A few months ago my new friend Rika boss woman of Republic of Pigtails told me about her friend and fellow mom entrepreneur Andi Green. Andi Green writes and illustrates children’s books here in Jersey City. I was extremely curious to find out more so I went to Word bookstore in Jersey City to purchase a book for my little Mia. The book is called “The Monster in the Bubble”. That same night, before putting Mia to sleep, I read the book and was in tears.

 

This book really hit home for me,  from many different aspects in my life, first seeing my beautiful little baby growing up so quickly and wanting her to stay small and fun-sized and not have to deal with the trials and tribulations of life… and the other aspect of me leaving a bubble that was corporate America to pursue my creative passions. I had to meet Andi, to hear her story and to also find out how she juggles life as a mom and entrepreneur. Andi invited me over to her home to chat and meet her beautiful daughter Selene and adorable rescue dog.

What’s your name? Andi Green

What do you do? I write and illustrate children’s books about emotions. My books are called the WorryWoo monsters, it’s a series of books and plush dolls… each monster embodies a different emotion. We have loneliness, confusion, insecurity, innocence, frustration and worry. The whole entire goal is to help people understand and embrace difficult emotions. Realize that these emotions aren’t scary and just part of who we are.

How did you start? I started doing this when I was young. In about 8th grade I started sketching monsters into high school… I was going through a lot of emotions during high school, bullying and all that stuff was part of my life and I was that girl who just didn’t fit in and the only way I knew how to express myself was to illustrate. I never really knew why I was drawing them but I just kept doing it… and it made me feel better.

I did it through college and I got a degree in design and photography… In the first year when I started working, I was asked to participate in a group show in New York City and I decided to illustrate my monsters on large light boxes. Initially they were more adult oriented, I thought people would appreciate them as adults… What I found is that parents and teachers where coming to the show and asked me if I made books… so it lit a flame in me to consider the next steps.

It kept going on and people were seeking me out. I had another job, I was working in advertising and I decided to produce them on my own.

I started with Nola, “The Monster of Loneliness”. I worked crazy hours during the days and at night I would illustrate my books and work on concepts for the dolls. In 2007, I started my company “Monsters in My Head” which was the name of the exhibit in 2001. I decided on the name The WorryWoo Monster because we all have worries and it’s an umbrella for all of them. When I put out Nola, I had no idea where things were going to go… And to my delight, Uncommon Goods said they wanted to bring them in.

From there the ball started rolling. After that I exhibited in the Toy Fair which lead to a WorryWoo appearance on Today Show’s “Unique Gifts for the Holidays Segment”.  As The WorryWoos grew, I continued to produce a different book and doll each year. It was exciting to see the WorryWoo name was catching on. My dream of helping children(and adults) understand and embrace difficult emotions was starting to come to fruition!

I love that. I read the Monster in the Bubble. I read it to Mia and I started crying… that message of being in a bubble and being so scared to go outside the bubble… it’s not just for children, it’s everyone… Absolutely. An interesting thing about that book was that book came out at such a crazy time. I was working full-time and doing the WorryWoos at night. I was exhausted… Everyone kept telling me you have to give up one, you can’t keep going. The idea of changing my life and stepping outside of my bubble and doing something new like owning a business… I couldn’t believe that this book was such a parallel to what I was going through.

A lot of adults were like we feel this! I write for children because I want them to understand these emotions, but I write for adults because I want them to know that as adults we go through this as well. With the bubble book, I used to have these events at the W hoboken and the first party they threw, there were like 100 moms and dads…. anyway I read the book and parents were sobbing. At the end they gave a standing applause and were so happy about this book saying “I am that bubble! I don’t want to let my child go…” as if they had learned a lesson too. It was awesome to see how both parent and children could relate to the story.  When I first wrote the story I was thinking more from a kid’s perspective of trying new things, but now as a new mom I can see where parent’s can interrupt themselves as the bubble. I love that the story has so many different interpretations.

As a mom, I say oh my gosh, I get that! I want to put Selena in bubble. But we have to let our kids step out of it, and try new things. But realize that we are there….

What inspires your stories? They are all inspired by my own feelings and my own life. I go back to high school because kids are going through so much these days with social media and I didn’t know how to address these emotions when I was younger and these are things I didn’t know how to address. People were so mean in high school…

I get it. I am a victim of bullying as well. Awful. You feel lonely, you feel like you have no friends. That’s how I felt, I had a lot of friends outside of school but I couldn’t see past the wall of nastiness. I thought there was something wrong with being lonely. There is nothing wrong with begin lonely! If anything it’s part of you and you get past it. It makes you stronger. People made fun of how I looked all the time and I wanted to write a story about a monster who didn’t think he was beautiful and he is beautiful just the way he is… and “worry”, I worry about everything! “Frustration”, is something we all go through and we turn into such a big deal. We make it such a huge thing when it isn’t.

Awful. It’s probably worse these days, people can bully on social media….I can’t even imagine. A big goal of mine is to let kids know they are not alone with these feelings, we all have them. I think if we can educate our children early on healthy ways to express and accept difficult emotions it can have a life long impact. And in my mind you are never too old to learn how to accept and embrace your emotions- I think there are a lot of teenagers and adults who can benefit from the WorryWoos.

You are also simplifying emotions.Yes, I want to simplify feelings that in our minds seem so complicated and offer positive ways to look at these topics. These emotions are going to be with us forever but I hope, like me, others can learn to turn their fears into their friends, or at least accept them as they are. That’s part of the process.

Do you read the books to your daughter before she goes to sleep? I do sometimes. I am one of those people who is so insecure about my books.

How do you juggle it all? I find a way to make it happen.

Where do you sell your books? Nationwide as well as in Australia. We are also used by teachers and counselors in schools around the countries. We recently  released a new companion book by the renowned Australian psychologist Dr. John Irvine called “Helping Young Worriers Beat the WorryBug.” It’s an amazing resource for parents and caregivers. It offers a wonderful introduction about children and anxiety as well as different tips and activities to help kids beat the dread “WorryBug”.  In addition, the first WorryWoo Musical- “Woosical” was a finalist in  the New York New Works Theatre festival in NYC. I hope we will be seeing a lot more debuts of “Woosical” around the country.

What are your future plans? I hope to grow the line, there’s so many emotions out there. I would really like to incorporate the books into education. Tackle social emotional learning, I don’t think there is enough out there.

I think that’s a key part of mental health- being able to identify your feelings, not mask them. A lot of problems people experience A lot of problems people experience these days relate to masking their feelings, which can create anxiety or lead to unhealthy addictions. I always use this analogy – that feelings are like a balloon. If you keep trying to push the balloon underwater it will keep bobbing up. Being a healthy person is acknowledging your feelings – letting them happen.  Absolutely. Being able to address how you feel is so important. When I was younger I struggled with this. I thought there was something wrong with me. I shouldn’t feel this way.  It was only through drawing them out that I was able to express them and ultimately make peace with what I was feeling. I hope my WorryWoos can help other young ones get to this point as well as comfort them. We need our children to know there is nothing wrong with the feelings they have and to talk about them, not hide them.

How long have you been in Jersey City? 12 years.

Favorite hangout spot? Basic. Beechwood for breakfast, I love Saigon for dinner. Watching Jersey City evolve into this hip place is awesome.

Anything else you want people to know? I hope everyone embraces their emotions and is able to find their inner “Woo” I love what I do and I hope to never stop drawing the “monsters in my head.”

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