We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Andrea Mendoza-Vasconez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Andrea, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

Among many meaningful projects that I have embarked on, creating Wholesome Children Books and publishing my first book, The Love Tank, stands out as the most meaningful. Wholesome Children Books is the product of four “streams of influence,” as I like to call them. First, becoming a mother to my first child changed me in unexpected ways; I embarked on a journey of self-discovery and healing (from perfectionism, for instance), which led to tremendous spiritual growth. I wanted to share many things that I learned with my children and with the world. Second, I lost a dear friend to depression and substance use, which motivated me to contribute to creating a kinder, more compassionate world where people can be themselves and love themselves unconditionally. Third, the Robb Elementary School shooting sparked the ideas behind my first book, “The Love Tank,” as I tried to explain to my 3-year-old daughter why I was so sad; we talked about our love tank, and how even though people are not intrinsically good or bad, if we don’t love ourselves and each other, we end up with empty love tanks and may hurt others. Lastly, becoming a mom to my second child redirected my focus to what truly matters and made me further seek ways to contribute to nurturing happy, compassionate, loving, and kind-hearted children. Thus, I sought to publish children’s stories that I had written to spread messages of love, empathy, compassion, kindness, gratitude, authenticity, and interconnectedness. Wholesome Children Books was a change in directions for me, and it created a new path that I had not traveled before. This was frightening and challenging, but also extremely fulfilling.

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.

While I am a behavioral scientist by training, my path has taken an unexpected turn; I am now also an award-winning children’s book author. I write and publish children’s books to spread messages of love, empathy, compassion, kindness, gratitude, authenticity, interconnectedness and balance.

At the time I created Wholesome Children Books and started working on my first book, I was working full time as an assistant professor at a top research university. When I became pregnant with my second child, I went on maternity leave and decided to embark on this project and publish my books during my maternity leave. I was only able to publish one of the books during that time. Nevertheless, I have cut down on my work as a researcher significantly and I am taking time to continue working on other children’s books and also to enjoy being a present mother for my two children.

I am proud and happy to have taken a risk and answered a calling to empower young minds to be a force for good in the world. This is my small contribution to a world that oftentimes seems to be unraveling.

As parents, our greatest desire is to raise happy, kind-hearted children. Wholesome Children Books aims to provide tools to support parents in this endeavor by helping them to connect with their children over important values.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My mission, as I briefly mentioned in a previous answer, is two-fold: 1) To support parents in connecting with their children over important values, so that they can raise happy, kind-hearted children; and 2) To empower young minds to be a force for good in the world. In sum, I hope my books reach the younger generations and help to shape our world into a kinder and more compassionate place.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I think a first step is acknowledging how important art and creativity are, and why we need them in society. People tend to admire and value what we would traditionally clasify as predominately left brain activities (analytical thinking, solving problems, organizing, following instructions, writing, etc.) over predominately right brain activities (creative thinking, emotions, seeing the big picture). I think that by acknowledging the importance of art and creativity, and investing in programs to support artists and creatives, we will help our society to evolve because we will be investing in right brain development. Again, our right brain is more involved in things like emotions, empathy and seeing ourselves as part of a whole; these are things we desperately need in a world that is in so many ways torn by individualistic thinking and lack of empathy.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.wholesomechildrenbooks.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wholesomechildrenbooks/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090379055105
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@WholesomeChildrenBooks-od7iq
• Other: TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@wholesomechildrenbooks