We recently connected with Sherry Cerino and have shared our conversation below.

Sherry, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I have always been passionate about diversity & disability awareness from having practiced nursing for over 40 years. I’ve worked with hundreds of children and families from many cultures, having complex medical and physical needs. In my experience, children with varying levels of ability often have a difficult time making friends and feeling included. I always knew that I wanted to do something to support these wonderfully deserving children.

I have always had a creative side and one item on my bucket list was to write a children’s book. I had many ideas in my head, but I wanted it to be something special and have characters that represented diversity and disability. I wanted to make a difference as well as spread a little kindness in the world. With lots of support from and consultation with my sister Pam, an elementary school teacher, our first children’s book, Ella & the All-Stars was born! I have read this story to over 50,000 children in New England, using it as a springboard for creating conversations in kindness, acceptance and inclusion. It was a huge success as an elementary school enrichment program and many schools began to invite me to kick off each school year with a kindness presentation. As a next step, we created Ella’s Way, a nonprofit organization that stands for Early Learning Leads to Acceptance (ELLA). Ella’s Way uses children’s literature to discuss sensitive topics with children aged 4-7 years. It has grown with more books, like-minded authors and more boots on the ground spreading kindness. Our books are currently in over 30 states, hundreds of schools, public libraries, and children’s hospitals. I couldn’t be more proud of our growth and impact!

Sherry, 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?

As a mother of 2 grown children and a newly retired pediatric and rehabilitation nurse, I often think back to when my children were small and how much I loved reading to them. As an adult, it became evident that there were not many picture books available that supported a parent in talking about sensitive topics such as differing cultures, ethnic backgrounds, disability awareness, bullying prevention and inclusion. In my research, I found that children generally form their first friendships between the ages of 4-7 years old, and most typically align friendships with children that look most like themselves. It is a common belief that if children were introduced to differences at a young age, they would be more likely to form long term diverse friendships. That is what Ella’s Way is all about….creating those conversations and promoting inclusion.

I feel so honored to have met a wonderful group of authors with book themes similar to mine and who want to support the Ella’s Way mission. All of our books create conversations in kindness. With the support of individual sales, donations and grants, we also gift books to schools, libraries and areas in need of improving literacy. We have donated hundreds of books across the country and hope to continue this in the future.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

Ella’s Way started with just one children’s book. As a new author, there were many challenges in getting my first story to print and available for the public. Publishing is not for the faint of heart and after being denied by many publishing companies due to strong competition in children’s literature, it was clear that getting published fell entirely into my own hands.

To create a book, I had to learn many new skills including the writing rules for children’s literature, finding an illustrator, learning photo editing programs, interior text files and book covers, book sizing, education in copyright laws, adding ISBN numbers, and finding a suitable printer that would work with a novice. Everyday was met with another hurdle, but determination and setting short range goals helped me to keep focused and to complete the process.

Ella’s Way has now published several of our own books and regularly assists other first time authors facing the same challenges. I was told by a mentor to be fearless and that advice has carried me a long way.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

As many other businesses, in 2020 we were met with extraordinary challenges. One of our significant revenue streams, author’s visits to schools, was completely shut down as teachers and students were forced into virtual learning in response to the global pandemic. Without this income, Ella’s Way had to pivot in how we did business just to survive. With the support of PTO and PTA organizations, we trialed virtual author’s visits, with zooming into homes to read stories and to talk about kindness. While there were occasional technical difficulties, this method of virtual enrichment allowed us to continue on course. We will always be grateful to the multitude of patient teachers and school principals that believed in our mission.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ellasway.com
• Instagram: @ellaswayinc
• Facebook: Ella’s Way
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherry-cerino-aa15991b/