My name is Dionne Bowen, I am a proud mother of two fantastic little girls, an English teacher and an educational specialist. I was born and raised in North West London. I had written ‘Nia’s story: Simply Beautiful Me!’ in 2015 when I was pregnant with my first born Nia. The story was supposed to be my first gift to my first born. I wanted to offer her some words of love and encouragement from the heart. I wanted to celebrate her magnificence! As the years went on, I had shared the story with family members and some friends who had encouraged me to publish it. I had decided that having a beautifully illustrated physical book to present to my wonderful princess would be a fantastic gift. I had found an illustrator and started the work. I had promised my daughter that I would write her a real book.

Sadly my princess Nia passed away in 2017 before I was able to give her the gift that I had been working on. Nia was only two years old and passed suddenly. Heart-broken I stopped working on Nia’s book. The thought of continuing the story without her was too painful. In 2018 God blessed me with my second daughter Johari. Johari gave me the strength to carry on, she gave me the strength to fulfil my promise to Nia by completing her book. Although my heart will forever be broken, I am proud to say, I finally finished Nia’s Story! Ultimately I am just a mummy who wants to make her little girls proud. My works of fiction along with simplybeautifulworld.com are my legacy, they are my thank-yous to my daughters for giving my life purpose. My writing is my way of celebrating and honouring Nia and Johari.

Why did I start Simply Beautiful World?

My vision was to create an online universe where all little black and brown girls would be uplifted and celebrated. It is an unfortunate reality that many children from ethnic backgrounds will see very few examples of positive black role models through works of fiction or within the media. It has been noted that when children are unable to see positive reflections of themselves in the world around them, they may develop social problems leading to low self-esteem or confusion concerning identity. Through simply beautiful world I hope to help to make a change in the way our children are able to view themselves.