Moms Changing the World turns 4 years this month! To celebrate, our episode today is with children's book author, among many other things, Monique Aiken. If you have been a long time listener, you know that I LOVE to highlight my favorite children's books and their authors.

Monique Aiken is a first-generation Jamaican American and a strategy consultant, entrepreneur, and podcast host. She lives in a 100-plus year old house in New Jersey with her husband and son—the original "Cutie Patootie" who inspired the book. Her first children's book, a love letter to her son (and all children), was published in January 2024.

She has a rich background in traditional finance, in New York, London and Houston and after that Monique has focused her energies on advancing the global impact economy with the Clinton Global Initiative, Mission Investors Exchange, where she led Programs focused on Foundations to begin or deepen their practice of impact investing and working with Tideline, a boutique strategy consultancy for Impact Investing. She's currently an Managing DIrector at the Investment Integration Project.

She is also the creator and host of MJN’s podcast “Into the Record”. She is co-founder of the ReStarter Fund, an economic and climate justice initiative aiming to be a small business lifeline in these challenging times of polycrisis.

Monique holds an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business and a B.Sc. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, where she studied Spanish and Portuguese.

If you were close to NYC during NYC Climate Week, on Sunday 9/22/24, Monique's nonprofit collective, Make Justice Normal hosted a family-friendly “streetfair for good” in Queens, NY which uses social practice art to inspire climate action. Interested folks can learn more about it here.

Books mentioned:

- Ron's Big Mission here

- Mae Among the Stars here

- Yes No here

- Our Skin here

- Always Anjali here

- Just Ask here

- Social Justice Investor here

- Change the World Before Bedtime here

Monique's links:

Into the Record podcast here

Street Works Earth 9/22 here