I created the character of Tiny when I started the Tiny Kindness Campaign as a middle school student, working on my Silver Award for Girl Scouts. I wrote and illustrated brochures to distribute to community groups and schools to promote kindness towards others in the hopes of having a positive effect on the mental health of children. I feel like kids are faced with a lot of bullying and pressure from social media, and I wanted to promote the message from a very young age that small acts of kindness can make a huge impact on a person's day. During and after the pandemic, the mental health crisis feels even worse and I have watched many friends struggle. The very least we can do is show kindness towards each other. I want to spread that positivity.

 

Now, I have expanded the world around Tiny, by writing this book. While I took on the project of writing, illustrating, and promoting this book as my Gold Award project, I have come to love Tiny so much and plan to write more books to showcase his adventures in kindness. The most exciting part for me (besides thinking up puns for the characters!) is that I am contributing a portion of the proceeds to a youth mental health organizations.

 

I have also collaborated with local, national, and international foundations to get the message out to as many people as possible. We are not alone, and together, we can spread kindness.