WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (828newsNOW) — On Tuesday, Jan. 13, debut author Katelyn Williams published her first children’s book, “What Can Brown Girls Do?,” a spotlight on the accomplishments of eight real-world Black and Brown women, written by Williams and illustrated by Danielle Arrington.

Williams’ story follows a young Brown girl tasked with answering an age-old question at school: “Who will I be in the future?” After brainstorming several options, she shares her list with a classmate, who declares “Brown girls can’t do this!”

The little girl shares her classmate’s declaration with her mom, who jumps to inspire her daughter with the stories of several brilliant, successful and accomplished Black and Brown women.

828newsNOW spoke with Williams about her debut, including how she landed on the eight role models she chose for her protagonist.

Tough as winter, soft as spring

A recurring verse in “What Can Brown Girls Do?” is an encouraging refrain the mother sings to her daughter:

“She is small, but she is mighty—
tough as winter, soft as spring.
When she sets her mind to do it,
she can do ’bout anything!”

According to Williams, while she wrote the verse for her book, the relationship between the girl and her mom closely mirrors that of Williams’ bond with her own mother.

“My mom did have a lot of things that she repeated to me that I remember growing up. I had a great relationship with my mom. I was homeschooled kindergarten through 8th grade, and so we spent a lot of time reading, we spent a lot of time at the library,” Williams said. “Those were some of my favorite parts of my childhood, were choosing great books and getting wrapped up in them, and sitting with my mom and both of us saying, ‘Okay, could we do one more chapter?’ or ‘Can we just keep reading a little bit more?'”

Williams’ love of reading as a kid was paired with a passion for writing.

“I said I wanted to be an author as a child. That’s what I wanted to do. I was writing stories and giving them to my parents for Christmas. Words have always been an important part of my life,” Williams shared. “Then, my interest shifted, and I went into psychology and counseling, which is what I do full time, which I absolutely love. I find that psychology, and understanding the human mind and understanding stories is really helpful for writing, and so I think it all connects.”

While Williams currently works as a school counselor, her passion and full-time profession, her debut as an author has been in the works for almost a decade. “What Can Brown Girls Do?” was originally drafted in 2017.

Williams’ inspiration for her story, however, dates back to 2009, when Walt Disney Animation Studios released “The Princess and the Frog,” which marked the debut of Tiana, the first Black Disney princess.

“I was so excited, and I was in high school, and people were like, ‘Why are you so excited about this Disney movie when you’re in high school?’ But, I always loved the Disney princesses, and there was never one that looked like me. I always had to settle for a brunette. That was close enough,” Williams said. “So, I got really excited about the story, and just the idea of representation, and it made me think back to all the different times in my life where I looked for representation and couldn’t find it. Then, the story kind of was birthed out of that.”

In her book, Williams’ protagonist learns about eight different Brown women: Priscilla Almodovar, former CEO of Fannie Mae, Dominique Dawes, an Olympic gymnast, Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o, Autumn Peltier, a 21-year-old First Nations activist, Anna Mani, an Indian physicist and meteorologist, Nadja West, the 44th Surgeon General of the United States Army, former First Lady Michelle Obama and the motivational speaker and evangelist Priscilla Shirer.

Williams sought to include a diverse array of role models in her book, including women of different ages, ethnicities, professions and skin tones to represent a broad spectrum of Brown and Black success.

“Initially, they were all Black women, and as the world has changed, and my knowledge of representation and different experiences of people that I’ve known have changed, other minorities have risen to the top of the story,” Williams said. “It’s just as important to tell all of those things, because sometimes the messaging is truly about skin tone, and people are seen differently because of their skin tone.”

It was important for Williams for Brown and Black girls everywhere to see themselves in the story, just like she saw herself as Tiana in “The Princess and the Frog.”

“It doesn’t matter how old you are, what your skin tone is, what language you speak, whether you are native to America or not. All of these different things. I think I wanted a variety of little girls to be able to see themselves in the story,” Williams said.

“What Can Brown Girls Do?” was published by Warren Publishing and is now available wherever books are sold, including online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, www.warrenpublishing.net or www.bookshop.org. Williams, born and raised in Winston-Salem, recommends asking for a copy at Winston-Salem bookstores like The Bookhouse and Bookmarks.