We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Gia Susi a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Gia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?

I came up with the idea behind my children’s book, “When the World Feels a Little Scary,” which covers some heavier life topics that children could find challenging, pretty much sadly, influenced by the state of our world and my life experiences. As a former teacher and current stay-at-home mom of two young children, I have read many children’s books in my day, both personally and professionally. I was always critical and receptive of the books that I read. I would think “oh I really like how this book covered this topic but I wish they dug in a bit deeper or “they really are only scratching the surface of this but the book has a nice message.” I felt a mission as a former teacher and parent, and just honestly as a citizen of the world, to create this book that will hopefully teach people how to spread some love around and to be reminded that they are loved.

While there are a lot of really great books out there, I realize there aren’t a lot of books that really tackle the tough topics and provide some kind of direction as to what to do when children feel these really big scary feelings.

I knew this would be a worthwhile endeavor because it is relevant. There is a page dedicated to lockdown drills which is so unfortunate. The main theme is love. We only have so much control over these things that are happening around us. I know we live in a very divided world, but one thing I hope we can agree on is that we need more love in this world. We need to remember that we are loved, which is a theme that keeps coming up in the book.

I felt like I could succeed at passing along the message of this book simply because it is an important and needed message. I had a few other ideas for books in my google drive archive that were lighter. I felt like I almost would be doing a disservice not to publish this first. It felt very timely and important.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a native of Milton, MA. After attending Providence College for a B.S. in Business Management, I followed my lifelong dream of moving to New York City. Several apartments, several boroughs, and a few job changes later, I ended up landing in Queens for the majority of my 20’s. I went back to school to become a teacher and obtained my Masters in Early Education while becoming a part of the staff as a founding teacher of a brand new charter school in Brooklyn.

I eventually made my way back to MA taking on a new role as an ESL teacher at an elementary school in
Somerville. I have worked with a diverse population and over the years, I have been able to develop strategies on how to best support all learners. I have had extensive experience curating support materials to help families, specifically families of English Language Learners, to learn with differentiated strategies and options.

I decided to get into writing because it was a lifelong dream of mine to write a children’s book. So I took all of my knowledge and experience as a teacher and now as a mom, and worked diligently on creating this book. This book is thing that I am most proud of, and I think it also represents my brand and my work. Writing a book is the gift that keeps on giving, as I have been allowed to use my voice. How special it has been to use my voice to share during events at local bookstores, libraries, and schools. Writing this book is more than just having a piece of work out in the world. It’s getting the opportunity to continue to share my message and hopefully make a difference in the world.

I love all things music, primarily live music and karaoke. Luckily my husband Andrew, indulges me in this department as we performed a few songs at our wedding in 2018 together. I also love to read (no surprise there), travel, and plan parties.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Yes! It is a resource that I still think could still use a lot of work in the publishing world. Simply put, I wish I knew how to publish a book. It took a lot of time and research to figure out the best way to put my book into the world. It’s really not a linear path. There are many ways to do it but I wish there were more resources to help guide aspiring authors.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I think the most rewarding aspect of being a creative is the events where I get to read my book and share with people. It’s a different type of energy, reading and sharing my book with an audience. It also warms my heart to see family and friends, who already support and love me, share pictures and videos of their children reading my book. And of course, I also find it very special when my children read my book.

I remember checking my local library where two copies of my book are, to see that both copies were checked out. That made my heart so happy. A book is tangible piece of art. It’s not going anywhere.

I love to go to little free libraries and drop my book off like a little book fairy. I just love that this is something that will be around forever.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.giasusichildrensbookauthor.com/
• Instagram: Giasusiwrites
• Facebook: Gia Susi DoRosario
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gia-susi-a8b583a/