Meet Nury Castillo Crawford | Community advocate, award-winning author, entrepreneur, leader in education

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nury Castillo Crawford and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nury, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I am originally from the second largest country in South America- Peru. As a young Latina I emigrated with my entire family to the USA right before my 11th birthday. Without language acquisition, minimal knowledge of the USA, and absolutely no connection to the culture or school system, I learned at a very young age that perseverance, hard work, and family were the most important things in life. Due to the challenges as immigrants I grew up with empathy and love towards others. Seeing my father and mother take whatever jobs came their way, kept me humble and learned to treat everyone with dignity and respect. Since my parents had to start over, like babies they had no financial status nor language proficiency, I learned not to judge others and how the support and a helping hand from one person can make a difference. Amidst the challenges my parents continued to pour love on to my siblings and I. They continued to have high expectations for our only job (per my dad) which as my education. Now that I am an adult and have met many of my personal and professional goals, I live life like I was raised. My most important responsibility is to give back, to pull someone else up, many times it is children. I want to make sure that every child I come in contact with knows he is not defined by his/her parents income, nor by the worst mistake they’ve ever made. In order to have the most impact, I also love to support their parents. I believe in empowering parents and community so that our children will have a whole community to support them. I meet many families that look just like mine when I was growing up. They look like mine because maybe they are not financially stable or maybe they don’t have a car. They look like my family because maybe they are immigrants. We are all made up of many attributes, so nationality or race are not the only ways we can connect.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
“People like you don’t go to college”- high school counselor, 11th grade

That’s how my independent journey to a four-year institution began. My high school counselor suggested I take a class to become a secretary. I didn’t want to be one, rather a teacher. I would be the first one in my family to go to a university and I wanted to be a teacher. He actually helped me, if it wasn’t for him I would not have been propelled to go in search for my own. I visited Florida A&M University on my own, and was blessed to meet the dean of admissions. He heard my story and that was the beginning of the most wonderful experience I could have asked for. I graduated from FAMU with a BS and MS in education, and leadership in education. I have been an educator my entire life. My passion for paying it forward via one of our country’s most vulnerable group of people is what makes me wake up every day and do better than the last.
Through this journey I saw the lack of representation in the resources accessible to teachers and schools. Add the rhetoric of how immigrants were ruining our country, I was led to write my first book, “3,585 MILES TO BE AN AMERICAN GIRL” in 2018. A bilingual children’s book about the journey of a Latina girl. Since then I have had the honor to write several other books. In addition, at that time in 2018, you didn’t see too many bilingual books and Latino authors, so I decided to launch my own small press in Atlanta, GA. 1010 PUBLISHING solely focuses on the dissemination of books in a dual language or bilingual. We started with English-Spanish, but have grown to add other languages such as Twi, Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, this year we will release our first French & English books!
This year, 2022, I opened a bookstore, “THE little BOOK SPOT” located in Lilburn, GA that focuses on diversity in books: language, culture, race, abilities, and so much more!

Currently I am an Executive Director of Alternative Schools and Innovation for the Office of Youth Re-Engagement. I am proud and honored to serve children who are in one of the most vulnerable spaces one can find himself / herself in. I strive to ensure my staff helps empower our children to know they are not defined by their worst mistake in life. It is a role I am very passionate about.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We would definitely be entering Hartsfield International Airport. I would have bought a few titles (two copies of each of course). We would go to Bora Bora. We would fly into Tahiti in French Polynesia. The flight is about 12 hours, so we would fly at night time, first class of course. It is absolutely horrible to fly that long in coach. I’m too old to sleep uncomfortably.

We would stay at the St. Regis Bora Bora Resort. It is located in a private beach and we would indulge is spa days, sandy coasts, and pool relaxation.
Each day we would indulge in a new activity!
Sunday: Arrive and just get to know the resort, beach time!
Monday: yoga classes on the beach
Tuesday: aerobics classes on the beach
Wednesday: sailing
Thursday: snorkeling
Friday: kayaking
Saturday: helicopter ride

Every day we would go out to explore and eat out and shop!

I love to travel and learn new cultures. People are amazing.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Mi mami & papi deserve all of the recognition. A young couple with three young children emigrating to a new country with absolutely nothing and were able to live what many used to call “The American Dream”. I want to say that every single day I acknowledge that you left all you had so that Ketty, Oscar and I could have a better life. It happened! We did it. Papi, I remember the late nights you came in from working two jobs. Mami (RIP) you made feasts every single day and made home feel like a safe, loving place, one which I could ask for nothing else. I grew up not needing anything, I just knew I had it all.

I share with audiences of 10 – 2,000 how your consistent love, support, and expectations made me who I am today. Your wisdom lives in me. Your commitment to family is paramount and I know I am better for it. “Haz bien sin mirar a quien” (Do right and don’t worry about others). I live by this- I do my best and do not judge others, like you would reiterate- we never know what they are going through.

I don’t know what I ever did to deserve you both, but I thank you for investing in me with your time, love, and patience.

Website: https://www.1010publishing.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1010publishing/?hl=en

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nury-castillo-crawford-5420171

Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/1010publishing

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1010Publishing/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe_Nzd_kBbyfhO3XOuNY-Bw

Other: Personal https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=Nury%20Castillo%20Crawford

Image Credits
Photo credit: Nury Castillo Crawford & team under THE little BOOK SPOT and 1010 Publishing.