We were lucky to catch up with Sherly Lam recently and have shared our conversation below.

Sherly, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Spread kindness, help animals!

This has become my mission in publishing my children’s book Echo Is Kind. There is so much negativity around us in today’s world that is out of our control, that I truly believe where we can make a difference is being kind to ourselves and to others (including animals!). I am a huge advocate of texting that person when they randomly come up in your thoughts, handwriting a birthday or thank you card, or vocalizing what you appreciate or admire about someone, even if it feels awkward,

For our younger generation, social-emotional learning is more important than ever. Teaching kindness to children at an early age equips them with the tools for healthier relationships and personal success later in life. Echo Is Kind offers a great introduction to kindness to kick start conversations at home with our younger readers. The book also comes with some ideas families can try together to show kindness to themselves and to each other!

Lastly, there are so many sweet animals waiting for their forever homes that need our help. So, I have committed to donating 100% of net proceeds from the sales of my book to a local animal rescue in honor of Echo’s legacy.

Will you help share Echo Is Kind and join me on this mission? Contact me for all reading and sales opportunities!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I grew up as an Asian American in Southern California with immigrant parents. My siblings and I had front-row seats to my parent’s tenacity and perseverance in building a successful business despite all odds as they did not know the English language nor the culture when they first arrived in the States in their early 20s. Their ambition and drive to overcome all challenges was ingrained in me at an early age and ultimately led me to land an amazing job at a top consulting firm upon graduating from college. For the next two decades, I would travel across the country and around the world managing projects at some of the biggest name companies.

Though I had an amazing career, I hardly felt fulfilled until one night, I decided to refurbish a piano my friend had gifted me. I spent the next two days sanding, painting and waxing the piano, often forgetting to eat and losing track of time. This experience was refreshing and exciting and I wanted more of it! I learned that I was in a flow state, the experience of being so immersed in an engaging, enjoyable task that your attention is completely held by it. In flow, you feel as if you can keep doing whatever you’re doing forever.

I started to reflect on activities I had done in the past that got me into a flow state such as writing poetry, playing music, writing songs, and creating art. Basically any creative activity, but life had gotten so busy and messy over the years that I had stopped creating. Around the same time, my Mom pulled from the archives a “book” I had written about a boy who grew an 11th finger because he sucked his thumb nonstop. It’s silly, but it was inspired by my younger brother (okay, and myself) who sucked our thumbs for let’s just say longer than we should have. Finding that book sparked a desire to get back to what I loved before the world told us we can’t or that it would be too difficult to follow our dreams.

That is how my first self-published children’s book Echo Is Kind was born. Echo my rescue dog had always been my constant. He was my everything, the reason why I woke up in the morning, and the center of my life where most if not all of my decisions would be made with his best interest in mind. When I adopted him, I committed to providing him the best life possible. We went on an adventure every week, whether it was to the beach, the mountains, agility classes, or to the park. We took road trips together, exploring new cities and discovering new hiking trails. So, you can imagine that when I suddenly lost him, I entered into one of the darkest moments of my life. My life suddenly felt meaningless and empty and there was a void that I just could not fill. With the support of my family and friends, I put one foot in front of the other, taking it day by day. I remembered a manuscript I had written a year ago when I wanted to get back into creating, a story about Echo and his cousin Buster going to the beach together and along the way, find opportunities to show kindness to others.

I decided to pick up the manuscript again. Once again, I was in flow, illustrating front to cover by hand into the wee hours of the night, often having to force myself to step away for a break or to sleep! The learning curve was steep from formatting the book to understanding the submission process to marketing. The entire process was and is still new so during times of frustration, I remind myself to enjoy the experience and give myself grace. Writing and illustrating this book has in many ways been healing as I have been able to redirect my grief into something meaningful. I am determined to not waste this pain but to use it for good in honor of Echo. I hope that my readers will feel the love and bond the two of us shared and sense his rambunctious and sassy personality through the story and illustrations.

Any advice for managing a team?

As a project manager, managing teams is a critical part of my job description. My experience has led me to believe that maintaining a high morale is dependent on three things: work-life balance, relationships and appreciation.

With mental health at the forefront of everyone’s mind, burnout is often a concern and can be offset by unplugging, self-care and setting boundaries. Team members need to feel their personal priorities are supported and even encouraged. Due to the nature of my occupation, I often like to remind my team that we aren’t saving any lives. Whatever we are working on can wait until tomorrow, so go and enjoy your evening/weekend/vacation!

In my early professional years, I focused only on execution. Whether we were getting our tasks done and hitting our deadlines were my main concerns. But over the years, I have learned the importance of building relationships as a part of managing a team. I find myself constantly going back to what Maya Angelou said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Check-in with your team, invest in their learning, take the time to build trust with them, and practice empathy!

Lastly, appreciation. Recognize the time and energy your team is putting into their work. Set the example. Be generous with your words and create a culture of appreciation that will slide down to peer to peer recognition. Showing appreciation has so many benefits, from increasing team engagement and performance, to creating a happier and positive workplace, to creating a stronger company culture.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

It has been so fulfilling to see the impact my book has had on children and adults alike. I love reading to children at bookstores and schools and witnessing their excitement and engagement throughout the story. Not only do we get to have conversations about why kindness is important, it is so encouraging to hear them give examples of how they can demonstrate kindness after they have seen Echo demonstrate the same! I have also had adults thank me for putting something positive into the world when the world so desperately needs it and for advocating for animals who don’t have a voice. Above all, I have found a lot of peace from seeing positives come from an otherwise negative situation. Learning that I can choose to create meaning and purpose from life’s worst moments that don’t seem to make any sense has been most rewarding.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://echoiskind.square.site/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trulyblessedssl
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherly-l-b24b579/

Image Credits
Sunny Park Photography Benny Chiu Photography