We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Maria J. Greenhalgh a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Maria J., thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you share a story about the kindest thing someone has done for you and why it mattered so much or was so meaningful to you?

An act of kindness has the potential to spark a fire in someone’s heart that keeps on burning and igniting more goodness in others well beyond into the future. Similar to a candle that lights another and another and yet another.

I’ve been blessed to have experienced much kindness in my life but most recently someone I had not known for long did something for me when I needed it most. She supported me and encouraged me through the publishing of my second book, A Turtle’s Hero, and an event that, as an introvert, sent chills through my bones and immediately brought on bouts of dizziness. That is how much I was looking forward to running my first Kickstarter presentation and launch party for my second book. But I am getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning. 2020 was a year of life events and transitions for me. Early on that year, I was happily planning for an early retirement for which I had worked towards for most of my life when my wonderful mother suddenly passed away. She was my rock and my foundation, the one person who reassured me constantly that I could do anything in life, be anything in life. She was always there for me and losing her was devastating to me. From that point on, I proceeded to follow through with one of my retirement goals to write children’s books. Without being able to share the challenges, little wins, and big plans with my mother, sometimes my goal seemed far away. I felt I could get through perhaps the first book, I had been working on for a while, Beautiful Daughter, ¡Te Quiero, Te Quiero Mucho!, but additional books seemed out of reach. That’s where my new friend, Carol, comes in. Her kindness was instrumental to the success of my Kickstarter for A Turtle’s Hero. Without being asked to do so, she volunteered to help organize the event. She helped to build enthusiasm by telling others about my Kickstarter party, and she worked alongside me to decorate beautifully for the guests. Carol essentially took on the role of a host so I could focus on telling others about the Kickstarter. The kindness of this, almost stranger, resulted in a successful event. Via the Kickstarter, I was able to raise funds for my second book. Most importantly, Carol’s kindness inspired me to pay it forward and help others with their Kickstarters. How can I help you?

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.

Writing is something that I have always been passionate about. At an early age, I recognized that spoken words can be beautiful, compelling, dramatic, sometimes logical, and sometimes not, but they tend to linger in people’s minds for a short while. On the other hand, the written word has a longer life span. I love reading books written by authors over 100 years ago. It’s as if I am getting to know them although they have been gone a long time. I leveraged this knowledge about the power of words in my prior job as a leader in the financial service industry, a role I held before retiring and focusing my time on learning to become an indie writer and publisher.

I had the pleasure of leading many teams over the course of my corporate career. I spent the majority of my 32 years coaching and mentoring people, many of whom I am proud to say went on to roles of considerable responsibility and success. As their leader, I held myself responsible to the highest standard of accountability for their growth and success. I was meticulous about recording their achievements and accomplishments for the purpose of helping them get ahead in their career. I am proud of my record of helping others succeed. While earning leadership awards was not my main goal, my efforts inadvertently led to multiple awards for which I am thankful. My success and the success of those I was leading would have been very difficult without a written record of their actions.

After I retired it was almost inevitable that I would focus on writing but now the goal is not to directly further someone’s career but to indirectly teach children about love and kindness via my fun and whimsical stories. They are not just about loving one another. They are about loving nature and all of the wonderful things in nature. It is important to me to tell my stories to as many children as possible, for that reason I have books written in several languages. My first book is in English, Spanish, and French. My second book is in English and in Spanish. Being bilingual has its advantages. I am fluent in both English and Spanish. Therefore, it made sense to me to write my stories in those two languages. Who knows maybe someday one of my little readers will be inspired to write because they read one of my books. I like to dream big!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Sometimes the inspiration for achieving the goals that seem almost unachievable comes from one’s harshest critics. I started my corporate career right out of college. Initially, I focused my career efforts on the field of Underwriting, which I enjoyed. However, coaching, developing, and mentoring people is what I most desired. At that time, it was not common or easy for someone to go from a technical field to one that was people-focused. I clearly remember, a peer telling me, “you are NOT going to get there (meaning leadership) from here.” As it turns out, this was all of the motivation I needed to work hard to make the career change. In fact, I did get promoted to management. Now, quickly going forward to a different scenario, my retirement and future goal of becoming an author. The same comment played like a record over and over in my head, “You are not going to get there (meaning publishing a book) from here.” Here is, a retiree with absolutely zero publishing experience but a great desire to share my stories. Except, this time it was not a peer telling me that, It was my own self-doubt. As I mentioned earlier, my mother had always been a source of strength for me, but by this time she was no longer with me. Mustering every bit of mental strength, I went to work reading as much about the publishing process, taking classes from authors I admired, and making connections with other authors. Slowly, the self-doubt faded into a whisper and I was able to publish my first book, Beautiful Daughter, ¡Te Quiero, Te Quiero Mucho! in 3 different languages. The negativity I encountered early on in my career ultimately built my resilience and determination muscles. And to that peer from many, many years ago I’d like to say, Yes, Susan, “I can and I will” get there from here. Not only that, but I am also determined to help others succeed as well, starting with helping our future leaders, the children, succeed.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My goal or mission is twofold. First, sharing a message of unconditional love and acceptance and second, taking care of the wonderful world we live in. I’ve seen firsthand how badly some children are treated by parents and peers alike if they are perceived to be different. It is important for me that children understand that they are deserving of unconditional love no matter how different they may be. Equally important to me is conservation. I love nature and the outdoors and hope my stories inspire children to want to take care of the world they will someday be responsible for.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mariajgreenhalgh.com
• Instagram: @maria_greenhalgh_author
• Linkedin: Judi Greenhalgh, CPCU, MBA, Author