Mona Liza Santos is an award-winning Filipina American children’s author, publisher, educator, and founder of World Love Press. A 2026 TOFA Awardee, 2026 TITAN Gold Winner for Outstanding Female Entrepreneur, and five-time Finalist in the 2026 Stevie® Awards for Women in Business, Mona has dedicated much of her work to something deeply personal: helping children understand their feelings, believe in themselves, practice kindness, and feel proud of who they are.

Her journey as an author began during the uncertainty of the pandemic, when she started creating simple, comforting stories for her young son. What began as a mother trying to encourage and connect with her child became an unexpected calling.

“For me, writing children’s books has always been about more than telling a story. Emotional literacy is at the heart of my work because children can experience so many feelings before they have the words to explain them.”

That purpose remains at the center of her work. Behind every book is still a mother thinking about the child who may need reassurance, the child who feels different, the child learning to use their voice, or the child who simply needs to hear, “You matter just as you are.”

Today, Mona is the author of 42 children’s books and counting, exploring emotional literacy, kindness, confidence, self-love, resilience, mindfulness, belonging, family, and cultural identity. She hopes her stories do more than entertain. She wants them to create meaningful conversations between children and the adults who care for them while giving young readers language for feelings they may not yet know how to express.

Her Filipino heritage is also an important part of her work. Having traveled to more than 70 countries, Mona has experienced many cultures, traditions, and ways of life. Travel was never about luxury for her. She has always valued experiences and memories over material things, often saving for her next journey because seeing the world was one of her greatest passions.

Those experiences strengthened her belief that children should grow up proud of where they come from while also learning to appreciate people whose lives and cultures may be different from their own. That perspective can be seen in books such as The Filipino in Me: Celebrating What Makes Us Proud, created to encourage cultural pride, belonging, and connection among Filipino children and families, including those growing up throughout the diaspora.

In 2026, Mona's growing body of work received recognition across publishing, entrepreneurship, and the Filipino community. She was named a TOFA Awardee by The Outstanding Filipino Awards, received the TITAN Gold Award for Outstanding Female Entrepreneur, and became a five-time Finalist in the 23rd annual Stevie® Awards for Women in Business. Her first children's book, Mama, I Love You, also received Mom’s Choice Awards® Gold recognition and three Honorable Mentions from the Purple Dragonfly Book Awards.

For Mona, these recognitions are meaningful, but they are not the reason behind the work. They are reminders of how something that began quietly between a mother and her child grew far beyond what she originally imagined.

Through World Love Press, Mona brings her books and advocacy together through educational resources and community initiatives for children, families, educators, and schools. She is also the founder of National Intentional Kindness Day, observed every August 24, and Heritage and Heart Day, observed every October 15. Both grew from the same values found throughout her writing: kindness should be intentional, people should feel that they belong, and our heritage and differences are worth understanding and celebrating.

Mona also serves as an Executive Contributor for Brainz Magazine, where she writes about emotional literacy, childhood confidence, kindness, cultural identity, belonging, and human connection.

Even as her work continues to grow, the reason behind it remains simple. Mona hopes to contribute to a kinder, more emotionally resilient generation—children who understand their feelings, believe in themselves, embrace their identity, and learn to treat others with compassion.

If one of her books helps a child understand a difficult emotion, feel proud of who they are, believe a little more in themselves, or brings a child and parent closer together, then to Mona, that story has already done something meaningful.