Raya
Rahman

As a person, I think I am both creative and analytical. I like to use both these skills in my career as a professional storyteller and children’s book publisher. I call myself a professional storyteller because I get hired by different organizations to create children’s stories for learning purposes. I am a publisher because I own a bilingual publishing company (Guba Books) that publishes children’s books in English and Bangla. As a parent, I believe in spending quality time with my children. I love doing extracurricular and fun activities with my girls such as arts and crafts, playing board games and watching movies together. I teach my kids to help their parents with household chores as it encourages their independence and they also learn to respect the hard work adults do. I give them freedom but within boundaries. Early literacy is my passion because supporting children to become strong readers, writers and thinkers is the foundation of our success. Storytelling is a fun way for children to enhance their literacy and creative skills and helps them to organize their thoughts to be better communicators. I hope the storytelling program builds a foundation for children to love reading and writing and encourages them to pursue creative endeavors in life.