Mentorship Program Sparks Opportunity for Collaboration

CMA members Caroline and Katherine Brickley, twin sisters and co-founders of Blossom, an independent children’s media company, began developing their new children’s picture book, The Friendly Bookshelf, more than a year ago. As the story addresses critical social-emotional learning components in a never-before-seen way, the sisters wanted to find a child development expert to collaborate on this project with to ensure the story successfully met its mission of helping children feel safe to share their own unique stories with the world as well as inspired to celebrate those of others.

Through the CMA Mentorship Program, they met Laura Zimmermann, Ph.D., the Founder and President of Tech Play Collaborative which supports positive child development outcomes through research partnerships, and quickly realized their aligned interests. They are now working together to ensure the story of The Friendly Bookshelf will have a positive impact on its young readers today, and for many years to come, and will hold a meaningful spot in children’s hearts (and on their bookshelves!).

To learn more, stop by The Friendly Bookshelf Website. To support the project, please consider donating to The Friendly Bookshelf Kickstarter Campaign when it launches this June.