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

Alright, Karlie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you tell us the backstory behind how you came up with the idea?

I was born deaf, my parents found out that I hearing loss at 10 months old. I received my first pair of hearing aids at a year old. Growing up took a village, I have wonderful parents and a younger sister who played a huge role in where I am today. I went to a school that had a deaf/hard of hearing program with wonderful deaf education teachers, I was involved in sports just like any other hearing child. Doctors told my parents that many deaf individuals do not read pass the 3rd grade reading level. They did everything to invest into my education. I had a deaf education teacher in elementry school who had a deaf therapy dog, she would bring him to school everyday to teach us about deaf dogs, how to train them, and all the things they are able to do. I became a huge dog lover and knew when I grew up I wanted a deaf dog. After graduating college, I became a deaf education teacher here in texas.I was ready to adopt a deaf dog at the end the school year. It did not take long to find one, as there are so many deaf dogs in shelters and rescues. I met Rhett who is. a deaf Australian Cattle Dog at a small town shelter in Texas. When we met, we instantly connected, the shelter volunteer said “wow, y’all are really a match made in heaven.” I adopted him a few days later. Once he settled in his new home, I started training him. Then we made an Instagram account to educate others about our deafness and all the things we are able to do in life. We love educating others on social media, but it was mostly adults. I wanted to also target the younger generation, so I decided to write a children’s book called “I Deaf-initely Can, Rhett the Heeler” I wanted deaf children to be able to relate and see deaf characters like them in a book and to show other kids that our deafness does not stop us from what we love to do most.

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 was born and raised in Texas. I grew up loving sports, being outside and I am super close to my family. After graduating Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas I got my certification as a deaf education teacher. I got my first job as a deaf education teacher where I went to elementry school, talk about full circle! I then moved to Weatherford Texas as an itinerant deaf education teacher for 3 years. The teacher in me wanted to write a children’s book, but I had no idea where to start or even know how to do it from start to finish. Rhett has an instagram account @rhett_the_heeler and one of our friends @my_fiona_and_felix wrote a children’s book so we reached out to them and they helped us every step of the way! We could not have done this without them! It took me 11 months from start to finish. The biggest thing I wanted was a deaf illustrator to illustrate our book, so we found Lucy Rogers. She did AMAZING with the illustrations. After we got our book illustrated, I decided I wanted to self-publish my book. It took A LOT of work to do it all on my own, from marketing my book, going to festivals/events, buying all packaging materials and boxing up all orders from our website to ship out to each customer. I am super proud to say that I sold over 3,000 books as a deaf self-publisher! I could have not done it without my family support along with friends. The last few months, I have been busy with doing author visits in person and virtually, we love share our story throughout the country.

How did you build your audience on social media?

The biggest thing that I believe helped with marketing my book was having a strong connection in the communities that I am involved in. I am an educator, have connections in my deaf community, volunteered with a non-profit organization with families of deaf/hard of hearing kids, a dog lover, and volunteered in dog rescues. On social media, create content that your audience might not know about, be interactive with your followers as commenting on posts, do giveaways, talk about how you got started, etc.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

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Contact Info:

• Website: www.rhetttheheeler.com
• Instagram: @rhett_the_heeler
• Facebook: Rhett_the_heeler

Image Credits
Karlie Waldrip