“I’ve always had a “plan B,” but there are so many others who weren’t prepared for their lives to change in such a way [during the pandemic].”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: One of my biggest passions in life is helping others. I’m a licensed financial advisor. I love what I do simply because I’m able to educate my potential clients on ways to create generational wealth for themselves and their families.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: I grew up in a very close-knit family. Education and religion were two things that were at the top list of importance. I’m grateful for all the lessons learned because it helped me to become a better person and who I am today.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: 2020 was a huge wake-up call for me, and I’m sure for a lot more families as well. I was laid off from my job of 15 years. Luckily for me, I’ve always had a “plan B,” but there are so many others who weren’t prepared for their lives to change in such a way. My advice would be to never solely depend on one stream of income. Keep multiple streams coming in in order to keep your family afloat.
Q:What does feminism mean to you?
A: Being a woman, I think, is about being strong. It’s about continuing to move forward in all of life’s endeavors. I definitely have to keep a positive mindset and stay 100% committed to making all my life dreams a reality. I have two daughters that look up to me, and I want them to grow up stronger and better than I am. I love to see my ladies succeed! There was once a time when women were told we couldn’t do certain jobs or we couldn’t make a certain amount of money, but look at us now! Kudos Ladies! Let’s keep it up! God Bless.
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“Don’t be afraid to put your work out there. It’s very daunting at first, but it’s so rewarding when people read your book and tell you how much they love it. What makes us feel good is when we get a message from a reader telling us how she had a pretty hard day and our book made her feel better.”
Q: Who are you?
A: We are Dee J. Stone, a pseudonym for two sisters who write and publish young adult and adult novels on Amazon. We’ve been doing this for over five years. Here is our Amazon author page.
Q: What got you interested in writing?
A: We were always creating stories since we were little kids, although we didn’t know that at the time. As young kids, we would sit with our dolls and play for hours, creating a story and running with it. When we were a little older, around middle school, we would draw comics and create stories that way. But we didn’t actually start writing until high school. We started off writing plays before moving onto novels.
Pictured: Dee J. Stone’s most popular novel,Merman’s Kiss. Available for Kindle or paperback, click here.
Q: Why did you choose self-publishing, and can you explain it?
A: Self-publishing is when you write and publish a book all on your own, without reaching out to an agent and/or publisher. A self-published author has to handle every aspect of the publishing process including providing a good cover that would catch readers’ attention, editing, proofreading, and marketing. Many authors hire other people to take care of the cover and editing, though marketing is usually on their shoulders. The reason we chose the self-publishing route was that we like the freedom to make our own choices when it comes to our books.
Pictured: Dee J. Stone’s novel, Cruiser. Available for Kindle or paperback, click here.
Q: Can you tell us about some of the books you have published?
A: Sure! Our most popular books are a part of a paranormal romance series called Merman’s Kiss. Here is the link to the series. It follows the story of Cassie Price, who stumbles across a merman that has washed up on shore. The two of them become close and eventually fall in love.
Another series we have is a superhero series called Keepers of Justice. It’s about a school for kids with powers. Here is the link to the series. We also have a fairy-tale retelling series. We write in many genres, such as paranormal, fantasy, contemporary, and romance.
Pictured: Book one of the series, Keepers of Justice. Available for Kindle or paperback, click here.
Q: What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
A: Don’t be afraid to put your work out there. It’s very daunting at first, but it’s so rewarding when people read your book and tell you how much they love it. What makes us feel good is when we get a message from a reader telling us how she had a pretty hard day and our book made her feel better. Another piece of advice would be to make sure you give your book to someone to read before publishing it. Someone who is not a family member or friend and can give you honest feedback. A writer constantly needs to learn from her mistakes. And another piece of advice? Try not to take bad reviews too seriously. Every book gets them, and they hurt really badly, but try to focus on the good reviews and continue writing.
Pictured: Dee J. Stone’s Falling for the Genie, available via Kindle or paperback, click here.
Q: Is there anything valuable you have learned throughout the writing/publishing process?
A: Stay true to who you are and what you believe in. Many writers feel like they need to change themselves in order to fit in and sell more books. If you want to sell, you may need to make some changes to your writing, but you shouldn’t have to compromise your beliefs. Readers will love your story if you write it well and touch their hearts.
Q: What would you like others to learn from your stories?
A: We believe in writing characters who respect one another. When we write romance novels, we try to portray sweet and kind guys/men who treat women with the utmost respect. There are so many books out there that have male characters who don’t treat their women very kindly, and that is not something we believe in. Hopefully, readers will walk away from our stories with a better understanding of how people should treat one another.
Pictured: Chasing Sam, written by Dee J. Stone, available via Kindle or paperback, click here.
Q: What does feminism mean to you?
A: Expanding on the previous question, we believe that feminism is about people respecting one another. No two people are created the same, and there will always be a difference of opinion or arguments. It’s how a person treats other people that matters. Feminism is not only about women feeling equal to men, but showing men how to treat women, and how women should treat one another as well. As the golden rule goes, “Treat others the way you want to be treated.”
“There is one skill I value the most and that is asking for help.”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: I am passionate about helping others by providing motivation, inspiration, and emotional support. I’ve always said that my purpose found me when I was a sophomore in college in 2012 when my grandmother was killed by a car.
My line of work involves helping individuals by providing direct care services and providing counseling.
I am currently working on planning my Self-Love Tour and building up a Sisterhood Community dedicated to self-love and self-care resources. I help women on a self-love and healing journey by providing coaching services, self-love brunches, retreats, and training sessions.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: I have been through a lot growing up. I’ve always felt feelings of abandonment and rejection due to not having an active father in my life.
I’ve always been self-driven to accomplish my goals. I have been able to complete undergrad at Mercy College in 2015 with a psychology degree and grad school at St. John’s University in 2017 with a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling.
After my grandmother was killed in a car accident, I went through anxiety issues, times of hyperventilating, and felt guilty for not seeing her as much as I could’ve.
I had to learn how to regulate my emotions, and I learned early on to ask for support. I felt like I was always viewed as being the strong one and to finally allow myself to lean on support helped me through it all. Also, I felt led to go into the social science field after a few months after the accident. I finally made the decision even though I wasn’t sure, and now here I am ten years later operating with my gifts.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: I want others to know that it’s okay to not be okay. It’s important to process emotions and thoughts and learn the necessary skills to overcome them. Also, I would encourage others to stay encouraged and make use of asking for help. There is one skill I value the most and that is asking for help.
Q: What does feminism mean to you? A: Great question. It means being able to be empowered and overcome the challenges society places on women.
MORE ABOUT KEKE: My favorite color is purple, and I love to sing.
“[Change] can mean no longer fitting in where you fit in before. [Change] can mean judgment from friends and family, and [change] can mean it may get really hard before it gets simple.”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: My name is Jenn Fasano Holgerson. I am the owner of JFC, a business consulting firm for female entrepreneurs. I own and operate Babes in Business Long Island, a networking organization that hosts events, workshops, retreats, and more for women in business. My passion is simple; it’s to show women that anything is possible in their lives.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: From my very first job experience all the way through my corporate career, and now in entrepreneurship, I have assisted women in not only looking and feeling confident and beautiful but also encouraging them to chase their desires and follow their own passions. I never went to college, but from the moment I graduated high school, I found myself in a leadership role. I always knew I was meant to lead people, but at a young age, I wasn’t quite sure where my strong desire to lead would take me. After having my second child in 2013, that high-demand career with long hours, travel, and rigid schedules started to just not work for me. Simultaneously, I stumbled across the network marketing industry and quickly saw I could follow my passion for leadership, which is what I recognize now as my entrepreneurial spirit. I actually got fired from my corporate job while building my side hustle in NWM, and it was the best thing that ever happened to me! It allowed me to follow my passions and help more people, all while being home with my kids and ultimately led me to where I am now.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: One thing I have learned is that change is good. Although it can be scary, we can never grow unless we change. And change can mean a lot of things. It can mean no longer fitting in where you fit in before. It can mean judgment from friends and family, and it can mean it may get really hard before it gets simple. But it’s all worth it if, in the end, you show up as the best version of yourself!
Q: What does feminism mean to you? A: Feminism, to me, means being proud to be a leader and a woman. It means knowing that, as women, we are told to wear many hats, and we do, but it doesn’t mean we have to do it in angst. We can do it with pride and confidence. And do it on our own terms.
A fun fact about me: I ran the New York City Marathon in 2017.
“Just do what you love; it’ll take you somewhere far.”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: I am passionate about anything that requires creativity.
I am currently a brand and marketing designer, and I also enjoy calligraphy and DIYing crafts as a hobby.
Some say I inhale and exhale the art of designing. I’ve been designing for almost half of my life because of our family’s printing business. My eye for design has been my bloodline since I became an entrepreneur.
I found joy in creating for other people. I formally started doing this for a living in 2018.
Before I worked with actual brands, I tried offering my design services for free to support my friends who are just starting out, and that became the foundation on how I was able to have a good portfolio to attract my first paying clients.
I chose my career path as a designer for other companies because I know they deserve nothing less when it comes to building a credible visual language. My creative solutions are the ones I wished all entrepreneurs had easy access to when starting out.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: I grew up in the province where children from my era spent playtime at rice fields.
My parents were blessed with four daughters, me being the third child.
Creativity runs in our family. My dad and my eldest sister love photography A LOT. My dad is an engineer and used to be a well-known photographer in our locality, while my sister pursued professional fashion photography while juggling it with her corporate work. My second sister loves modeling and is also an online beauty influencer, our youngest is an architect in the making while my mom is the greatest cheerleader and support system in the family.
It was funny that as love for art is present in the family, I was the only one who never learned how to draw. During our younger years, my sisters enjoyed creating handmade paper dolls, coloring books, and sketching gowns…and I find it so boring! I enjoyed lettering my classmates’ names instead. I spent most of my childhood in our little printing shop sitting on the computer desk, exploring MS Paint, Print Artist (it’s like Canva during 90’s), or watching my uncle photoshop ID pictures of our customers. [She laughs.]
I may say that I was exposed to the digital world of art, especially graphic design, as early as six years old. And it is still clear for me as if it just happened yesterday how I really loved creating my own play-money, greeting cards, and fair tickets from scratch then print them in our dot matrix printer and manually cut them with scissors.
During my elementary age, I developed my love for graphic design even more. I was the youngest staff in our shop to be able to attend to our customers’ requests like photoshopping blurred documents, enhancing photos for reprinting, and creating cover arts for school projects while kids my age only played video games.
When I entered high school, I became our official newspaper’s layout artist. I’ve designed numerous shirts and uniforms for different events, and that continued till college where I sometimes received monetary rewards for my work.
At first, I never knew that graphic design could be a decent profession. So, what I chose to take on during college was a bachelor’s degree in political science and shifted to mass communication. Although I was not able to finish my degree and contrary to what others think of me, I am finally earning a multiple 6-figure as a graphic design specialist.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: I could not stress this enough, but this is the value I want to share with others: *Just do what you love, it’ll take you somewhere far.* My story has been a roller-coaster ride. I became a parent at the early age of 19. Since then I never stopped exploring options on how I can make a living. My life partner and I paused from studying to become full-time parents and providers and we thought that if we didn’t finish college our career is bound to nowhere. My parenthood journey turned my world upside-down that it made me forget myself and my interests. My child became my everything and subconsciously forget what I loved doing – designing. It took me years of exploring what’s missing and why I still feel empty even we both earn enough. Until my partner and I decided to quit our corporate job and build a small digital printing company from scratch, our capital was from loans and credit card, our knowledge in equipment operations are all self-taught. I started designing again for our own business and I felt so alive. Everything went well from there. Until the pandemic came, back-to-back lockdowns affected our operations. To escape bankruptcy, I made a shift and use my design skills to offer it to a bigger market, and that’s when I became a freelance brand designer and it allowed me to earn 5x of our business’s profit. Without having to worry about the pandemic and lockdowns. I was able to reach greater heights for my family. Truly, doing what you love won’t fail you. It’ll take you farther than what you have imagined. Some have judged me that I could do more and earn more only if I followed the career path my degree will take me. But I chose clarity over certainty. My passion gave me clarity more than anything else and I know for sure that as long as I use this skill to help others, I am on the right path.
Q:What does feminism mean to you?
A: For me, feminism is standing up that you are more than “just a woman”. It’s equal rights = equal access to opportunities. I believe that feminism leans more towards equality, not female superiority. And that equality is what all genders deserve, not just us women.
MORE FROM CAMILLE: I am a corporate escapee, and now the creative mastermind behind Miles Creative Co. (a brand and marketing design company I started a year ago). I live in the province of Nueva Ecija, Philippines. I have two daughters. I love having multiple businesses. I have an online boutique, and I also help my partner manage our small restaurant business.
