Our Squadron
Every book on this shelf started as someone’s story worth telling. BravoBay exists to help real writers, illustrators, and dreamers get their work into readers’ hands – these are the people behind the pages.
Waleed & Hannah Hamza
Waleed and Hannah Hamza are the husband-and-wife team behind Occupied. Waleed is a father, husband, and outdoor enthusiast who served as a translator for U.S. Special Forces in Iraq and later the 82nd Airborne in Afghanistan; he founded Redefined Warriors to help fellow veterans rediscover purpose and dignity after service. Hannah is a filmmaker, author, and creative director whose work is rooted in storytelling and hope. Together they co-authored Occupied, drawing on their own story of love found amid war.
Kirstin Leigh
Kirstin Leigh is an LA-based actress, author, and speaker who grew up in a small town in Kentucky. She’s the author of the best-selling novel Just J, along with Change Your Story and Believe, and leads the Change Your Story Workshop. Through her books and speaking, Kirstin inspires tweens, teens, and adults alike to dream big and rewrite the story they’ve been told about themselves.
Frank J. Marquez
Frank J. Marquez is a lifelong Angeleno with 34 years in security and protection and 46 years of martial arts training. He’s been inducted into both the Martial Arts History Museum and the Golden Gate Hall of Honors, and lives by a warrior code of loyalty, courage, strength, and honor. In A Kingdom Without a King, Frank draws on his Hispanic heritage to tell a story shaped by that same code.
Geoffrey & Ramya Black
Geoffrey and Ramya Black are the husband-and-wife team behind If I Had a Unicorn Friend. Geoffrey is an Amazon-bestselling children’s author who co-writes with Ramya; his Hollywood career spans 30+ feature films in production and post, including Babe, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Man of Steel, and Unbroken. He holds a B.A. in Communication from USC and is based in LA. Ramya is the book’s co-author and illustrator – a Sri Lanka-born painter who worked as a JWT graphic artist before training in Disney’s Feature Animation Program, with animation credits including Hercules, The Prince of Egypt, and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.
Marian Butland & Victoria Gleichman
Marian Butland and Victoria Gleichman are the co-authors of Faithful Friendship. Marian is an LA-based actress and voice-over artist who loves hiking, creating, singing, and playing violin, and attends Vintage Church Pasadena; she learned what real Christian friendship looks like during a four-year wait for her visa to move from the UK to the US. Victoria is a medical provider specializing in pain medicine and runs the Etsy shop VictoryJoy; she and Marian co-lead a women-in-business Bible study together, and both find the outdoors and friendship to be soul medicine.
Stephen Dunn
Stephen Dunn is a New York City-born veteran who served first as an enlisted soldier, then as a military pilot and JAG officer, before careers in commercial aviation and law. A lifelong reader who became a writer, Stephen draws on real experience parachuting, rappelling, and piloting military helicopters to power the action in Last Run. He’s also a sailor, a technical scuba instructor, and spent years living in Hawaii. (Not to be confused with the poet of the same name.)
Erin R. Dooley
Erin R. Dooley is an LA-based writer and filmmaker making her literary debut with the novella Shadows of Death. Her work centers on faith, family, and forgiveness – the good F words. A former foster mom and foster-care advocate, Erin previously told her story in the documentary Adopting Faith and speaks alongside the film A Way to Forgiveness.
Theodore "Scruffy" Scruffidophilus
Theodore “Scruffy” Scruffidophilus III never quite finished Harvard Obedience School (long story), but that hasn’t stopped him from chasing bigger dreams – like his own late-night show on YouthTube and a supporting role opposite Elizabeth in WB-50’s Elizabeth & Scruffy. Scruffy made his literary debut with Cat Scientists, proving this good boy’s imagination knows no species boundaries.
IG: @ScruffyTV
