We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brittney Dias. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brittney below.
Brittney, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
Ava & Mae have an interesting origin story. During my last year of college, the pandemic hit. The widespread reckoning in the summer of 2020 allowed me to exercise my passions for social justice and Black liberation in a much bigger way. People were finally listening to the things that Black and Brown people had to say.
I landed an internship with a start-up DE&I team to research and develop strategies to combat barriers for Black entrepreneurs. As a student of Public Health and a Child Development researcher, I focused on encouraging entrepreneurship among kids to improve awareness of and excitement for business ownership.
We developed the idea of a children’s series depicting Black children owning businesses and developing other vital soft skills, such as teamwork, perseverance, and creativity. Our aim was to socially model kids’ full potential and capability through fun and engaging storytelling. I pitched the Ava & Mae series to my team and they loved it! I outlined a budget and was given the okay to make this idea a reality. I was so excited to empower kids and remind them of their importance and value to the world. Truth is, only 11.7% of children’s books and 5.6% of cartoons contain Black characters. An even smaller fraction of these books feature strong female roles.
What began as a project for my internship grew into Looking Lens, a company that creates stories that inspire Black and Brown children to reach their full potential. Looking Lens does more than create stories. We give children a lens through which they can see their potential and develop their identity.
Brittney, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Hey hey, I’m Brittney! I love kids and I love writing so created the Ava & Mae series. This book series is about two sisters who go on different entrepreneurial and creative ventures. Readers (ages 5-9) get the opportunity to learn entrepreneurship, teamwork, and perseverance.
In the first book, Ava & Mae Own a Lemonade Stand, Ava & Mae save their local Summer Start Fair that had run out of drinks by opening their first lemonade stand.
Kids have an awesome response to the book. They get excited about what Ava & Mae are going to do next. I’ve had kids tell me that they were inspired to create TV shows after reading Ava & Mae and that these characters prove to them that women can do business too.
The representation piece hits home to me in a special way. Many of my readers who are Black girls comment on Ava & Mae’s hair. I’ll see them look at the illustrations and start touching their hair and smiling. As a Black girl, you don’t often your features celebrated in the media. This can have a profoundly negative effect on your development. When I was a kindergartener, I really, really wanted straight hair like my peers, or like cinderella. I’m so happy that the younger generation is being exposed to more diverse features at a young age.
I am so proud that Looking Lens is a part of that.
Out second book, Ava & Mae: The Fabulous Fashion Show is being released in Fall of 2022
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I’ve quickly learned to prioritize progress over perfection. My goal every day is to put my best foot forward and try my best. My best looks different day to day, but it’s vital that I continue to be my biggest advocate and cheerleader.
I had to get okay with failing. Over and over and over again. After all, it is impossible to succeed without first failing numerous times.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I was a Junior in college when the pandemic hit. My interest in grad school was heavily influenced by my need to know exactly what was going to do with the rest of my life.
Once everything shut down, I was forced to move back in with my parents (as a 21-year-old who had just found freedom, this was horrifying to me at the time). I no longer knew what the future looked like. Would we find a vaccine? Would we be in a constant state of protest and social unrest? Would I ever go to the movies again?
For the first time in my life, I couldn’t set some 10-year plan or theoretical best. I couldn’t use some arbitrary standard of success to feel secure or in control.
It was here that I pivoted. I decided I didn’t want to go straight into grad school and got a job that aligned with my passions. If it weren’t for this decision, I would have never had the opportunity to start the Ava & Mae series. I would have never met the right people who could invest in me and my vision for Looking Lens. I learned that it is okay to not have all the answers. Sometimes, things work out better that way.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lookinglens.co
- Linktree: https://linktr.ee/
brittneydias (changed order) - Instagram: @booksbybrittd
- Tik Tok: @booksbybritt (changed bullet name from “other” to “Tik Tok”)
- Facebook: @avaandmaeauthor
- Linkedin: https://www.
linkedin.com/in/brittney-dias- 59a53082/ - Twitter: @booksbybritt
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.
com/channel/ UC7pK2o3DbUKwcGDvsPNmL8A