If speaking to parents is among my favorite things to do in my work, featuring Latina moms who are making a difference in the lives of all children is also at the top! And since we’re celebrating mothers during the month of May, it seems fitting that my posts this month focus on moms who choose to walk the bilingual and multicultural journey to enrich the lives of their children and all children in along the way.
One such mom is Ana Larrea-Albert, a former corporate marketing and customer experience executive at the international level, now a student in the Masters in Public Administration at Harvard University. The wife and mother of a 16 year-old, Ana has also been a mentor for Latina students and young professionals for several years.
“My goal is to help change the narrative of the Latina professional to show how educated, competent, driven and ready to take on leadership roles. Reaching the youngest Latinas, I called them our Latinitas, has been at the top of my list,” she said.
Ana has raised her son to be bilingual and bicultural, and admits that his upbringing was paramount and non-negotiable. “Raising my son to be proud of his heritage was my gift to him, my way to teach him to honor his roots and ancestors.”
Ana and I met via social media earlier this year. Instagram, to be exact. Although we never met in person, the connection was swift. We’ve been supporting each other’s work ever since.
Recently, Ana added a new title to her already impressive career background. She became a bilingual children’s book author with her book, ZeeZee Can Save the Planet/ZeeZee Puede Salvar el Planeta — the story of a little dog that inspires little girls and boys to dream big and that with the help of a mentor, they can make a difference in the world.
Here is more on this wonderful new bilingual children’s book for ages 8-10.
MB: Who is ZeeZee?
ALA: ZeeZee is every girl and boy who has a big dream. In this book, ZeeZee is worried about what’s happening to the planet and wants to save it, but doesn’t know where to start. With the help of a mentor, she learns of ways she can start making an impact in her world.
I was inspired to create ZeeZee’s world by our own Boston Terrier puppy of the same name. I chose to feature ZeeZee in her dog form as the protagonist in an otherwise human world in order to be as inclusive as possible: everybody loves puppies and every child can feel identified with ZeeZee regardless of his or her ethnicity or gender.
MB: What was your vision with the story?
ALA: There were multiple aspects that were important for me to incorporate into the narrative of this book.
I started with the question “how can I have the biggest impact?” Since I am in the women and Latina empowerment space, I have been coaching and mentoring high potential professionals, as well as college and high school students on the “soft skills”, which are equally as important as technical skills, such as leadership, personal branding and strategic networking in order to help them step into leadership roles. But I needed to reach our youngest still, our Latinitas, so I decided to write a children’s book to encourage our youngest girls to dream big and know that with the help of a mentor, they can already start effecting change.
Another dimension of impact was involving women and Latinas into the production of the book; therefore, I made sure all trades associated with the book were women / Latinas: the owner of the publishing house, the editor, the designer, the illustrator, ZeeZee’s mentor and ZeeZee herself.
MB: How did you decide to write a bilingual book?
ALA: I have wanted to write a children’s book for a long time. But, didn’t know about what. It needed to matter. Caring about the environment is everyone’s responsibility and the earlier we learn of how to start creating impact the better. This book is meant to empower children not only to dream big but also to take action to start making a difference in their own world.
Also, when my son, Louie, was young, there wasn’t a large collection of bilingual books and I missed out on exposing him to bilingual literature. I felt the responsibility to contribute towards building a larger collection to give children and parents more options from which to choose.
MB: What is the age group for the book?
ALA: Academically-speaking it is defined for third-graders; however, my hope is to have many parents join in the fun and start reading the book to even younger children.
MB: Where can parents get the book?
ALA: The book is available on Amazon.com. If parents would like to have the book autographed they can purchase it at www.zeezeeworld.com and send me an email at ana@zeezeeworld.com with the child’s name and I’ll be happy to sign the book.
MB: Does Zee Zee have another adventure coming up?
ALA: ZeeZee’s dreams are as big as they are many! Her next big dream is to bring laughter to the world entitled, “ZeeZee Can Help the World Smile | ZeeZee Puede Hacer Sonreir al Mundo” will focus on the importance of laughter to bring us all together. The book will be illustrated by the incredibly talented Karen Thaco (@karenthaco) so stayed tuned to another exciting adventure.
Ana Larrea-Albert, an inspiration for all mothers and one to follow. No creen?
Bai Bai,
Maritere
