Welcome back to the Literary Copywriter Spotlight where I feature writers and nonprofit organizations who use writing and storytelling to ignite positive change in the world. This week I’m featuring Cures of Colors, a nonprofit devoted to the creation of children’s narrative coloring books that tackle social justice, COVID-19, family dynamics, and more. These coloring books help children process our challenging world from a place of empathy, compassion, and creativity.
This week I spoke with Brittany Chung, an entrepreneur and founder of Cures of Colors, where she shared her thoughts on activism, therapeutic coloring, and what it means to be the adults we needed as children.
Let’s hear from Brittany!
Literary Copywriter: Tell me more about the history of Cures of Colors. What inspired you to utilize narrative coloring books as a way to help children and families navigate the social and emotional issues in the society we live in?
Brittany Chung: Inspired by volunteer work at the children’s hospital pediatric oncology unit, I originally pursued the medical route during my college years. Spending time with these children, I got to witness first-hand just how resilient they were and how much they understood their life-changing diagnosis. Although my current journey took a turn from my original medical route, the inspiration from these patients still motivates me today. I witnessed the strongest children battle through the toughest of times, and because of that, I know they can handle difficult conversations if we take the time to address their curiosity.
I grew up appreciating my creative outlets and the causes I was passionate about. My volunteer work was my deciding factor to pursue my bachelor's and master’s degrees in biological sciences. Soon after, I pursued another business before this, but as the pandemic hit, I shifted to start this nonprofit → Pandemic pivoting! As I land in a nonprofit space to support our youth, I don’t think there’s anything I’ve been more passionate about!
When the pandemic set in, I witnessed one of my closest childhood friends bear the pressures of balancing work life, family life, and personal life all under the same roof, with a 3-year-old and another one on the way. This new reality demonstrated just how hard it is for parents and educators at this time. On that same thought, I realized how much harder it is for a child during this time -- being pulled from school, not able to see friends, hug their grandparents, or celebrate milestones. I can’t imagine how much this will affect them as these childhood experiences are hindered.
Children lean on adults for reassurance, but this pandemic was new to all of us, and as adults, I felt that we were seeking reassurance ourselves. No one prepared us for a global pandemic, which introduced a whole new meaning of living in uncertainty.
Last year, the Black Lives Matter movement shed an even bigger spotlight on the ongoing oppression, inequity, and inequality. This was another topic circulating in households and schools as the media portrayed just how polarizing this country is. I think all of us took a moment to unlearn, learn and relearn to strengthen our beliefs and be part of the change we want to see in our systems. While thinking about how to approach a conversation with a child about these topics, I realized there are so many complex topics that as adults, we find difficult to initiate and understand, ourselves.
Growing up in Asian culture, raised by my grandparents of an older generation, we did not talk about any of these topics I was so curious about throughout my youth. I grew up refraining from asking questions and didn’t feel confident sharing my opinions. Moving out to college made me realize just how sheltered I was from all the different issues happening in our world. I like to refer to this as layers of ‘bubbles’ being popped as I grew to become exposed to more and more diversity, walks of life, and different forms of first, second, and third world problems.
I was eager to create something that would be a tool to help children have a better understanding of our reality. I knew parents out there who wanted to have these conversations but didn’t know how to start them. I landed on coloring books with narratives to serve as a familiar tool to not only inform children but also assist parents and educators in promoting dialogue.
Coloring has so many benefits and serves as a therapeutic tool for all ages. It’s not an intimidating activity, and tying the narrative aspect to it allows children to explore important topics creatively. Additionally, they’d be able to see representation in our characters, feel a sense of relatability, navigate through emotions in new situations, and develop empathy for others.
I had a great conversation recently about our mission and what we hope to achieve for our communities. A team member shared his dad’s wise words before his passing, “be the adult you needed as a kid.” And that resonated with me. As adults, we have the opportunity to shape our future generations, to pave the way and create a better future -- to expose them to reality if we put in the work to learn, grow and teach our children differently than before.
L.C.: Your narrative coloring books tackle big topics like family dynamics and COVID-19. How do these coloring books come to fruition and what can we expect to see in the near future?
B.C.: The COVID-19 conversational coloring book, inspired by the challenges that arose from the current pandemic, was a relevant, fitting topic to jumpstart our coloring book series. We decided to launch with this activity book as a free downloadable PDF to kick-off conversation and build confidence before diving into our heavier, more difficult, sensitive topics. You can find our free PDF on our website: Download our free COVID-19 conversational coloring book. Due to the struggles of navigating through this uncertain time, we wanted to provide this book to all families who not only love to color but also are ready to start small and dissect a complex topic into an interactive, fun conversation together.
I had a great conversation recently about our mission and what we hope to achieve for our communities. A team member shared his dad’s wise words before his passing, “be the adult you needed as a kid.”
Family dynamics was inspired by the Cures of Colors team. Throughout my first encounter of interviews, so many resonated with our mission because of their upbringing, childhood memories, and all of what makes up our ‘differences’. What was common among our team was the unconventional family dynamic they grew up with or witnessed -- single parent, blended families, large and small families, same-sex parents, etc. We wanted to launch our first printed book as a statement piece in representing a foundational topic that every child can connect with, whether they saw themselves represented, someone they knew or were being introduced to a new family dynamic for the first time.
Every coloring book begins with an important topic, countless hours of research, and a kick-off meeting to discuss the direction and narrative we aim to convey. Behind the scenes, we've made new partnerships with other nonprofits and we've already begun collaborating on some very exciting new coloring books to come. This year, we'll be addressing some of the most important and difficult topics on our minds -- some notable mentions are BLM, LGBTQ+, mental health, cancer, and many many more. Stay tuned!
L.C: As entrepreneurs and artists, what are some of the most rewarding aspects of working for Cures of Colors?
As a start-up, it’s always exciting to envision all the great ideas we aim to implement and the impact they can have on our community. But, the greatest joy comes from the process of collectively working together with other like-minded individuals to turn those ideas into a tangible product and tool that the greater community can benefit from.
The risk of launching something new amid the pandemic was intimidating, but people are seeking a sense of community and support now more than ever. In a challenging and unpredictable year, it’s been so rewarding to hear about children and families excited for their books, that conversations have begun and that all of this has come to fruition with the help of an AMAZING team that I have yet to actually meet in person. I am so proud to share this organization with my team, who have all come together to make something so powerful and meaningful during an exceedingly difficult year.
Teamwork indeed makes the dream work.
Every coloring book begins with an important topic, countless hours of research, and a kick-off meeting to discuss the direction and narrative we aim to convey. Behind the scenes, we've made new partnerships with other nonprofits and we've already begun collaborating on some very exciting new coloring books to come.
L.C. How has the mission of Cures of Colors impacted your community & beyond? What's the response been like to these compassionate coloring books?
B.C. Within two months of launching, we were able to donate proceeds from sales of our coloring books to pediatric patients at a local hospital, start some special collaborations, and form partnerships, with future potential ones in progress. Parents have started conversations with a couple of notable testimonials since launching:
My boys (4 & 7) LOVE this coloring book. They have been coloring in their books every night and the activity pages have been a huge hit! It was such a great experience reading the story to them. They had great questions that I didn’t even know were on their minds. I’m so thankful for having this tool to support me in teaching my kids kindness and opening up important conversations in a way that they can have fun with and understand.” -Colleen, mother of 4
“Love this coloring book and organization! Such a fun and meaningful way to connect with our little ones about the current environmental and social issues. Thank you for creating this!” -Angela, mother of 2
There has been such an overwhelmingly positive response to our organization and the number of individuals who have reached out to us to volunteer their time and be part of our teams in some way or form. The constant interest and enthusiasm from all across the world is truly so humbling and means so much to us.
We only ship domestically at the moment but have had international interest from individuals with nonprofits abroad, mothers who love our concept, and many awaiting international shipping options. Our goal within the next few years is to expand and accommodate international orders!
Here is another article that can also provide insight to how our organization affects our President, Vivek and the conversations he’s starting with this family: Linkedin Article.
L.C. Please share any other short or long-term goals you have for Cures of Colors and helping children gain empathy in a problematic world.
B.C. We have so many goals that it’s a challenge to not feel overwhelmed daily.
In the short term, we hope to build our brand and reputation across the country, grow our teams, create new partnerships, roll out 6-10 books, integrate our books in schools, and continue to donate proceeds to help the communities our books address. We’d like to stratify our age range for books, so instead of catering to our current broader 4-8 age, to narrow the age range to 4-6 and 6-8, etc.
Long term, we would love to expand and scale globally in not only our customer base (B2C) but also our outreach and partnerships (B2B). As we establish ourselves as an organization, I’d like to cater our books to a wider age range (i.e. teens, adults, etc.) -- there is no age limit on coloring, nor on talking about complex issues. We have big visions to create limited edition coloring books, customized coloring books, and even mini-series of topics that deserve their own volumes of attention. Perhaps even venturing into other mediums, as there are so many different avenues to explore! A lot of great ideas are in the works, and we are excited to see what the future holds!
Brittany Chung
Founder of Cures of Colors. Brittany is passionate about raising the next generation to be empathetic and service-oriented. As Founder, Brittany is in charge of overseeing Cures of Colors’ operations from start to finish including coordinating the creative teams, website design, marketing organization and community outreach. Brittany pours her heart and soul into Cures of Colors in hopes of affecting lasting change in families across the country.
Your Friend in Craft,
Emily