We were lucky to catch up with Mike Deeney recently and have shared our conversation below.

Mike, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Our most meaningful project is, The Adventures of Avery and Masa. Our team has developed an original children’s IP, in which two species from different parts of the world follow their instinct for adventure, find their purpose, and help animals around the planet. Our heroes are AVERY, a red panda, the master of escape, and MASA, a slow loris, who is the greatest loris explorer. We are currently in development for an animated series, have a chapter book series, a children’s theatre/musical show, and a foundation that is dedicated to improving literacy. The most powerful balance in our project is to entertain and engage audiences while creating a positive impact.

Mike, 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’m proud to share that my background as an educator and author has been essential in creating Avery and Masa. Our team has taken the time through our foundation to engage young learners with our characters, story themes, and inspire a joy for learning. Our storytelling promotes themes such as teamwork, acceptance, safety, building new friendships, and saying no to bullies. We hope that by entertaining and engaging kids at an early age it can lead to a greater awareness of how important literacy is for our future.

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

Our team’s goal is to continuing introducing our characters, Avery and Masa to audiences around the world. It has been a satisfying and challenging experience to build a creative ecosystem through books, children’s theatre, and developing an animated series. We have implemented book clubs in schools and provided over 16,000 Avery and Masa chapter books to build home libraries. We genuinely want every child to believe that their journey and adventure in life can be positive, and our heroes show this through acts of kindness and leadership.

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

Resilience is essential. Building strong relationships, treating people with respect, and celebrating each others successes will always compliment a strong work ethic. Committing ourselves to an unwavering passion and belief in what we are creating will be recognized and appreciated by the right people at the right time. One of the most impactful moments in my creative journey happened a year ago. Through a spontaneous introduction from a fellow collaborator, I met an incredible professional and creative who is now helping to lead the development of our Avery and Masa animated series. This has been years of hard work to achieve a dream, a goal, and we are so excited to showcase it soon. We are all tested, challenged, and pushed to the limit of what we think we can accomplish, If we always keep pushing, be prepared with a plan, and believe in what we are creating, then, the journey will provide many rewards.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.averyandmasa.org
• Instagram: @averyandmasa
• Linkedin: @mikedeeney

Image Credits
@hopeleclairfilm