Nancy grew up in army bases across Canada, earned a business degree from Queen’s University and became an accountant in Toronto. She transferred to London, UK in 1985 and, when a male partner sent her home from work for wearing trousers, she decided that a life in corporate finance might not be for her. She discovered her love of color and design in her mid 20’s and spent several years learning the ropes in London’s entrepreneurial design world.

In 1992, when her eldest daughter was 3-weeks old, Nancy co-founded Barefoot Books, an independent publisher committed to creating beautiful books that celebrate the formative role of art and storytelling in children’s lives. Creating high quality books that nurture children’s imaginations and creativity, and also promote global awareness and diversity, has not always been easy in a rapidly changing publishing industry. Nancy has had to think-out-of-the-box to survive and thrive, while staying true to the core values on which her business was founded. In 2001, Nancy and her family moved to Concord, MA, and in addition to running and growing Barefoot, she is involved in Concord’s vibrant arts and historical communities and plays an active role on the Boards of the Umbrella Arts Center and the Concord Museum. However her proudest accomplishment is to have put more than 30 million books into the hands of children around the globe…and to have raised four beautiful, open-hearted and open-minded Barefoot children who are all making their own special marks in the world.

During this episode, we discuss:

• Nancy’s previous career that led her into children’s book publishing
• How her and her co-founder have been able to build Barefoot Books throughout the past few decades
• What makes a manuscript good
• Advice for authors or illustrators
• The benefits of working with a publisher vs self publishing
• What’s coming up for Barefoot Books in 2025
• How Barefoot Books gets involved in the community

And more. Tune into this episode as we dive into all things children’s book publishing!

Access the full transcript here.

Watch the episode on YouTube here.

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