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

Jay, appreciate you joining us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?

As a self-published author I wish I would have written my first book much sooner. I tend to overthink things which contributed to me only now publishing my first book. The amazing thing is that the book was always inside me I just didn’t release it and make time to get it out for others to enjoy.

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.

I have been in education for well over 20 years. I have taught all core subjects and I have taught kindergarten up to college English. After I earned by first degree in elementary education I then enrolled into a graduate program focusing on educational technology. I really was not familiar with the overall scope of technology but one of my former college instructors suggested I look into that program and I found that it was something I truly enjoyed. Education is one of the fields where if once you graduate with your degree your path is pretty much set to be in a school and to be an educator. As an a black male in education I had to rise above the stereotype that I was just a ‘coach” or the in school suspension person. I did not compromise my degree but rather I made sure I would be a teacher and work with students in core subjects and not in physical education or being a coach. My teaching experience would provide all the inspiration I needed to write my first children’s book. Mr. Fixerman was birthed out of not conforming to the stereotype that I could only be a coach but I showed that I could be an educator and also be well versed in technology. More than often when I would arrive at a school when I left the classroom, students would wonder why I would be in their classroom. I welcomed the stares and I loved to answer the questions. The reason why the children’s book has the title it does is because the kindergarten class I went to one day to address a technology issue could not pronounce my last name McKinney so they just called me “Mr. Fixerman.” The story is about all the events surrounding that day. The most interesting truth about Mr. Fixerman is that I almost didn’t write the book. Had it not been for a phone conversation with Dawn Charleston-Green I would not have even entered into this author’s space. I have always enjoyed words. I write poetry, music, skits, and I’m always speaking as a part of my career. I even joined Toastmasters International and obtained the highest honor of being that of a Distinguished Toastmaster, but it wasn’t until Dawn really encouraged me to jump head first into this space that I would write my first children’s book. Ironically, this was not my first published book however. The first work I published was a 6-day devotional book entitled And God Said… which was a book that focused on the power of your voice and your words. In addition to being in education I am also in ministry so it was very natural for me to write the devotional book. The children’s book was different, but just as rewarding when I was able to see the finished product. Even with the success of my children’s book I still work full time as a teacher and as a minister and I also work for the largest financial services marketing company in North America. It’s really cool to walk into a school and the children and even teachers run up to me and say, ‘You’re Mr. Fixerman!” It’s like I’m a celebrity when I step on campus and I enjoy the moments. I am showing people not just what is possible, but rather what is probable.

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

The most rewarding aspect of being an writer in this space is knowing my 3 sons can look at me and see what hard work and never compromising or giving up looks like when success is concerned. In addition, it is just as rewarding when I see young children who may have wondered if they could do the same thing now see that they can. Some of these students may never meet an author or even visit a library for that matter, but my hope is that in seeing me something will inspire them to write, dream, and do the every thing they thought could not be done.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One of the hardest lessons I had to unlearn was that of comparing myself to others. It is so easy to do especially when you are surrounded by successful people in other areas of business. Seeing their money or their assets or their influence caused me to question if I was really relevant. I questioned my value as a writer and a person. This came about one day as I was scrolling through social media and I would see all these writers that had nice looking books and they were promoting their podcast and they talked about their book being up for this award and that award and how they were on the New York Times best sellers list and so on and so forth. In that moment I felt like my book was not worth the paper it was printed on and that I was out of my league in this space. I actually shut down for a few weeks. I smiled and looked okay but I was beating myself up and calling my self a failure because I didn’t have it all together like the other authors. Then one day I remembered a caption I read in one of my educational professional development sessions. There was a drawing of a fish in the water and a bird flying over head and the caption read, “Why is it okay to fail a fish because they can’t fly?” In other words how can we compare two totally different things yet hold them to the same expectations and standards disregarding that one was not created to fulfill the request to fly. In that moment I gathered my thoughts and declared that from that day going forward I would not compare myself to others. I like to tell people I’m the best me I know. I’ve become comfortable in my skin and if I never reach those heights as some of the other writers in the world I am okay with knowing I did what I was called to do.