This month’s professional spotlight features Beri Gebrehiwot. Beri is a Registered Nurse, business owner, and author. Read this month’s spotlight to learn more about Beri, her work, and her debut children’s book ‘The Adventures of Noah and Sabu: Mornings with Grandma’.

Q: Could you briefly tell us about your current career role.

I am a Registered Nurse, a business owner and author. I wear many hats in my current career and have been fortunate to be able to balance them all. I’ve moved from working on a Medical Surgical (MedSurg) unit in a hospital with 12 hour shifts to Family Medicine, a 9-4 shift, with the sole purpose of having more hours in my day to run my business and be available before and after school for my son. After returning to the work force, after two years as a Stay-at-Home Mom, it was important for me to be able to spend as much time with my family, including weekends and holidays. My new role in Family Medicine has been a blessing and has given me the flexibility to juggle my business and other entrepreneurial projects.

Q: Is there a philosophy that drives your work?

When I look back at the work I’ve been involved in over the last 10 years, the reoccurring theme has been Service and Cultural Preservation. Whether it was the projects I helped start, such as the Orotta Project that raised over $30,000 to send equipment to the medical/dental school in Eritrea, starting my wedding show business which services brides of all cultural backgrounds, starting a platform for young Habesha Moms to connect and share their experiences and desire to preserve cultural identity in their children, or my recent children’s book debut- each of my projects have been centered around preserving our cultural heritage and serving community.

Although nursing is incredibly rewarding, I also feel greatly enriched and inspired about being able to provide tools and resources that will help keep our rich culture and identity alive for generations to come. I’m driven by and passionate about leaving this legacy for my children and children’s children.

Q: What inspired you to write your debut children’s book, “The Adventures of Noah and Sabu: Mornings with Grandma”?

When I had my firstborn, Noah, I quickly came to realize the lack of cultural representation in the children’s market. I was fortunate enough to spend the first two years at home with him- which meant lots of trips to the library for story-time events. With each visit to the library, I found myself searching for children’s books that were diverse. It was nice to see a few books representing Asian cultures, and an even smaller batch of books representing African American children and their families… but still, the limited resources were alarming to me. And with that, I was even more encouraged and inspired to create books that showcased and celebrated our beautiful culture. I wanted to ensure my son had books and resources that represented his cultural heritage; affirming his identity as an Eritrean-American, and as a person of color in America.

Writing has always been a strength and passion of mine. I remember publishing several books in grade school and still have most of those books today. Throughout my childhood, I enjoyed journaling and, to this day, have dozen of notebooks filled with my writings from over the years. So this project was pure joy for me!

People have recently asked me why I decided to write a book about the traditional coffee ceremony. Growing up, this ritual was a staple in our household (as I’m sure is true for most Eritreans and Ethiopians), and always brings great childhood memories of my parents and their family/friends gathering to catch up for hours over the multiple rounds of coffee while we kids played and enjoyed the sounds and smells associated with the ceremony.

At a very young age, I noticed my son’s interest in the steps involved with the ceremony as he often helped his grandmothers. It was these moments that inspired the story and characters in my book.

Q: What was your path to becoming a published author?

When starting this process, almost two years ago, I didn’t have any background in publishing. Everything I learned was gathered from researching different platforms and organizations, speaking with other local authors and becoming a member at a local writer’s association. This was a completely different world for me, but I’ve learned quite a bit and have gained new skill sets that will be valuable in creating and publishing future books. For me, it made sense to self-publish as a first time author. That means the entire process of the book, including illustrations, editing, the layout of the book and marketing all falls on my shoulders.

I would say one of the hardest parts about this process was finding an illustrator who can accurately depict the features of my characters. I trialed a dozen illustrators and when I did find someone who can accurately depict the characters, they did not have the specific software skills required. It was incredibly frustrating! Also, it was really important for me to work with an illustrator who was seasoned and local, within the states, for easy access and communication. Because it was my first book, I wanted to be sure to oversee each step and have a close working relationship with the illustrator.

With that being said, I did find a seasoned illustrator who has published dozens of books. She was patient and open to learning the culture and the different elements that were important to each character. It was a struggle in the beginning as I kept getting rough drafts of characters who depicted stereotypical African/African-American features, but eventually, she was able to nail down the look I wanted to demonstrate, and I couldn’t be happier with the results! It was really important to me that my characters would be relatable to the children who were reading them. That they would see themselves and their families within the characters. Although the grandmother is undoubtedly of Eritrean/Ethiopian origin, the children depict features that are more universal and can be relatable to a wide range of children from various cultural backgrounds.

My favorite character in the book is the grandmother. She gives me goosebumps every time I read the story! It’s so amazing to see someone who looks like my own mother and grandmother, with kuno (braids), zuria (dress) and features that I can relate to. I hope that everyone who reads this story has the same feeling of “home” when they flip through the pages and see characters that look just like them.

Q: What’s one piece of advice you would give someone looking to transition into your line of work?

For anyone who is interested in writing a book that represents cultural diversity- I say, DO IT! We need more books out there, for all age-groups that represent various cultures, to accurately depict our world today. Think about all of the knowledge and information we have due to the books that have been around for decades, and even centuries. Books are incredibly important in preserving knowledge, philosophy, heritage, history… it may be the one thing that keeps our identity as Eritrean-Americans alive. And our future generations will be better off because of it.

If you’re serious about pursing becoming an author, I would say start by joining a writer’s association to get guidance on how to write for the different age groups, the different steps that are involved in the process and for support and mentorship from a seasoned group of people.

Q: Where can people go to learn more about and purchase your book?

Thank you for asking. You can learn more about my book here! Currently, Amazon only ships my book to North America and Europe. If you reside in any other continent and would like a copy, please email me: berigebrehiwot@gmail.com for more information on how to get a copy of the book. Also, regarding bulk orders for your school/organization, please email me for more information.

Q: Outside of all of your hard work and efforts toward building your brand, what do you do for fun? Hobbies?

When I’m not playing soccer, building train tracks and diving into my son’s world of dinosaurs and Safari animals, I love to squeeze in some me time which usually consists of reading a good book, exploring new coffee shops and restaurants with my husband and…I’m sure all of the working moms out there will understand this one… RELAX J which usually entails catching up with friends, a trip to the spa or a restful day doing absolutely nothing.