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Speaker 1: Hello, and good morning. How are you doing today?

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Speaker 3: Good? How are you?

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Speaker 2: Absolutely fantastic. I am so glad that you have put

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this book together because it is needed in so many

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different ways. Because I'm inspired by the dancing. I'm inspired

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by the activation of our word, and that is so

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important in this moment where people are pulling back when

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we need to be pushing out.

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Speaker 3: Thank you so much.

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Speaker 1: Where did the idea come into play?

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Speaker 3: So for Balie Brown, So, I've been dancing since I

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was two years old. And when I first started dancing,

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the world of ballet was just full of color for

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us little girls and for us little kids. And as

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I started getting a little older, pink kind of became

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more of the priority than just all these beautiful rainbow colors.

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But then pink it kind of became the one color

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that we had to wear. And I started wondering about

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it because I was like, well, my legs are pink,

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and they don't look like they really belonged to me.

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And on stage, my friends look beautiful with the pink tights,

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but I mean, the line is kind of breaking for me.

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And so I started researching why the pink even why

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do we wear pink? And I found out that back

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when ballet originated in Europe, the pink was created to

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elongate the lines of the company dancers and to make

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them look nice and graceful and beautiful on stage, which

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is exactly what we want. We want we want everybody,

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but we want everybody to be able to look beautiful

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in stage and to have those elongated line. And so

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when I created Ballet Brown, I had I wanted. I

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wanted to convey the message that ballet brown is not

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even more it's not even just about putting well. Sorry,

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as ballet has involved there has been more skin, as

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more skin tellers have come into ballet, brown tights and

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brown shoes have been starting to be worn, but it's

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still not normalized. And so when I create a ballet brown,

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which is not only my new book, but it's also

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a term I coined and a mindset, and it kind

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of corresponds to the term ballet pink, which is very

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commonly used in ballet, which is the name of the

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pink tights and the pink, the pink color and ballet.

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So yeah, ballet brown is more, much bigger than just

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wearing brown tides and shoes. It's really about normalizing equivalent

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options and building spaces that are for everybody and for

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everybody to excel.

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Speaker 2: And I can so relate with this because I'm a

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third degree black belt and our dobokes are always white

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and I did not like that at all, and because

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I mean, first of all, we're on the floor, We're

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gonna get dirty, it's going to get filthy. But still

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I wasn't able to recognize my other students out in

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the real world when they when they had clothing of

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color on. And so maybe that's my attraction to this

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book is that you see so many different levels of color,

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and that was one thing that I missed so much

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in martial arts.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure, I feel like I feel like we

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all deserve we all deserve better, and we all deserve

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to be able to you know, we all deserve to

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have that feeling and to feel good about ourselves at

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the end of the day, especially in our sports.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, this book is more than just a YA book.

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There are things inside this book that really inspire me

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about you as a person, because I mean, you've got

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love notes here to the studios where where you're physically

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saying we can do this together, we can grow together.

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I mean you put a lot of thought thought into

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this presentation.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I was. I've been wanting to create Bali Brown. Well,

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it's been in the making for two years and it

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finally sends out tomorrow. But before it was even starting

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to be made, I've been. I've been, That's all I

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was thinking about. I wanted to create Bali Brown, the

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book so bad and so when I finally got to

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create my book, it was well, first came more than Please.

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Speaker 2: Do Not Move. There's more with Belln Woodard right around

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the corner. Hey, thanks for coming back to my conversation

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with author Bellen Wooder. The name of the book Ballet Brown.

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When it comes to writing a book at your age,

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and I hate to put that number out there, but

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the thing is is that you're doing things with your

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imagination that other people are probably doing as well, but

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they're hiding the writing and they're putting it in places

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because they don't want it to come out here, because

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they're afraid of being judged. How do you inspire people

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to become the writers that they are to be published?

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Speaker 3: So how I think I've inspired people is to what

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I communicate is that more than Peach is really just

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about letting kids be kids and giving them the best options.

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And so when you're going about these changes, I feel

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like you should really trust yourself and I do convey

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that message and really and have the courage to go

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out and challenge these as clothes and just you don't

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have to just accept just because that's how it is

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or how it's spent for a while. You're allowed to

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You're allowed to fight for something else. And even with

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more than peach that. Originally when I first made it,

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I made my first book more to teach. That was

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my I wanted that was my goal to that was

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my goal to commit a message that giving them the

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best options, and I just want I wanted to change

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the language of the Kang your creon and and teach

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have a teach, teach the well.

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Speaker 2: I totally, I totally understand all that. And the reason

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why is because I mean, there are some businesses where

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you can only wear a blue suit. It's like, really,

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why and why why? I mean, we we should we

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should be able to wear whatever colors we want to do.

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And I think that's what's so fas you know, fancy

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about this book is the fact that I think that

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adults are going to pick it up and go, I'm

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going to make a difference as well.

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Speaker 3: Mm hmm.

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Speaker 2: Now writing a book, your first book, the Age of ten.

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I gotta tell you my second grade teacher, missus Keith,

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saw the writer and me. That was second grade. But

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I mean, is there a teacher that that deserves the

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credit for saying, yes, do this, do this, You've got.

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Speaker 1: What it takes. We need your storytelling abilities.

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Speaker 3: I feel like when I first heard the echo of

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my teacher, I feel like that was really something that

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that's that's something that really inspired me. And I feel

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like that was definitely like a turning point and how

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I went about things because I was like, Wow, if

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if this one teacher could use my own language from

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when I was eight years old and take it and

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started using it in her in the classroom that she ran,

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then I wanted to I wanted to have this language everywhere,

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and so I just wanted to keep going and keep excelling.

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And so I feel like the support of adults and

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teachers really just means more two children than you think,

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because there's someone that you there are people that you

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look up to, and having someone that you look up

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to start using your messages is just something that that

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sticks with them.

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Speaker 2: One of the things that's been described inside your book

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is the expansion of our norms in both language and perception.

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I love that because you do, you do expand what

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we think is normal.

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Speaker 3: Thank you so much.

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Speaker 1: To have the courage to do that. I mean that

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that's amazing.

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Speaker 3: Thank you. I definitely it was definitely. At first, it

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was it was something I needed to kind of ease

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into because I was at first I was not afraid,

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but I was just a little nervous to see how

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other people would perceive this. But if you know in

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your heart that what you're doing is something that you

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feel is needed, then just go for it, because you

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never know how many people. You never really know how

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many people you're helping. And I found out that this

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language for more than specifically is what I'm referring to

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right now. But this language wasn't something that I was

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just hearing. It was something that even seniors have been

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hearing for years, and so more and more than you

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just created for all. And so that's exactly having that

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in mind is just exactly that's exactly what needed to

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be done.

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Speaker 2: The book is your voice. Now, will you put your

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voice in other places as well. In other words, will

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we hear you on podcasts? Will we are you going

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to develop something like that? I mean, because your activation

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abilities are just unbelievable.

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Speaker 3: Thank you. You know, a podcast doesn't done like.

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Speaker 2: A bad idea, well, because I mean I talk with

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more people of psychology and and basically of of what

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this nation is all about, and they are putting their

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focus on your generation. They believe that your generation has

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the courage, the confidence, the perseverance to make positive changes,

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and and so they're watching people like yourself.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I see podcasts are very popular nowadays, and I

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feel like, you know, I could talk forever, So you know,

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that may be a good thing for me.

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Speaker 1: Creating with Fanny Liam.

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Speaker 2: I mean, what was it like to be, you know,

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with an illustrator like that and bringing this book together

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through picture as well?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so we actually got we got to cheat or yeah,

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so we've bought options of illustrators and we saw all

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the different illustration styles that they're all beautiful, but the

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way Fan Liam's illustrations were were just caught my eye.

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And I feel like the way that she could tell

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stories or just one picture, I just really I felt

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that was exactly what I needed to have. I does

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exactly what I needed in my book and is that

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kind of illustration. So it was great to be able

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to work with such an amazing illustrator that really captured

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the moments so well.

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Speaker 2: Wow, Bell, And where can people go to find out

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more about everything that you're doing, especially reading your books

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as well as hearing your voice?

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Speaker 3: So they can go to my instagram which is a

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more than Peach project on Instagram, as well as I

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have my website which is just at more than Peach

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dot com.

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Speaker 2: You gotta come back to the show anytime in the future.

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The door is always going to be open for you.

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Speaker 3: Thank you.

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Speaker 1: Will you be brilliant today? Okay, thank you too.