EPISODE 197: Crystel Patterson- Talks Finding Her Passion Through Writing & Creating Her First Children’s Book

"Inspired To Be" children's book series  @inspiredtobe_cp  Crystel is a hardworking mother of two boys, a wife, an active member of her community, and a self-published children's book author. Her long lost love for writing re-emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, following the murder of George Floyd. in January 2021, She published her first children’s book titled, One Flip, Two Flip, Three Flip, Four, which is  part of her book series entitled "Inspired to Be". this book series is a direct outcome of a question her then 8-year old son asked her following the murder of George Floyd: “Why does the police keep killing black people?”. In that moment she wanted her son to know a different and better narrative. Her vision for the “Inspired to Be” book series came to her a few nights later while  reading a bedtime story to her two sons. They were so into the story, that she started to wonder how the story in that very moment was shaping their young minds. She started to think about how books help children to develop their own narratives and how important it is for children to see themselves in the characters, especially when the character is a positive one. So she decided to write stories inspired by the culture, experience, and dreams of Black people with the goal of using these stories to help change the narrative of black people in the minds of all children. She decided to write stories filled with inspiration from real people so that young readers can say, “if they did can do it, then so can I”.