00:00:27
Kate: Hello and welcome to Everyday Creation, a show about lifting our vibes for ourselves and the world.
I'm Kate Jones, here with Scarlett Lam. Scarlett is the author of "THE LIGHT,” a delightfully illustrated children's board book with an empowering message for both kids and adults.
Welcome to the show, Scarlett!
00:00:50
Scarlett: Hi. Thanks for having me.
00:00:57
Kate: It's a pleasure to have you here. I read online that you and the book’s illustrator, Mindy Lee, are, and I'm quoting here, “dedicated to finding out how the world would change if the first books we read to our children are about self-connection, self-trust and self-love.” I'm going to repeat the last part of that quote: “self-connection, self-trust and self-love." How wonderful to inspire those qualities in children.
So, Scarlett, how did "THE LIGHT" come about for you and Mindy?
00:01:43
Scarlett: Well, it did start from, I guess I can say, a self-realization or a self-inquiry, really. It came about during the pandemic. It was during the lockdown when everybody was in their homes. And I started to meditate. I was starting to meditate a lot at the time, just because. Why not? Perfect time to do that! When things with the Black Lives Matter movement started and eventually it moved into Stop Asian Hate, I was asking myself how I would show up in the world in the most supportive way and in a way that was going to make a difference in the most positive way. And I really was struggling with how to do that because at the time, protesting was a little challenging because we had family members that were elderly, and going out felt scary. And really, what could I do to have an impact?
00:03:07
And so a friend of mine actually reposted something called the Social Change Ecosystem, how to show up as a community. And within the community, it was like, what's your part? And it has different sections, I guess, or different how you would come into the world. And if you're a storyteller or you're a leader, some people are more vocal, some people are producers and get a group of people together. And so there were basically different roles. I guess that's really how to explain it. And when I saw storyteller, I thought, oh, yeah. And at the time, my cousin was pregnant with her little girl. And when she finally had Maya, I was the baby nurse, because there were kind of a lot of people going in and out. And luckily, Mindy was also pregnant and had her baby, her second baby, three months before that. And so when I was babysitting Maya, I was surrounded by Mindy's art. And when I was babysitting Maya,
00:04:17
You know being around babies, you know how perfect they are? They come out and they're like, whatever they're doing, they're just perfect. Whether they're crying or whatever, they're perfect the way that they are. And we had books that we would read to her and stuff, and I thought, well, where are the books to remind her that as she gets older, she's perfect. She's exactly as she should be. And I think, coupled with this idea of how do we show up in the world? The connection I made. If we truly love ourselves fully, wholly, in all our flaws and all our grandness and all our beauty and all our darkness, if we love ourselves fully, then we can show up in the world and also love others.
00:05:10
Kate: Okay, that’s wonderful. I have a question: Now, your cousin had Maya, is that right?
Scarlett: That's correct.
Kate: And then how was Mindy's art there around?
Scarlett: Oh, I'm sorry. Great question. They're best friends.
Kate: Best friends. Okay! Because I wasn't sure how all that tied together.
Scarlett: Great question.
00:05:35
So Mindy and my cousin were actually teachers here in Los Angeles at a school called inner city Arts, and that's in downtown Los Angeles. And this was years ago, but they used to teach there. So when my cousin was pregnant with Maya, Mindy has an older son already, and this was my cousin's first. So I think Mindy was so excited for her, and she just made her all these beautiful products, and there's posters, and pillows. By the time I came up with the idea of the book, it really came to me. And this is no joke. It came to me in my meditation, the idea of the book. There are die cut holes. To give a little background of the book, it is an 18-page board book. It's a picture board book. And each page, as you go through, as you read the book, the story is really about there is a light, and it never leaves you. And it guides you throughout choosing: go this way, go the other way; find your emotions. It helps you find your tears and find your smile. And as you flip each page, there's a die cut hole. There's a hole that keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And when you get to the very end, there's a little flap that says, where is this light? And when you lift it, it's a mirror, because you are "THE LIGHT."
Kate: So sweet. I just love it.
00:07:14
Scarlett: And it's been a real joy to watch people read it, because for little kids, they're so excited for the peekaboo part of it. It's a very interactive book for them. They love the little holes, and there's some sparkles in there and stuff. So for kids, it's really engaging in that way. But for the adults, I have seen grown men and women just burst into tears at the end. Or be just really moved by, oh, right. I can come back to myself. So in a way, it speaks to both the parent and the child, because we are all the light and we all deserve to remember that message.
Kate: Absolutely. And it makes complete sense that you came up with the idea of how the book was going to be presented in meditation. Complete sense. Okay, please tell us a little bit about Mindy.
00:08:26
Scarlett: So when I wrote the book, I actually remember telling my husband, in the morning, I have an idea for a book, for a kid's book. And he was like, oh, okay. And then I told him, maybe a few days later, that I wrote the book already. And he was like, what? And then I sat on it for a while and, you know, who would I want to illustrate it? And she was really the only person that I could think of. And the reason is, Mindy has her own brand already. She's a designer and graphic artist, and she's been making products for years before we worked together. And her brand is called Happy Minders. And you can find her on instagram at Happy Minders. So she has an older son and a younger son, and her older son is actually on. He's neurodivergent. He's on the autism spectrum. So she really created when he was younger, the motifs of the eyes and the hands you'll see in the book as a way to connect and communicate with him. He was really drawn to the eyes and the hands. And so you'll see this is sort of something that she uses in her products at Happy Minders and also in the book.
00:10:00
And so when I thought about what this message is, it's also on a level larger than us. It's about inclusivity, right? It's about coming home to us, trusting ourselves and connecting with us, connecting with ourselves so deeply that we love ourselves wholly, so that when we show up in the world, we can love universally. And being a mother of a neurodivergent child, she was feeling very much like, oh, we're different. We're outside. We're not accepted. “When I go out, and it's challenging for JJ, I have to remove him from the coffee shop because other people don't understand that it's too bright in here for him or something.” Right? And so she was really working through this idea or this feeling of not feeling included. And so when I presented her with the idea, it just aligned. It was just something that was so perfect for both of us that we really aligned in what we want to say and what we want to bring into the world.
00:11:15
And it's beyond just positivity. It's truly a way of instilling a foundational message that I think we forget as adults. And especially now, the more we are disconnected and seek outside for validation, the lonelier and the more challenging it is for us to remember that we actually have everything that we need if we are able to love ourselves and sit with ourselves.
Kate: Quite beautiful. If you don't mind, Scarlett, would you tell us a little bit about you?
Scarlett: Sure. It's a quirky question to ask, because I think the best way to answer this is that I feel I have led a life that I've practiced listening to myself. I think I was born in New Jersey. I'm an Asian American, first generation Asian American. But my parents are incredible, or my family legacy is pretty incredible because we immigrated. My grandparents went from China to Hong Kong, and then they went to Venezuela. The families went to Venezuela first, and then my mom and dad met there, married there, and then moved to New York City when they were just in their late 20s. And then they had my sister, and we eventually moved to New Jersey. So we grew up in suburbia New Jersey. But we were lucky enough that we were close enough to New York that we would go into the city for Chinese school. So I felt pretty connected. But we kind of had the best of both worlds in that way. With that said, as I got older and I found myself to be more of a creative, quirky, creative person, my parents were, of course, like, what do you mean you want to be an actor? What do you mean? You want to go study acting or be an artist? And so I oftentimes was able to do both. I went to school for theater and journalism, so I kind of kept one foot in creative and one foot in more of a straight arrow. And I feel like most of my life I've done that, and I think I led a pretty creative life. Luckily, I was an actor for a while and got to do some really great shows in my 20s and 30s. And then somewhere in my 30s, all my friends were getting married and having kids and settling down, and I really just wanted to see the world a little bit more. And I had this great opportunity to help a company called Vitaminwater® — sort of build from scratch, really, the entire West Coast. And together, we really built that company and that brand.
Kate: Wow.
00:14:45
Scarlett: It was an amazing. In retrospect, it was really incredible. I didn't go to graduate school or anything, but I always felt like building Vitaminwater® was my graduate school because I learned on the job.
Kate: For sure.
Scarlett: Yeah. Things I never knew I would reuse to self-publish my book. Really, in retrospect, now that I look back on it, I understand the things that I learned along the way. But then, when Vitaminwater® was acquired, I sort of decided instead of settling down, I took off and I went and backpacked around the world.
Kate: Good for you.
00:15:31
Scarlett: And, well, I shouldn't say around the world, but on and off for about two years, I went to India, Nepal, and I went all over South America, and it changed my life. It changed my life in a way that I think I wouldn't be able to write this book if I hadn't done that, because it was so different than what everybody else was doing at the time. And it was really choosing to go.
Kate: Off the beaten path, both literally and figuratively.
Scarlett: Exactly. And I think by the time I returned, I really sort of had to start my life over. And I've been trying to figure out what my creative voice would be. I wrote a lot when I was traveling and looked around and sort of studied humanity and feel it and be in it. And I think it took this long to sort of make it into a precise way of saying, at the end of the day, in order for us to show up in the world in the most collaborative and supportive and positive way to evolve into, I guess, better humans, we really have to start with ourselves.
00:17:00
And as a sidebar, when I wrote the book, and it was really quick to kind of actually put the book together because Mindy's amazing. By the time I asked her to do it and told her what the concept was with the holes, and I sent her the copy, I think it took her, like, three weeks to turn it around. She handed me a paper. I don't have it with me in front of me, but she handed me a paper where she kind of pasted it all together and really figured out the construction of the book. And when I had that prototype in my hand, it was like, wow, now this is really possible. And then I went on to sort of do the research around putting the book proposal together, which, being a part of a startup, really helps you to understand what that means and branding and copywriting and all that kind of stuff. So that all kind of made me more confident to say, okay, I can actually self-publish this and make the book that I want to make for me and for Mindy. And so it took almost a year and a half, two years, for me, to really get everything together. And also I did some research around the publishing world, and it was pretty challenging to try to go down the publishing route because I don't have an agent. And it was just sort of one of those things where it was like, oh, wow, there's this great thing called social media now, so why not embrace that, which I also learned on the job from my most previous job? And so it just seemed like, okay, this is the way to go. And then the second I decided to self-publish, everything just started to move really quickly and within. I think it was from the time I decided until I had the shipment, the entire first press delivered, it was like nine months.
Kate: Terrific. That sounds like quite a process, and a good one. So the book came out at the end of 2023. How has it been received? Or how is it being received?
00:19:28
Scarlett: Oh, boy. It has been incredible. I feel so fortunate and excited. We launched in November of last year, and so it was right before the holidays. And I live in Los Angeles right now, and I've been here on and off for a couple of decades. So I know that there are some stores that I've always really loved walking into because they have the best selection of gifts or housewares and books and toys. Most of these stores have taken a chance on an independent writer and publisher, and the book has been actually being able to sell itself off of the shelf.
Kate: That is so good to hear. It is really an important book, and not in the case of when people say, oh, this is an important book, as in, it's going to change the world. It's going to do it subtly. I think it's so sweet and it's just filled with goodness. And I think it is going to do it in a way that sort of catches you off guard, but it does change you, the reader.
00:20:59
Scarlett: Thank you for that. I hope so. There are a lot of happy realizations that we’ve realized because it is a kid's book and it sits next to all the other kids books. Because it’s square and it's black, it really kind of pops out, and there's so many colors on the front, and it looks like a solar system, but the cover itself really jumps out. And I think once people pick it up and sort of flip through it, Mindy's illustrations really pull them in. And then I hope that then the message really drives it home. And so we really do feel, like, super lucky. I feel really fortunate and grateful that it's now out and it's being received as well as it has been. And we've kind of sold out in most of the stores, but I'm like a one-woman show right now. So I'm walking into stores and meeting the shop owners and kind of telling them my story and Mindy's story and the story of the book. And so that's actually been really lovely. I just wish I had an army of me to go out and do it all over the country. So that's sort of the next step. Like, how do we scale? How do we get to the next step of this? And thank you again for having me here, because I think this obviously helps to get the word out, and we hope that maybe somebody will hear and want to support it in a different way. And so that would be lovely. And so I just feel like the more we get it out, the more the message really lands for people. And that's the most important part.
Kate: Yes. The more you get it out, the more good it will do.
Scarlett: Exactly that. And it will reverberate. Right. Like the butterfly effect, I guess.
Kate: Scarlett, is there anything else you'd like to say?
00:23:01
Scarlett: I think I would love if everybody had a favorite store you want us to be in. I would love to get the book out there. We're based in LA, and we're going to be doing some really fun things. We are starting to work with some really great organizations. There's one in Orange County called Pretend City, and we'll be doing an event down there called Kidstock in April. And it's really all inclusive, accessible. It's a kids museum, I want to say, but it's very interactive. They get to play there. There's going to be music and dance, and we'll be doing a reading there. But if you happen to be on the West Coast, please give us a follow on Instagram and you can find us. And we'd love to meet you. Mindy will be there as well, and I hope maybe her kids. I'm really grateful for you finding us and inviting us to be on. It's humbling to feel the support of strangers, I guess.
Kate: Who become friends.
Scarlett: Yeah, exactly. I was like, the people that I've met. I also feel like, oh, I've known you forever.
Kate: Yes, for sure. And I appreciate that you're offering a 10% off code for listeners. So that is something that I'll put in the show's description and get it out there. And also a link to your website. Why don't you talk about that real quick, how people can find out more.
00:24:57
Scarlett: Great. Our website is www.readthelight.com. Readthelight.com. You can find our story. Our website is just informative and fun. I think we'll start to do a little bit more stuff on the website, but you can buy the book there. You can contact us through the website as well, or find us on Instagram and TikTok. Our handle is @read.thelight. So I'll repeat that there's a dot after read. So @read.thelight. You can come chat with us there and kind of keep up with us. We're going to be doing some really fun events because my goal is really to do events that are going to support families with children, to include children who might not feel included right now, to make everything accessible and for those kids to really download this message and know they have everything that they need and they're perfect exactly the way that they are.
00:26:18
Kate: Yes. All right. I love your work, Scarlett.
Scarlett: Thank you so much.
Kate: And thank you so much for being on the show today.
Scarlett: It's been really fun, and I hope we get to do this again sometime.
Kate: Yes, I'm sure we will, actually.
Scarlett: Great.
Kate: This is Kate Jones with a request for our listeners. Please share this episode with a child or even a grown-up who might appreciate the uplifting message of "THE LIGHT.”
Until next time, thank you for listening to Everyday Creation.
