Mona Liza Santos is an award-winning Filipina American children’s author, publisher, educator, and founder of World Love Press. She is the author of 42 children’s books and counting, with work centered on emotional literacy, kindness, resilience, confidence, self-worth, family, belonging, and cultural identity.

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What makes Mona’s journey especially personal is that she never planned to become an author. During the pandemic, she began creating simple stories for her young son to comfort, encourage, and connect with him. One of those stories became Mama, I Love You, and what began as a mother creating something meaningful for her child grew into an unexpected career in publishing.

 

Through World Love Press, Mona creates books and educational resources designed to help children better understand their emotions, believe in themselves, embrace who they are, and learn to treat others with compassion. Her approach is intentionally simple and child-friendly because she believes important lessons should be easy for young readers to understand and carry with them.

 

Her Filipino American identity and global experiences also shape her work. Having traveled to more than 70 countries, Mona has experienced many cultures, traditions, and ways of life. Those experiences strengthened her belief that children should feel proud of where they come from while learning to respect and appreciate people whose backgrounds may be different from their own. That perspective can be seen in works such as The Filipino in Me: Celebrating What Makes Us Proud.

 

Her work has received recognition across publishing, entrepreneurship, and the Filipino community. Mona is a 2026 TOFA Awardee, 2026 TITAN Gold Winner for Outstanding Female Entrepreneur, and five-time Finalist in the 2026 Stevie® Awards for Women in Business. Her debut book, Mama, I Love You, received Mom’s Choice Awards® Gold and three Purple Dragonfly Book Awards Honorable Mentions.

 

Beyond publishing, Mona founded National Intentional Kindness Day, observed August 24, and Heritage and Heart Day, observed October 15. She also serves as an Executive Contributor for Brainz Magazine, writing about emotional literacy, childhood confidence, kindness, belonging, cultural identity, and human connection.

 

What sets Mona apart is the way she brings together motherhood, emotional literacy, cultural identity, global perspective, and intentional kindness. Her goal is not simply to publish more books. It is to help leave behind a kinder and more emotionally resilient generation of children who understand their feelings, value who they are, respect where others come from, and know that they matter.