Crystal Broj, of Deer Park, worked 30 years in information technology before finding herself unemployed and searching for a new job amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Broj, 55, decided to use this time of uncertainty to write three children’s books and paint an uplifting mural that thanks first responders.
She uses her colorful books to explain the pandemic in children’s terms and all the many people affected by it. She used her own nieces, Aleksa, 6, and Ari, 3, as inspiration for the books’ titles and illustrations.
“The first time Aleksa saw (the book) her eyes lit up,” said Anne Stojakovic, the girls’ mother and Broj’s sister. “She couldn’t believe there is a book out there about her. It gave her some acknowledgement, made the virus a real thing.”
Stojakovic, of Woodridge, said the books have helped her daughters make some sense of what is going on in the world today.
“How are we making this feel for the kids?” Stojakovic said. “Everything has been ripped away. The books helped with that (in) helping identify the feelings surrounding it.”
Labeling the book-writing a “passion project,” Broj said she noticed her young nieces’ confusion and frustration with not being able to live their “normal” lives, including going to kindergarten and dance class. She saw the books as a way to help them and other children understand the virus and know that it is affecting everyone, people of all ages, she said.
In her second book, Broj focused on honoring essential workers including farmers, grocery store workers, delivery drivers and of course health care workers. Broj said her daughters are nurses working in critical care units in Nashville and San Diego.
The second book also inspired creation of a mural. In creating it, using the characters from her second book, she said she wanted to “honor our hometown health workers.”
This creative outlet has been her way of keeping busy, exploring the more creative side of her personality and thanking those essential workers who have been so tirelessly fighting this pandemic, including her own daughters, she said.
Her colorful mural, depicting nurses and doctors who are battling the coronavirus, was hung May 20 on the side of Offbeat Music, at 3 S. Old Rand Road, in Lake Zurich.
“The day we put (the mural) up a woman jogging by stopped and took a picture in front of it and said ‘I am a nurse at Good Shepperd Hospital,'” Broj said. “We were so touched. … It meant a lot for me to be able to recognize the people working so hard every day. There is not much I can do in my home to help people, so hopefully this lets them know they are appreciated.”
Jimmy Betsios, who has owned the music store since 1998, said sadly the store has been closed since St. Patrick’s Day so he has not been able to interface with many people passing the mural to see their reactions.
He said the mural “is cute and it’s positive … it’s just a nice thing to do. Makes the town look a little happier.”
Lake Zurich Trustee Mary Beth Euker said she has known Broj for many years, since their children were in local theater programs together and Broj would sew costumes.
Euker helped decide where to hang the mural and said she has received lots of positive feedback on social media about it.
“She has always had an artistic side to her, and she is a worker bee,” Euker said of Broj. “She doesn’t even live in Lake Zurich and she did something nice for the village and that is great. … We all could use a little positivity. It is easy to go negative these days. I think our job is to help keep our spirits up.”
Broj said creating her books and mural have been a “positive” in this “crazy” time and she has many more book ideas on the horizon.
“I think it let me have fun and look at life in a different way,” she said. “Instead of just going to work every day, this just let me play and do something positive. In a time when everything around the world is just so crazy, I’m hoping my books make some other families happy and the mural makes health care happy and they know they are appreciated.”
Broj is holding a virtual book signing Friday.
Amanda Marrazzo is a freelancer.
