Serena Patel who is a half British-Punjabi, half Gujarati was just seven years old when her parents divorced.
At the age of 12, she moved to Aston, Birmingham with her single mother and siblings.
She was the only ‘brown girl’ in her primary school in Walsall and the bullying only worsened at high school. After finishing school, Serena moved into her boyfriend’s flat then they went to London but found themselves homeless.
“It all left me feeling unanchored,” said Serena, 41, and from Walsall. “I had this feeling of invisibility, that I didn’t matter. I was bullied in a way you couldn’t quite put your finger on. There were my friends but they’d put me down and always turn it into a joke so it could be passed off as banter.”
She added: “My high school was more multi-cultural so I guess there I was bullied just for being me. I had big glasses, fuzzy hair and I was stick thin. I was quite academic which wasn’t cool so I was called a swot and I tried to downplay that so didn’t get such good GCSEs as I could have done.”
“I had a mentor who saw potential in me,” she explained, “I never believed in myself but she pushed me to want better for myself.”
Serena returned to live with her mom in Great Barr and started working in the event industry after completing the apprenticeship. She then met her husband-to-be Deepak and they tied the knot. The couple has two children Alyssa and Reiss.
Serena realized she should write a children’s book series that represent her childhood.
She explained: “I didn’t realize it at the time but when I was younger and loved books, there were no characters that looked like me in any of them. If they did exist, they certainly weren’t put in front of us at school. I wanted my little girl to see someone who looked like her as a character in a book.
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The children’s comic series features a 10-year-old called Anisha Mistry, who loves learning, books and science. The Anisha Accidental Detective series highlights a multi-generational British Indian family.
“Anisha is part of a large chaotic family,” she said, “She is all set to be a bridesmaid at Aunty Bindi’s wedding until a secret ransom note arrives. Bindi’s groom has been kidnapped and will only be released if the wedding is called off.”
“As Aunty Bindi is already having a meltdown, Anisha decides not to tell her about the ransom note but to try to deal with it herself with her best friend Milo before the big family wedding of the year becomes a big disaster.
“I always used humor at school and found I was quite good at it. I’ve already had responses from people saying their kids say the characters look like them and that makes me so happy.”
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