“Not in a million years” would Cindy Ray have imagined that she would become the author of a children’s book.   Even as someone who had always treasured reading, she could never have imagined how a family trip into a San Francisco book store would forever alter the course of her professional life.

Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, and a graduate of Hillcrest High School, Ray was raised in a family that valued family, education, and philanthropy.  Not certain of any particular career path, she opted to attend the University of Texas at Austin to see where that might lead.  Within a year, she returned to Dallas to care for her mother, Helene, when she became ill with cancer.   Following her mother’s recovery, she returned to UT, but found that her heart was calling her back home to Dallas.  Her father, Sylvan, an accomplished optical manufacturer, had always encouraged Cindy to utilize her dynamic and outgoing personality in both social and business settings. 

“I adored my dad.  He was the pinnacle of everything I honor and respect in life.  He gave more than a 100 percent all the time while trying to benefit others,” says Cindy. 

She quickly found herself working in specialty retail stores and in hotel and restaurant catering, which included event planning.

Cindy’s unique sense of style combined with her uncanny ability to ‘read’ her clients’ needs led her to build her own event planning business, InspiRAYtions, in 1986.  Cindy found herself working constantly, planning a wide array of personal and corporate events. Her passion to create the most memorable events on any budget quickly earned her the respect of the industry and a bevy of clients in need of her expertise.

Eight years later, to escape the 100-hour work week and to “get a life,” she became catering manager at the Westin Hotel.  While there, she met her husband, Bruce Yablonsky, and they married in 1995. In 1998, their son, Ryan, was born. 

Determined to again be the master of her own ship, Cindy started yet another event planning business, C Ray & Associates, this time focused on the magnitude of the project rather than multitude.  Her “lifestyles of the rich and famous” parties became the “hottest tickets in town,” and she continues to enjoy tremendous success more than a decade later.

In 2007, while on a family vacation in San Francisco, she ventured into a favorite specialty book store with Ryan, who was 8-years-old at the time.  She’d raised Ryan to share her passion for reading and never denied him any book he’d select, but when he asked her to buy him a wordless book, she hesitated.  He persisted, showing her the bright, vibrant illustrations that made him laugh and inspired him to tell her his version of the story.  She conceded that she’d buy this wordless book for him under the condition he would write at least one sentence per page.  To her shock, he agreed. Later, in their hotel room, Cindy watched in amazement as her son, who’d always resisted writing, spent the better part of an hour writing in this book! 

An epiphany!  Her two passions would come together:  Entertainment and Education.  

Within a month, in 2007, Cindy founded Kids Write On, LLC, and eagerly began working on creating a captivating hardcover book that would inspire children to use their imagination.  This was a labor of love, and quite literally, nine months after the project began, Cindy published The Stapler Caper, an engaging tale of clever cartoon characters borne out of the shape of pencils and aptly named, The Do Writes.  Set at Write Bros. Elementary, the characters spell out a tale of good vs. ‘good-for-nothing,’ as the Sinister Stapler and the Evil Ruler attempt to take over the library.  But, wait! Students-turned superheroes, Ryan E. Racer and Bea Sharp are on the case…

With Cindy’s background in event planning and with perfection as her goal, no detail was left undone.  Each page was poured over, each character was designed and redesigned, even the paper itself was researched to assure that it could withstand the test of time (and eraser!).

“Children who have always been told to never write in a book totally get into ‘breaking that rule’ and they use their creativity to write, erase, and re-write the story,” said Cindy.  “Few books have the ability to grow with the child, but this one keeps up with young, curious, creative minds!”

"I am dedicated to helping children explore their imaginations while fostering a love of learning,” said Ray.  “Ryan inspired me to make writing fun while encouraging his individual expression.  I hope all children will have as much fun writing this story as I had creating it."

“If we can teach our children to be creative at a young age, it will carry throughout their lives,” said Ray.  “We tell our children the value of exercising the muscles in our body.  I believe that our creativity and our imagination are like muscles, and the more they are used and stretched, the stronger they become.”