We were lucky to catch up with Valerie Johnson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Valerie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Math was not my favorite subject as a student; it was too abstract. We memorized formulas, used algorithms, and followed a lot of rules. I was never shown the beauty and power of math when I was a student. During my 30+ years as an educator, some children have been anxious about learning math or they’ve expressed how much they dislike math. But now that I’m a mathematics specialist, I want little ones to know the how and understand the why when learning and using math in the real world. I LOVE MATH and it is my mission to ignite a love of math in all children, one book at a time. So, I was inspired to write math-themed children’s books to help little ones become more math-confident. All children can learn math, love math, and understand it—and thrive. West Oak Lane Kids, LLC publishes high-quality picture books to help ignite a love of math in all children.

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 back background and context?

I want kids to love all things math. My passion and purpose is to inspire, teach, and empower future generations. I wrote a story, started a business, and published a children’s book. I’ve decided to use my amazing teacher (and facilitator) skills to leap out on faith and expand my impact beyond the classroom. I have served in education as a classroom teacher, math instructional leader, and mathematics specialist for over 30 years. And, I’ve facilitated parent workshops to help empower parents to support learning at home. Parents can also help to make learning less scary by reading and practicing math at home. My debut book, 1 2 3 Count with Me on Granddad’s Farm, has tips, tools, and hands-on tasks in the back of the book to help increase engagement and help little ones interact with the story. My counting book connects math to the real world, makes math visual, and helps to promote discussions.

Also, I am currently creating a write and draw journal to give young writers a place to record their thoughts, write stories, and create their own book. This kid-friendly journal will guide little ones through the writing process (from brainstorming to publishing) so that they can write a story and create their own book.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I had been saving money for years to buy a new house, but I decided to take a risk and use some of it as an initial investment in starting my own publishing company. I’ve invested my time, energy, money, talent, etc., into this business…success is the only option!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Being an authorpreneur requires hard work, resilience, and perseverance. And, the road to being a self-published author hasn’t been straight and smooth. You have to write, publish, market, etc. your own book. There were zigs and zags, bumps, and curves along the way. One of the biggest challenges has been building the “right” team (illustrator, book designer, editor, etc.). When faced with challenges, I believe you only have three choices: persevere and keep going along the same path, stop and give up, or refocus and pivot. I’ve thought about stopping several times, but my desire to impact and empower the next generation was stronger than my desire to quit.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.westoaklanekids.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/wolkidsllc
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/westoaklanekidsllc
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/WolKidsllc
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/rRAwh8IJ9Yw
• Other: https://www.amazon.com/author/valeriedjohnson

Image Credits
Lisa Damico Portraits and Valerie Johnson