This week on The Author’s Mic™, I pulled a conversation from the vault with Denise Tharp, and honestly, this one still hits.

Denise is a children’s author, educator, speaker, and entrepreneur, and what stood out to me most wasn’t just her book. It was the why behind it.

She spent more than 20 years working with young children, mainly in Pre-K and kindergarten, and one day she asked her students a simple question:

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Seems like a basic question, right?

But the answers got her thinking.

One child wanted to be a dancer. Another wanted to do makeup. One little boy said he wanted to be like his uncle. Out of 22 kids, only one said they wanted to be a teacher.

That stuck with her.

And it led to a bigger realization.

Why do we wait until kids are teenagers, or almost adults, to start talking seriously about careers and possibilities?

Why aren’t we planting those seeds earlier?

That question became the foundation for Denise’s book, I Think I Can, I Know I Can, a children’s book that introduces young readers to careers from A to Z.

And I love this because it reminds us that exposure matters.

Kids can’t dream about what they’ve never seen.

They can’t become what they don’t even know exists.

That applies to children, but honestly, it applies to adults too.

Sometimes we stay stuck simply because nobody showed us another possibility.

Denise also talked about fear.

And if you’re an author, this part should sound familiar.

Fear of putting yourself out there.
Fear of hearing no.
Fear of rejection.
Fear of failing publicly.

Fear keeps a lot of people sitting on great ideas.

Her advice was simple.

Get out of fear.

And I agree.

Because most of the things we want in life live on the other side of discomfort.

Whether you’re writing a book, starting a business, launching a platform, or simply trying something new, fear will always show up.

The question is whether you let it drive.

Denise didn’t.

She took an idea that started as something small for her classroom and turned it into books, educational tools, and literacy-centered work that now reaches far beyond those original students.

That’s what happens when you move.

Sometimes the thing you think is small becomes much bigger than you expected.

Watch the full episode here:
https://youtu.be/GN4e3UQwSEc

Learn more about Denise Tharp:
https://authenticauthorsadventures.com

⭐ Want to be a guest on The Author’s Mic™?
https://brightheadedpublishing.com/be-a-guest