Rosaria L.  Calafati is a very devoted wife, mother, and grandmother.  Her family means the world to her. She has six grown children and 11 grandchildren!  She also has a marvelous husband who has inspired her throughout her challenges of Breast Cancer. 

She has a unique imagination and loves to use it to make her family happy.  Her biggest asset is her imagination to create wonderful holidays, parties, and activities to keep her family entertained and always believing in themselves.  Her whole life was all about children and giving them a positive way of facing their deepest challenges.

Being a Breast Cancer survivor and a devoted mother inspired her to create Princess Ella.  Going through the many difficulties of Breast Cancer, losing her hair was the one thing that changed her way of looking at life.   She wrote her books to inspire children and teach they are beautiful in their special way!  People are beautiful just the way they are.

Children have a special place in her heart, and through her books, she hopes to teach children to believe in themselves!

 Rosaria is a breast cancer survivor who realized that after losing her hair, being bald doesn't change who you are! She didn't hide her baldness because she knew she was the same person with or without hair. With this thought in mind, she created Ella, because she knew this wasn't the same journey for our youth and adults, facing hair loss. Here's her story below.

"I poured all my feelings of how it feels to be different and live in a world with people staring at you. As I was going through the many challenges of Breast Cancer, losing my hair was the one I conquered. I never wore wigs or hats to hide behind.  I would wake up every morning put on my lipstick and face the day.

After losing my hair to Breast Cancer, I realized that Bald Is Beautiful and that being bald doesn't change who you are! I didn't hide my baldness because I knew I was the same person with or without hair.

It didn't make a difference to me if people stared. I knew who I was and I believed in myself.  When I did catch people whispering, it would make me very very sad.  I realized how mean people could be. I felt in my heart the heartache that children and adults must go through for being different!  Understanding this feeling was when I realized that I had to help children and how they perceive themselves.  I decided to create a Bald Princess to set a precedent!  You don't need hair to be beautiful!

The reason I created a bald princess is that every little girl looks up to a princess' character and wants to be like them.   All children are not the same, so I concluded that all princesses should not be the same."

 

"I also want to show children that just because you are different, you can still achieve great things.  Leo & Lucas were different, but the love and compassion they have for each other unites them as a mighty team.  Children have a special place in my heart, and through my books, I hope to teach children to believe in themselves and that they can accomplish anything as long as they have the desire! 

 Leo & Lucas set an example of caring, friendship and doing the right thing. This incredible team speaks to the heart of children so that they can find love and compassion with friends no matter how different they might be."