Meet Iria Osara | Author, Tech Story Officer & Data Program Manager

We had the good fortune of connecting with Iria Osara and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Iria, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Thinking about this question, I think I started unknowingly, the idea was to expose young kids to tech through fun stories, videos, animations, and hands-on activities. There are STEM books that talk about the concepts but appear abstract to non-stem caregivers or parents. The thought was how can we have kids understand that these STEM concepts are connected to their environment and use it to help build core moral values and character? That way we do not just teach the young ones but their parents and caregivers are exposed and can learn along. After I published my first book Teach Toddlers Tech: Pair Programming, the reception was great but it took me publishing two more books before I got the confidence to start and register a business TYT TechEd which is all about exposing Toddlers, Tweens, and Young Teens to tech.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Technical story writing is an art that people have often associated with the software, applications, or product documentation. Or they look at it in terms of STEM, building robots, game development, or just coding. When it comes to fiction people leave it to the blockbuster movies.

My art as it is termed “technical storytelling” is really around the fun engaging stories for toddlers, tweens, and young teens with a target goal of building, not just technology but lifelong skills such as problem-solving, curiosity, and imagination while showing core values tech teaches us which is friendship, teamwork which helps build character. We do this by showing how tech and our surrounding environment are connected.

My book ABC Techified which is introductory to computer science is for children aged 6 upwards and includes real-world examples and exercises to build their problem-solving skills, and the Teach Toddlers Tech Programming and Debugging is a picture book teaching toddlers aged 0 to 6 about tech, that relates key concepts in their surrounding environment, we help kids, caregivers, parents and anyone passionate about tech, to better learn and understand tech concepts. To have a one-stop point where persons of all ages can access this regardless of their technology foundation we share a monthly newsletter called TheTechneTimes.

With a background in software engineering and product management, I am well prepared for this tech storytelling journey and as a parent, I get to observe firsthand my kids’ interaction with tech and use it to hopefully create content for other parents and caregivers. I will call this a learning process as daily it is improving based on the different needs of different kids. At the end of the day, I love to say I help everyone know the Tea in STEM. Just as relaxing, refreshing, and rejuvenating tea is, so also can technology be if learned in the right way.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I moved to Atlanta recently if five years counts as “recent”. I will start with an early morning walk in the Kennesaw Mountains. I love the view and it has some really good hiking and running trails. Once we are all done and refreshed we can restart the day by grabbing late breakfast at Marietta Market and then head out to go see Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park which is in downtown Atlanta as it also has CNN, Coca Cola(I love tasting Coke from all the different parts of the world) and Aquarium just around and some nice restaurant to wrap up the evening.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would love to shout out to my husband and kids for reading and helping me improve the book. Thank you to friends, family, and everyone for the support and feedback on the ABC Techified, Teach Toddlers Tech Pair Programming, and Debugging books.

Libraries and local bookstores have taken a chance on my book and carried it.

One particular one is The Thinking Spot out in Minnesota who I reached out to on Instagram. I also dedicate this shoutout to whoever is reading this article, thank you.

Website: www.teachtoddlerstech.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bigdataprincess/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iriaeno

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bigdataprincess

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/TeachToddlersTech

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOQWwgJ7VomfgZFEf6jrDug

Other: Amazon: https://amzn.to/2XCl1bN Apple Books: https://lnkd.in/d9jheBdf Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/iria%20osara Directly: sales@teachtoddlerstech.com You can reach us directly email to: info@teachtoddlerstech.com