Meet LISA BROWN

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

Hi LISA, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I started Brown Town Idiomas to help others learn Spanish in a fun and interactive way. Prior to starting the business, I worked as a Spanish Teacher and started traveling Spanish camps for children in Atlanta. My bilingual camps became very successful selling out each summer for the past 16 years. After year 12, I started to write my first book Noche Noche Niños : A Spanglish Bedtime Adventure. I wrote this book to assist me in teaching my students Spanish. I got tired of searching for materials to enhance my programs, so I decided to create my own. Noche Noche Niños started off as a hobby but once it was published it took off. I found myself traveling to DC, MD, Philadelphia, Chicago, and California to share my book. My book was first put in Uncle Bobbies Cafe, Black and Nobel, and Umoja House in Philadelphia. Noche Noche Niños was then accepted in Malik books in California, and I was invited to Howard County Schools in MD, and Da book Joint in Chicago. This all happened within 6 months and I sold over 1,000 copies of Noche Noche Niños by hand. I’ve been featured in Hey Atlanta book fairs, The book Worm book festival in Powder Springs, Cobb County International fairs, Brookhaven International fairs, Decatur Book festival, Happy Black Parent book festival, and many more. I have also recently been announced as a board member of Cobb County Libraries. After the success of one year, I published my newest book ¡Ñam Ñam Niños!: A Spanglish Dinner Time Adventure. So, far within six months I’ve been invited to Frederick College in MD to speak and share my books, I’ve partnered with Daycares in Atlanta, and recently partnered with Peperhill Elementary School to supply their MLL students with 250 books. I am having the best time sharing my work and teaching Spanish to students inside and outside of my classroom.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My children’s books offer the reader a story that is written in English but has Spanish phrases interspersed. They are easy to follow for both English language learners and Spanish language learners. They also offer a variety 10 activities in the back of the book to continue your language learning journey. Along with a glossary and number practice for all learners. Each book teaches a life skill and useful language tool. For example, ¡Ñam Ñam Niños!: A Spanglish Dinner Time Adventure teaches the reader how to order foods in Spanish and express their likes and dislikes regarding food. One can travel with the book and order in Spanish using it all the way down to asking for the check. It also teaches you about different cultures as they relate to food. Noche Noche Niños teaches fear conquering activities while introducing Spanish phrases and high frequency words. It is great tool for Spanish language learners and for social emotional learning. Noche Noche Niños has been positively reviewed by both Ain Heath Drew, Author of Ari J.’s Kinky, Curly Crown and Jahphut Publishing Company.

I am most excited about the opportunities my books have brought to me. The biggest success has been school partnerships and teaching lessons around the world. I have also enjoyed seeing my books displayed in libraries, schools, and book stores around the world. It’s great to see others enjoying my work.
My biggest challenge and lesson so far has been printing costs. Because I was unsure of how well my first book Noche Noche would sell, I used Amazon as a platform and printed through them which resulted in a higher printing cost for me. After selling over 200 books in the first week, I had to change printing companies to receive a bigger profit. For my latest book ¡Ñam Ñam Niños, I did a mass print and I current have thousands of books in my possession to distribute which allows me to offer wholesale prices for my larger orders. I also offer character t-shirts with Spanish phrases that can be coupled with a book. They can also be found on my website.
I’d like the world to know that learning a second language can be fun and easy with the right tools. My books provide life skills, culture, and fun activities to keep you learning the language and appropriate for ages 3-16.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
When my best friends were visiting Atlanta with their kids, we visit the Aquarium for the dolphin and sea lion shows, and activities, We then hit up Mellow Mushroom for pizza, and then the milkshake bar near the aquarium. The next day we visit the Atlanta botanical Gardens where we visit the different gardens, and the kids enjoy the kids garden and splash pad while we drink wine from the wine stands and watch them play. The next day, we would visit the Cobb county water parks where they have lazy rivers, slides, basketball in the water, and other water sports. Another day, we visit Southern belle farms to pick peaches and have homemade peach ice cream. We then come home to make peach cobbler. Another day,We visit the movie theaters to see the latest kids movie and go to Sugar factory for dinner.

At night, we have a sitter and visit Two Urban Licks on Saturday night for salmon chips, live bar, drinks, and great food. The Red Phone booth downtown for drinks and our husbands enjoy the cigars.
Another night, we visit Politan row for a variety of great food and lounges.
Another night we visit Polaris where we talk while seeing a great view of the city and enjoy great food.
We love to go to Katch for good drinks and great music and vibes. We also enjoy places like Canoe, where we eat on the water or in the garden.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My family! My parents for supporting my educational goals. They supported me through college at Clark Atlanta University while earning three degrees, BA, MA, and Ed.S. They sent me to Mexico to live and experience the culture. My aunt and grandpa sent me to Spain to live and learn the history of the language. My husband, Gary Brown, has supported and encouraged me to move forward with writing children’s books. He has also helped me at festivals and book events. He’s very supportive in every way and is always asking what’s the next step? My children, Lavendar, (10) Lily (9), and Garrett (5) have sold hundreds of books at festivals, schools, doctor’s offices, airports, etc. They always run the bilingual games for me at events. They are amazing. Lastly, my Middle School French Teacher, who wanted to take me to Canada to learn more of the language and my High School Spanish Teacher encouraged me to continue studying Spanish as I was great at learning languages at a young age. I appreciate all the individuals that helped me and saw this gift in me before I was wise enough to recognize it in myself.

Website: http://browntownidiomas.com/

Instagram: @brown.townproductions

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