CATCHING UP WITH ... President Donna Hodge Catches Up with Peter Reynolds (COMM '83)

In this episode of the CATCHING UP WITH... series, Fitchburg State University President Donna Hodge catches up with Peter Reynolds (COMM ’83), as he talks about his journey from being a hungry Fitchburg State graphic design student in the Communications Media department to best-selling author, illustrator, and 2025 Commencement Speaker.  

Peter Reynolds is an acclaimed author with over 40 million copies of his books in print worldwide, including The Dot, Ish, The North Star, and Be You.  He has also collaborated as an illustrator on the Judy Moody series by Meghan McDonald. 

He founded FableVision, an award-winning multi-media production studio based in Boston, whose mission is to inspire, teach, and move people to action through their animations, interactives, and game-based learning apps games – for clients as varied as PBS Kids, National Geographic, Smithsonian, Nickelodeon, and the Library of Congress.  Audiyo-yo is a production division of FableVision Studios dedicated exclusively to creating entertaining, engaging, and inspiring audio content for children and families. He also runs Blue Bunny Book Store and Mocha Java Café in Dedham – where you might find him sitting at a table drawing. 

Peter Reynolds is an advocate for the arts and encourages everyone to express their artistic potential, shining as a contagious light of creativity, inspiring children, adults, parents, people of all ages to embrace their creativity, which he believes has the power to change the world.

We'll be welcoming Peter Reynolds back home at Fitchburg State as the 2025 commencement speaker for the 2025 Undergraduate Graduation ceremony, taking place on May 17th.  The commencement will be simulcast live on Fitchburg Access Television (FATV).

***

This conversation was recorded in March 2025, before a live audience.  The discussion has been edited for brevity. To watch the talk in full, check out the Fitchburg State University youtube channel.

***

Episode transcript can be found here.

***

This episode was produced & sound mixed by Adam Fournier (COMM '25) and edited by James Hoffman (COMM '28); both are members of the Perseverantia staff. 

Click here to learn more about Perseverantia. Join us for programming updates on Instagram. Or reach out with ideas or suggestions at podcasts@fitchburgstate.edu.

Transcript

PRES. DONNA HODGE (cold open): What advice do you give? I see a lot of faces in this room who are going to be walking across the stage in May. They're looking for their next self and the next big version of their life they're gonna build.

PETER REYNOLDS (cold open): Well, I mean, it's a combination of things. I mean, when you, you graduate and you're like, okay, milestone real life is here….

I wanna make sure that people take time for themselves. So of my challenge to people be as kind as you can be, but the number one person you should be kind to is yourself. I. That's actually one of my big messages. Don't grow up….

Remember what it was that you did as a kid. Incorporate that big into your life and stay a kid as as long as possible.

ADAM FOURNIER (intro): Welcome to catching Up With Where Fitchburg State Alumni reflect on their time here on campus. Celebrate their accomplishments. And discuss how they got from here to where they are now. I'm Adam Fournier, and in this episode, Fitchburg State University President Donna Hodge catches up with Peter Reynolds, a Fitchburg State graduate of 1983.

Peter Reynolds is an acclaimed author, known for his bestselling books, The Dot, Ish, the World Collector, and Be You. He has also collaborated as an illustrator on the Judy Moody series by Meghan McDonald. Peter Reynolds is an advocate for the arts and encourages everyone to express their artistic potential, shining as a contagious light of creativity, inspiring children, adults, parents, people of all ages to embrace their creativity, which he believes has the power to change the world.

We'll be welcoming Peter Reynolds back home at Fitchburg State as the 2025 commencement speaker for the 2025 graduation ceremony, taking place on May 17th. Thank you all for joining me as President Donna Hodge catches up with Peter Reynolds.

DONNA: Hello, Fitchburg State!  Yeah, I am, president Donna Hodge. I am absolutely delighted to see all of your smiling faces here today to get to talk to.

One of our most distinguished alums, class of 1983, communication student of the year, 1983. Mm-hmm. Um, and renowned author, illustrator, filmmaker, entrepreneur, all around solid human. I think, uh, an example of one of the amazing students who had an experience at Fitchburg State and went on to leave a very significant impact on this world.

We are so excited to welcome Peter Reynolds back home to Fitchburg State, and to have time with all of you today to talk about art, creativity, education. We have a lot of educators in this room today. So Peter, maybe we could just start by telling us a little bit about how your journey at Fitchburg State started with those first days as a student were like,

PETER: Sure.

DONNA: As you were finding your way.

PETER: Yeah. Well, thank you. Thank you so much for the warm welcome and hello everybody. It's great to, to be back. This is home for me. I rolled up that hill. Back in

PETER: 1978, and I don't know, can anyone do the math? How many years ago was that? 1978. 47. Wow. So 47 years ago I rolled up that hill and I was actually just tagging, tagging along for a ride.

I just, I hopped in the car with my brother. Paul, I have a twin brother. So Paul was he had heard about Fitchburg State and our sister Jane, who was in college at the time, was kind of helping us find the right place to be. So I was poking around and I love to draw and write and animate and make movies even in junior high high school.

And so I knew I wanted some kind of media. Rich experience. So I hopped a ride with Paul. I came up the hill, and then I got a tour and I fell in love with this place. And I just, you just, you know, sometimes you just know, you know, you just know you're, you're in the right spot. And so I became a student 1978.

I actually did one year at Mass College of Art, mass. Art was cool, but it was like so wildly  creative. I kind of, I said, do you know what? I need something. A little more practical, and I felt like that's what I was going to get at Fitchburg. So I came back and I did another three years. So I did the five year route.

I don't know if anybody's on the five year plan, but I did five years.

DONNA: I did the 10 year plan. You completely understand.

PETER: Yeah. But, yeah, I, I found my home and I made my home here and I was a kid in a candy shop. I just loved it.

DONNA: So we, we had a chance to talk a little bit last night, and you told us a couple of stories that really struck home to me.

One in particular. I very briefly taught fourth grade, and you talked a little bit about fourth grade as kind of a turning point. I think, I think for those of us who survived fourth grade teaching it or in it we know like fourth grade is a, is a year where there become more rules. Talk, talk about that a little bit.

PETER: Sure. Well, before I, I do that, I just, just to get to know my audience. How many artists do we have in the room? Do we have any artists? We have artists, artists, artists, artists. And that, by the way, is a trick question because if you hang out with me, you know that I can actually think that everybody is an artist.  They're just practicing artists.

DONNA: You got about an hour and a half to flip the room,

PETER: Right? And dormant artists and all of you probably started out in kindergarten and you grabbed a crayon, and I'm just guessing you made some marks. And as you mentioned, right, that fourth grade, around third and fourth grade, I've, I noticed that that's kind of the, the, the kind of the great switching yard.

It's like kids decide, I'm creative, I'm not creative, and a lot of kids by fourth, fifth, sixth grade, they start slowing down and then by seventh grade.  They're usually pointing to the class artist, --

DONNA: -- You do math well, you're good at art. This person can do music. Right?

PETER: And you get, you get that label. And, and then there are people who are like, well, I, I know I, I used to like to draw.

And of course we do not get better at the things we give up on.  Right. So we do get better if you keep trying. So I kind of made a, a promise to myself that I would make a drawing every day. And of course I ended up making two drawings, 10 drawings, 20 drawings a day. And for me, I just never stop.

So my mission is to help people not put that pencil down. And it might happen in second grade, third grade. I mean, I actually met a little girl, first grader. We had a group of kids together. I just said draw anything, just warm up. She was drawing. And I went over to see her work and she threw her body on top of her artwork.

She would not, look --

DONNA: I'm not an artist, don't look at it.

PETER: Right. She said, I, and I said, I said, what's the matter? And she said, very slowly, she just looked at me and she said, I just can't draw. And that broke my heart. I'm thinking, uh, wait a second. How does a first grader decide that they can't draw? And then I thought, probably a clumsy adult.

I said just the wrong thing, right at the right moment. And, and I hear it. I hear adults and they say things like, oh, I can't draw a straight line with a ruler. I can't draw my way out of a paper bag. I'm a terrible artist. I've heard it all. And I think it's unfortunately it's very powerful, right?

Because those kids are hearing their superheroes. And by the way, you only have to be a few years older than kids, you know? 'cause kids can look at a 17-year-old and they think they're like 40 years old. Um. But when they hear the, you know, their heroes, their parents or teachers say, I can't draw. It's like that's, they, you've just given the vocabulary for them to say they, they can't do something.

And to me that is the absolute opposite of what learning is about. Right? We want for people to say, I may not know how to do it right now, but if I give it a try and keep going, I might actually learn something. And it may not be your cup of tea in the end, but how do you know if you give up?

DONNA: Well, let's talk about that and your journey at Fitchburg State for just a minute.  What we hope our students experience when they, when they go up that hill, when they walk through the doors of our buildings, is that they have a chance to try something new. To think of themselves as an artist, as a writer, as a, as a, as a future mathematician, as someone who can be a changemaker in the world.

Tell us about that experience for you. What was it like 1978, 1979, being a student walking these same halls?

PETER: Well, I suppose it's not that much different in a way, you know, I mean, for me, coming back here is kind of wild, that almost everything looks the same. You know, the green smokestack is still there.

I mean, all the buildings are exactly the same. And I feel like it was here yesterday. It is, it's remarkable, but one, one thing I really loved was that there was this blend of the old and the new that the, like we look across here and we can see these lovely old brick buildings and yeah, here's this some something brand new right next to it.

And I love that balance of old and new. I'm a big fan of preserving. In my hometown. I live in Dedham, Massachusetts, by the way. And I have a bookstore there called the Blue Bunny. So this is a cafe as well. And I actually started a downtown renovation project because I noticed our downtown was not being taken care of and we had very narrow sidewalks.

It wasn't ADA compliant. And I had built this bookstore, but I, we needed more people to come to the downtown. So I actually created a group called the Dedham Square Circle. Within a few years, I had helped raise over $6 million. To renovate the downtown. So we have wider sidewalks, ADA compliant period lighting, really celebrating the history of Dedham, which is one of the oldest towns in Massachusetts.

DONNA: I think there's something special there about blooming where you're planted, making the space not adapting to where you are, but making the space, right.

PETER: It can be one person that can make all that difference.

DONNA: Create a coalition of the willing. Yeah, I love that. I love that. We say that a lot at Fitchburg State.

PETER: I love that. Yeah.

DONNA: Incremental change doesn't happen without one person saying, I believe right. We can do this.

PETER: Yeah.

DONNA: You, you gave us a little bit of advice yesterday about, um, what something you would tell our students today, your experience. In the in between spaces, not just the moments in the classroom, but making those connections with your faculty, with your fellow students, finding mentors being challenged in new ways.

Share a little bit. What, what advice do you have? It was true in1978. I bet it's still true in 2025.

PETER: Yeah. Well, I, my biggest, message is don't wait. Right. Don't wait for the degree. If you love doing something, do it now. Just do it. And maybe some of you already have, you're already doing it. Maybe you're getting paid for it.

 I recommend people having business cards. I know that they don't, they're, everything's digital these days, but it's kind of cool to have an old school business card with your logo of your company. So whatever it is that you're majoring in, let people know that you love it so much that you would do it without the degree.

The degree is nice 'cause you get the little stamp of approval. Say, yes, I spent my four years or five years.

DONNA: Let's talk about The Dot. So you spent some time at our McKay school. Today I heard that you were a rock star with the students.

PETER: It was fun. It was fun. Definitely. I, I love being back. I had been there many, many years ago. It’s been a while. It was just awesome. It was amazing. I mean, meeting my readers is always fun and I do, I spend a lot of time. Well, I should probably spend more time in my studio 'cause I would produce much more work. But I do a lot of community, community service work and I love visiting schools.

And I, one of the missions I'm trying to encourage people to do is to use whatever creativity you have to actually make things better because we're in a dark place right now and we need light. And I believe that the arts. Um, and teaching and healing. If you're in, in medical, there's so many ways to bring light to this world.

And so, you know, don't give up. Just bring your creativity to those who need it.

DONNA: Let, let's talk a little bit about the art and the dot. The story of The Dot, you have this amazing way as an author, as an illustrator, as an artist to make really complex, deep ideas accessible. Can you talk about that process a little bit and how you balance that?

You, you described it yesterday as the, the balance between drawing and illustrating.

PETER: Mm-hmm. Right?

DONNA: And the need to do both, but let's talk a little bit about the way you make those complex ideas so accessible.

PETER: Well, I loved it, or I always have, and then I realized there's this thing called illustration.

And illustration is actually different than drawing. A drawing is you put pen to paper and you move your hand around and you get surprised. Illustrating is that there is a concept that you're trying to get somebody else to understand. So it's kind of hard work, right? You're, you're trying to, to communicate an idea, a big idea.  And, but I find that with a very few lines that I can. Communicate an idea and I be, I think I became really fascinated with like how few lines I could use.

DONNA: And what's the message in your mind about, uh, in the dot and has that changed for you? I mean, what you intended originally and the way maybe it's perceived today?  We've talked a lot about this moment in time.

PETER: Yeah. Well, I remember that, right, that little girl who said she couldn't draw. And I, I decided I would write this book for other kids who said that they couldn't draw. And I think initially it probably was, I was thinking that it was more about art and creed, creativity, but as time went on, I realized the real story is about bravery, right?

Just getting started, people would come to me and say, I'm really glad I read this book because I've been. You know, thinking about a career change or I'm in a relationship and I'm, you know, I'm having difficulties. And I read The Dot and they realized like, oh, I just have to, I have to make my move. I have to, I have to do something.

I have to start somewhere. And I realized that the, that little dot represented a lot, that it was the beginning of something, right? Taking, taking the plunge, taking that first step. Um, and then also the other thing that I, that came out of writing this is that I was honoring a teacher. So in this story, this teacher sees Vashti struggling and she says, make a mark and see where it takes you.

And Vashti's really frustrated and she grabs the marker and she jabs the paper and she leaves one little dot behind. And this teacher being a clever teacher, takes a look at it and, um, hands it back to her and says, please sign it. So Vashti's kind of perplexed. She's like, well, I can't draw, but I can sign my name.

So she signs her name, she stomps out of the room. She comes back the next week and they're hanging above her teacher's desk, is the dot all framed in swirly gold. And, um, she takes a look at it and you would think she would be happy, um, that her work was being honored. But she looked at it and she's like, I could do a better dot than that.

And the rest of the book, you see her blossom, and bloom as an artist and she actually encourages somebody who's struggling himself.  And she says, “Make me a drawing” and he bravely makes this little drawing at the end.  So it really is a celebration of great teachers and that's why it was special for me to be at McKay today to be around teachers.

And I know that that is core to Fitchburg State University's mission -- to inspire great teaching. But also, I mean, everybody here is a teacher. That is my philosophy that every single person here is a teacher.  Everything that comes out of your mouth is going to either lift people up or you can put people down too.

So we have the right, we have the power to lift people up with their words and encourage people. So we were all teachers. So that book. There's a lot of heavy lifting for a, a story that just started as a --

DONNA: it's a pretty, pretty heavy ask, right?

PETER: Yeah.

DONNA: A pretty heavy responsibility. Let's pause for a second.  Storytelling is changing pretty rapidly right now. You don't have to look at TikTok or Instagram to see a whole new way of telling stories.  AI is changing this even faster.  What, what creating looks like today is so very different, uh, slide rule to calculator in fact. Right.

So what do you think that impact is going to be on traditional storytelling?

DONNA:  And what, what worries or excitement do you have about the changing technologies and how we do that work?

PETER: Yeah, AI, this is a big one, you know, 'cause I mean they, when the mouse came out that was kind of big. Cool. But it didn't fundamentally change. You still needed a human being to have an idea and put it down on paper.

AI does worry me a bit, and I'm already seeing it in schools where I'm seeing educators. Super excited. I was at a conference and I saw these teachers being shown AI tools, and they're like, “oh, you know, kids are gonna be, you know, we're, they'll be strengthening their prompting skills.”

DONNA: And it's a heuristic, right?

PETER: Yeah, and it's like you could type in, you know, child holding basketball with wings and then it's like, oh, you know, and then you could change it to a baseball and you would see the drawing made for, I'm like, I don't think kids need prompting skills. They need to know how to take what's in here and put it on paper and I will probably, I'm gonna stick to my guns to say that human beings are gonna be necessary in the future and the way things are going, technology is kind of trying to make us obsolete.

And that's why it's so important, like cre-- when we talk about creativity, it's not just about making art, it's about having an original thought. And original thinking is an endangered species right now. We are. It is a threatened species, you know, and what does it mean to have an original thought

DONNA: And the confidence to run with it when you have one?

PETER: Right? And, and the only way that you get better at being a creative thinker, having great thoughts is to have a bunch of them and have them come from in here. And from your heart. But if, if it's being done for you all the time, it's like if, but when machines are doing the thinking for us, I think that's dangerous.

DONNA: Let's shift gears talking about danger education in the 21st century. The need to have standards, measurable outcomes an era of testing every single thing. How do we as educators, future educators, future creative thinkers, navigate this world? Full of all of these rules.

It's testing, it's guardrails, it's this compliance component. Mm-hmm. How do we balance that and still keep an eye on the thing that matters, the creative spark in our students, ourselves.

PETER: Yeah, we could talk about for, for a long time about this. 'cause this is a, this is a hot topic for me. I'm not a fan of standardized testing.  High stakes testing. I think testing. I'm actually a fan of, of assessment. Assessment is like, is any of this interesting to you? And if it's not, then let's figure out what is, to me, that's an interesting question. Like what is interesting to you? In fact, that probably might be, it's the second most important question that we can ask our kids.

What, what is interesting to you? If, as long as it's used as kind of additional information, but there's so much weight is put on testing. And if you have kids, and if you do have kids, eventually I have two kids and now two grandchildren. You love them so much no matter how they struggle, you know you love them and you want the best for them, and you just wish that the rest of the world could see what you see.

And that's my wish is that all educators can see that beautiful kid. That's there. And maybe they're struggling, you know, and maybe they're acting out, maybe they're bored. And do you know what it's, it's okay for them to be bored. Let them be bored, but then have that conversation. What isn't boring? Right?

What, what sparks you? And it's gonna be different for everybody. Every single, right? And you can't say all 30 of us are gonna be sparked about this. It's just, for me, it's like a school is like, it's serving up appetizers. And it's like, try this, try this, try some curry, try some. And you try it. And then you're like, you know this, not so much.

This is pretty cool. Right? And then we should give our kids permission to say, I'm going with that. Right. And then really dive in deeply. 'cause I also feel like maybe school, we just get like these, that we kind of stay on appetizer level. We don't go in for the full course. But I think that's why I wrote a book called The North Star, and it's about following your, your North Star and I think everybody here has a north star and maybe you have a constellation, maybe you have like five stars and all those stars combined.

For me it wasn't just art, it was working with kids, helping kids, helping kids kind of navigate their true potential. So I encourage people to make your star map, you know, just grab a piece of paper and just. Start putting little stars. If it's a very important thing for you, make it a big star.

If it's something like, it's just a kind of a fun fact about yourself. Like, I was born in Canada, so I have a Canadian star. Does it impact me daily? Probably not, but it does. It is part of my story. And I think being an immigrant, my father was from Argentina, mom was from England. They survived World War ii.

They went to Canada, couldn't make it a go of it there. So they came to Somerville, Mass, and we made it work. And that was also sort of foundational for me, which kind of is why I'm here at Pittsburgh. Because, because we had, we had a big family. We had only been in this country for a decade and we, my dad and mom did pretty well considering, but we didn't have, we were not awash with cash.

So my choices were economic and I wanted a good education, but I wanted one that I could actually afford. And so that is why I, I'm really thrilled that I found Fitchburg State because there was so much here. And again, you get what you put into it. And I, you could go to Harvard and not put, put your right, put your best effort into it, and you'll walk away with nothing.

You could come here to Fitchburg if you lean into it. There's so much here. There's so much potential and so many great educators here, professors who really care about you. I was very blessed. My professor, I think is somewhere in the audience. Yeah, there she is. Helen Obermeyer Simmons, could you stand up?

My teacher just wanted to do a shout out. And, Helen was an amazing communications media teacher. You taught all sorts of things, right? Graphic design and I like to tell the story that I was, I had so little money that I actually slept in my car. I don't recommend this in the winter months, but I was so it was so cold and I would just stay as long as they would let me stay in the building.

So I would do my work, which actually turned out pretty well because I was doing my projects all the time. So I was working and Helen noticed that I was cold and hungry. She circled back to campus and she walked through that door and she had a bag of Burger King, and she brought me a whopper and fries.

And I always say that you saved my life with that, but I just thought it was so wonderful that a teacher would care. Yeah. Thank you Helen. Yeah.

And that, that really is, is part of the, the magic here is that people, professors do care.

DONNA: The pressures on students today are just as serious as they were for you in 1978. We talk a lot about that at Fitchburg State today. We worry about our students and their academic progress when they're worried about so many other things happening in the world. When they might be worried about where they live and what they eat. The added complication is then when do you find the space for the creative pursuits, when sometimes the world can feel so heavy when sometimes your needs are so great.

How did you balance that? People like Helen, we heard something internal though drove you? What? What was that?

PETER: Well, I think it's, I mean, it is survival, right? I mean, you just, you, you know, you're gonna have to fend for yourself and, but I wanna make sure that people take time for themselves. So, of my challenge to people to be as kind as you can be, but the number one person you should be kind to is yourself.

Make sure that you're taking good care of yourself, which means eating good food, nutrition. Because I think that that's one of the things that you know, this body that's carrying this amazing brain of yours needs to be healthy. So getting enough sleep is important.

DONNA: Being nourished in other ways.

PETER: Right.  Exactly. Nourished in other ways and take time out to have fun, you know, have joy. If it brings you joy, you sit at a piano and you plunk away and you're happy. That your stress will be reduced. I do believe that the arts are healing. So music, art, and whether you're making it or appreciating, that's the other thing too.

Appreciate you can appreciate art, but get to museums, appreciate other people's art. Listen to music and creativity for me is generosity of spirit, which means I'm, the door is open to learn it all. I'm not gonna get stuck in my lane.

DONNA: You, you also told me that you were unrealistically optimistic, and I like this about you a lot, Peter.

PETER: I am, yes. I am optimistic. And to the point of being annoying. That's how optimistic I am. And we are in challenging times right now. Um, and you know, people are, they're feeling kind of ground down, but I've been through a, a couple of these. You know, crazy times in, in history, you know, with recessions and certainly Covid.

I and it's like, do you know what? You have a choice. You know, you can, you can, you can kind of dwell in it or you can lift yourself up and say, I'm gonna, I am gonna fly over this thing. And I am, I think that we need optimistic people and realize that better things are ahead. I am certain that they are going to be better and we're gonna do it together.

And that's why we need to tell positive stories. All of us have to tell positive stories, um, 'cause the world needs those positive messages. Hate is much louder than love. Kindness is very, it's very gentle. It's very quiet. So we kind of have to amp it up. We have to amp up love and kindness and we can do that through music, through the arts, through film, through great teaching.

There are a lot of ways to do it.

DONNA: So, well, I'll ask a last question. We'll, I think have some time for some q and a from the audience, but you didn't. You didn't graduate from Fitchburg State and walk out in the world and become the Peter Reynolds you are today. What advice do you give? I see a lot of faces in this room who are going to be walking across the stage in May -- this year or May next year.

PETER: Yeah.

DONNA: And they're looking for their next self and the next big version of their life they're gonna build.

PETER: Yeah. Well, I mean, it's a combination of things. I mean, when you, you graduate and you're like, okay, milestone, now I, real life is here. I actually kind of started. Uh, as I mentioned before, I was doing freelance ahead of time, so I was kind of getting ready.

And then I did my internship and I was at an ad agency and I was, I was pretty good at it. I did my graphic design and I was, um, but because of my connections, my freelance work, I had met a teacher who was teaching at Shady Hill School in Cambridge, and he started a software company and he was looking for an artist.

To do a pitch to the software company to get some funding. I met him and I ended up getting a job with this guy doing freelance, but then I ended up working for him. So some of those seeds that you plant early on are going to help you after you graduate. So also knowing people, I mean, creating your network is so important.

Find it doesn't have to be a huge network, just that you have a couple of well-placed people in your network who can help you. Find your Helen. Yeah. Find your Helen, right? Yeah. So just make the, the most of whatever you've got, whatever, whatever job you've got. Even if it's not quite what you want, just excel at it.

Really push and go above and beyond. If they, if it's 9 to 5, the job. State of five 30. But I was a utility player. I could do, I wasn't, I didn't have one strength. I had animation, I had art.

PETER: I learned computer animation. I was an editor. I was a game tester. A writer and a writer. And I also would go into classrooms, testing out our software, educational software.

I kind of could do it all, which is, that's the other thing. You know, be a Renaissance person. Learn new things that are beyond your lane.

DONNA: Final thought. On the days that you're feeling a little down, what is the thing that gives you hope? What's the thing that keeps you going?

PETER: Well, I, for me, I think it's all children and children inspire me.

I go into schools and I just, I love them to pieces and I'm like, I want the best for you. And I want you to feel welcome in this country. And, uh, I just think if you know, if I could give kids hope, and if we can make this country a kinder place, generous of spirit, you know, that inspires me. That keeps me going, hang out with kids.

Kids are good for your soul. And if you can reactivate the kid inside of you, that's, that's actually one of my big messages. Don't grow up. Remember what it was that you did as a kid. And whatever it is, if it's a your favorite stuffy or you love playing Legos, incorporate that. Pick into your life and stay a kid as as long as possible.

DONNA: Pick up a pen. Pick up a marker.

PETER: Pick up a marker. By the way, I am, I'm here. I'm part of the community. I am. I love that this place is still here and you've what made me feel so welcome and so many people today that I've met students and faculty. And the kids at McKay, they made me feel so welcome and I'm home.

I'm home. Consider me a friend on the journey if you need anything -- peter@peterreynolds.com. Very easy to find me. And if you wanna hang out with me, I always tell kids, all you have to do is you find a book with my name on it, start reading, and I will be there with you.

[ applause ]

DONNA: Thank you, Peter.

PETER: Thank you.  Thank you.

[ applause continues]

DONNA: So I think we have time for a couple of questions from our audience.

PROF. ROB CARR (audience): Hi Peter. So I'm wondering how you think about the relationship between the arts, creativity, and entrepreneurship.  And now I'm thinking about FableVision too.

PETER: It's interesting, right?  I am an artist. And we get labeled, right? Oh, you're the math kid in the family and you're, I was the artist in the family. And I kind of lived into that. Like, yes, I'm an artist. I was drawing away.

It wasn't until much later, I was probably nearing 30 years old. And I realized both our, our parents were in finance, they were bookkeepers. And my dad was a treasurer. My mom was a bookkeeper. And my brother, older brother is a CPA. My sister Jane went to Harvard Business School. And I'm like, wow, we've, there's a lot of financial DNA in it, our blood.

And when, and then I thought back, I'm like, when we were in third grade, we – Paul and I – started our own newspaper. And then we would ask our dad to make photocopies and he would say, um, guys, uh, this paper costs money. You know, I can't be using the office's supplies if you keep, you know, increasing circulation.

So, he said, you have to give me some money. And that was the, that was the, when the light went on, like, oh, we should charge for these things. So we started charging for a comic books falling product. Right. 10 cents per is fair. And then we, we opened up a bank account and we had business cards and stationary, and that was kind of that, the idea that art needs funding, right?

And you need to actually make, you have to make some money. And, um, so using art to make money, but what we added was mission. And when we started, I started my own company. So I, I was working with this teacher who started a software company. We grew from 12 people to 65 people. It was sold for $28 million.  Wow.

Then I started my own company and I, day one said. Well, I came up with the name of the company, which is kind of fun to name your own company. So Fable, a teaching story vision to be able to see, but I love that word.  Vision is to be able to see things that don't yet exist. And so, FableVision, and I came up with a tagline, stories that matter, and I told everybody who worked for me and still do that.

Our job is to move this world to a better place. So you can have your, your skill, your talent, your art. You can make money, but make sure that third leg of the stool is mission. Be doing it for a reason. And this world actually needs, um, passionate people who want to change the world. Make it a better place if you can put all three legs to that stool.

That's pretty, that's kind of magic. So I feel very blessed to have FableVision. We're celebrating 28 years. One of our offices on Newbury Street. If you ever want to tour, we do very good parties too. We have open houses and we invite people to see all the writers, the artists, the animators, the voice folks.

Which, by the way, we have our newest studio within FableVision. It's called Audioyo-yo. And it's all podcast, audio storytelling. Check that out. Check out fable vision.com. There are lots of ways to stay connected.

DONNA: Round of applause for our guests today. Peter Reynolds. Thank you.

[ applause ]

PETER: Thank you all.

DONNA: Thank you Peter so much. We are so proud to have you back.

PETER: It's great to be home.

[ applause ]

[ Catching Up With theme fades in ]

ADAM (outro): Thank you all for joining me on this episode of Catching Up With and thank you to President Hoch for giving Peter Reynolds such a warm welcome back to Fitchburg State University.

We can't wait to see you again and hear more great words of wisdom at graduation. We always love to welcome all grads back to campus to talk about their college years and their success stories. Peter Reynolds, welcome home. I'm Adam Fournier. Thank you for listening.

And I will see you on May 17th, crossing that stage.

[ Catching Up With theme fades out after a crescendo ]

[ Perseverantia Network theme starts ]

MATTHEW MESSINA: Hello, this is Matthew Messina, a Senior at Fitchburg State University, and you're listening to Perseverantia, the Fitchburg State Podcast Network.

[ Perseverantia Network theme fades out ]