The Authors

Izabella Gates

Izabella (author names Izabella Little and Izabella Little-Gates) was born in Kenya to Polish parents and spent her childhood in the Kenyan bush. She completed her schooling in South Africa and went on to work in Information Technology (IT). Izabella started her own company, spent 16 years as its CEO and after selling it turned to writing full-time.

Izabella started writing a compilation of tips and guidelines for her daughter soon after she was born. These writings subsequently became the best-selling Life Talk for a Daughter. Demand from readers then resulted in her second book Life Talk for a Son (with co-author Patrick Wilson). Thousands of emails came in response to the books, and these prompted Izabella to assemble a panel of psychologists and counsellors to help answer all the requests for advice. This became the Life Talk Forum. Izabella then summarized the key teen and parenting issues that were being handled by the forum and this became her next book Life Talk for Parents (co-authored with psychologist Thomas Burkhalter).

The thousands of stories shared with Izabella led her to realize that a large percentage of all the heartache being experienced by teens is avoidable and unnecessary. This realization ignited the passion that she now has for raising awareness about these issues (and the related choices and consequences) and for exploring solutions. Izabella works extensively on youth issues and helps teens and young adults avoid some of life’s unnecessary pitfalls. She is a frequent guest on radio and TV programmes, and gives many talks and workshops on related subjects.