Alli Frank and Asha Youmans have co-written three novels together: Tiny Imperfections, Never Meant to Meet You, and now The Better Half, which Mindy’s Book Studio will publish on July 1, 2023.
Alli (who is white and Jewish) and Asha (who is Black and Baptist) found literary soulmates in each other after working together as teacher and school administrator in Seattle, WA. They discovered a shared mission as educators and as authors— to use humor, joy and compassion to write stories that encourage candid conversations about issues such as race, religion, culture, class, privilege, parenting and education.
You are starring in a Rom-Com. Who would you want to play your love interest?
Asha: Michael Cera would be my pick; someone funny and not so flashy.
If you were to speak at the graduation for a class of the scores of high school scholars you taught, what life lesson would you want them to take away into their next stage of life?
Alli: I would encourage those heading into the world to embrace life by living lean for as long as they can. When you are young and independent there is no need for stuff (and I would argue as adults we have too much stuff but that is a life lesson for another time), there is a need for experience, adventure, challenge. Research shows over and over again that humans learn best and grow most by doing, by being placed in challenging situations, by finding ease in discomfort. So, the money you make in your first, second or third job, don’t spend it on a “grown up” dining room table and chairs, or a car with insurance payments, or the name brand watch of the moment. Work yes, but also eat ramen and let your couch and bed be one and the same so you travel as much as you can. Live lean, so you can lean into life. Don’t wait for the “perfect time” to travel, to explore, to have an adventure, that time is most definitely now. I am telling you, go ahead and eat that peanut butter sandwich, wear the same pants to work every day and head to the far reaches of the world. Trust me, if you do, you will be the most interesting person in your peer group.
How would people from your high school have described you?
Asha: My schoolmates would say I got along with everyone, was always smiling, and that I was a lot of fun to hang with.
You have traveled extensively. Of all the places you have visited in the world, where would your dream life be lived and why?
Alli: I am lucky enough to live in one of my life-long favorite spots in the world, Sun Valley, Idaho. If there are mountains, you can find me climbing up them or skiing down them. But I am also a fish who can surf and swim for hours in an ocean, so I would love a small home, with a big veranda on a dirt road in Nosara, Costa Rica. My home would have a path where I can walk right from my back door into the ocean. The Costa Rican Pura Vida lifestyle is complete with water, bare feet, fresh fruit smoothies and beans and rice. Perfection for me and fortunately, for my family too.
If you weren’t busy writing, what special skill or talent would you like to try to develop?
Asha: I love to sing and I’d like to strengthen my voice. I imagine myself in a sparkly dress on stage in a smoky club performing sultry love songs accompanied by a small band.
As an avid reader, libraries have surely been part of your life. How did libraries influence your literary journey and how are they making an impact on your family today?
Alli: I equate libraries with safety, for myself and for my daughters. It is a place we can just be at peace, live comfortably in our own skin. Libraries have always been and hopefully forever will be a place to explore hidden interests, escape to worlds that resemble nothing of our own, and provide quiet moments to grasp the power of language, of words. Often just a single word. In the age of social media, we have given over too much to the old cliché, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” In fact, it isn’t. Today, images are easily manipulated and therefore misinterpreted, but words, they have definition, they hold value. And the number of words in a library is unfathomable and that, in my book, is priceless.
From the brainstorming of a book idea to the very end of the PR campaign after the book launches, what is your most favorite part of the book journey?
Asha: My most favorite part of the book journey is being shoulder to shoulder with Alli. Whether we are in our groove writing a scene together, doing a final read-through in our pajamas, or speaking in front of scores of people, we have a hilarious chemistry that invites readers to absorb our mission to bring joyful stories to discussions on hard topics.
Imagine yourself walking the red carpet at an awards show to honor your book to film project. Who would you ask to design your gown and what color would it be?
Alli: Well, I would spend several weeks deliberating with myself, trying to talk my mind into wearing a vibrant color and then I would chicken out and stick with black. I would want to bring Halston back from the seventies to design my dress, something along the lines of his famous over one shoulder full length black crepe gown. And then I would have my hair loosely pulled back in a low bun with a huge white gardenia. My shoes would be black and strappy, wrapping several times around my ankles. I think Lauren Hutton might have stolen my look for the 1975 Oscars.
Having been a teacher of young students for so many years, what is one piece of advice you wish you could tell all parents and they would listen?
Asha: I would encourage parents to focus on the child they have, not the child they imagine they should have. Neuroscientists claim children are wired with at least four hundred personality traits at birth, that is they are born with pieces of who they already are. Parents often press scholars into athletes, attempt to mold artists into mathematicians, push deep thinkers into stage stars, to no avail. Adults should practice acting as fertilizer to a child’s garden and watching how beautifully they bloom.
What’s the most important part of being a good friend?
Alli: Good times or bad, you show up. Full stop.
