Meet our authors…
Annie, mostly retired, but still so very curious!
Christy, outdoors every minute possible!
It never occurred to Annie Presley and Christy Howard that they would write an award-winning book when they sat down one day and drafted what became their first guided journal they named, Read This…® When I’m Dead. Turns out Christy’s mom has lived with a debilitating disease for many years and together they faced several near death experiences, while Annie’s mom died in her arms quite unexpectedly when Annie was in sixth grade. Their first book is a passion project designed to help others celebrate life! From their experiences, they built a useful, handy workbook with three sections about your life, your stuff and your final wishes. You simply answer the prompted questions and before you know it, the work is done. Share the information with your loved ones they will know all the highlights of your life, where your important documents are located and how you wish to be remembered when you are gone.
As a result of the success of this first book, Christy and Annie were encouraged by their readers to create other handy fill-in-the-blank workbooks that made capturing life’s treasures easy. They too believed that the prompted questions were easier to used that the plain line journals and a new genre was born. So they launched the Read This…® series with their second guided journal, Read This…® On Our Anniversary, to be filled out starting with how the couple met, the romance, engagement, ceremony and on each anniversary…it is a treasure of your history together. This is a wonderful engagement, wedding, anniversary or shower gift. Then came the perfect new baby gift, Read This…® On Your Birthday. For any new mom, grandparent, godmother, auntie, uncle, or person who has a special little kid in their life. From the day they are born to their 21st birthday, you fill out a few prompted questions each birthday about the child’s goals, accomplishments, favorite foods, friends and celebrations. Then on their 21st it becomes their birthday gift-a perfect summary of their entire childhood! And the last in our series, Read This…® About My House, the most amazing way to keep track of changes, renovations, maintenance, improvements, and certainly the fun that has been enjoyed in your home. There is even a special section about your pets! Another wonderful gift for new homeowners, those who are hand at DIY and certainly ideal as a closing gift from your favorite realtor!
When Annie started talking about her family’s dog Sam and his “Black Dog Syndrome”- she searched tirelessly for the perfect illustrator and when she found John Keeling - whoosh, the first book in the Sam Series©, Sam Gets Adopted was published. Quickly followed by Sam Goes Shopping, well he needed stuff! And now, Sam Sees Santa Claus…of course he does! These are very sweet books for kids of all ages.
Annie Presley
Happy and healthy, Annie has many interests and considers herself a serial entrepreneur. From professional fundraising in high-octane politics to non-profit projects tiny-to-enormous, her 30-year career thrived on perseverance. Dabbling in real estate the entire time with a couple of book projects in her back pocket, all of it just bubbled out and became what she is today, an author, political strategist, real estate enthusiast, wife, grandma, and a pretty bad golfer!
Annie launched The McKellar Group Inc., a professional fundraising company, in 1993 after selling her first business, Legal Assistance Inc., 1989. This included her successful stint as National Deputy Finance Director at Bush for President in Austin, Texas for the 2000 campaign. Following George W’s January 2001 inaugural festivities, she grabbed the New York City experience of a lifetime as VP and Director of Government Affairs and Charitable Giving at UBS Paine Webber. Yet, homesick as a result of the terrorist attacks on 9/11, Annie made her way back to Kansas City and refashioned McKellar into a solo strategery and consulting practice utilizing new contacts and new skills. Under AP’s leadership, McKellar helped to raise some $600+ million for clients through its successful program she dubbed “The Art and Science of Fundraising.”
By 2014, she and colleague, Christy Howard, had written their award-winning guided journal Read This…®When I’m Dead, in honor of their moms; one dead, one alive! They followed with three more workbooks in the Read This…® series; On Our Anniversary, On Your Birthday and About My House. In 2019, Annie’s first book for early readers, Sam Gets Adopted, was also published. 2020 saw Sam Sees Santa Claus come off the presses. Sam Goes Shopping is due out in the Fall of 2021.
Given her knowledge of both the public and private sectors, AP served on numerous boards in industry and non-profits from Los Angeles to New York City. Currently she serves the University of Missouri-Kansas City as a Trustee and is on the national Care for Children board.
Annie earned her undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of Missouri-Columbia and her Master’s in Public Administration from the Bloch School of Management at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She and her husband, Jay Selanders, spend their free time with family, friends, and fishing with their young grandsons. She also plays tennis, golf, reads, gardens, and is developing Kansas City’s first container home community for low-wage earners.
Also see www.AnniePresley.guru
Christy Howard
Family and friends bring joy to this devoted mom who is also a former lawyer & non-profit executive. Favorite places: the outdoors - especially national parks, but really anywhere for an interesting walk or hike with her husband, Joe, and daughter, Sommer. Sommer works in NYC and is a constant source of inspiration and beauty tips. The long haired avatar looks like Christy bringing her perspective to you with humor and warmth.
Much of Christy’s input for the team’s first book, Read This…™ When I’m Dead, was shaped by her experience as a daughter and the actions her own mother took after being diagnosed with a life threatening illness 40 years ago. (Wanda was given 6 months to live, but survives to this day.) Subsequent books in the series were inspired by warm family traditions and a desire to make it fast and fun to capture life’s treasures: memories about people and places you love.
Read This…™ On Your Birthday - an adult fills out about a loved child
Read This…™ On Our Anniversary - couples fill out about their life together
Read This…™ About My House - renovations and maintenance to make life easier and eventually enhance sale value when that time comes.
Christy’s self-described crazy-fun career ranged from practicing real estate/environmental law to various Hallmark Cards positions (environmental conservation, risk management, finance, marketing & development, and human resources), and then global humanitarian work, her passion. She giggles about the first book she co-authored in the late 1990’s – The Environmental Due Diligence Handbook (Government Institutes), asking why more people didn’t read it.
Christy left her full-time Hallmark career in 1998 to spend more time with her daughter and mother, but remained on-call for special projects for nearly 10 years. That remarkably fulfilling time included traveling with her family as well as benchmarking with Fortune 100 companies, leading a team to revitalize Hallmark’s Beliefs and Values and co-leading the development of the Global Crisis Response Plan which was put into practice on 9/11. Later, in her position as Director of Corporate Communications with Children International, she spoke to groups at the United Nations and met with government officials in places as far away as Zambia. Most importantly, though, she found herself overwhelmingly inspired by the families and children who work so hard to escape the relentless traps of poverty. She is thankful for every minute with them and misses their presence in her life. The mothers she met earned her undying respect.
