We recently connected with Julie Gerdes Becnel and have shared our conversation below.

Julie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

That’s tough! I’ve been really lucky to work with some amazing clients through Little Rouge Hen, my communications consulting business. And even before that, I had the chance to work for a few non-profit organizations where I got to help tell impactful stories about how they were working to make the world a better place.

Recently though, I got the chance to fulfill a lifelong dream and tell a story of my own as a children’s book author. My debut children’s book, Roux’s First Day, was published by Pelican Publishing this year, which has been incredibly meaningful. As a child, I wrote constantly and storytelling has remained a powerful through-line in my life.

I’ve wanted to be an author for as long as I can remember. As a child, I loved writers like Beverly Cleary and Laura Ingalls Wilder. I often imagined what it would feel like to write books where children could see themselves in a character. It is such a special thing to love a book as a child and then to be able to return back to childhood later in life just by remembering a favorite part of a story or a beloved character.

Roux’s First Day is also especially meaningful to me as a project because it is rooted in my home state of Louisiana, which has such a sense of place. I was grateful for the chance to write a story that celebrates the imagination and culture that shaped me. Creating a book that shares our unique culture and folk lore with a new generation of children and families has been so rewarding.

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 background and context?

I’ve always been a storyteller. Long before I had a business, a children’s book, or a career in communications, I was a kid who wanted to write stories. That love of storytelling has taken many forms throughout my life — from a degree in creative writing to writing children’s plays to a career in strategic communications and marketing.

During nearly a decade at the National Geographic Society, I worked on communications and marketing efforts connected to exploration, conservation, education, and storytelling. Today, through my creative consultancy, Little Rouge Hen, I help nonprofits and mission-driven organizations tell their own stories with strategy, creativity, and heart. My work includes messaging and positioning, communications strategy, website and content audits, writing and editing, media relations, and a host of other offerings designed to support non-profit communications teams share their impactful work.

Ultimately, I love work that lets me bring structure to complex ideas and give creative energy to how those ideas are expressed. This same passion led me to write my debut children’s book, Roux’s First Day, illustrated by Cullen Bernard and published by Pelican Publishing. It has been exciting to now begin a journey as a children’s book author and to tell stories in another new way. I’m very grateful to have a career that allows me to use storytelling in many forms: whether to inspire children, support leaders, advance causes, or to simply help people find the clearest way to share what is important to them.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

One resource I wish I had fully embraced earlier is “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron. I knew about it for years, but when I finally took part in the process, it shifted the way I understood creativity. My friend Adrian gifted me the book and encouraged me to take part in the 12-week self guided study concurrently with her. It was powerful!

For a long time, I think I treated creativity as something you had to prove you deserved or something you either had or didn’t have, or even something that only counted if it led to a finished product, publication, performance, or professional outcome. The Artist’s Way helped me see creativity differently: as something that belongs to all of us and something that grows when we give it regular attention.

The practices in the book, especially morning pages and artist dates, reminded me that creativity is not just about producing something impressive. It is also about noticing, playing, making room, listening to yourself, and staying open. That was a meaningful shift for me as both a writer and a communications strategist. It helped me reconnect with creativity as a daily practice rather than a reward I had to earn.

I think that is something I would want other people to know earlier in their own creative journeys: creativity does not have to be rare, precious, or reserved for a certain kind of person. It can be nurtured. It can be practiced. It can show up in many forms. And sometimes the most important thing is simply creating enough space to hear what is already there.

I also don’t think it is a coincidence that after accepting this shift in perspective, I wrote and published Roux’s First Day. Understanding creativity as something innate made the idea of putting a creative work of my own out into the world much easier.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

The most effective strategy for growing my clientele has been building and maintaining real relationships and staying genuinely connected to people and communities that I care about. I have an “all boats rise” mentality and I truly love to see other succeed too. If I can make a helpful connection or share another creative’s work I will take the time to do so. Also, a quick Christmas card to a client or a short conversation with a young fan about my book go a long way.

Additionally. I’ve always been interested in understanding what people care about, what they are trying to build, and where there may be a true fit. In that way, I often think of marketing as a kind of concierge work: it is about helping connect people with something they already want, need, or believe in, whether that is a mission-driven organization, a community initiative, a creative project, or a children’s book.

For my consulting work, that means many of my client relationships have grown through trust, referrals, shared values, and a clear sense that I understand the work and can help move it forward. For my creative work, it means I am most comfortable sharing Roux’s First Day with people who are genuinely interested in children’s books, Louisiana stories, folklore, family reading, or getting their little one ready for their first school day. It is fun to look for connections in all forms. The most meaningful growth has come from showing up consistently, listening well, doing good work, and staying open to the ways one conversation can lead to another.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.littlerougehen.com/juliegerdesbecnelauthor
• Instagram: @juliebean9
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliegerdesbecnel/
• Other: https://www.littlerougehen.com/ (Consulting Business website)

Image Credits

Photos provided courtesy of Julie Gerdes Becnel