Our Story
How books came to life
Mara never planned to write children’s books. She was busy writing a book for adults on “WOMEN AND RISK: Rewriting the Rules” to raise awareness for how low female financial participation and biased money semantics are huge barriers to economic gender equality. While analysing pay gaps, wealth gaps and pension gaps, she realised that no one seemed to be tackling one of the root causes of economic gender inequality: the biased money messages girls grow up with.
It was a comment by Shelley Zalis, CEO of The Female Quotient, during a live stream from the Equality Lounge in Davos at the World Economic Forum 2018, that sparked the beginning of Mara’s writing for children. Shelley said “Oh the places you’ll go…with financial confidence!”, taking reference to the famous book by Dr. Seuss. Mara suddenly knew what she had to do: she needed fun rhymes for little girls to become financially confident.
So armed with passion, sudden inspiration and years of joyful experiences reading rhymed stories to her children (she thinks she enjoyed those books even more than they did!), Mara set out to put pen to paper – or rather thumbs to iPhone Notes. The stories came gushing out as if they were just waiting to be unleashed. All of the stories are in rhyme, brought to life with high-quality watercoulor illustrations by the wonderfully talented Mariajo Ilustrajo.
Mara’s daughter Tyler gave precious feedback along the way reminding her again and again that “she does not speak Bank”, and that any financial jargon had to be eliminated radically, so money messages would be understandable for children! Tyler was a constant reminder of how the financial industry has alienated so many women and girls with its jargon, and how important it is to change this – for everyone’s sake! Mara’s son Timothy reminded her constantly how important it is to create a learning journey that appeals to all the boys too, who play a key role in shaping a more equal future for all.
From the very early days of draft rhymes, notes and sketches, the SMART WAY TO START journey has taken Mara and Mariajo all the way to the United Nations! Indeed, in 2021 the United Nations have endorsed book 5 of the series, on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, explained to children in simple rhymes. It has been published under the title START DOING GOOD (in French: Offrons un devenir durable à tou.te.s) in the United Nations’ Library as part of the Perception Change Program, to raise awareness globally for the Agenda 2030.
We are both very proud of this achievement and we are committed more than ever to bring financial literacy, equality and sustainability to children worldwide!
