Today we’d like to introduce you to Andi Green

Hi Andi, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?

I am Andi Green and I am the creator of The WorryWoos, a children’s book series dedicated to feelings. The WorryWoos began as an art installation I created called The Monsters in My Head. They were large illustrations enclosed in lightboxes with their “emotion” stories xerox-transferred to the face of the light boxes. The idea stemmed from characters I had created during my childhood that I deemed monsters and labeled them with the difficult feelings I was experiencing. I continued to draw these characters well into my adulthood. At the time there was little to no discussions about mental health, no Inside Out, no hashtages #mentalhealthmatters, actually no social media! It was because of this huge hole in the market that I decided to create my own company, Monsters In My Head, to help kids address complicated feelings. It was then that I started my series The WorryWoos. It was kind of a crazy beginning. I was working full-time as a creative director while drawing my children’s books at night. When the first WorryWoo was completed, Nola The Monster of Loneliness, I had no idea what to do. I began emailing some stores I thought might be a good fit,. One of the first stores to respond was The MoMA Design Store and and to my shock and complete joy they brought the first round of WorryWoos in! Prior to this I was so scared to email more stores and because of this incredible response, I began emailing more stores and my real journey began.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?

When I first set out to create my children’s book seriesI I dreamed of working with a large publisher. I never expected to start my own business. I initially worked with two different literary agents and met with several different publishing houses. The response to my art was very positive but unfortunately nobody wanted to talk about feelings back then. They loved my art, but the concept of children’s book about loneliness or worry was a quick “NO” with a “take the feelings out of the stories and we’d love to work with you”. Me, being me, wanted my characters to stay as they were, so when that “A-ha” moment happened I jumped on it. Being a creative director I was able to do all the work from illustrations to book designs to the final production. But when I decided to create plushies to accompany each book, there was a lot of learning to be done. I went from creating large advertising campaigns to studying the ins and outs of product production, something I never expected. And as my business began to grow I had to grow with it. From the Toy Fair to the Comic Con to Gift Fairs, I was slowly learning how to build my business. But then social media arrived and everything changed. This new style of communication threw me for a loop and upended most of what I knew. Instead of magazines and print it was all about online communication. I was lost and honestly the world I had worked so hard to be in was lost too. It was at that moment I decided to pivot. I had been working with more and more schools and counselors, so instead of investing in social media, I invested my time in schools, Working with teachers and counselors to create an evidence-based curriculum that could be used with The WorryWoos. From the US to Canada to Australia, the WorryWoos took off in schools. And just as we were about to grow even more, COVID hit and everything stopped. For two years I struggled to keep my business going while raising two kids under the age of 5 at home. It was a challenge to put it lightly, but The WorryWoos weathered the storm and I have continued to grow my business taking each obstacle as it comes.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?

People always say to me “Wow you created The WorryWoos, who writes and draws your books?” And when I respond me, people are blown away. Like no way you did all this. I’ve always strayed away from calling myself an artist, because of my own insecurities. But as I’ve evolved I’ve become very proud my work as an artist and designer.

Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?

I live by the line from the song Take on Me… “It’s no better to be safe than sorry.” I believe you have to take risks to succeed. And if you fail, well at least you learned something and you tried. Taking risks, with in reason, are part of life’s greatest stories.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://WorrryWoos.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/theworrywoos
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/worrywoos
• Other: tik tok @theworrywoos