Ty Loyd-Calhoun is the kind of local entrepreneur whose hustle is much deeper than sales and numbers.
A Black father and author, he uses The Merry Meerkats Go series, and creative collaborations with his family, as a way to fight screen addiction, spark imagination, and get kids back outside. This Q&A breaks down his grind from college grad to children’s author, building productive kids and community along the way.
How did this whole creative journey start for you? What made you decide to be an author?
So my whole creative journey all began after I graduated from college, Tennessee State University with a history degree. I knew I wanted to impact the youth, but I didn’t necessarily want to get into teaching.
After having kids and soul searching for a little while, I thought about my uncles that were able to travel around the country with their professions, one being a nurse, one being a nuclear engineer, one being an electrician, how they can go anywhere, I tried to think about what skills I possessed.
I thought about all the writing I did as a history major, so I decided to be an author. I decided I was going to be a children’s book author because I still wanted to leave an impact on the youth.
What does the day-to-day grind look like for an author-entrepreneur like yourself? What’s the “real work” people don’t, see?
My day-to-day life is a constant hustle and bustle, I’m always doing something. The real work that people don’t see is my main job as I’m transitioning into being an author full time, and balancing that out with social media, with writing new material.
Pretty much every part of the day I’m doing something, whether it’s with my book, whether it’s keeping the lights on, whether it’s with my family, my kids, my wife, my mom, I’m constantly on a go, constantly on a move, trying to get this thing going to be too legit to quit, lol.
What role does your website play in your business? Is it your storefront, your home base, your creative hub, or all three?
Themmgo.com website, which is short for The Merry Meerkats Go, is basically the hub for all The Merry Meerkat Go products. It can lead you to playlists that we have on YouTube, merchandise that we have, BIOS about the characters, different games that we have, just anything that’s The Merry Meerkats Go related.
What inspired this series? Why meerkats, why the Kalahari, and what message do you want young readers to walk away with?
Well, I noticed that my kids were kind of addicted to their screens and they weren’t being active so, one day, I told them to go outside and play. They came in immediately and said, “Yo, Dad, it’s too hot”. So I was like, “All right, well, why don’t you just go out there for 30 minutes or so”.
Then they came right back in and said, “Dad, there’s nothing to do outside.” At that moment, I realized that kids nowadays don’t really have that much of an imagination when they’re away from screens, so I went to Walmart and bought a bouncing ball, some chalk, and jump rope, and we began to play some games outside. We played four square, helicopter, double dutch, and ball tag.
I like ball tag, but I’m kind of a bigger dude, so they would always hit me pretty easily, but it was still fun! This day made me realize that there are so many children that are addicted to their screens and lack outside imagination.
And so, I started researching the weaknesses of kids that didn’t go out much, and I began to understand why they struggled to communicate and do things like group problem solving, and deal with adversity and diversity.
It’s because they never explored the outdoors and tried something new since they were so used to watching a certain thing on their devices. That was the inspiration for my series. I chose the Kalahari Desert as the setting of my series just to keep it a little real to life.
I felt like It wouldn’t make sense for them to be anywhere other than there since Meerkats live in the Kalahari Desert. When a reader reads my book, I want them to walk away knowing the possibilities that are just outside their door.
I mean, the whole purpose of the book is to encourage kids to play outside and be active and unite through physical activity, so I’m hoping that when a child reads my book, they’ll want to emulate something that’s in the book in real life.
You expanded the series into audio with multiple narrators, including yourself. What was that process like?
Yes, I have expanded the series as well as my daughter and I’s poetry book into some audio books as well. I have two audiobooks available for the first two books of the series and I’m working on the third book right now.
It’s been a really fun process. Along with myself, I got my nieces, my nephews, my wife, and my kids to participate so that it’s not just my monotone voice the whole time. I felt like it was something special that we could do together and something that could serve as a time capsule and last forever.
And it was really fun seeing the characters come to life. The audiobooks have games on them as well to keep kids active.
You’ve also published Loyal T and Destiny: Letters to the World with your daughter. What did that collaboration mean to you?
Loyalty and Destiny Letters to the World meant a lot to me. I have three kids, and my oldest kind of gravitates towards me, and my youngest kind of gravitates towards his mother, so I felt like my middle child, my youngest daughter, was in limbo.
I knew that I wanted to do something with her, but I didn’t know exactly what it should be. Then one day, she told me about a piece of poetry that she read for her school. It was called My Dream is, her first poem ever. I was just amazed by the way that she expressed herself.
So she was really the inspiration for the poetry book. It meant a lot to work with her on it, and she inspired me to get into poetry, express my thoughts through words and everything. It was fun for us to come together when writing it.
I mean don’t get me wrong, The Merry Meerkats Go series has a special place in my heart, but Loyalty and Destiny Letters to the World was much more personal, rather than The Merry Meerkats Go series which is more universal.
Do you feel like your competing with big publishers, other indies, or are you simply competing with yourself?
I have other indie author friends, and I’ve seen big publishing companies really cater towards celebrities and their published works. But to be honest, in this current landscape, the only person I’m really competing against is myself.
I’m just trying to be a better me every day, I’m trying to get more efficient and trusting in the process. I’m trying to be better than I was the year before.
How do you feel about AI tools in writing and publishing? Is it a threat, a resource, or just another tool you can flip to your advantage?
When it comes to writing and publishing, I really avoid AI tools. Now, if it comes to researching a certain topic or getting more details on a certain process, or something like that, then I’ll use AI. But as far as writing and publishing, I avoid it.
How has your city and the broader Florida scene received your work? Have local schools, libraries, or organizations embraced your books yet?
Tampa and St Pete, they show me love, especially St Pete. I do a lot of projects with the Pinellas diaspora arts program, like the chalk walk, the urban Comic Con, and also do stuff with Tampa Bay’s Black Authors Expo.
The Arts and honey festival was really good, and I enjoyed the Collard Green Festival in St. Pete. I also like the Lit fest and Johnson family Library festival. My work seems to be really well received.
People can resonate with wanting to get kids active and getting kids involved in outdoor play. Also, I’ve talked to the school board media specialists, they like my book and are currently reviewing it to see if we can get it into the school systems.
I haven’t currently been to the new Obama Library, but there’s a lot of organizations that embrace what I do, and they want to see me do well as well.
So, you’ve done events and community work across the region and city. What local engagements or appearances have meant the most to you so far?
Tampa Bay’s Black Authors Expo has meant the most to me. I’ve met some great author friends from it and I’ve done it for about four years now.
Beyond book sales, what other lanes are you moving in.. merch, workshops, speaking, digital products? Where do you see TheMMGO brand evolving next?
I do have some merchandise! I have T-shirts with different slogans and images of my characters on them, a boomerang called the Kat-o-rang, a backpack, the color tile hop mat, and some headbands.
I don’t have too many digital products, other than my audio book right now, but I am working on trying to develop some games and I have some YouTube games (that are really fun for kids.
My YouTube channel is AuthorTyLoydCalhoun. I made a pledge that if I ever used technology it would have to get a kid to use their brain or be physically active in some way and I think my games on YouTube do a good job at that.
I’m also working on creating some public speaking workshops.
What new projects are cooking? More meerkats? New series? More poetry? Something unexpected?
As far as new products I’m hopefully going to release The Merry Meerkats Go: Learn About the Rules. That’s my fourth book in the series.
I plan on creating a new poetry book without the help of my daughter this time. I also hope that these new products like my YouTube game “The Merry Meerkats Go!! Color Tile Hop Game and other things that I’m working on are well received because at the end of the day, I just want a child to be able to smile and have fun with anything that’s The Merry Meerkats Go related.
Are you planning to keep this a one-man mission, or will you eventually build a team?
For most part, it’s a one-man mission. I’m trying to build a team, though. I did get a digital marketer on my team named Keyaries Davis so he’s helping me with social media.
I still got my illustrator Cameron Wilson. And I got my sound engineer Don Wayne Myers on my team who helps with my audiobooks. But other than that, I’m not scaling too much right now. I’m just trying to build and maintain.
What legacy do you want to leave behind for your readers, especially the young ones discovering reading through your books?
When a child reads my book, I want them to expand their vocabulary. I want them to become confident in reading longer material, as my book serves as a transitional book into chapter books.
I want them to emulate what they see in the book, in real life and with friends. I want them to be active outside and grow to learn to love the outdoors, and most of all, I want to bring parents and children together for reading times and bedtime stories and bring Merriment to the world!
Last one… what’s coming next for Ty Loyd-Calhoun in 2026 and beyond?
For 2025 and beyond, expect to see me on YouTube a little more. I’m thinking about possibly doing a music show, a podcast sort of thing with my older family members and getting some more books out there.
Please follow me on social media at AuthorTyloydcalhoun on all platforms.
The Merry Meerkats Go!! Color Tile Hop Game: Level 1
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IMAGE: The Merry Meerkats Go!!
