#50 Jessica Galeas: The Book She Waited 20 Years to Write | Tia is My Mami Artwork

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#50 Jessica Galeas: The Book She Waited 20 Years to Write | Tia is My Mami

July 16, 2026 • Steven Padernacht

0:00 | 59:22

In this episode of The Padernacht Podcast: Brick by Brick, Steven Padernacht sits down with Jessica Galeas — a Bronx-raised early childhood and special education teacher who spent 20 years carrying a story she was finally ready to tell.

Her debut picture book, Tia is My Mami, is 95% autobiographical — the story of a little girl raised by her aunt after losing her mother. It's on kindergarten shelves now. And it almost never got written.

Jessica talks about teaching K–2nd grade for 15+ years, what social emotional learning really means for young kids, why blended and non-traditional families rarely see themselves in children's books, and what it took to finally stop being in her own way.

Topics covered:

[0:08] Introducing Jessica Galeas: teacher, mother, debut author

[2:48] What teaching early childhood and special ed actually looks like

[4:25] Social emotional learning (SEL) — what it is and why it matters

[7:03] Why SEL surged after COVID

[11:02] The books kids gravitate toward and why

[14:03] Parent-teacher relationships and why they matter

[17:03] How much extra work goes into being a teacher

[18:52] "You don't leave at 3:00. We earned those summers."

[21:22] Tia is My Mami — where the title comes from

[23:37] Writing about grief and loss for young children

[25:01] Steven reads the book — and the page that hits different