Can you write a story about Lauren Sánchez without mentioning her famous fiancé, a billionaire mogul?
Sánchez is an Emmy-winning journalist, pilot, aviation company owner, mother of three, philanthropist, and now a first-time children’s author. Her new book, “The Fly Who Flew to Space” (32 pages, The Collective Book Studio), is out September 10.
Her name is often followed by just a comma and the description: the fiancée of Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. Although Sánchez has been on television in some capacity for more than two decades—whether as a sportscaster, morning show host or journalist—it was this relationship that recently thrust her into the national spotlight.
Today, she is often portrayed as a glamour girl – at the Met Gala in an off-the-shoulder Oscar de la Renta gown, at a state dinner at the White House in an off-the-shoulder corset dress, or on what is probably the world’s largest yacht in a white crochet bikini. Sometimes the person portraying her this way is herself – on Instagram.
“As women, we can wear many hats,” says 54-year-old Sánchez. “We don’t have to be pigeonholed.”
Her Instagram feed is also filled with photos of her flying helicopters, performing on stage at the Aspen Ideas: Climate conference, and celebrating graduations and birthdays with her children.
People have a very limited image of you, she says in a phone call from Los Angeles, where she normally spends two weeks with her two youngest children and then two weeks in Miami when they are with their father. She is about to embark on a book tour for The Fly, a charming read with playful illustrations and a message that all parents want to convey to their children: Anything is possible. Stay curious. Dream big.
“When you look at people with an open heart and really believe that people are multifaceted and can be anything they want to be, I think that changes the world,” she says. “Because we really are more than one thing or what the world wants to define us as.”
So what people think of her seems to be less important to her, but she also hopes that this is a chance for people to get to know me on a different level than just what they see in a magazine.”
Sánchez’s story begins with a tiny beetle in an airplane
Almost eight years ago, Sánchez was flying a plane with her children when they noticed a fly in the cockpit.
“We all started imagining what kind of adventure this tiny fly was having… flying far across the sky, away from its family. It sparked the idea that even the smallest creatures can make incredible journeys if they dare to explore. I didn’t actually write it, I kind of imagined it,” she says, laughing. “It happened to me.”
The simple, unexpected moment gave her the idea that it might make a good children’s book. She played with the idea, typing notes into her phone with a fly named Flynn. And then she kind of let it go.
In 2021, she was at a loss when she wanted to write down her goals for the coming year. Then her second eldest son Evan reminded her: “You’ve been talking about this children’s book for ages, why don’t you write it?”
There’s a little bit of Sánchez in the book. Or maybe a lot.
“Writing never came easily to me – not even a children’s short story. I thought about it, pondered it, was torn. Is that right?” she says.
As a girl growing up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Sánchez struggled in school. She was dyslexic. That part of her story isn’t new. But now she’s telling something new: Her son Evan, 18, is also dyslexic.
“I felt really out of place at school. It was just difficult,” she says.
Watching her son struggle was even worse.
“He was in second grade and didn’t want to go to school. He was embarrassed. It was hard,” she says.
Recently, she asked him if it would be OK if she talked about his dyslexia, “because I can talk about mine,” she says. Instead, he told her, “I don’t mind, I hope it helps other kids.”
When Sánchez talks about her children, her voice often breaks, like a mother’s voice when she talks about her children’s problems and her own pride in their bravery. Love is always present.
She hopes that her story – and Evan’s – that Flynn shares will help other children. “I’ve learned that if I let my curiosity run wild and open myself up to new experiences, I can still achieve great things… things are possible,” she says.
When she wrote the book, she decided that the fly should fly higher than an airplane and go into space. More recently, of course, she has taken inspiration from Bezos, the owner of the private space exploration company Blue Origin.
“To have someone around who is so eager to push the boundaries and explore the unknown is incredibly inspiring to all of us in the family,” she says. “Our dinner table conversations often revolve around space and innovation. He really challenges all of us to dream big. When I said something at the dinner table, he said, ‘No, dream bigger. Go even further.’ So it’s no surprise that some of that enthusiasm came through in Flynn’s adventures, too.”
She worked with illustrator Raleigh Stewart.
“When Flynn came to life, it was a completely different story,” she says.
If the bow ties on page 2 look familiar, that’s because they are. Flynn’s family is theirs too. You’ll notice a very glamorous bow tie, and one that looks just like Bezos, if a bow tie could look like him.
The book and the illustrations were “really personal, even though I had to catch all the flies at Raleigh, the characters in Flynn’s story are all inspired by my own family. Every single one of my children is represented in my book in some way.”
She asked her children Nikko Gonzalez (23), Evan Whitesell (18) and Ella Whitesell (16) to find themselves. “Some of them were happy about it,” she says, “and others were like, are you serious, Mom, is that my fly?”
Sánchez is driven by curiosity: “Be curious and seize opportunities”
Sánchez has not yet committed to writing another book. As vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund, which fights climate change, she focuses on the environment.
If this was the year of her children’s book, then next year, she says, is the year she learns Spanish.
Her book is also published in Spanish, which was very important to her. And there are a few small details that Latinos might notice, including the papel picado, or paper banners, on Flynn’s house.
Publishing a book in Spanish and English “reflects the diverse multicultural world we live in today and the one I grew up in. … Language can connect people,” she says. “For me, it’s a way to celebrate and honor my culture and make sure every child feels seen and included.”
She also saw the Spanish version of the book as an opportunity to make it accessible to more families or to help families learn a new language together.
Sánchez didn’t learn Spanish as a child, but has picked up some over the years. When she speaks, she has a perfect accent like that of central Mexico. Her mother spoke English and Spanish with her, but says, “She didn’t want me to have an accent, she felt at the time that it would harm me.”
Now all her children are learning Spanish. “And they speak better than I do. They embrace it, they love it,” she says.
She plans to work with a private tutor and improve her language skills, especially as she spends more time in Miami.
“I want to inspire kids to believe in themselves and their dreams, no matter how big or small they are, no matter how hard they find school. It really encourages them to be curious, to take risks and to know that they are amazing and adventures await them,” she says.
Like Flynn, Sánchez remains curious and open to the next adventure.
