Our Team

A dream is better when shared: The Frieda B. Dream Team

 

Michael Chesworth, illustrator. I can remember the first time I painted with watercolors. It was in my kindergarten class when I was five. Using small sponges on a big piece of rough oaktag paper, I made a picture of dark clouds in a stormy sky. Right there I fell in love with watercolors. The paint, the water, the sponges and the paper all seemed to have their own ideas. Playing as friends, we painted the picture together.

Over the years, my artwork has appeared in many places: book covers, magazines, posters, games, puzzles, online and once on the front page of the Goat Gazette. But mostly, I have illustrated picture books, over thirty titles for various authors. I have also written and illustrated three of my own books, including Archibald Frisby which was a featured book on the PBS show Reading Rainbow. I was also fortunate to have worked on the Pippi Longstocking books by Astrid Lindgren.  I currently write and illustrate Spider & the Gang, a monthly comic strip appearing along the bottom of the pages of Spider Magazine.

Frieda B. and I are close friends and have been for years. She and Zilla and I have done many books together. It has always seemed like play.

See samples of my work at my website: crashbangboom.com

 

Renata Bowers, author & co-founder. Suffice it to say, one can be a lonely number. I am blessed to have this small but mighty team of friends and specialists to help bring Frieda B. – and a mission of encouraging story – to life. Find my full bio here

 

Paula LaJoie, co-founder. When I was in my late 20’s my mother shared with me a project I made in third grade. It was a cutout silhouette of my head. Inside my head I had pasted things that I loved including an adding machine, a few calculators and a cash register. It is no wonder that I became an accountant! I am a firm believer that we are born with fundamental wiring that does not change. The things we love and the things we care about continue throughout our lives.

For more than 28 years, I have been working in the field of finance and accounting. I began working in public accounting and have spent most of my career with a strong mission-based organization – the American Red Cross.

I met Renata in 2008 and learned very early on that we both had a desire to help our children, and all children, find their unique stories – their wiring. For me, that is where Frieda B., LLC began.

I live in Somers, CT with my husband David, our two sons, Nathan and Tyler and our standard poodle Lucy.