Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jamye Curry Savage. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jamye, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Success can be measured and defined in varies forms as success is unique and distinct to each individual. Success for one person may be characterized differently and have a different meaning than the meaning of success for the next person. In other words, what may be considered a success for one individual may not necessarily describe the meaning of success for someone else; hence the meaning of success may differ. Therefore, it is important for everyone to identify and define success for themselves and allow that to lead them down their own respective path of success that is meant distinctively for them. Once that unique definition has been defined and clarified for each individual, then what it takes to achieve that unique success is to: 1) seek and understand their purpose in life, 2) believe in their purpose, 3) walk in that purpose by being proactive towards accomplishing set goals, and 4) stay the course even if the path may not be considered the “norm”.

Once an individual identifies what’s important to them and what success looks like for them, then what it takes to be successful is taking actionable steps towards achieving that success. Many people have become successful in life merely by following through on a dream they once had, and then continued to nurture that dream until it became a reality. If an individual knows where their passions lie and have a goal they set out to accomplish, even if it’s deemed as “uncommon”, then they must continue to nurture that passion and desire. Through this, not only will they find their purpose, it will ultimately lead to being successful. Not only leading them to become successful, but will also innately lead to helping others to become successful as well.

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 an Associate Professor of mathematics and statistics at Georgia Gwinnett College, one of the most diverse colleges in the southern region. I specialize in statistics and enjoy teaching various statistics courses with the goal of demystifying statistical and numerical concepts and making them understandable to my students.

I now have the opportunity to merge my background in mathematics and statistics with my dream of writing a children’s book. I have always had the dream to write a children’s book – dating back to when I was a young college student in undergrad. Although I’ve always wanted to write a book, I didn’t exactly know what I wanted the topic, message, or concept of the book to be. And, I had the slightest idea of how to get started, and didn’t know the many details behind writing a book. However, I am now most proud to be known as a children’s book author as not only do I get the opportunity to connect with children through my book, but I also can connect with children through mathematics and share with them at an early age that math can be fun.

As a result of my professional background, I thought it would be great to write a book with a math concept. I thought it would be great to write about the fascinating number pi, as it is rare to find children’s books centered around math. I thought why not write a book related to math to engage with children, to encourage math-related discussions, and to also show that learning math can be fun.

As we know, literacy is an essential tool in one’s life and can have a great impact on their success. Having access to literacy changes one’s life through learning, providing exposure and having the opportunity to explore the world around them. It is vital for children to have access to literacy at an early age to develop literacy skills which lead to communicating and interacting with those around us. And not only will reading books at an early age promote literacy skills, it can also help with developing mathematical skills such as counting and learning patterns. This is why I am so delighted to have written a children’s book to help contribute to this as reading books with math embedded into them helps to promote lifelong learning.

Therefore, writing a children’s book on a mathematical theme and concept is what sets my book apart from others. I find joy in visiting with and sharing my book with children to introduce them to the number pi, and I welcome the opportunity to provide hands-on activities for children to learn about pi on a broader spectrum so that children can learn even more about pi and its uniqueness.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative writer, and in particular, a children’s book writer, is sharing my book with children and having the opportunity to make a direct impact on the advocacy of literacy and early childhood reading. Having children read books will always be a consistent and reliable learning tool. Just knowing that I can provide a hand in that is very rewarding, and additionally, seeing children read about math in a fun way is the ultimate reward.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Considering this is my first children’s book and this creative journey is completely isolated from what I do by day, I wish I had known more about the difference between self-publishing versus traditional publishing. There are resources out there that addresses the two routes, however, I wish I would have known more earlier in this creative journey and had a more in-depth understanding of one publishing method verses the other. With that, I would encourage anyone who sets out to start a new journey or path that may be unfamiliar to them, to do as much research as possible and educate themselves on all facets of what their new creative journey might intel.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jamyecurrysavage.com
• Instagram: @jamyecurrysavage
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/jamye-curry-savage-0a8365225