We were lucky to catch up with Patrice McLaurin recently and have shared our conversation below.

Patrice, appreciate you joining us today. Risk taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

My existence as a business owner is the biggest and most rewarding life changing risk I’ve ever taken. To go from a job, which essentially is guaranteed income, to having to create your own income is scary!

Before branching into entrepreneurship, I was a staff accountant. While working as an accountant I wrote my first book, Have You Thanked an Inventor Today. A couple of months before it was due to be published, I was laid off from my job. I considered this perfect timing; as I was struggling with the idea of how I would effectively promote the book while working a full time job.

After my lay off, I happened upon a fork in the road. My supervisor asked me did I want my job back. As I stood at the crossroads of my future, I knew that I had to make a decision. Do I go back to work and restore my guaranteed source of income? Or do I take the risk, and bet on myself and my calling? I chose the latter. There isn’t a day that goes by that I ever regret this decision. Has it been hard? Heck yeah! But whew child, it’s been so worth it! In fact, to be completely transparent, I often wonder…did I choose entrepreneurship, or did entrepreneurship choose me?

Patrice, 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 write books to teach, to empower, to inspire and to uplift. This isn’t unusual for a number of authors, but I think what sets me apart from others is the idea that I didn’t begin writing books because I was a creative with an overwhelming desire to be an author. I began writing books because I wanted to debunk the negative, stereotypical myths that I felt helped to perpetuate the dehumanization of black people in general, but black boys and young men in particular.

My journey began with a volunteer stint for 3 years at Girls Inc. in Birmingham, AL. There, I developed a Black History Mentorship Program called Afrocentric. That work helped me to realize the calling that was on my life, to empower children. From there, a colleague and I created the framework for a media manipulation workshop that I facilitated across the state. The goal of the workshop was to help children recognize and counteract covert mental conditioning that happens via media. I also shared character education curriculum in multiple school districts as a Character Education Coordinator, and in between jobs, I volunteered at my son’s school, sharing black history facts and reading books to the class weekly.

After the violent deaths of Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis, Michael Brown, and Tamir Rice, my desire to uplift our children amplified. I recognized that my work was about more than fostering self-determination in black children. It also involved the humanization of black existence in the eyes of all children. As such, my first children’s book, Have You Thanked an Inventor Today was born. This morphed into business ownership when I formed my own publishing company, Khemrah Publishing, LLC. I’m happy to say that my journey as a business owner is firmly rooted in Image Activism, and is the proud offspring of decades of encouraging black children to think higher of themselves.

Khemrah Publishing, LLC is a boutique publishing house that specializes in multicultural children’s books. We recognize that parents and educators are looking for high-quality children’s literature about people of color that isn’t always rooted in trauma and oppression. They’re hoping to find books that offer elements of counter-storytelling and our books do just that!

Our books also align with Common Core Standards and can be applied to STEM and Social Emotional Learning curriculum specifically. They come complete with additional resources to include glossaries, biographies and science experiments! We also provide grade level lesson plans to heighten the lessons learned from each book. The goal of each of our books is to encourage children to act as creators, producers and emotionally intelligent human beings.

Furthermore, we’re proud to say that our books are written exclusively by and about people of color. This gives authenticity to the voice of our characters, and ensures that we are accurately reflected on the pages of our books.

Our biggest accomplishment to date, outside of publishing best-selling titles and having an international presence, has been our impact in the educational space. We’ve worked in collaboration with the digital platform Everfi, in the development of their latest online Black History Curriculum, 306: Continuing the Story. Our books have been used to supplement STEM and Social Emotional Learning curriculum across the nation. In fact, Have You Thanked an Inventor Today is not only a best seller, it was also acclaimed by Microsoft as a book that inspires and promotes STEM!

This makes my educator, author and publisher heart burst with joy! To know that our message of black excellence is being used to help normalize black existence; that we are essentially disrupting racism, via picture books, is EVERYTHING!

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

One of my favorite stories is not about making the sale, but instead, about turning down an offer. Picture it, Khemrah Publishing, 2020. The world was in an upheaval, the United States was experiencing a reckoning, and Scholastic, Inc. was soliciting indie authors of color in an effort to amplify marginalized voices. This was a noble effort, worthy of applause.

Now, let’s fast forward to the year 2021. Khemrah Publishing was approached by Scholastic Inc. regarding an opportunity to have our flagship title, Have You Thanked an Inventor Today published through their company. For those of us in the publishing space, we know that this is a very big deal and a very coveted offer. Nevertheless, Khemrah turned Scholastic down because there isn’t a dollar amount or a notoriety status that can be placed upon the value of our voice. We want to ensure that our narrative is authentically shared. Furthermore, we didn’t want to run the risk of having our book shelved or its contents altered. Of course that’s not to say that this was Scholastic’s intention. We’re simply suggesting that we were not prepared to take that risk. Some might color us crazy for having turned down that offer. But we stand tall in our decision to be the maker, the shaper and the owner of our work.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I think the intention behind our books helped to build our reputation in the indie author/publisher space. Our mission to raise the vibration of our children, one book at a time, can be felt with every author’s visit and in every word we publish. This created a word of mouth campaign that spread amongst educators and parents alike. Our sheer desire to make this world a better place for our children is the foundation of our reputation. Our hard work and enthusiasm are the tools we use to build. We do what we do because we want children to have what they need. In helping them maximize their full potential, we’re helping to make this world a better place for us all. For in the words of the great modern day poet Tupac Shakur, “if it ain’t no hope for the youth then the truth is, it ain’t no hope for the future.”

Contact Info:

• Website: khemrahpublishing.com patricemclaurin.com
• Instagram: @patricemclaurin @khemrahpub
• Facebook: @thankaninventor
• Linkedin: Patrice McLaurin
• Twitter: @mclaurinwrites
• Other: TikTok: @patricemclaurin