Meredith Seacrest Leach on ‘The Make Believers’: Fostering Imagination

A podcast interview with Meredith Seacrest Lynch discussing The Make-Believers on The Growing Readers Podcast, a production of The Children’s Book Review.

Step into the magical world of The Make Believers with Meredith Seacrest Leach, who joins us to discuss her enchanting debut picture book co-authored with her brother Ryan Seacrest.

Drawing inspiration from her daughter’s vivid imagination and her impactful work with the Ryan Seacrest Foundation, Meredith explores how creative play can transform everyday moments into extraordinary adventures. This delightful conversation delves into the book’s inspiring message about nurturing imagination, shares stories of the siblings’ creative collaboration during the pandemic, and offers valuable insights for parents on fostering creativity in a technology-driven world.

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Bianca Schulze: Yeah, such a pleasure. I’m so thrilled to talk about your debut picture book, The Make-Believers, which you co-wrote with your brother, Ryan Seacrest. But before we jump right into the book, I would just love to start with a question just so we can kind of get to know a little about you. What’s one thing that you like to do in your day-to-day practices that you feel would be the most surprising or the most relatable to listeners?

Meredith Seacrest Leach: You know what? I’m a big inhale, exhale person. You know, when you have a lot going on, even if it’s like a deep breath in, a deep breath out, and then, “All right, we got this.” I don’t know, the power of taking a deep breath sometimes. It’s just something that I do. So I tell my daughter to do it, too. We’re having a tough moment. Let’s take a deep breath in. Blow out the candles and blow it out. Right? In and out.

Bianca Schulze: I love that. My husband recently told me he noticed that every time I put my phone down, I do a giant exhale. And I was like, wow, maybe that’s a sign I need to not pick that thing up.

Meredith Seacrest Leach: Yes, yes, I know. I agree. It’s like, put the phone aside, some good breathing, and we’re off to a good start.

Bianca Schulze: Yeah. So you have a daughter. What’s something you love to do with your daughter? I’m going to guess that you enjoy reading books together. Is that correct?

Meredith Seacrest Leach: Reading books. And I’m in the prime zone of playing make-believe. Like, my daughter is full-on make-believe all the time. So I am, you know, a magician’s assistant. I am playing school. I’m her sister. I’m her, you know, I’m the baby. I’m whatever it is we’re playing, it’s just I’m fully living all the fun of imagination with her and I eat it up and I love it.

Bianca Schulze: Yeah, I bet she’s pretty proud you have a kid’s book out in the world.

Meredith Seacrest Leach: She is. And she’s very excited about getting the first copy and a little dedication to her on the front of the book. So it’s a lot of fun. She was a big part of the inspiration for the book, too.

Bianca Schulze: That’s perfect. When you tuck her in at night, is reading a part of your routine by chance?

Meredith Seacrest Leach: Of course it is. Yes. And I love it so much because it is that kind of quiet time where you get to read. And she’s in kindergarten, so we’re learning. She’s sounding out letters. We’re trying to teach to read. And, too, because she can’t fully read yet, you see the power of the illustration, so she can kind of understand or tell me what a page says without knowing how to read the word. So I learned a lot about that, about how important not only the words are, but also how you work with your illustrator because you want the picture to speak to the child and that they understand it, too.

Bianca Schulze: Yeah, absolutely. What are some of her favorite books in the evening? Does she have any books on repeat? And I’m going to guess The Make-Believers is high up there.

Meredith Seacrest Leach: I mean, yes. But, you know, we’ve been reading lately, we were reading some Amelia Bedelia, if you remember that.

Bianca Schulze: Absolutely.

Meredith Seacrest Leach: And then, you know, there are some of these books, too. Like she might love a character. Like, she’s into Bluey, the show. So Bluey has a whole series of books that go along with it. So there’s some of that going on. We have all the Dr. Seuss books, you know, and even old ones like Madeline. So we’re all over the place. She has her little library, and she can go pick out a book and just make it a great experience. And also what’s been fun with her school, they get to check out a book each week. So then she brings home a new book. And that, I think, gets her excited to read her book coming home. So that’s a lot of fun, too.

Bianca Schulze: Yeah. I always love seeing the books that my kids bring home from the school library. I feel like you get this little glimpse of exactly who they are in that moment, like, what’s really inspiring them. Yeah, it’s always fun to see what they picked.

Meredith Seacrest Leach: Exactly.

Bianca Schulze: Well, it’s often said that to be a writer, you need to be a reader first. So I’m curious, was there a pivotal moment in your life when you considered yourself a reader?

Meredith Seacrest Leach: You know, I think really, grade school, you’d have all your summer reading and all the books within English class. And I always loved English and creative writing. And we did even, I remember in third grade, I wrote a book called “Spaghetti Spill Out Academy,” and it was this whole fun book. I still have it to this day. And I don’t know, I just always enjoyed creative writing, reading, all those good things. So I really think that grade school is when I connected to it all.

Bianca Schulze: Yeah, it’s funny you say third grade, because I feel like that’s the moment, too, where maybe I enjoyed reading, but that’s also when I identified as enjoying writing. And I have this third grade memory of the assignment. We had to write in the shape of a tooth. We had to write a story about teeth, and it could be anything. And the only rule was you couldn’t end the story with “And then I woke up.”

Meredith Seacrest Leach: Love it.

Bianca Schulze: I feel like it was such a classic way that it turned out your whole story was just a big dream. And the third-grade teacher was like, “No, we’re not having that.”

Meredith Seacrest Leach: But it’s so true. I remember, like, “Where the Red Fern Grows.” Like, the teacher was reading that, it was kind of sad. And I remember I just have vivid memories starting for some reason, third grade for me, where it all just started to connect for a passion for me.

Bianca Schulze: Yeah. Well, what would you say was the driving force that guided you toward creating The Make-Believers?

Meredith Seacrest Leach: You know, I think my brother and I, gosh, this was back during good old Covid, when we think everyone had a lot of time, right? And sometimes maybe that slowing down opens a door for creative thoughts. And we were chatting about how we grew up, you know, seeing my daughter get older and just, you know, with the things she was doing, how creative she was. And Ryan and I started reflecting on our childhood a bit, and then it kind of turned into, you know, what if we wrote a book about this? And, I don’t know, we kind of joked about it, and then it actually, we started to put pen to paper and some ideas, and we were fortunate, through some of his relations, to kind of pitch the idea. And then it actually went forward, which is kind of learning. It’s not necessarily always the easiest to put a book out there. And so we were thrilled that our idea was able to actually make it all the way to publishing.

Bianca Schulze: Yeah. So, fantastic. So why don’t you tell us a little bit about your work with the Ryan Seacrest Foundation and also how it relates to this book?

Meredith Seacrest Leach: Gosh, it was almost 14 years ago. My brother had done a lot of visits to children’s hospitals through his work with American Idol and his radio show. I would visit with him, because sometimes these visits were on weekends. There was a time when he brought his radio show to the Children’s Hospital in Orange County, California. We saw the power of this live broadcast, bringing in celebrity guests and how it brought energy to the hospital. It got kids out of bed. It was just a super fun day, and it stuck with him. He said, “You know, I’m at a point in my life where I’ve supported a lot of causes, but I’d love to create something tangible where we can give back.”

So it evolved into creating what we call Seacrest Studios. It’s a hybrid of a radio studio, like he works in at KIIS FM, but also with TV components, green screens—it’s all about creating content and having fun. We built the first one in our hometown of Atlanta, and it snowballed from there. Now we’re in 14 hospitals across the country. The essential idea is it’s a place for kids to escape what they’re going through, to use their imagination. They can be the star of a show. If you want to host a show about bugs, you can do that. You can have a dance party, be a chef, whatever you want to do. We have so many activities within the studio walls that let kids escape and have fun. It’s a safe place for kids and their families.

Bianca Schulze: Yeah, that’s so cool. And essentially, that’s the essence of your new book, too—showing kids that they can use their imagination and dream. I love that connection. Well, since you’ve published this book with your brother, how was the experience of collaborating on a children’s book together? You touched on how it came as an idea through Covid, but how did that whole process end up? Was it fun to work with him on it?

Meredith Seacrest Leach: I mean, one thing is we’re fortunate. I think maybe we’re six years apart, and maybe it’s because I’m a girl and he’s a boy, we never were a fighting sibling situation. We’ve always really worked well together, and our personalities go well together. So the whole process was super fun and creative. He’d give his notes or I’d share this, and then he’d give feedback. It was just a really fun process and something different for both of us. We both haven’t ever written a book, so we learned a lot through the process as well.

Bianca Schulze: What do you think was the most surprising thing that you learned? Like, something that you just didn’t expect from the process, whether that’s in the writing or just even the business side of having a book come out?

Meredith Seacrest Leach: I mean, I think, you know, as you start in this, you do realize there are a lot of children’s books out there, so how do you kind of make yourself different? And I hope that this book speaks to people. I think one thing is it’s a message where, whether it’s a child getting inspired for who they can be and where they can go and who they can meet within their imagination, but also for adults. It’s like keeping that creativity alive and using your imagination, too, for things that can help you grow or take you to new places. Having creativity should live in all of us. You don’t want that to go to sleep. Just keeping it alive is a wonderful thing.

Bianca Schulze: Yeah. Well, why don’t you share with us one of your favorite moments from the book? And it could be a quote from the book, or maybe it’s one of Bonnie Liu’s beautiful illustrations that you love the most. But what’s a highlight for you from the book?

Meredith Seacrest Leach: I think there are two notions where even when my daughter, a lot of times she’ll go to sleep and not remember her dreams at night. And I think it’s a notion that there are dreams that you can have when your eyes are open and they can become real and true if you believe. You know, it might be something that I always say is crazy in certain ways. Ryan would pretend to be Casey Kasem and literally host shows and had all this radio equipment, and then now he ended up later in life taking over for Casey Kasem and hosting America’s Top 40. So it’s crazy where, you know, and then he would pretend to host shows and do all these things. And then he took over Dick Clark’s position with New Year’s Eve show. And so I think you never know what you can be doing as a child pretending and playing that could kind of spark something within yourself, that you realize you connect with and you want to be part of and might carry you into your future as you grow.

Bianca Schulze: Yeah, I love that. And I think, too, what’s special about this book is that that really does get identified, that we can sometimes just think of that dream as what we have at nighttime and we don’t always remember those, but then we can dream while our eyes are open. And I thought that was such a special moment. I’m going to tell you what my favorite page is. It’s the little girl with the dandelion, and she blows it. And give me a second. I’m going to probably bang my mic here, but I’m going to open up the book.

Bianca Schulze: So it says on the pages, “Once you make believe, you’ll notice your dreams getting bigger and bigger and bigger.” And I just love this page because the way the text is just spread out over the double pages, and those words do get bigger and bigger and they kind of change colors. And it’s just stunning. And obviously, we all know the effect of blowing a dandelion and seeing it spread like that. And to me, that was my favorite spread.

Meredith Seacrest Leach: Oh, good. Well, thank you for that. I know. I think there is something true about blowing the dandelion. My daughter does it all the time, but it expresses that thought about dreaming. And to your point, it can get bigger and bigger and bigger.

Bianca Schulze: Yeah. It makes it tangible. Well, why don’t you share a little bit about the pairing of your words with Bonnie Liu’s art and how you feel her illustrations bring the story to life? And then I’m also curious, did you get to pick her for this project, or was she a suggestion from the editor and from the whole team?

Meredith Seacrest Leach: Yes. So Simon & Schuster presented an array of artists that we could go through. And I think it was almost kind of the style of art, which we were kind of drawn to her style and just so beautiful how she illustrated. And so we were able to narrow it down. And it worked out that she was available to work with us at the time. And again, she was great to work with. I mean, when they presented or she would present the illustrations, even if we had a few notes here and there, everything just kind of flowed so wonderfully. The whole process really was a beautiful team of people. And we’re very fortunate for that. So hopefully all that good teamwork folds into the book.

The art as a whole, I think, is just so beautiful. And I think, as I mentioned before, how my daughter looks a lot at the pictures and they speak to her because she can’t fully read yet, that I—we thought it was very important that the illustrations could really stand out and complement our words. And I think Bonnie did an excellent job at that.

Bianca Schulze: All right. Well, The Make-Believers emphasizes the power of imagination. So I am just curious how you feel imagination can open doors for children.

Meredith Seacrest Leach: I think it can in so many ways. If you are in the hospital, in a bed—we deal with a lot of patients that are stuck in their hospital rooms—your imagination can take you out of there for a little bit. You could pretend that you’re a pop star or you’re a chef or you’ve traveled to Italy or you’re in Africa at the moment or wherever you want to go. It’s amazing what it can do for you to take you outside your surroundings. I love playing make-believe with my daughter, and hopefully, we just continue to inspire kids to use their imaginations and have fun. And maybe sometimes, too, it’s like, put down technology and the iPads. We’re just in a tricky world where there’s so many options of things from the technology side for kids to do, but sometimes just using that little engine that you have in your brain, it’s just so fun and so important, I think, for young kids.

Bianca Schulze: From your life experiences, including the work that you do at the Ryan Seacrest Foundation, but also as a parent, what advice would you give to caregivers who want to foster creativity and imagination in children?

Meredith Seacrest Leach: I think, too, with the book, even when you read it, it’s one thing, but I think you could close the book and there are questions to ask. If you were ready to be a make-believer, who would you be? Where would you go? Who would you meet? It inspires conversation and imagination. And I hope when parents or caregivers do close the book, that they ask questions and it strikes conversation and maybe inspires, you know, “Hey, tomorrow, what should we play? Who should we be?” When they have that quality time to play together or even with their friends. So, again, we just hope that it’s a fun book that has a nice message and that it’s fun for families to read together.

Bianca Schulze: Yes. Well, if our listeners today just took away one thing from our conversation, what would you want that to be?

Meredith Seacrest Leach: Oh, goodness. One thing from our conversation. Again, I just think it’s trying to bring back just that thought of using your imagination and transformative play. And as a parent, it is—put your phone aside and sit down with your kids and get into it. And it is so much fun because sometimes we’re all tired and there’s so much going on, but be the veterinarian for the day or the doctor or be the patient or whatever role that you might get assigned and enjoy it. And, you know, as I always say, this chapter where kids are being young is, in certain ways, it goes so fast, so just to be make-believers together, and that’s hopefully what we kind of—it’s a soft reminder of that.

Bianca Schulze: Yeah. I know that this book is just so new at the time that we’re talking, and so maybe this question you can’t answer yet, but has there been discussion about another book?

Meredith Seacrest Leach: I mean, we just hope this goes well and then we go from there. Right? I mean, this is a first-time project for us, so hopefully it’s received well and we’ll see. Right? Never say never. But for now, we’re first-time authors, so here we go.

Bianca Schulze: Now, I don’t know how many other interviews you’ve done about the book, but I’m curious, is there a question that you wish people would ask you, whether that’s about the foundation or about the book? Like, is there just something that you wish people would ask?

Meredith Seacrest Leach: Oh, my goodness. I mean, that’s a good question. I haven’t thought about that yet. One thing that I could say—I mean, again, I think it’s just been fun working with my brother and just having a project to do together and just even doing some of the press together. It’s created quality time for us. As you get older, you don’t always get those times of just being brother and sister together again. And, you know, I’ve got all these things going on in my life with my husband and kid, and he’s busy here, and we live in different cities, so I’ve just loved the whole process of the time together, and that’s been super fun no matter what.

Bianca Schulze: Well, Meredith, your passion for nurturing creativity and imagination in children shines through both in your book and your work with the foundation. So thank you for reminding us that dreaming is a superpower that we all possess, so long as we open ourselves up to receiving those possibilities that our brains and our hearts are trying to conceive. So just a huge thanks for sharing that message. And thank you for being on the show today. I really appreciate your time.

Meredith Seacrest Leach: Well, thank you. I appreciate it, too.

About the Book

Publisher’s Book Summary: From America’s favorite host and media personality, Ryan Seacrest, and his sister, Meredith Seacrest Leach, comes a debut picture book that celebrates the surprising strength of a child’s wild, wonderful imagination and how it can change the whole world.

You might think dreams only exist at night,
when the moon is glowing, and your eyes are shut tight.
But what if I told you there’s another kind of dreaming?
All you have to do is make believe.
Because you can be a Make-Believer!

Encourage little ones everywhere to imagine big, to dream far, and to always follow their hearts with this delightful book about the transformative power of play.

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Show Notes

About the Author: Meredith Seacrest Leach is the executive director and COO of the Ryan Seacrest Foundation. She was a driving force behind the conception and development of the foundation since its inception in 2009. She manages and cultivates relationships with key partners and donors in entertainment, health care, education, and technology while strategizing financial campaigns and programs to help continuously advance the organization and the fourteen Seacrest Studios in leading pediatric hospitals nationwide. Before overseeing the foundation, Meredith was the director of creative affairs at Reveille, now known as the production company Endemol Shine North America. Some programming she was responsible for included Nashville Star, MasterChef, and The Buried Life. She also worked in hospitality public relations, managing several luxury resort accounts, and as the manager of communications at Entertainment Tonight and The Insider, where she oversaw national press for two top entertainment news programs. The Make-Believers is her first picture book.