Today we’d like to introduce you to Chan Blue.
Hi Chan, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
To make a long story short, of course the story is not going to be short, I just like to start off saying that (LOL). In 1995, I was going to be a stay-at-home mom however that did not work out and my sister-in-law asked me if I wanted to come to the daycare center and help. I thought it was a great idea because my daughter was nine months, and I could bring her to work with me. One thing led to another, and I ended up in the field for 25 years!
After working in the preschool setting for a couple of weeks, I discovered that this was not just “babysitting”, but it was work and I begin to hear people refer to it as early education. When I started in 1995 the field was already changing and as time went forward early education was no longer looked at as “babysitting” as so many think! In 1992 the state of Georgia rolled out the Georgia Pre-Kindergarten or Pre-K Program for children who would turn four-years-old by the designated cutoff date of September 1st. This early educational intervention program is holistic, and it encompasses a lot of mandatory reading or language arts that must be used to engage and or instruct the early learner in the classroom.
Now in the year of 2014’ I am 18 years into working in the field of early education. At this point, my connection to early education and the current endeavor which is Mac and Roni Read is about to come forth. After 18 years of reading a plethora of books specifically children’s books and using the literature to teach and engage the early-aged students, I wanted something different. I noticed most of the books were animals and hardly any of them humanistic nor black or of the African American diaspora.
Out of all the subject matters that I instructed in the early educational setting, language arts are one of my favorites, so I guess you can call me a language arts enthusiast. So, one day I was eating one of my favorite foods MacaRoni and cheese and had a light bulb moment. I said to myself “hmmm, Mac is the brother and Roni is the sister!” That was the conception of Mac and Roni Read but the vision was not birth until 2020’.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I think that anytime you are starting a business and yes, this is a business there may be challenges and obstacles. Even though I am an author, it is still a business in that I have a product as well as I can offer a service based around my product therefore, I must be business minded business savvy as I engage with businesspeople. The challenge for me is that I am an independent or as it’s called in the industry an “indie” author and I fund everything regarding Mac and Roni Read books and the brand itself. However, that is synonymous with just about anybody starting a business, so I believe that I’m in good company with many authors and business owners.
As I indicated earlier Mac and Roni Read was conceived in 2014′ but was not birth or I did not roll it out until 2020’. Now I know that there are some that can relate to what I’m about to say in that sometimes when people get ideas and/or visions; whatever you want to call it (LOL) they sit on it and don’t move with it until years later.
I didn’t sit on the vision because of struggles but between the years of 2014′ and 2020′ I had other, as the saying goes, coals in the fire (LOL). Many people say to me that it’s all about God’s timing and I agree. Another challenge for me is working my full-time job that is my bread and butter while I operate all aspects of Mac and Roni Read. However, I will say I have a great support system with my children Sabrina, Starr, and Abigail as well as a host of family, friends, connection with organizations such as Girls Who Read Inc., BLK + BRWN Bookstore and my executive consultant Mr. Dennis Harris who has been awesome as I navigate through this season.
Now another one of my challenges is and this is going to be funny and they’re probably going to be some people who can relate to what I’m about to say; social media is a challenge for me (LOL). I have 13 friends on my personal FB so that should tell you I am not a social media person! (LOL)
You must understand when you take a historical trip back in time to the years of 1950s to the 1960s there was no social media; there was no pressure for authors to engage with the public the way that it is now via the social media platforms!
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Even though I have worked in early education for 25 years, as of May 2021 I retired, my first calling is Human/Social Service/Work. I believe that my work in early educational for 25 years prepared me for Mac and Roni Read. When you think about it early education is connected to social work in that social work engages with families and children and children, is what early education and early readers is composed of.
That leads me into what I specialize in as far as social work and my desire for children to engage in reading not just at school but in the home with their families and be strategic and consistent about reading. As a (MSW) master social worker we are known as change agents and I believe that my Mac and Roni Read platform, which is connected to my 25 years of early education, plus my current work as a social worker can help to catapult and move reading in the household that are “reading challenged”.
As far as what I am most proud—I would have to say the fact that my three children all graduated from high school, and they did not give me any problems they did not give me any issues (LOL)! I am pretty sure that parents can understand where I am coming from.
Regarding Mac and Roni Read, I am proud of the theme song I wrote. Music is a tool that’s used in education. I was driving on I-285 in Atlanta traffic and for anyone reading this they know how ATL traffic can be! I had been thinking about a song for Mac and Roni Read and, on this day, the lyrics came to me and that was in 2016’. You can hear the theme song on the home page of the website as well as when you go to the Mac and Roni Read YouTube channel. Like John Slade said in the movie I’m Gonna Get You Sucka “They’re my theme music. Every good hero should have some!”
Wow, this question is interesting to me because I don’t really think I’m necessarily set apart from others per se. What I mean by this is that I am on this earth with everybody else dealing with life and hopefully living out my purpose just like everybody else!
However, I will tell you what sets Mac and Roni Read apart from other children’s books. I was very strategic when I decided to develop characters for the book, Remember I wanted different characters to engage students in the early educational classroom and beyond. I knew that I did not want the characters to be animals and I knew that I wanted them to reflect and represent a people that are not really represented in children’s books.
Also, one of the major differences is that I wanted the characters to be able to engage in a variety of subject matter and to be a brand and not just a children’s book. What I mean by not just a children’s book, but a brand is that Mac and Roni Read is an ongoing series; it will continue. I did not just write a one-stop-shop book and have a character placed on the book cover. I was very strategic in the development of Mac and Ron’s characteristics. You can see strategies as I placed their initials on their shirt and you can hear it in their name; it’s phonological. Just the shirt and the name are synonymous with their characteristics which makes it a brand in that when people hear Mac and Roni Read, they’re going to think about that monogram letter on their shirts and they’re going to think about the fact that their name is connected to one of the most popular comfort foods that children and many adults thoroughly enjoy (LOL).
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Do I have any advice for anyone starting out — that is a good question. I just want to start by saying that I don’t really consider myself an author. I know that the term is used because that’s the category that I’m placed in because I have pinned a book and that is just the title that is given. When you look at my work tenure and you see that my work is in early education and then you look at the children’s book then you really see that I’m writing about 25 years of what I have been doing which is “reading” to children—if that makes sense. Now I am on the other side of the book—writing.
I’m not going to give the normal advice that people have word when it comes to starting a business venture. My advice is if you have an idea, or a vision don’t sit on it and don’t tell any and everybody your business idea and vision because everybody is not going to be for you. I’m not just talking something that I think I’m talking something that I know and lived out in that I did not even tell my children the name of the characters until 2021’.
Lastly, go HARD AND GO BIG–be proud of your product and/or service and put God in all you do!
Pricing:
- 9.99 per per book
- Author special 3 Book Bundle when you order directly by calling 1 (844) MAC-RONI
Contact Info:
- Email: Chan@macandroniread.com
- Website: MacandRoniRead.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/macandroniread
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mac.roni.1481
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ReadMacandRoni
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC41YTkHvQRr6Ein75QguwXg
