Dupe Ajayi, Lola Ajayi, and Darrion Beckles
Dupe is the “Kehinde” in the twin pair. She’s held various positions in healthcare. Outside of her professional career, Dupe enjoys baking, challenging and improving her fitness, investing in real estate with her twin sister, and spending time with her family. She resides in NYC with her husband and two boisterous young boys.
Lola is the “Taiwo” of the duo. She’s an Agile enthusiast, fond of cooking, traveling, and rhythmic exercises. In her free time, she enjoys trying new recipes, learning new technologies, and spending quality time with her husband and family.
Darrion is a novelist, independent filmmaker, and professional DJ who (absolutely) adores good food, travel, and kickboxing. He spends his free time designing original tabletop games and binge-watching Netflix shows with Lola.
1. What inspired you all to write a children's book?
We’re inspired by our burning desire to close the financial literacy knowledge gap, particularly for Black children and children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Our mission is personal because we relate to the struggle of navigating the world without proper knowledge about saving, budgeting, investing, and entrepreneurship. Our own knowledge deficit as children and adolescents disadvantaged us from the beginning of college and into our early 20s. So, we took it upon ourselves to learn and remedy our lack of financial literacy knowing it would benefit us- and it has.
Therefore, because of our personal experiences and growth, we started an initiative with our first book to assist childhood educators in teaching financial literacy concepts to our children- much like they teach reading, writing and arithmetic- so that it comes as second nature (like brushing their teeth in the morning) by the time they enter the workforce, and becomes a part of their everyday life and lexicon.
Our hope is that our content is part of the toolbox young people use to build a strong foundation in financial literacy and financial independence.
2. If you could tell yourself one affirmation as a kid, what would it be?
You have invaluable talent within you. Discover it and you will be unstoppable!
3. What's next for you as an author?
Our team is working on creating supplemental educational materials (workbook, activity book, app) to accompany our books. These materials will help parents and educators further cement the information in the books.
Learn more and purchase “Mrs. Honey’s ABCs of Money” here!