Monique Maldonado’s accomplishments over the years are nothing short of incredible. As a wife, a mother of two, a beauty pageant winner, an author, a Latin dancer and instructor, and a blogger, the East Chicago native has a laundry list of accolades spanning a plethora of different ventures.
Growing up in East Chicago, Maldonado began her academic journey at Purdue Calumet (now Purdue University Northwest) before transferring and graduating from Columbia College in Chicago with a degree in broadcast journalism in 2007. From there, she began working at DePaul University, receiving her master’s degree in New Media Studies in 2012.
Despite her strong background in journalism, Maldonado felt a pull towards creative writing instead. After the birth of her daughter in 2014, she felt inspired to write a book, specifically one for children.
“I had a couple of experiences in life that I always felt could be a story that I would want to write about, but I could never get it rolling,“ Maldonado said. “Once I had my daughter in 2014, the idea of writing a children’s book came to mind because my husband is an artist. I just thought, ‘Hey, he could draw the pictures and I can write the story.’”
Despite the early inspiration, it took the pandemic hitting and having more time at home to truly begin collaborating with her husband, Jaime, on the book.
“Once the pandemic hit, we were all in the house, and he had more time to paint and draw and do things that he never did,” Maldonado said. “One night I just came up with the story. I read it to him, and I said, ‘Would you be able to illustrate it for me?’ He was like, ‘Totally,’ so that’s how it all spilled into each other.”
After some delays, mainly due to life getting in their way, the couple finally released their first book, “The Looking List,” in December of 2022. The process was a tough one that required many weekends dedicated to editing and drawing the book’s illustrations.
Instead of taking the traditional route of finding a publisher, Maldonado decided to self-publish “The Looking List” under her own publishing company, Maldina Publishing. She explained that she wanted to self-publish the book in order to have more control over its overall design and to allow her husband to create the artwork.
“I really wanted Jaime to be the illustrator, and my fear was, if I got picked, they wouldn’t have used him; the publishing company would have assigned whatever illustrator they had,” Maldonado said. “I didn’t want that; I wanted to have more control over the design and the art of our book.”
For Maldonado, working with her husband has been incredibly rewarding.
“It’s been great,” Maldonado said. “This was just something we were doing together on the side. I wanted to have this book, but we didn’t really have the mindset of what we’re doing now or what it’s turned into.”
When she’s not writing and running Maldina Publishing, Maldonado is typically performing with a Latin dance group in Chicago, something that she cites as a stress reliever.
“Dance has gotten me through a lot of stages in my life; it’s a release. I love being on stage. It just makes you transform. You’re another character, another person. You get to act a little and be in the moment,” she said.
To learn more about Maldonado, her publishing company and “The Looking List,” visit Maldina Publishing’s website here.