Check Out Ashwin Chacko’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashwin Chacko.

Thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Hi, I’m Ashwin Chacko I’m an Irish Indian author, illustrator, and motivational speaker based in Dublin.

I specialize in positively playful, visual storytelling to bring joy and encouragement. My mission is to champion creativity and empower people to find their inner spark. As far back as I can remember I’ve always loved to draw. My mother retells the story of me age 5-6 asking her if I could draw for a living. At the time she shrugged and said we’ll see.

Growing up in India it seemed like an impossibility, I had resigned myself to being a starving artist. But now 28 years 2 countries 3 kids later I can finally say wohoo! I draw for a living. It’s been a long and winding road to get here with many twists and turns. Now with over a decade of experience in the creative industry, I want to share my knowledge with the next generation through books, workshops, and talks.

I am the recipient of the Facebook Artist Residency Programme and the Adobe Creative Residency. My select clients include Nike, Puma, United Nations, Adobe, Coca-Cola, Meta, DK Press, Hachette, etc.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
As far back as I can remember I have always drawn. My mother retells this story of me at age 5/6 asking her if I could draw for a living. At the time living in India seemed impossible, but today 26 years, two countries, and 3 children later I can proudly say I draw for a living.

It’s been a long and winding road to get here with many forked paths and a rollercoaster of highs and lows of failure and successes. As a young creative, I have been a perpetual dabbler constantly pursuing curiosity in as many directions as I could. I started by studying animation but ended up working in advertising as a graphic designer and art director and over the last 3 years full-time illustrator. I wanted to be everything for everybody. How many of you are guilty of that?

It was only in 2020, 11 years after I had started my career that I finally was forced to pause. The whole world was paused. The hustle had to stop and I realized I was so busy chasing the dream that now that I was there what was I going to do with it?

This was my call to adventure, the wizard had stopped at my door and I had to make a decision. Would I allow the fear to overwhelm me and steal my potential or would I embrace change and take the much-needed time off to ask myself a couple of questions?

Who am I?
Why do I do, what I do?
What do I hope to achieve?

To answer these questions I had to ask myself even more questions

What are some unique experiences in your past that have shaped you?
What is your personality like
What are you most passionate about and why?
What are you good at? (skills)
What is your drive to illustrate? (Money is not a reason, it is an outcome)

At the end of my introspection; a time of self-care, not self-pity. I have come to this conclusion:

To me, we must anchor our identity in something unshakable and unchanging.
I had to embrace what was weird about me my strength and my flaws.

When we are secure in our identity it is much easier to find our purpose.

For me, my identity and my purpose are linked to this core belief to bring: joy and encouragement in everything I do. This has now become the cornerstone of every decision I have made since.

Finding my way has given me clarity;

It allowed me to hone in on the artist’s style that my illustrations have. It has allowed me to overcome imposter syndrome. It has made decision-making easier, especially around the type of jobs I take on. Anytime I’m unsure I just ask “Will this bring joy or encouragement?”

My why shows me how much my sacrifices are worth.

The question is how will you use your why to your advantage?
To harness the impact of your why requires vision.

Your vision isn’t just for you, it’s been given to you so you can bless others.

Now that you have a clear idea of your vision you need to write it down so you have a roadmap toward where you need to go.

Vision needs to be Visible

So began making little pep wed videos that spread encouragement

He needs willing vessels to bring the vision to pass.

Proverbs 29:18 “Where there is no vision, the people perish”

When we take our eyes off his vision and direction we don’t have the motivation or the strength to keep moving forward.

Vision is a verb and thus requires action.

Last but not least vision needs to be validated.

Finding me why has allowed me to flourish because now I can clearly articulate who I am and how I can best serve my audience. This has given me the opportunity to be featured in several articles and podcasts. As well as collaborate with brands.

My work can have an impact because now it has a clear trajectory with a singular message. Everything about me aligns with this personal brand that is consistent from my appearance/ how I dress, to what stories I tell to what work I do to how I impact the creative community.

We are all authors of our destiny, sure there are chapters in our lives where everything seems impossible, but I want you to remember you are the hero of your story. Accept the call to adventure, face your fear, defeat the giant, and write your future.

The future is in your hands. What will you do?

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am most proud that today I can call myself a children’s book author.

It was early in 2018, the year of the big snow as I like to call it. My youngest son had just been born and the Beast from the East had vanquished any contact from the outside worlds. The internet fluctuated in and out so we had to dig through our attic and pull out the old VCR player to watch movies. We spent a lot of time as a family reading books, playing games using our imaginations, enjoying the outdoors building snowmen, and having snowball fights. I was reminded of a simpler time when video games and the internet had not yet dominated every waking hour of a child’s life. As a kid, if I or my brothers uttered the word “I’m bored,” our mom would have put us to work doing chores. So my brothers and I spent our waking hours outdoors, playing on rooftops, climbing rocks, or exploring the woods of the Himalayas using our imaginations to invent worlds.

When the snow melted away l was left feeling nostalgic. I started thinking about how much technology has taken over kids’ lives, screens are everywhere, in houses in buggies in little two and three-year-old hands. I want this to change, I love technology it made our lives so much easier but at a young age, I think it’s essential that we teach our kids to use their imaginations to think, discover, and pursue their curiosity. So I endeavored to write my first children’s book to go outdoors and use their imagination. It was called “Into The Woods We Go.”

I was super excited I had written the book, done up the cover, and developed the full layout. I did my research and found the right published and sent them my work. I waited in fevered anticipation hoping to hear back from them. Six sluggish months swung by and I had no response. As the end of the year signaled its goodbye and I had all but given up hope, I got one letter.

But it wasn’t the letter I was hoping for, it simply stated “Sorry it’s a NO for us.” This was devastating. I then had a choice to make, do I continue, or do I give up, and allow my fear of failing to steal my potential? I decided it just wasn’t meant to be, I felt like I sucked and I am sad to report at the time, I gave up on it. I allowed my dream to die. The reality is unless we face our giants and keep at it our dreams will remain dead. We must realize that we all suck at some time until we don’t. Those who persevere will eventually find success.

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My passion for creating children’s books was tucked away in the attic of my mind. It took another catastrophic event of being quarantined for it to be reawakened. It was only in 2020 when the world paused I was forced to take a moment to consider why I do what I do. And what, do I hope to achieve? This time of self-care, not self-pity allowed me to find my way, which is to bring joy and encouragement in everything I do. The three areas I wanted to focus my why around were children’s books, commercial illustration, and public speaking.

The impact of knowing your why is that it creates focus and drive as Nietzsche says ‘he who has a why to live for can bear with any how.’

It’s all well and good to have a vision. But vision is a verb and just like your dreams, it’s dead without action. How was I going to bring my vision and goals to life? I could no longer afford to wait to gain permission to create, I had to just start.

In 2020, I took on the monumental task of self-published the second book I wrote called “What Wondrous Shapes We Are.” What self-publishing taught me is that writing and creating a book is only a small part of the publication. Now came the difficult work of marketing and distributing the book. I reached out to reviewers to see if anyone would be willing to review my book. My cold email and social media presence began to yield some fruit as I began to be invited to be a part of online children’s book festivals. This allowed me to connect with a lot of people in the industry.

In 2021, three publishers reached out to me. An independent publishing house in America “A Kids Company About,” reached out to me after seeing my book and asked if I would be interested in creating a book with them which led to my first published book in September 2021 ‘A Little Book About Justice.’

At the same time, an acquisition officer from DK Press in the UK had similarly come across my book and asked me if I had any other books I had written to show them. I had just written the book ‘Everybody Feels Fear,’ with the intention of self-publishing, I sent it on to them and it became my second published book in September 2022.

The third publisher was O’Brien Press whom I was introduced to through mutual connections in the children’s book events I had been a part of. This is where my story comes full circle as I sent them ‘Into The Woods We Go.’ O’Brien Press liked the idea but asked if I could change the setting from the woods to the city to relate to the larger urban readership. With this challenge accepted my latest publication released in April 2023 ‘Wild City,’ was born. A story to encourage kids to use their imagination, to reshape the world around them, and turn the boring, amazing.

So what have I learned from my journey and what can I impart to you about my publishing journey? I think as creators we often approach publishing as a means to an end and we forget that first and foremost publishing is a business so we need to start thinking like them. Put yourself in their shoes and consider what you might do if you were in charge.

I’ve found that with publishing it’s all about perceived value. Because in truth it’s an investment game, instead of stocks, publishers are betting on which authors/ illustrators have the potential to bring a good profit. Sure that is not their only objective but it is a part of it. They want to ensure that they aren’t taking too high a risk. I think self-publishing my book showed the potential of what I could do. It showed that I could follow through with a project from start to finish and it articulated my approach. If I were to restart today I would ask myself what can I do to present as a lower-risk option with high potential. Here are some steps I would take.

– Start thinking like a business.
– Put in the work to develop your craft (writing or illustrating stories).
– Be a part of the children’s book community and contribute to it.
– Grow an audience around your work to build your social clout. Or social currency as I like to call it. The larger your clout the more negotiation power you will have to ask for more. Everyone has to start somewhere, so start today
– Publishing is a team sport, so learn to be a good team player.

I want to leave you with this quote from the movie ‘Field of Dreams,’ as I think it encapsulates my journey “If you build it, they will come.” Start building your dream today.

What matters most to you? Why?
I specialize in positively playful, visual storytelling to bring joy and encouragement. My mission is to champion creativity and empower people to find their inner spark.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.whackochacko.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whackochacko/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whackochacko/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashwinchacko/
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/whackochacko/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ashwinchacko
• Other: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ashwin-chacko