Lauren Sánchez Bezos on The Fly Who Flew to the North Pole and Why Thinking Differently Can Be a Superpower
[0:00]Welcome to Totally Booked.
[0:02]I'm Zibi Owens.
[0:04]I've interviewed more than 2,000 authors on this show
[0:07]and learned endless amounts about storytelling,
[0:10]reinvention, and life itself.
[0:11]Because when you talk about books,
[0:13]you're really talking about life.
[0:15]So get ready to hear from today's best authors,
[0:18]the best-selling and the not yet discovered.
[0:20]Come find your next great read and the story behind it.
[0:24]Enjoy.
[0:25]Lauren Sanchez Bezos and I talked about her new book,
[0:31]The Fly Who Flued to the North Pole,
[0:33]which is part of her The Fly Who Flued series.
[0:37]Long before Emmy Award-winning journalist,
[0:39]Pilate and Philanthropus,
[0:42]Lauren Sanchez Bezos became a New York Times
[0:45]best-selling children's book author.
[0:47]She was a little girl with big dreams
[0:49]growing up in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
[0:51]Lauren looked up to her father, a flight instructor,
[0:54]and years later earned her pilot's license
[0:56]in her 40s, proving it's never too late to pursue your dreams.
[1:00]Watching her own children experience that same sense of wonder,
[1:03]led her to create her best-selling series, The Fly Who Flued.
[1:07]The heart behind the books is deeply rooted in Lauren's own journey
[1:11]with dyslexia and her belief that neurodivergent children
[1:14]deserve to see themselves as a heroes of their own stories.
[1:17]She wants every child to know that thinking differently
[1:20]isn't an obstacle, it's a superpower.
[1:23]When she isn't writing or flying,
[1:25]Lauren turns her passion for exploration into action
[1:28]as vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund.
[1:31]Whether she's championing ocean conservation
[1:34]or expanding access to education,
[1:36]her mission is to inspire the next generation
[1:38]to dream boldly embrace their unique strengths
[1:41]and believe that anything is possible.
[1:43]And by the way, when she talks about her husband, Jeff,
[1:46]in the podcast, she means Jeff Bezos.
[1:49]Welcome, Lauren.
[1:50]Thank you so much for coming on totally booked
[1:52]and congratulations on your new book, The Fly Who Flued
[1:56]to the North Pole.
[1:57]Congratulations.
[1:58]Thank you so much.
[1:59]And thank you so much for having me on your podcast.
[2:01]I'm super excited.
[2:02]I told you earlier, I went down a rabbit hole
[2:04]and listened to all your podcasts.
[2:05]And they're so good.
[2:06]And I think they're so interesting how you really
[2:09]like talk to the author and like pull them
[2:12]to a direction to like get to how they got to where they wrote
[2:15]the book.
[2:16]I think it's pretty cool.
[2:17]Aww.
[2:17]Well, I'm very honored.
[2:19]Let's do that with you.
[2:21]Okay, first of all, tell everybody what The Fly Who Flued
[2:25]in the North Pole is about.
[2:27]Okay, I'm super excited about this one.
[2:29]I said to someone the other day, don't tell the other books,
[2:33]but this one is my favorite.
[2:35]I'm not sure why.
[2:36]I think it's because I'm finally getting into what I would call
[2:40]the rhythm and the stories are just kind of pouring out of me.
[2:45]My publisher's like, okay, let's just get this one
[2:47]before we start thinking about the next one.
[2:49]And The Fly Who Flued in the North Pole is really a Christmas
[2:53]adventure about Flynn.
[2:55]Flynn is The Fly and her best friends.
[2:58]We bring in another character.
[2:59]Her best friend is named Rio, who's a reindeer.
[3:02]So a reindeer who lives in Texas.
[3:04]You have to read the book to figure out why the reindeer lives
[3:07]in Texas.
[3:08]My son was like, wait, the reindeer is in Texas.
[3:11]What do you read?
[3:12]Exactly.
[3:13]But Rio has this, like I say in the book, this impossible,
[3:17]you know, dream and that's a flying with Santa.
[3:20]He finally gets this opportunity to train as a navigator,
[3:24]but there's a problem.
[3:26]The numbers and directions like North, Southwest,
[3:29]it just completely like messes Rio up.
[3:33]And Flynn, who's has a learning difference.
[3:37]It's dyslexic and maybe a little ADHD kind of understands
[3:41]what he's going through and together.
[3:44]And that's part of the book is like together.
[3:46]They just figure out a different way to navigate.
[3:49]And I love the holidays so much to me.
[3:52]It's all about bringing family together.
[3:54]And I just, I guess I just kind of wanted to tell a story
[3:58]that was fun and magical and still really had this message
[4:02]about learning differently and of course friendship
[4:07]and with someone with ADHD and dyslexia,
[4:09]I really relied on my friends to help me.
[4:12]And so that's kind of the message of this book.
[4:15]That's amazing.
[4:16]When did you realize you had ADHD and dyslexia?
[4:19]This is an interesting question.
[4:22]And because when I was younger, like, you know,
[4:26]growing up all through high school and even like right
[4:29]into my first year of college,
[4:30]I literally just thought I was slow and dumb.
[4:33]Like there's no getting around it.
[4:36]That's what I thought.
[4:37]I was like, I'm never going to get through college.
[4:39]I moved to California thinking,
[4:41]hey, maybe there's something for me out there.
[4:43]I didn't know what,
[4:44]but I knew college wasn't for me.
[4:47]And then one day I go,
[4:48]you know what I'm going to enroll in a community college.
[4:51]I could afford it.
[4:52]I think that like a course was like $14 a course.
[4:55]Anyway, I've always wanted to be a journalist,
[4:59]literally growing up.
[5:00]I'd read in front of the mirror even though it was hard.
[5:02]This is what I wanted.
[5:03]So I took some journalism classes and Lori,
[5:07]my professor at the time,
[5:08]I was in her journalism class and I was sitting in the back.
[5:11]Like I always did.
[5:12]I never sat up front.
[5:13]I didn't want to be noticed.
[5:14]I thought that's shocking for everyone to comprehend,
[5:17]but I really stayed in the back.
[5:19]And she came up to me and she goes,
[5:21]I want you to write for the school paper
[5:23]and I'm like, oh, I can't write.
[5:24]I'm just kind of seeing what writing is like.
[5:27]And she goes, why don't you think you can write?
[5:29]I go, I'm just a horrible writer.
[5:31]And she goes, go write something, no punctuation, nothing.
[5:35]And just come back to me.
[5:36]And she gave me a subject.
[5:37]I wish I could remember what it was, but I don't.
[5:39]And I came back and I go,
[5:41]I don't even know if you're going to be able to understand this
[5:43]because she didn't want me to look in a dictionary.
[5:45]She didn't want me to change anything.
[5:47]And she was just stories really good.
[5:49]You can't spell.
[5:50]And so she goes, I want you to have to get tested
[5:53]for something called dyslexia.
[5:55]I was like, by the way, dyslexia, think about it.
[5:56]I was like, what?
[5:57]I got tested.
[5:59]It came back like positive, like a high dyslexia.
[6:03]And then she goes, okay, you have a learning disability.
[6:06]By the way, it doesn't automatically go,
[6:08]oh great, I have dyslexia.
[6:09]I was like, great.
[6:10]I have a learning disability.
[6:12]So I did think, oh, this just kind of like amplifies
[6:17]that I'm not like everyone else.
[6:19]Anyway, she asked me to write for the paper
[6:22]and I said, you know, I don't want to do that.
[6:23]Because why don't you start with asking students questions?
[6:27]We had this data survey that they did every week.
[6:29]And that's how I started.
[6:31]So I started asking questions and she goes,
[6:32]can't I want you to write a story?
[6:34]And then I made it to the front page.
[6:35]And that's kind of how I got on my path of being a reporter.
[6:41]That's amazing.
[6:41]I'm so glad that, I mean, what if you had never been diagnosed?
[6:44]I feel like so many people don't get diagnosed.
[6:46]And now you do all this advocacy to help other people.
[6:48]Like that's amazing.
[6:50]Yeah, most people don't get diagnosed in my generation.
[6:53]Now teachers spot it right away.
[6:56]I have a son and he lets me talk about it,
[6:59]who got diagnosed in second grade.
[7:01]And you think that I'd be like, oh my God, okay,
[7:05]this is, you know, great.
[7:07]You know, we're going to figure this out.
[7:08]I did it.
[7:08]I was like, wait, let's try to keep him in the same school
[7:11]on the same path.
[7:12]I just wanted him not to have to go through what I went through.
[7:17]And I listened to the teachers.
[7:19]We put him in a different school.
[7:20]And now he's in college thriving.
[7:23]But it was a tough go.
[7:25]I mean, just because you get diagnosed with dyslexia doesn't mean
[7:28]like, oh my God, life is great now.
[7:30]I have dyslexia.
[7:31]It's not.
[7:32]It sucks.
[7:33]I mean, it can really suck having this
[7:36]because it's just it's a different way of learning.
[7:40]And it just means I think you have to like work a little harder.
[7:44]But I was relentless.
[7:46]I'm sure I'm not surprised to hear how hard working you were.
[7:50]But I know I know someone quite well who is so dyslexic.
[7:53]She she can't even navigate the science like driving.
[7:56]So she has trouble driving.
[7:57]I mean, it can be really debilitating.
[7:59]It can.
[8:00]And like I was, you know, I was reporter and no one knew I had dyslexia.
[8:04]It wasn't like I shouted it out.
[8:07]I hit it because I thought I wouldn't get hired.
[8:10]I thought it made me stupid.
[8:12]I really did.
[8:13]And so I carry this was that there was no spell check.
[8:16]I carried this little pocket dictionary with me whenever I'd go report.
[8:20]And this was an Arizona was my first job out of college.
[8:24]And so I it took me longer because I didn't want my editor to know
[8:28]that I couldn't spell.
[8:30]And so, you know, when I became an anchor, I had to read my scripts because part
[8:35]of the scripts they write for you and then you write some of the stories.
[8:39]And the scripts that were written for me, I had to read three times.
[8:43]And it doesn't seem like a lot, but it slowed everything down.
[8:47]While some reporters or anchors wouldn't read it at all, they just go.
[8:51]I would have to make sure I slow down and read every single word so that I
[8:56]I wouldn't mess it up because I would mess up and I would get made fun of.
[9:00]So it's tough.
[9:02]I'm not saying, you know, like I said this a couple times, you know, once you get a
[9:05]diagnosed, it's like, oh my gosh, it's my superpower.
[9:08]Right, right.
[9:09]Can be, but it takes time to realize that.
[9:11]So when did you finally say, oh my gosh, wait, I'm not stupid.
[9:15]I still question it today from this record.
[9:18]But it really took my son having dyslexia.
[9:21]So I was in my, you know, 40s before I realized, okay, oh, he just learns differently
[9:28]and watching the teachers teach him differently.
[9:31]And then him understand it was a big deal.
[9:35]And you said this about your friend that your friend, you know, can't navigate.
[9:39]That's kind of where the story came from Flynn who goes to the North Pole.
[9:44]Yes, because real can't navigate.
[9:47]And so I'm a pilot.
[9:48]And the story came from a very interesting place.
[9:51]I was flying with my co-pilot and he goes, okay, Lauren, go north about five miles
[9:57]and then you're going to go south and I looked at him and I was like, what?
[10:00]And that sounds weird coming from a pilot.
[10:02]So I'd always have to look at the compass, okay, which way is north.
[10:05]And then I go, wait a second, I can go through the lakes.
[10:09]And then when I get to the lakes, I make a left.
[10:11]And that's called dead reckoning in when you're a pilot.
[10:15]And I can navigate like that.
[10:17]So that's kind of where this story came from because Flynn finds a different way to help
[10:22]Rio learn how to navigate and it's what's called dead reckoning.
[10:26]So like if someone asks me, hey, how do I get to, I don't know, I'm trying to pick
[10:31]a spot like the museum.
[10:33]I cannot say, so you're going to go north and then you're going to take a right on
[10:38]a slot tell and then you're going to go a little bit more than you're going to go south.
[10:41]I can't do that.
[10:42]I like to this day.
[10:44]What I do is I go, okay, you're going to go straight, then McDonald's, you're going
[10:46]to take a left and then you're going to keep going until you see this building with
[10:50]this red slash on it.
[10:52]And right there, you're going to take a right and you're going to be at the museum.
[10:55]And so I can get there.
[10:56]I just get there a different way.
[10:58]I love that.
[10:59]I'm just like that by the way.
[11:00]I need all you really.
[11:01]I need all the landmarks.
[11:03]I am not the best driver.
[11:04]I need to know exactly like, okay, at Mel's diner, here's what you're going to do.
[11:07]And like all the, I need all the places exactly.
[11:10]And so that's, I just realized, okay, I'm not going to know the street names.
[11:14]And this is for, like, you know, for you, like, I read a book.
[11:18]And sometimes it's embarrassing because I forget the title and author.
[11:22]And it's not that I'm dumb.
[11:24]I just don't remember, but I can tell you everything about that book from the way it made
[11:29]me feel to what someone was writing about how they, like how the book quote unquote smelt
[11:34]because like what the author was trying to make me, you know, see visually and use all
[11:40]your senses.
[11:42]And sometimes I just forget the author's name, like, and it used to make me feel really
[11:46]dumb.
[11:47]And I'm just like, okay, but I can tell you all about the book if you want me to.
[11:51]I don't think that makes anybody dumb.
[11:53]I mean, I'm constantly talking to people who are like, wait, what's that book about that
[11:57]thing?
[11:58]I mean, you should see what happens in my bookstore.
[11:59]People are like, okay, I think the cover is orange.
[12:02]And we have to like figure it out.
[12:04]So don't, don't let that get you down.
[12:06]But I just read.
[12:07]So I read mostly nonfiction.
[12:09]So I think when I was younger, I just wanted to learn about everything.
[12:13]And one of our kids, I go, I really want to get into fiction and gave me a list of fiction
[12:19]books.
[12:20]And I just read one.
[12:21]And I really loved it.
[12:22]The curious incident of the dog in the night.
[12:24]Oh, yeah.
[12:25]Yeah.
[12:26]And the reason I'm telling you this is because I can't remember the author's name, which
[12:28]I could be, you know, it.
[12:30]I can't remember either.
[12:31]So there you go.
[12:32]But anyway, I'm trying, I'm getting there.
[12:34]I'm getting to like try to take on more fiction books.
[12:38]Well, I mean, that's a complicated title.
[12:41]And we got that.
[12:42]But I really love, I mean, the whole takeaway of your book is what you would say in
[12:45]the book, we find a way just not the way anyone had expected.
[12:48]And I just feel like that is such a life lesson, even for people who do have a sense
[12:52]of direction, right?
[12:53]Because no matter how, how well we set our compass, life throws us off.
[12:59]And we all have to be able to adapt and find our way.
[13:02]Yes.
[13:03]That is so true.
[13:04]I mean, it's so true.
[13:05]And that's why, you know, I'm talking about fiction or nonfiction books.
[13:09]I just downloaded your book because I learned about it, because I was about to be interviewed
[13:13]by you.
[13:14]And I'm excited.
[13:15]And I'm excited to read like about your life, because you said it's, you know, it's a little
[13:20]bit about the messy middle, I would call it, and we all go, I think a lot of us go through
[13:25]a messy middle.
[13:26]Yes.
[13:27]Well, see, this is why you're a great journalist is because you took the time to do that.
[13:31]And that is amazing.
[13:34]It's also, it's funny because when I was younger, that was a coping mechanism.
[13:38]So people didn't think I was dumb.
[13:40]So I would research like if we had to sit at a table with a bunch of people, I would
[13:45]know everything about them to try to anticipate questions they might ask.
[13:50]And so I think like that's what I'm saying is dyslexia superpower, it ended up being
[13:54]that because it made me curious and want to know more about people just because at the
[14:01]the time I didn't want to feel dumb.
[14:03]But just in general, that's just something that's that's innately I think everyone should
[14:10]be, which is just more curious instead of judgmental.
[14:14]I could not agree more, like a hundred percent.
[14:17]Right.
[14:18]So Rio always wanted to fly with Santa as like the big dream.
[14:21]Yes.
[14:22]What is your big dream now?
[14:23]Wow.
[14:24]I've had so many and they, you know, I've had so I always have so many dreams like
[14:29]I wake up like Jeff always says, I'm an idea factory and like, oh my gosh, let's do
[14:34]this or I want to do this and and I think like like I mean, so many ideas like a Russian
[14:41]my first is for my children, my biggest dream is for them to really thrive in this world
[14:48]be curious, really contribute to this world.
[14:51]And the reason I say that is because they're all out of the nest, that's a big deal for
[14:56]me.
[14:57]My littlest one is now in college.
[14:59]And so I think your dreams when you have children kind of, you kind of put them on them.
[15:04]I want them to just be happy, flourish and be kind.
[15:08]So that is like my biggest dream and the other one is really about what I'm doing with
[15:14]this book.
[15:15]I did suffer as a child thinking I was dumb.
[15:20]It's not fun.
[15:21]It's not fun for anyone, I'm sure.
[15:24]And so I want kids to kind of know that they have this power.
[15:28]If they're neurodivergent, I really think they do.
[15:32]I want to be careful.
[15:33]Like I said to not make it sound like having dyslexia is this amazing superpower because
[15:38]it is really hard.
[15:40]I still have to work around it and there are things that take me longer and that's just
[15:44]the reality.
[15:45]But really making kids have fun reading this book and also saying, oh, I just learned
[15:51]differently and that's okay.
[15:53]Can we go back to the empty nest part for two seconds because my kids just went to college,
[15:57]my older kids.
[15:58]And I have two, you know, left quote unquote, but tell me to give me some advice.
[16:03]What is it like for you?
[16:06]I'm still trying to figure it out because it's so new and I was got so used to like running
[16:11]this life.
[16:12]Okay, where are you going here?
[16:13]You're going here.
[16:14]You're going here and be like, oh my God, I'm exhausted.
[16:16]I would pay for that exhaustion right now because you miss them.
[16:19]You miss them terribly.
[16:21]I'm super lucky.
[16:22]They all call me.
[16:24]My two boys call me a little more than my daughter does, but it's so I'm still involved
[16:31]in their life as much as they want me to be, you might say.
[16:36]So it's not easy at first, but what's interesting is that with the first one, my son,
[16:43]I was like, bye, go to college, like you're out of here.
[16:46]Second one, a little bit like, okay, my daughter, I was like, get you to stay one more
[16:50]year.
[16:51]You're very interesting when the last one leaves.
[16:53]Oh my gosh.
[16:54]I have no advice to say good luck.
[16:57]It's not me.
[16:58]My youngest is 11 and he's like, you know, he's almost 12.
[17:01]He's like, you know, in six years, like, off being college and like, you'll be done.
[17:05]And I'm like, don't brush it.
[17:07]You know, like, you know, five, you six years ago, you were like five years old.
[17:10]A lot of time.
[17:11]There's a lot of time there.
[17:12]You have a lot of time and enjoy it.
[17:14]I mean, that would be my greatest advice.
[17:15]Enjoy the chaos.
[17:19]Just enjoy it.
[17:20]Thank you.
[17:21]Well, Lauren, thank you so much for the book.
[17:24]Thank you for all of your advocacy, for those with dyslexia and neurodiversity and all
[17:29]of that.
[17:30]Congrats by the way.
[17:31]If you didn't even talk about it and you're being a pilot, which is just so badass and amazing.
[17:35]I can't even deal with it.
[17:37]And thank you for just being so prepared and coming in like so open and we have a lot
[17:43]of stuff.
[17:44]I'm like, oh, we do that.
[17:45]Yes.
[17:46]Okay.
[17:47]So anyway, thank you.
[17:48]Yeah.
[17:49]Thank you so much.
[17:50]And congratulations to you with everything.
[17:52]It's really exciting what you're doing, this, you know, talking to authors and all of that
[17:56]is really, I think it's incredible and really highlighting that.
[17:59]So thank you.
[18:00]Thank you.
[18:01]Thanks, Lauren.
[18:02]All right.
[18:03]Bye to be.
[18:04]Bye.
[18:05]Thanks for everything.
[18:06]Thank you for listening to Totally Booked with Zibi, formerly momstone have time to read
[18:10]books.
[18:11]If you loved the show, tell a friend, leave a review, follow me on Instagram at Zibi Owens
[18:16]and spread the word.
[18:18]Thank you so much.
[18:19]Oh, and bye the books.