Daily Inspiration: Meet Marianne Richmond

Today we’d like to introduce you to Marianne Richmond

Hi Marianne, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.

Hi! I’m Marianne, a longtime children’s author, artist and newly graduated mental health counselor. I’m also a wife and mom to four young adults. A native Midwesterner, I’ve lived in five states prior to moving to Tennessee including Wisconsin, Ohio, Connecticut, Minnesota and California. My current profession isn’t one I planned; I was all set for corporate America after graduating from The Ohio State University with a business degree, but life intervened.

When I was in my 20’s, I underwent brain surgery to remove a benign tumor; the cause of numerous, misdiagnosed seizures during my childhood. To fill time during my recovery, I started hand painting simple thank-you cards for all the people who had come alongside me during this challenging season. To my surprise, a friend started selling my cards to local gift shops, and I soon had a (very) small, dining room table business with a growing number of retailers carrying my cards. As my sales outlets grew, and I went back to my paying job as a corporate writer, I printed my cards to keep up with demand. Around this time, I wrote, illustrated and self-published my gift first book to offer alongside my cards. What started as a simple creative diversion blossomed over 16 years into a multi-million dollar publishing company that I co-ran with my husband, Jim, and 12 employees. In 2010, we wound down our business to partner with Sourcebooks, Inc., the largest, women owned independent publisher in North America. Today, I continue to author children’s picture books that give people a way to share their heart and connect with those they love. I have now authored more than 60 books and sold more than 9 million copies.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Smooth? No. In 2008, The Great Recession had taken hold, and we lived the emotional and financial impact of many retailers closing or filing bankruptcy, mass merchants taking longer to pay, and the banks calling in loans with little warning. The upshot was our inability to survive these headwinds, necessitating our closing and my outreach to a larger publishing company interested in acquiring my book assets. While the new partnership represented an exciting beginning, it also came with great upheaval in what had been our livelihood for 16 years.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
If I had to describe myself in three words, I’d say writing, creativity and connection. For nearly three decades, I’ve been crafting the language of relationships through my books that offer messages of love, belonging and encouragement to children of all ages. I am honored when my stories become a part of other people’s journeys, and my biggest hope is that my work can be a bridge to another’s heart. What I hear from people most often is, “How did you know how I feel?” To this I say I write for the “unique everybody” — our stories are different, and our feelings are a lot the same. Most people want to feel seen and heard, and I believe my books do this beautifully. I recently completed a master’s in clinical mental health counseling to come alongside individuals as they live out their own stories. As for proud, I have a new picture book, The World is Awaiting You, coming out in late September and I’m releasing a memoir in March, 2025, If You Were my Daughter, that is the story behind my stories – how growing up with misdiagnosed epilepsy and an emotionally unavailable mother inspired me to write the messages I had longed to hear myself and to reauthor my own narrative to one of worth and belonging.

What does success mean to you?
I define success by finding the sweet spot between what I love to do, what I’m good at — and providing myself an income. Success to me is being able to use my creativity in a personally meaningful way while uplifting others, too.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mariannerichmond.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mariannerichmondwriter/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/richmond.marianne/