrote a short story called Symbria and the Talking Slippers for my first niece. Although Symbria and the Talking Slippers was never published, my sister still talks about it and often mentions that I should publish it. Maybe one day soon.
Q: Tell us something more about your books?
In October 2023, I released a four-book series for children ages 3+ titled Coding with Cornell. The Coding with Cornell series follows seven-year-old Cornell as he teaches his two-year-old sister, Cori, how to code using Python, one of the most used programming languages in the world. The series uses Dr. Seuss-style rhyme, vibrant images, and relatable examples to teach children about data types, conditional statements, lists, and loops, which are used in nearly every coding language in the world. What I love most about Coding with Cornell is that the series is family-friendly. It’s simplified in a way that allows parents who’ve never written code or worked in STEM or technology to read along and understand the concepts as well.
Q: How did these stories and characters come to your mind?
This is such a great question–I’m so happy you asked! I’m a very family-oriented person, and the main characters in Coding with Cornell represent people who I love. My older brother is named Cornell. When I decided to take coding seriously as a career, my brother was very supportive. He absolutely believed that being in a STEM discipline was the way to go; however, he passed before he was able to see me in my first professional role as an engineer and before he was able to see all of the opportunities I was afforded because of it. The character ‘Cornell’ is named after my brother and designed after his grandson, my great-nephew, Ronnell, whom he never had the chance to meet. Cori is named and designed after my Goddaughter. At two-years-old, she was the first young reader of the Coding with Cornell series. As she grows, we’ve read the series together multiple times. She’s also grown a love for STEM and is a great problem-solver!
Q: Do you want to leave any message for your readers?
The purpose of the Coding with Cornell series is not only to teach the basics of coding; it is also to build confidence in young readers and their ability to problem-solve and become engineers or anything they want to be. To young readers I say, “There will be a lot of people in your life who tell you what you can’t do; the most important thing to remember is that you can do anything you put your mind to.”
