Our Team
Story Bound brings together educators, artists, and creative professionals who guide young storytellers from idea to finished book.
Brett Tunick
Illustrator & Book Design LeadBrett Tunick is a creative director, designer, and illustrator with a background in art direction, brand design, and visual storytelling. He studied at Savannah College of Art and Design and has led design work across consumer, health, and technology brands.
At Story Bound, Brett leads the visual side of the book. He works across character, cover, page, sequence, and image-making so each child’s story begins to feel like a real book: intentional, personal, and made to be held.
One of Brett’s earliest book memories is Quick as a Cricket.
Dana Ruby
Early Childhood Educator & Future School Librarian Dana Ruby is an early childhood educator pursuing a master’s degree in information science with a school library focus. Her path is centered on children, books, classroom rhythm, and helping young learners feel safe enough to participate.
At Story Bound, Dana supports the daily work of moving from idea to page. She engages children, returns them to their stories, and works with them at their level through conversation, drawing, dictation, early writing, and hands-on bookmaking.
One of Dana’s earliest reading memories is the excitement of seeing special holiday picture books her parents brought out each year when they decorated for the holidays. Later, as an independent reader, she remembers staying up far too late to finish a Sweet Valley Twins chapter book.
Mary Kate Abner
Teaching Artist & Story Performance CoachMary Kate Abner is an actor, filmmaker, teaching artist, and NYU graduate with a background in drama, film, and educational theatre. She has worked with young performers in New York as a lead teacher, teaching assistant, private coach, and teaching artist.
At Story Bound, Mary Kate builds confidence in children’s ideas and voices. She supports story development, imaginative play, character work, and the final reading, helping each child share their book in a way that feels proud, clear, and their own.
One of Mary Kate’s earliest story memories is Harold and the Purple Crayon, which her grandmother read to her at night. The next day, she would draw her own dream world: “Mary Kate and the Lime Green Crayon.”
Natasha Awasthi
FounderNatasha Awasthi is the founder of Story Bound. She is a product leader and operator with an MBA from Wharton and a master’s degree in statistics. Her work centers on untangling messy problems, bringing the right people together, and turning early ideas into real systems.
Story Bound grew from an observation: children are bursting with stories, and other children know what to do with them. They listen, laugh, question, build, and know which stories are worth repeating.
At Story Bound, Natasha brings together the people and process that turn an idea into something finished: a story with structure, a reading where the child is heard, and a book that can be shared, told, and retold.
Natasha’s clearest early book memory is finding a small pocket edition of Tom Sawyer at her grandmother’s house. It felt made to be carried, kept, and reread.