My childhood was one of much chaos and abuse so I have always preferred to be in the background more, sometimes even invisible. I never dreamed I would ever be an author having to put myself out there for the world to see in order to promote anything. Yet sometimes the universe has other plans and now I am willing to step outside of my comfort zone in order to do what ever it takes to get these messages out into the hands of children who truly need to know it is okay to be different, have different families and to learn valuable coping skills for both the Highest Good of them and the world as a whole.
I was born in Georgia U.S.S.R and came to Canada when I was four years old. My husband Esfandiar was born in Iran and immigrated to Canada in 1987.
Our two children Shanaz and Jean-Diar both have partners who also have diverse ethnic backgrounds.
My husband and I are now very proud grandparents. Our daughter Shanaz and future son-in-law Brandon welcomed their first child on March 2nd of this year. His name is Lukenzo Kal Correia.
Our beautiful little Luka has a mix of Georgian, Persian, Jamaican and Guyanese. This unique mix is a perfect recipe and is the reason why I was inspired to write my children’s book series. I wanted books my grandchildren and the future generation could read that showcased multicultural diverse families like ours.
There so many children in the world now that have diverse families and there still aren’t any books that represent them. At the end of the day we are all Honeycakes, we all have a little bit of spice in us.
When my daughter Shanaz found out that she was pregnant I was so excited that I was going to become a grandma. So much so that in honour of my own grandmother, my Bebi, I started to bake a honey cake—a traditional Jewish cake from my native Georgia which is typically baked for Rosh Hashanah and other special celebrations. It wa s a full circle moment for me because my Bebi taught me how to make a honey cake when I was a young girl.
The correlation of the cake to my grandchild-to-be lay in the mix of different spices, which I realized was much like the mix of different ethnicities in my family. There are all these different spices in a honey cake, like cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, and here is my grandson with all these different mixes of ethnicities. As I was baking, I realized that he was going to be my little Honeycake, which gave me the idea of the name for the series I was now envisioning.
The first book that flowed from me was a story about acceptance and celebrating the many different backgrounds that make us unique. Just like the spices in a honey cake, our different ethnicities blended together, create the single beautiful entity that is humanity, which adds flavour to life! Shedding light on what makes us unique and different brings compassion, understanding and positivity to the darkness.
At the end of the book there is a recipe for readers to follow so they can make their own honey cake.
With all the negativity in this day and age, I feel it’s very important to create books with a more positive message to help caregivers teach children to accept others, help children to become more balanced, kind, grateful and honest. Books to help children manage their emotions when things don’t go the way they hoped. I always say there is... Cont'd at Right
no such thing as winning or losing, there is only winning. You win when you reach the goal you wanted to achieve or you win by learning a very valuable lesson. It’s all about perspective and how you look at things. Giving children these tools at an early age will help them grow into happy and fulfilled adults that aren’t stressed out, but live in harmony with a healthy mind, body, and spirit.
When I left the corporate world to become a Reiki master, I never looked back. I knew that this is what I was put on earth to do. Because of my Reiki training I am committed to my personal growth, healing and living my best life and to inspire others to do the same. This is what I teach my clients on a daily basis. So, transitioning into a writer and sharing the same lessons and tools to children was seamless for me.
My books, and my career change was not planned. The universe showed me the way, so I had to follow my instinct, and I’m so glad I did. I feel like a totally different person and I see things in such a different perspective. I actual never thought about writing a children’s book or a series. A few months after finding out I was going to become a grandmother to a beautiful soul that is mixed with many different ethnic cultures, I woke up one day and the words and stories started to pour out of me.
The fact that I have no formal training as a writer didn’t stop me from trying. I always wanted to write my biography someday, later down the road, because I’ve had so many hardships in my life that I had to overcome. But I never had any intention on writing—especially not a children’s book series. But the universe sent me a sign, and the messages were in me to share, and they simply had to come out. I wrote five books in four days, I couldn’t stop. Clearly the universe had something planned.
Like I’ve previously stated, I never set out to become a writer, so I had no clue what to do with the stories I’ve written and how I was going to get them published.
The biggest challenge I had to face was, fear: Fear of failure, and fear of the financial impact on my family since I was independently publishing my own books. As I was facing my fears I remembered a quote by the late and great Maya Angelou;
“Hope and fear cannot occupy the same space. Invite one to stay.”
So, I released my fears and choose hope. I’m so glad I did because my books have been welcomed with open arms and I’ve received such positive feedback from so many people. The most rewarding experience has been the outpour of messages I’ve been receiving from people around the world. I’m beyond grateful and so happy to see that my books are making a positive impact.
Life will have challenges. Just like a heart beat 〰️〰️〰️ there are ups and downs. If you want your life to always be the same in a straight line —— then its a flat line which means you're dead! My point of this message is... Don't give up! Hold onto Hope!
