We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Pamela Brown-Ledet a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Pamela, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?

I believe that people will say that I was a loving parent, teacher, and friend.

As a parent, they will say that I prayed many years for the opportunity to become a parent. After over two years of trying medically to conceive, and nine months after that, my son (Matthew) was born. I adored and appreciated my son so much, I decided to write a special letter to him, sharing the things in life that I hope he will remember as he becomes an adult. That special letter became my first published book!

As a teacher, parents would say that I was caring, fair, compassionate, encouraging, and loved my students as if they were my own children. Prior to retiring, I sent invitations to all parents whose information that I still had after 27 years. (Who knew that I was able to keep up with that many people?) Many of them, I keep in touch with via social media. To my pleasant surprise, over 250 parents and students showed up at a retirement party that I gave to celebrate my former students! I was able to get pictures with all the families who attended, with former students, whose ages range from 5 to 35!

As a friend, those who know me would say that I am more like a sister than a friend. I have always valued having kind-hearted people in my life. My friends see me as someone that they can call when they need to talk . I am a compassionate listener, and trusted advisor.

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.

I am Pamela Brown-Ledet. I retired as a Kindergarten teacher in May of 2023 after serving 27 years in education. My journey into becoming a writer began with taking an online workshop entitled, “Pen, Publish, and Profit,” taught by Dr. Shelia Brown. I can honestly say that I didn’t plan on writing a children’s book. However, I always wanted to make sure that my son and my students had access to a variety of books, especially those that contained images that looked like themselves. One day, while thumbing through some documents in a folder at home, I found a letter that I wrote to my son after a medical crisis that I experienced. That letter shared things with him that I would want him to remember for the rest of his life. I shared that letter with my fellow writers from the workshop, who were touched by the letter and encouraged me to use it as content for my future children’s book. The rest is history!

I now have one published book, “Things You Should Know Before I Go,” that is currently being sold on multiple platforms, as well as on my web site. I am currently working on my second children’s book, a follow-up to the first. An interesting fact about the book is that my son knew that I was writing a children’s book, and that it took three years to get it published. He did not know until the public knew, that the story was about him, and that it contained multiple pictures of him as a child. He is now 21 years old, and became emotional when he was able to see the book for the first time. He really had no idea what the book would be about, and was extremely touched by my tribute to him!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

How did I build my audience on social media? I built my web site, Facebook, and Instagram pages many months after my business was started. My advice to others would be as follows: -Take a chance!
-Find a mentor, someone who has experience in what you are trying to do. My mentor is Dr. Lynda Jones Mubarak.
-Seek advice from others. You will not use everything that you learn from others, but be willing to listen.
-Keep a notebook where you can take lots of notes about what others share with you.
-Take pictures of your journey. They can be used on your social media pages.
-This journey will cost money, so begin with savings so you do not have to take out loans. You will need money to start a
business, purchase a domain for your web site, advertise for your business, etc.
-Keep receipts from money spent on everything involving your business, including that used to build your social media
audience.
-If you start a social media page, count on those who know and love you to support it. I found that when I asked my friends
and family on my personal page to take a look at, like, and follow my business page, they were extremely happy to do so!
I learned that I have to ask for what I need.

Have you ever had to pivot?

A time I had to pivot as an author was when the person that I selected as an illustrator decided that they did not want to take the job after all. I don’t consider myself an artist and did not know what to do after that. I couldn’t have a children’s book without illustrations, especially if my target audience was students in elementary school. I had to take a step back and ask myself who the primary character in my story was. My son was the primary character. I was using photos of him that I took when he was younger, to show the illustrator what I wanted in the pages of the book. After inspiration from a children’s book written by the late Arthur Ashe’s daughter (a favorite book of mine), it occurred to me that I could use my son’s photos in the book! He was such a photogenic child, the book was made even more personal by using the photos. It was the best decision I ever made.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://curlybrownbooks.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/curlybrownbooks/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089908124395
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/pamela-brown-ledet-1b119111

Image Credits
ATPE Teacher Spotlight graphics courtesy of The Association of Texas Professional Educators Photos by Melanie Serpersu and Pamela Brown-Ledet