Jessica Galatola is a teacher and mother to two young boys and she loves sunshine and all things playful. Jess comes from a large family – Italian father from Sicily, mother from Cardiff, Wales. She has lived in Australia all her life and has been based in QLD since she was 5 years old. As a teacher, Jess has worked in the education sector for fifteen years, specialising in English and Drama secondary teaching. In 2020, when her own family unit changed dramatically, Jess wrote this book, Some Families Change, for her boys (at the time aged two and four) to help them understand the changes that their family was about to navigate. Jessica has a passion for helping young people to heal and build resilience and self-efficacy and believes that literature is a foundational and fundamental step in helping young people to understand the world and their place in it.

Jenni Barrand is a children’s art teacher who loves helping kids learn all the amazing ways to create art. Jenni grew up in south east London and went to Sylvia Young Theatre School and the BRITS college of Performing Arts. She was in educational UK TV series about stepfamilies when she was 12. Jenni loves walking and exploring in nature while listening to her favourite music and she loves making art in her little studio. She lives on the Northern Beaches of Sydney with a husband, two kids, one cat and three guinea pigs.