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

Katie, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

It has taken perseverance & determination to make my dream of becoming a children’s book author & illustrator a reality. Also, being willing to step out of my comfort zone & continue forward even when given refusals or no responses. The advice I give to the children I meet is to follow your goals & dreams no matter how young you are.

Katie , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I live in Peachtree Corners, GA & am the author & illustrator of two children’s books, my first titled ‘Picky Pig Pete’ & my most recent ‘Raymond the Rooster’ as part of my Morgan Farm Books series. I grew up on a South Carolina farm with many types of animals. As a child & throughout my adulthood, I have loved to draw illustrations. I graduated Furman University with a Studio Art Degree. My favorite things to paint being children’s room décor & murals. Once I had our son Brandon, I aspired to create a children’s book with my own illustrations to dedicate to him. I slowly began creating a rhyming story & the characters to include. I used the farm I grew up on as the setting & all the animal characters in my books are based on real ones from there.

My first book, ‘Picky Pig Pete’ is based on my son being a picky eater. The book teaches children to try something new. I created rhyming text & I painted all of my illustrations in watercolor.

After having a great experience with my first book, marketing it, selling at artist/holiday markets, & visiting various schools & daycares, I decided to create my second book, ‘Raymond the Rooster’. I used the same characters from my first book but pulled Raymond the Rooster as the main one. Like Picky Pig Pete, it is a rhyming book with colorful illustrations. It is based on our real rooster that was friends with our dog. The book’s message is about friendship & inclusivity that “friends come in every color, shape & size & what is on the inside is the best prize!”

Morgan Farm Books is the start of my book series & my goal is to continue to create more books with each having a new main character & new message.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

I worked in Advertising & Marketing for 20 years but always did artwork as a side business. I sold my art based on word of mouth & at a few artist markets. It was not a steady enough income to have as a full-time business, so I had it in my heart that I needed to find my own niche. My son gave me inspiration to create a children’s book with my own illustrations & rhyming.

Long workdays & spending time with my husband, son, family & friends, left little time for my love of illustrating. Therefore, it was a very slow process with my book. Once I no longer worked full-time, I made it my goal to finish writing, illustrating & ultimately have my book published. Within that year, I did just that…& my first book, ‘Picky Pig Pete’ launched August of 2018. Approximately a year later, with working a part-time job, I wrote & illustrated my second book, ‘Raymond the Rooster’, in only a few months. It was very freeing to have the opportunity to be creative & work on what I was most passionate about & still prioritizing time to devote to my family & friends.

All of my learnings throughout school, marketing job, adulthood & parenting helped lead me to the author & illustrator path. It has been a memorable experience in creating & executing my two children’s books, as well as marketing & selling them.

Have you ever had to pivot?

After college, I was not sure of what I wanted to do with my art degree. Unexpectedly, I had an opportunity for a job in Indirect Sales with a telecommunications company. It was a great experience where I enjoyed the people I worked with & learned a lot. After two years I had another unexpected opportunity to move to Atlanta with the same company, but to start a career in advertising & marketing. I took a leap of faith & moved to GA from SC. I spent 20 years with the company in various roles, but at the end of 2017, I was part of a large corporate layoff. While it was a concern for our family’s financial well-being, it later became a blessing as I decided to complete & publish my first children’s book.

Another pivot with my business was during the height of COVID which brought on many difficulties with arts & craft shows being canceled, as well as no in-person visits to schools. Therefore, I improvised & continued to work hard sending emails & requesting virtual visits with schools. During that time, I was able to do a TV interview over Zoom as well as various virtual visits. Many schools purchased books for their teachers or students.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.morganfarmbooks.com
• Instagram:  www.instagram.com/morganfarmbooks
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/morganfarmbooks
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/katie-morgan-lester