Meet The Aardvarks

Creating our stories, producing our books and running the business sure is lots of work AND lots of fun! Although the three of us and our many other contributors have diverse personalities and backgrounds, at each of our cores is the desire to make reading and learning a fun, healthy and empowering experience for kids.

Drew Freeman Chief Aardvark...

The Aardvark idea came to Drew at a time when he was concerned about a lack of emphasis on reading and learning in kids' lives. He has always felt that fun and active participation should be the key ingredients for motivating kids to learn. Drew has a high-tech background, has worked at companies like Microsoft and HP, and has always enjoyed creative writing. Drew lives in Santa Barbara, California where in his spare time you’ll find him on the beach pursuing his passion for beach volleyball. At 6’ 10” he’s pretty easy to spot out there!

Douglas Hunley - The Creativark

The first thing Drew did after he got the idea for Aardvark is call his great friend Doug, who he met in the 8th grade. A talented artist with a masters in fine art, Doug got excited about the idea. It even turned out he was working on a kid’s book of his own! Drew and Doug worked together to create the first Aardvark story, the Jungle Adventure, and tested the concept by making books for 50 kids. The kids and parents loved them, and the rest is history! Since then, Doug has written and illustrated several more Aardvark stories and is responsible for the look and feel of Aardvark and many of its characters. Doug lives in the Denver, Colorado area with his lovely wife and daughter.

Stephanie Walsh - The Omnivark

Her title says it all: Stephanie has her finger in almost every Aardvark pie! She has written two of our more popular stories-- the Princess Adventure and the Baseball story. Anything written in our newsletters and blog are most likely produced by Stef.

In some non-Aardvark circles, Stef is known as "Auntie Best" and enjoys doting on her nephews and niece (with more on the way!). She is finishing her masters in Counseling Psychology, where she focuses on helping parents and kids make healthy families. She is an undaunted fan of the Chicago Cubs (this is gonna be our year!), and she and her husband John live in Santa Cruz, California where they both teach and practice yoga.

Get Your Personalized Children's Book Today!