Where Stories Begin
The Philosophy Behind 7Seven Spark Publishing and the Power of Social-Emotional Learning Through Story
The lessons that shape us most are usually not the ones we plan.
They’re the ones we find while walking down the street.
The way someone looked at us.
A moment of bad customer service that left a knot in our chest — and then the relief when someone else came through and made it right.
A job where you realize you’ve outgrown the way you’re being treated… and the courage it takes to finally walk away.
Those moments stay with you.
And somewhere along the way, I realized something:
What if big life lessons could live in small, safe spaces — the kind small minds can understand, hold, and grow with?
That’s where my books come from.
I don’t write down to children, and I don’t write over their heads either. I think of it more like breaking food into pieces — not because it’s smaller, but because it’s meant to be digested. Felt. Remembered. Carried forward.
That’s the air inside my books.
There’s a dynamic that happens when you take something big — disappointment, self-doubt, courage, hope — and translate it into story. Kids feel it. Adults recognize it. And neither feels talked at.
I didn’t set out to create books that speak to children and adults. It just happened naturally. I would learn a lesson, feel it fully, and instead of dwelling there, I’d explore it. Share it. Imagine how it might help a child start off on the right foot — or find the strength to overcome something that tries to meet them later in life.
Everything shifted once I started seeing life as bigger.
Bigger than a bad day.
Bigger than loss.
Bigger than rejection.
Bigger than something taking longer than you expected.
Sometimes our perception gets so fixed that we forget an entire world is unfolding for us, not against us.
That sense of wonder is what I love most about children’s books.
Every child brings their own background, beliefs, and favorite crayon color — but the story itself is universal. The feeling of overcoming something. The relief. The pride. The quiet joy that comes after.
There are no words for what it feels like when a child picks up a book you’ve poured time into — the story, the illustrations, the expressions — and they get it. They love it. They want to read it again. And again.
As an author, that’s freedom.
When I read my own stories back, I feel lighter.
Free to dance like Carrie.
Free to stop second-guessing like Phoebe.
Free to stand strong like Ash.
A good story should make you wonder.
It should make you feel like there’s no ceiling on who you can become.
No limit to your dreams.
Permission to be a big kid. To grow. To dream. To start over.
That’s what my books are about.
Whether it’s a children’s story, healing from a breakup, or finding your footing again — the message is always the same:
Wherever you begin, no matter how uncertain or aimless it feels,
you will find your way.
