INDIANAPOLIS — Tevin Studdard proudly holds his three children's books in his hands, books he just published this month.
The books are titled Haughville Heroes, Eastside Entrepreneurs and ABC's of Entrepreneurship.
"It feels amazing," Studdard said. "I'm working on seven more right now."
The Indianapolis native says growing up on both the east and west side of Indy, he didn't see people people who looked like him, or had names like his in the books he read. He doesn't want that to be the case for his children.
"So, I wanted to create a world full of black excellence of characters like them that look like them from neighborhoods where they're from, as well as have names like they had," he said.
"Its amazing, because I know just how much reading has an impact on young children and the fact that representation matters," Kiaundra Edmond said.
Kiaundra is Studdard's girlfriend and the mother of his children. She's also an educator.
"I've seen everything from him writing in notebooks. So, it's just really amazing to see the actual books come to life," she said. "It's exciting to be able to read to our children, books that their father wrote."
Throughout his books, Studdard features leaders, entrepreneurs and places making an impact on the Indianapolis community.
"I feel like we hear a lot of negative things that come from these areas, but just to show that there are positive figures and characters that come from this area," Studdard said.
He also honors his cousin, Antwyn Golden, who was shot and killed in Haughville.
Tevin talks about keeping his cousin's legacy alive in the video below:
Studdard is an artist, a passion he followed after watching his cousin, Ruben Studdard, win American Idol.
"I've been to 100 plus colleges and 33 states doing theme songs," Studdard said. "If you can write a song, you can write a book."
With a big smile of his face, he's also proud to share he's had one song go viral. He even features it in his Haughville Heroes book.
"So, just showing kids that okay, he can make viral music and now he's making viral books, essentially, as my barber said, from hooks to books, so I thought that was pretty cool," Studdard said.
Click here to learn more about Tevin Studdard's book collection
