Social Media Stars Making a Social Impact: Why & How Quinn Cumminhs of Aidyn’s Books Is Helping To Change Our World
An Interview With Edward Sylvan
As we began to share our story, I recognized that most of the families that were following and engaging were families that already loved books. That’s great! Our goal, however, is to transform homes. We want to help parents who have given up on the magic of books and make them believers again.
As a part of our series about leaders who are using their social media platform to make a significant social impact, we had the pleasure of interviewing Quinn Cummings, owner of Aidyn’s Books.
Quinn Cummings is the creator and host of the Parenting & Bonding with Children’s Books show. She interviews children’s book authors to introduce more families to more books.
Her company Aidyn’s Books LLC empowers parents to read aloud to their children. Her 8-year-old son Aidyn is the real star. They’ve been featured by HarperKids, Kids’ Book Buzz, Bookshop.org, and Abrams Kids.
Quinn leads multiple parenting communities (reach of 100k+) and is a featured expert for The Life of a Single Mom 501(c)3.
Additionally, Quinn has accumulated over 10 years of marketing experience. As a certified email marketing expert, she helps authors impact more homes. She’s featured in MailerLite, Authority Magazine, and invited to join Entrepreneur.com as an industry expert.
Her mission is to increase readership in homes across the globe.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
Of course! My goal has always been to support women and children in my community. While studying for my Master’s in Community Development, I had my son and decided to focus on work full time.
Trying to balance parenting and work, especially as a single mom, was difficult. The hustle and bustle of the day left me with little energy to truly connect with my son. We fell into a routine of; daycare drop-off, a tiring workday, preparing for the next day, then sleeping to do it all over again.
Daily, I would fight with the fear that as a single mom, constantly tired and depleted, I did not have enough left to give to my son.
Knowing that I wanted to raise a Godly man of great character, I started to use storytime as more than a way to put my son to sleep. Instead, I began to select books intentionally on topics like kindness, bravery, and empathy and use the words the books gave me to connect and build my son up. I no longer had to fight to find positive words to give my son; the books gave me the words.
I am sharing my story today because I want all families to have that same advantage.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began this career?
The library is like our second home. We pick up about 20–30 books per trip and visit once a week. One day when we were in line to check out our books, I noticed a family behind us in line. The kids seemed excited to be at the library, but the father looked utterly exhausted.
We begin to check out our books. Now, at this time, Aidyn was still learning the checkout process. So the process did not go as quickly as the other patrons would like. Other lines were available, but the father and his sons were focused on all of our books.
I heard the father groan, “Oh no! Are they going to swipe all those books one at a time?!”
The son spoke up and said, “Dad! It’s okay! She must be a teacher!”
All was forgiven at that moment, and it was one of the best compliments I’ve ever received.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Yes! Well, I am not sure you would consider it a mistake. Our show, Parenting & Bonding with Children’s Books, started as a live show where I interviewed authors about the true intentions behind their books. The premise is to introduce our audiences to new authors and learn how to use their books in their homes.
My son, Aidyn, is involved in most of our other community events, like; author read-alouds, giveaways, and random lives. Since the show is more for parents, it is something I carry out on my own.
You have to understand that when I say, “Aidyn is the true star of Aidyn’s Books,” I mean it. Our live recordings aired, at the time, for 30 minutes or less.
Slowly but surely, Aidyn began to take over the interviews. He would come and tell a joke but then start to ask interview questions. The guests loved him, and the interviews began to last for 45 minutes or longer. The editing process became tedious work.
After a few hour-long interviews, I learned to prerecord the episodes while Aidyn was at school.
You have been blessed with success in a career path that can be challenging. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?
If you consider stepping into entrepreneurship and using your platforms to make a social impact, keep your ‘why’ close by. When you remember ‘why’ you are doing it, failure becomes less of an option because ‘that thing’ needs to be done.
I believe Simon Sinek said, “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it….”
Your ‘why’ will be the most integral part of every choice you make in your business.
Ok super. Let’s now jump to the core focus of our interview. Can you describe to our readers how you are using your platform to make a significant social impact?
We initially launched our platforms to share our reading journey with other families. We wanted other families to enjoy the magic of reading as much as we do. Some of the best conversations we have in our home happen during a read-aloud.
As we began to share our story, I recognized that most of the families that were following and engaging were families that already loved books. That’s great! Our goal, however, is to transform homes. We want to help parents who have given up on the magic of books and make them believers again.
Under Aidyn’s Books LLC, we have a show that streams on podcast streaming services and to multiple other audiences via video. I knew that I wanted our message to reach as many parents as possible, so we began to connect with different parenting and book groups to share our mission.
We now stream our show into Facebook groups for children’s book lovers and parenting groups that are focused on raising good humans but may not focus on doing it with books. This way, every time we air, we remind them that books are tools that provide knowledge and create stronger parent/ child relationships.
In total, our show streams into an audience of over 100,000 families. I am always excited to speak to a crowd of parents who want the best for their kids but don’t make read-alouds a priority. By the time I am done, I hope I have reminded them of what storytime felt like for them as children.
Can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted by this cause?
I remember I had the chance to help a mom in our single mom group find some books for her daughter. At the time, they read infrequently but were working to make reading a habit. Her mother shared that if her daughter’s reading scores did not improve, she would have to repeat the first grade. She was devastated.
One thing I take very seriously is not to make reading feel like work at home. So, I talked with the mother about doing read-alouds instead of assigning her daughter reading homework. I gave her tips on how to do a read-aloud and helped guide her along her journey.
She stayed diligent! She read to her daughter every night, and not only did her reading improve, but their communication improved as well. Her daughter began to share things with her at a level she never had before.
Was there a tipping point that made you decide to focus on this particular area? Can you share a story about that?
The tipping point was when I started working with parents who neglected reading in their homes. I learned the actual reasons reading was not happening. It wasn’t because they weren’t focusing on raising good kids. The same parents that would spend money on a tutor were the same parents that did not think reading to their kids was essential. Each time I came across a parent that did not read to their children at home because:
- they felt the teachers were doing it
- they started but stopped when the child started school
- the kids wouldn’t sit still for storytime
- the parents couldn’t find diverse books or stories they could resonate with…
I knew that I needed to take action. I set out on a mission to show parents that reading to our children is essential. The love of reading and the foundation for learning starts at home. When we begin to journey into books with our children, it opens up a whole new world.
Are there three things the community/society/politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?
Yes. There is much that can be said for the socioeconomic factors that affect our access to books, receiving a quality education, and dampers the amount of time we have as parents to spend with our kids. But, there are some things that we, as parents, can do at home:
- Encourage the library at an early age. Many activities and programming take place in the local library.
- Don’t depend on your child’s teacher to carry the entire load. Teachers are lovely, and we all know they deserve the best. But most teachers do not have the time to read to our children the way we think they do.
- Give your children a solid learning foundation. We also do our children a disservice when we send them to school unprepared. We can lay that foundation just by taking 20 minutes daily to read to our children.
What specific strategies have you been using to promote and advance this cause? Can you recommend any good tips for people who want to follow your lead and use their social platform for a social good?
We use our platforms to introduce families to children’s authors and books. Our primary Facebook community focuses on joining the worlds of authors and parents. I believe that in doing so, more parents can begin to trust books again.
Many factors have caused parents to lose trust in books. Specifically for the Black and BIPOC community, for so long, traditional publishing houses marginalized Black and other BIPOC families.
When we work together to diversify the shelves at libraries and bookstores, it translates into our homes. By presenting families with books and authors from all different walks of life, families can begin to see themselves in books and want their families to treasure those books.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? Please share a story or example for each.
- Start building relationships with like-minded people.
Putting yourself out there to network and build relationships is essential. The right relationship can help you make a much more significant impact.
- You are enough.
You may feel like your mission is so big that it’s almost out of reach. Remember that if the idea is inside you, you have everything you need to make it happen. Keep going!
- Remember your ‘why.’
You will have some hard days and may feel like giving up, in these moments, remembering your ‘why’ is essential.
Tip: write your ‘why’ out and hang it in front of your workspace. Remind yourself of your ‘why’ every day and use it to fuel your work.
- One person at a time.
When you start, you may feel like no one is paying attention. Keep in mind that even one person makes a difference. One family. One book. One child.
One person at a time is still another step toward changing the world.
- Burnout is real. We cannot pour from an empty cup, as cliché as it is.
Taking care of yourself is essential; it keeps your energy in check for carrying out your mission to change the world.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I would expedite the normalization of self-published children’s books. There are so many beautiful books out there that are struggling to get the backing they deserve because they are not traditionally published.
When I struggled to find books with main characters that looked like me in big-name stores and my local library, self-published books were the solution. In some ways, they still are. Many self-published authors put in a significant amount of time and effort to put these books out into the world. Let’s begin to support them in larger numbers.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
That would be “This too shall pass.” Whenever I face a challenge, I remember those words to help get me through.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
On the topic of books, that would be Levar Burton. I would love to hear about how he was able to influence and hold the attention of an entire generation with ‘Reading Rainbow.’
How can our readers further follow your work online ?
Come visit us in our Facebook community! Our main one is For The Love of Children’s Books and we’d be delighted to have you.
If you are looking for a way to connect with your children through stories but have trouble with read-alouds. Check out our E.N.G.A.G.E. Method: a simple approach to an engaging storytime.
You can also email us at hi@aiydnsbooks.com.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much!
About The Interviewer: Growing up in Canada, Edward Sylvan was an unlikely candidate to make a mark on the high-powered film industry based in Hollywood. But as CEO of Sycamore Entertainment Group Inc, (SEGI) Sylvan is among a select group of less than ten Black executives who have founded, own and control a publicly traded company. Now, deeply involved in the movie business, he is providing opportunities for people of color.
In 2020, he was appointed president of the Monaco International Film Festival, and was encouraged to take the festival in a new digital direction.
Raised in Toronto, he attended York University where he studied Economics and Political Science, then went to work in finance on Bay Street, (the city’s equivalent of Wall Street). After years of handling equities trading, film tax credits, options trading and mergers and acquisitions for the film, mining and technology industries, in 2008 he decided to reorient his career fully towards the entertainment business.
With the aim of helping Los Angeles filmmakers of color who were struggling to understand how to raise capital, Sylvan wanted to provide them with ways to finance their creative endeavors.
At Sycamore Entertainment he specializes in print and advertising financing, marketing, acquisition and worldwide distribution of quality feature-length motion pictures, and is concerned with acquiring, producing and promoting films about equality, diversity and other thought provoking subject matter which will also include nonviolent storytelling.
Sylvan has been featured in Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and has been seen on Fox Business News, CBS and NBC. Sycamore Entertainment Group Inc is headquartered in Seattle, with offices in Los Angeles and Vancouver.
Social Media Stars Making a Social Impact: Why & How Quinn Cumminhs of Aidyn’s Books Is Helping To… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.