Meet the Author - K.A. Leigh
K.A. (Kristin) Leigh is a Florida-born animal and people lover with a passion for helping others through her writing. Having survived some challenges in her teenage and young adult years, she feels called to provide love and support to the generation who comes after her.
Believe it or not, Kristin spent almost 15 years in the corporate world in Internal Audit, Human Resources, & Talent Acquisition before unleashing her gift of writing to the world. Her entire career was spent stepping into the worlds of other people and learning how to build their trust. It was in those roles that she realized how critical emotional intelligence and cultivating relationships were in driving positive outcomes. This became her passion.
After 15 years of working with young to seasoned professionals, results were very clear - more doors opened to those with good character. But the key to developing good character was a strong emotional intelligence, and that, she feels, really starts in early childhood.
She created the Brudders® book series primarily aimed at early childhood-aged kids who are starting to learn about responsibility, social skills, good manners, and faith. Because when this foundation is built early, it provides children the strength and wisdom needed to grow through more challenging situations later on in life.
Kristin is a licensed CPA, though not actively practicing, and holds both Masters and Bachelors degrees in Accounting. She was born and raised in Tampa, FL where she lives with her husband, Derek, and their angel dogs, Jellybean and Brudders, who have since crossed the rainbow bridge.
You can contact Kristin at kaleigh@bruddersbooks.com.
Meet the Illustrator - Derek Roberts
Derek Roberts is a California-born illustrator and nature lover with a passion for painting imaginative worlds for kids. Admittedly, he would skip right over the words in his children's books to immerse himself in the pictures instead. He was also the only kid in his class that insisted on staying perfectly in the lines for all of his art projects!
Derek’s career started in graphic design and then transitioned into the animation studio doing background design, layouts, and illustrations for children’s content. Derek is now living his dream of illustrating his own children’s book series, Brudders®, that he co-created with his wife, Kristin.
The original Brudders hiking in the High Sierras mountains
Brudders was named after Derek’s family dog who was like Derek’s little “brudder.” Brudders was a brown boxer who pretty much acted like a bear and loved hiking in the woods. Derek hopes his illustrations will inspire kids’ minds to go into creative, happy places like picture books and Brudders once did for him.
Derek holds a Bachelors degree in Animation from Laguna College of Art & Design. He was born and raised in Orange County, CA, and currently resides in Tampa, FL with Kristin.
You can contact Derek at derek@bruddersbooks.com.