IAM1583 – Author and Publisher Inspires Children to Believe in their Dreams

Sabrina Wiggins is an emerging children's book author, an advocate of positive change, and an avid explorer who consistently strives to give back to her community through the power of words and service. Sabrina has been working with children for over 15 years. After her grandson was born in 2017, she dusted off her writings and published her first book, “Off to Washington” in 2018. Now more than ever, she wants to make sure that African American children see images of characters that look like them, inspiring, giving hope, and making them believe in their dreams.

• CEO Story: Sabrina and her brother started a non-profit in 2007, offering hip-hop education to the community for almost ten years. Sabrina then pursued her MBA and started writing children's books about the community. Her company was named after her grandson.
• Business Service: Author of 3 books sharing stories with children. Publishing company.
• Secret Sauce: You need to be a sponge of information, and gather valuable information. Read personal and business books.
• CEO Hack: (1) Book mention: 5 am Plug, and read books, it gives you some other things that help you grow. (2) Accountability partner – help you push forward when you have those bad days.
• CEO Nugget: Making sure you are doing things right from the beginning, having a good foundation. Make sure you know and understand and do it the right way.
• CEO Defined: Community Empowerment and Opportunities. Help the community of self-publishers or other people to see things in a different way.

Website: www.littleaidenpress.com

Facebook: littleaidenpress

Instagram: littleaidenpress

TikTok: littleaidenpress

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00:28 – Intro

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkness values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO podcast.

00:56 – Gresham Harkless

Hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Sabrina Wiggins of Little Aiden. Sabrina, excited to have you on the show.

01:06 – Sabrina Wiggins

Yes. Thank you so much for having me. I'm looking forward to just talking to the audience.

01:11 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. I love everything you're doing. I know we talked a little bit offline, so before we jumped into that great conversation, that awesome talk, I wanted to read a little bit more about Sabrina so you could hear about some of those awesome things. Sabrina is an emerging children's book author an advocate of positive change and an avid explorer who consistently strives to give back to her community through the power of words and service. Sabrina has been working with children for over 15 years.

After her grandson was born in 2017, she dusted off her writings and published her first book, off to Washington, in 2018. Now more than ever, she wants to make sure that African American children see images of characters that look like them. Inspiring, giving hope, and making them believe in their dreams. Sabrina, absolutely love everything you're doing. Love even more that you're here today. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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02:00 – Sabrina Wiggins

Yes, I am.

02:01 – Gresham Harkless

Let's get it started then. So to kind of kick everything off, I just wanted to rewind the clock a little bit here, a little bit more on how you got started. What I call your CEO story.

02:10 – Sabrina Wiggins

Yeah, so my brother and I, started a nonprofit around 2007. My brother has always loved hip-hop music, so we started a non-profit organization called Hip Hop Education where we would go out into the community, the children would perform positive hip-hop music, and that's where the journey began. So for me doing Things and working in the community. So after about almost 10 years, we put things to the side. I went to get my MBA and then from there I was like, okay, I miss doing what I was doing, so let me jump back into it. I said I started writing a children's book.

A little bit about community service and some of the things that we were doing in the community. That's how I birthed my first book, off to Washington. When my grandson was born, I was like, okay, I'm going to name my publishing company Little Aiden Press. His name is Aiden. So that's how birthed my business a small publishing company, Little Aiden Press. I've been on that journey ever since.

03:14 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I absolutely love to hear about the journey. So many times I feel at least whenever we are in the right place and we leave that place, we have like a calling that seems like a magnet is pulling us back to say it's something that we need to be doing. So it sounds like you had that experience.

03:32 – Sabrina Wiggins

Yes, I truly did. I love working with the communities and I love working with children as they are. The future.

03:40 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. Just like everything that you do, I think we sometimes don't realize how powerful our words are and how we can basically be like an, I used to say, like an artist and paint the picture that we see. So that's why I think it's so powerful, everything that you're doing. Not only does it become that book, then they also get to read that information. But I think it also ends up becoming a reality as well too, once they see those images and that's what makes it so powerful.

04:04 – Sabrina Wiggins

Yes.

04:06 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. So I want to drill down a little bit more. Can you take us through how you're serving your clients, some of the books, and some of the ways that you serve your clients in Little Aid and Press?

04:14 – Sabrina Wiggins

Oh, yes, most definitely. So myself, I've written three books so far. Little Aiden Press is not just about me. It's about the big community at hand, the self-publishing journey. Because I self-published my book is no easy task. If you listen to a lot of the naysayers out there, self-published books are garbage. That is not the case. So for me, I am on this journey to be able to get people to know that what we're writing, deserves to be seen and our voices deserve to be heard because we are also creating some amazing work.

Before there was traditional publishing, how do you think people published their books before had to self-publish them because there were no expensive traditional publishers to publish for them? So I am currently now not just selling my own books, but I do a feature Friday where I also feature a self-published author. I call them my fellow author friends. I want to make sure that they are, the world is aware of the writings that we have in the books that are out here because our children need to be able to see and hear our stories in our own voices.

05:26 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, I absolutely love that and I think it's so powerful and you see that so many ways in different types of media, especially here around social media and podcasts and just all these different tools that you have an opportunity to go direct to consumer, for lack of a better term, you get to go directly to and connect. You don't have to go through the publisher.

I think that's so powerful because, for one, I believe some of those stories that didn't get told or those sometimes opposite narratives sometimes don't come to light because you don't have that opportunity to kind of hear from a different perspective. Here are some, I guess, alternative ways to look at things. I think when you have that power and you realize that self-publishing is a way to do that, then you can again rewrite, your story and rewrite the history too.

06:07 – Sabrina Wiggins

Yes and don't get me wrong, every story, even some of those, has been traditionally published. It's not for everybody. Just because it's not for you does not mean it's not for someone else. It's so important to allow people to have choices, to be able to decide which story works and connects with them.

06:27 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. Which is why I think it's so powerful in everything that you're doing. I think that when you start to take that step, and I appreciate you talking about how it's not for everybody and it's not necessarily quote, unquote easy to go through that process because I think once the most important thing is to know like what that process looks like and then to be able to kind of take those steps.

But I think that when you start to realize that you have a gift, you have that opportunity to tell a story, to create a book, whatever it might be, in a different way, then I almost feel like you're charged with that gift in being able to kind of share that out and whatever way in shape or form you can, yes.

07:00 – Sabrina Wiggins

The pandemic, brought on a lot more of self-published African American biopic authors. For lack of words. Because as they were trying to teach their children, they were not finding books that had characters that looked like their children. They wanted to make sure that they also were creating products so that when they read to their children or when their children were reading, they can identify with somebody in the book and it's not somebody else's happily ever after. Because our children need to be able to see that we as African Americans can be heroes in stories and live that fairytale happily ever after life as well.

07:43 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. It's so funny that you said that because for me, I remember my mom made it a point to make sure that I had books that did show African Americans doing awesome things. It helped me to rewrite my narrative to where it wasn't like the narrative that sometimes we can see in so many different popular media outlets, I got to see a different light. By doing that, I also believed in myself a lot more. I think that goes so far. So that's why I appreciate you and not just looking for that, but seeing that there wasn't something there and then decided to create that.

08:13 – Sabrina Wiggins

Yes. Most definitely. It's important, especially now, today, it's very important.

08:22 – Gresham Harkless

Exactly. That's the whole self-image and self-perception and even self-esteem can come from a lot of those images that you're seeing. So I love that you're being the change you want to see in the world. So, what would you consider to be? You might have already touched on this, your secret sauce. This could be for yourself personally, the business, or a combination of both. But what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

08:42 – Sabrina Wiggins

So for me, I'm a sponge. I think that when you're on any journey, whether it's personal or business, you need to be a sponge and you need to be a sponge for information. Because if you want to move forward and progress in life, you have to be a sponge. You have to search for information and you have to be able to hold on to the valuable things that you gather from being that sponge and so reading is important.

I have books and things that I read from businesses from a business standpoint. Then I have those personal books that I read just from a personal standpoint. I think that being a sponge and making sure that on your journey you're getting that valuable input that you need for yourself to grow. It's so very important.

09:30 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. Just as you said so well, and I have actually been able to produce as well, too. There's so much out there. I think, for one, I use the word. You hear the word a lot empathy. I think a lot of that empathy comes from being well read, being diversely read as well, too, because there are so many other perspectives. There's a value that comes from just like looking from somebody else's perspective. But you only do that if you are that sponge, if you are really reading those things, if you're looking and listening, whatever it might be to different perspectives, and sometimes just continue to kind of build yourself up by doing that.

10:02 – Sabrina Wiggins

Oh, yes, most definitely. In that business, in the business journey and I'm sure that you are aware of this, this journey can be lonely. You have to make sure that you have resources and information to help you move forward in this journey. Because if you don't have that, you will find yourself on the side of failure instead of success and trying to figure out how to get out of that. So you have to make sure that you're constantly being a student.

10:36 – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. You might have touched on this, but this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

10:49 – Sabrina Wiggins

So for me, again, books. So I have several books that I read that I've read, and one particular that I'm reading Now is the 5 am Club. I tell you so many gems in that book that just moving forward as an entrepreneur, as a CEO, I think that is very important for people to read because it just gives you some other things that you probably didn't think about and some things to just kind of explain, expound on so that you can grow in your business. Then the other thing for me is to have an accountability partner.

My, one of my business partners, we've been on this business journey for probably about 12 years together. It's been many times that myself and like, we are like, I forget it. Nobody's listening to us. I'm going to give up. But we somehow seem to talk each other off the ledge all the time. Even when you think that you want to give up, something always comes to you that says, okay, I just, can't stop now.

So reading again, like I said before, being a sponge, not just in books, but mentoring, things like that, and getting that accountability partner to kind of help you keep pushing forward. So when you have those bad days, like I said, in this journey of entrepreneurship, it gets lonely. So if you don't have the right people around you to kind of help you and guide you, you won't really give up and throw in the path.

12:15 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. I appreciate you so much for sharing that. You said the book was Friday Unplugged.

12:19 – Sabrina Wiggins

No, it's called the 5 am Plug. Can you see that?

12:23 – Gresham Harkless

5 Am Plug. Yes, absolutely. Thanks for sharing it. The 5 am Plug. Because I'm always looking for great nuggets and hacks and everything. So I'm definitely going to check that out. I know I touched on this a little bit. Well, what would you consider to be a CEO nugget? That's a little bit more word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It's something you might tell your younger business self if you hopped into a time machine.

12:43 – Sabrina Wiggins

So I will tell myself to make sure that I'm doing things right from the beginning because I made some mistakes getting started in this entrepreneurship journey. If you're starting your business, you want to make sure that the foundation is solid. I say that because we make a lot of mistakes. We think that entrepreneurship, some of us think entrepreneurship is like, go register your business. Now I'm a CEO. It's not about being a CEO, it's about what problems or solutions you're going to offer.

You want to make sure when you start this journey that you started correctly. Make sure you have your back office. Because I tell you, we forget about our back office sometimes. If that back office is not together, you open yourself up to so many vulnerabilities that you cannot even believe. I would have made sure that I really, truly knew and understand, understood what I was doing when I jumped into this journey.

Make sure you understand. Make sure you know and do it the right way. Don't go out here paying somebody who doesn't know what they're talking about. Make sure you find somebody who truly knows what you're talking about. Because we have a whole lot of scammers out here right now. So that's what I would say to my younger self.

14:03 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, unfortunately, I have to say amen to that because that is definitely the case where everybody who says that they know what they're doing doesn't necessarily know what they're doing. Sabrina, now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So Sabrina, what does being a CEO mean to you?

14:20 – Sabrina Wiggins

I would say without people, you're not a CEO. So for me, I say CEO is community empowerment and opportunity. That means that I have an opportunity to be able to help my community of self-publishers or whatever the case may be, empower the next young person who really wants to get into this space, and then be able to help with opportunities out in the community. So for me, the CEO is just that, community empowerment and opportunities.

14:51 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Well Sabrina, truly appreciate that definition. Of course, I appreciate your time even more. So what I wanted to do now is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know and of course how best people could get a hold of you to find about all the awesome things that you're working on.

15:07 – Sabrina Wiggins

That's my nugget for you guys. Don't operate in fear. Keep pushing forward. Again, my name is Sabrina Wiggins, CEO and founder of Little Aiden Press and I can be reached on all of the platforms just about at Little Aiden Press on any other platforms. You can always hit me up at email @littleadenpressmail.com and connect with me there. Follow me on social media.

I'm actually right now we're in the process of doing our second annual self Gatekeeper award. So many of the BIPOC self-published children's books opposite out there, you have until December 31st to submit your projects to our awards because we want to honor and celebrate our self-published office.

15:52 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. I absolutely love that you're doing that. Of course, love everything you're doing and featuring the self-published BIPOC authors on Fridays as well. So of course we're going to have the links and information in the show notes as well too so that everybody can follow up and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

16:08 – Sabrina Wiggins

Yes, thank you for having me. Enjoy. Have a great day.

16:12 – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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