As a young child, MaryLou began writing and creating seasonal stories and plays for holiday entertainment for her friends and family. While in high school, she was the recipient of 2 national poetry awards and was featured in the local newspaper as an outstanding teen for her puppeteering work with children. Her love of visual arts began when she opened her first box of Crayolas. She went on to receive an MA in Writing from Swansea University, UK, and an MS in Professional & Technical Communication from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. She has spent 20+ years creating visual design for Macmillan Publishing, Abbott Laboratories, Subaru, F.A. Davis Publishing and currently works at a marketing agency in Princeton, NJ. During her career, her passion for writing was never far from her heart. In 2017, she published her first picture book, “The ABC’s of a Healthy Me,” inspired by the children in her Brooklyn neighborhood. Today, MaryLou is the Founder and CEO of the independent publishing company, Yellow Button Press, fulfilling her lifelong dream of writing and creating informative books for children of all ages and backgrounds. She is the author of more than 50 original children’s titles, many of which can be found in schools, libraries and of course, bookstores.