Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sharon Riche. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Sharon thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.
My heros in life are my loving parents who I adored.
My dad was a hidden child during the Holocaust. I learned from a very young age it was a miracle my dad survived and our lives were a gift never to be taken for granted. Despite him losing his childhood my dad went on to live a beautiful life of love and meaning and taught me that even in darkness there is always light. My mom grew up in the Brooklyn projects and graduated valedictorian of her class. My mom also instilled in me a strong work ethic, to always give to others and live a life of gratitude. Most importantly she taught me to always forgive, never hold grudges and that family is everything. My mom died of breast cancer at the age of 49 two weeks before my wedding. As a 24 year old bride to be l learned the hard lesson that no matter how good a
person is they can still die. 16 years later my dad died of lung cancer on the evening of my 40th birthday. Even in their illnesses my parents were positive, had a wonderful sense of humor and were grateful for the love and joy in their lives. They stayed actively involved in their philanthropies and taught me to give back to our community. We lived with
deep sense of gratitude, an appreciation for life and we lead with love. I learned from my parents facing their deaths how important it is to spend as much time as we can with our loved ones and express our appreciation for tomorrow is not promised. My parents influenced me to keep their spirit and love deep within my heart. I became our family historian determined to keep our family legacy alive and to always honor and remember my parents with love, respect and gratefulness. The stories of my parents and my childhood became my trilogy of my published books. It is my hope that by reading my books my readers can find light when they are living in darkness as well.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?
I am the published author of a trilogy of books. Just One More Day is the love story between a mother and daughter. I was a bride to be who never gave up hope that my mom would beat her cancer and that she would live to see my wedding. My mom knew she was dying but never let me know. I was terrified of losing her but I only showed her my strength so she wouldn’t lose hope. I wrote our story after my honeymoon so l could remember our last moments together. I was 24 years old when I wrote it. I never meant to publish it. My husband found my story 9 years ago, 36 years later and encouraged me to publish it. My second book Tear Stained Pages is about my father’s story of being a hidden child of the Holocaust. My most exciting and proud moment was when my book found its home in the permanent collection in the Yad Vashem library. My most challenging story to share was my third book Through the Eye of Love. For the first time I
exposed my deepest secrets of being called ugly eye by my bullies. I felt vulnerable sharing how different I felt growing up with a hemangioma which led to permanent blindness in one eye. The ongoing theme in all my books is no matter how much darkness we face in our life there is always light when there is love. I have a vision for my fourth book which I have asked my daughter to write with me as a collaboration. As the most wonderful first grade teacher she understands a child’s perspective as this book will be a children’s book about bullying and self esteem. My passion is writing and storytelling Writing my books was natural and cathartic for me and self publishing them was a seamless process which I owe to my devoted husband. . What was not easy was exposing myself and being vulnerable for the world to see. I felt I needed to be raw, truthful, honest and real for my stories to be genuine to my readers.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I had no choice but to be resilient from the tender age of three when I first faced my bullies tormenting me for having a massive hemangioma on my tiny face. I was mercilessly teased by this one boy in my kindergarten class. I finally told a teacher on the yard that be was stalking and kicking me. She severely scolded him and hollered at him. With the little boy’s face close to mine staring directly at me looking scared as the teacher yelled I felt so bad for him. I never told on anyone again and never even told my parents when I was teased. I kept it to myself to protect their feelings. Although I struggle with permanent blindness in one eye and being labeled
“Ugly Eye” by my tormentors I persevered. Despite my challenges I learned to find the beauty within myself. My disfigurement gave me a deep sense of compassion for others who may feel or look different and I have always shown kindness and empathy towards everyone. My proudest joy as a mother is to see my three adult children having compassionate hearts and always being loving, kind and inclusive.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
My mission is to share my stories to encourage health, positivity, gratefulness, and appreciation for family, friendship and our lives. Having lost my parents to cancer I am always participating in various fundraising efforts for further research.. I was bestowed the honor of sharing “Just One More Day” at the Motherless Daughters Luncheons. I also am actively involved in Motherless Daughters of Los Angeles, Parentless Parents groups and most recently I have applied to be a mentor for a motherless girl through EmpowerHer. As the daughter of a Holocaust survivor I feel it is my duty to retell my dad’s story for future generations.
I am honored to do presentations for the Museum of Tolerance Witness to Truth Speaker series. I also do educational presentations at the Holocaust Museum of Los Angeles as a Descendant of Remembrance Speaker. I lectures for various audiences including 5th to 12th grade students and I am a member of Shoah Legacy Writers, an organization dedicated to preserving and sharing the stories of Holocaust survivors through their children’s voices. My most recent blog on Holocaust Education was published in the Times of Israel.
My vision for writing “Through the Eye of Love” is to help children who feel different to not feel alone and to help their parents understand what they could be going through. It is my hope that
once you read my books you will live life fully and with meaning and purpose.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.amazon.com/Sharon-Riche/e/B078VG5ZT5
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sharriche/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sharon.e.riche?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-riche-94a96639
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdLgzmpvgnc
Image Credits
Author Sharon Riche