The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
Like breakthroughs, there have been so many learning curves that have been challenging. Registering as a company involved so much more than I anticipated. Building a functioning, user-friendly webstore was also a huge challenge! Creating a social media presence for my business, when I am not a social media person, has been both challenging and overwhelming! Finding my voice in an industry that has so many established perspectives is an ongoing challenge. Sometimes I feel like an imposter!
My biggest ongoing challenge, however, is making sure my books reach those little hands that they were created for. In my eyes, my business only succeeds if the books reach the curious minds they were written for, in homes where they can be read, shared and loved.
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
Pros: Having the autonomy to steer the ship and shape the direction of my business has been incredibly rewarding. I value the flexibility to work from home around my family. It allows me to be present for my children and is an opportunity to model for them what modern, balanced work can look like in 2026, especially for parents navigating both career and family life. Being creative is my ultimate passion and I am lucky to experience this through the work I do and the business I am building. Having the opportunity to engage with so many fantastic organisations, businesses, schools and children is both heartwarming and inspiring. It never gets old seeing my books in a new store, Kindergarten or treasured by a child. Listening to children reading Story World books is unbelievably rewarding and always puts a huge smile on my face.
Cons: Wearing so many hats can be exhausting. From being an editor to a designer, doing marketing, sales and accounting. Packing orders, dealing with printers, managing cash flow, which is not as straight forward as you think when starting out! There are so many hidden costs attached to running a business and so many factors that can go wrong. But that is small business. I dream of taking on a bigger team and sharing the load, but with that I lose some of the pros I value the most.
Ultimately, there are always pros and cons in every path we choose in life, but what matters is how we create balance and perspective in what we do. Running a business is a lot of hard work, but for me, the rewards of being able to show up for my children every day and build something I am passionate about outweigh the late nights and the never-ending list of tasks. Being able to create and build something that I believe in and love is something I am proud of and do not take for granted.
Hopes and dreams: What next?
This is a dangerous question to ask a creative. We are always dreaming!
I hope to expand the Story World collection further, creating more books that retell other traditional stories from around the world, books that children can identify with and or learn from. I believe books play a huge part in children’s social and emotional growth and want to continue to create stories that provide opportunities for children to learn about other cultures, as well as their own. Being read to, reading to others or reading in isolation all build positive connections with literacy learning. Subconsciously, these connections help shape who we are. By offering books that break down ethnic and cultural barriers, I hope we move forward to a world where subconscious acceptance is a given.
I have a new series in the creative pipelines, one that I am very excited about and will see Story World evolve further and ultimately become a publisher. This series will collaborate with upcoming illustrators, showcasing human creativity, artistic talent and skill in a world where AI is becoming increasingly dominant. It is a project designed not only to tell stories, but also to help children who are curious about the publishing process understand how books are created from concept to completion.
Story World is expanding into puzzles! I am creating a range of engaging wooden puzzles from the amazing illustrations featured in the books. Culture is so important and showcasing cultural art for children is a direction I am proud Story World is taking.
I dream that every child has the chance to see themselves, their friends and their peers reflected in the books they love to read – through stories that reflect the diversity of the world we live in.
Photography credit: Idella Photography.
Visit www.storyworld.co.nz to find out more, and connect with them on Instagram.
