"Books"

How Maria Volodkevich Is Turning Military Family Stories Into a Growing Brand

Published

6 hours ago

The first months of a new publishing company can reveal a great deal. Sales matter, of course, but so does something harder to quantify: whether the audience sees enough value in the idea to carry it forward.

Maria Volodkevich is beginning to see both.

Her company, Little Wingmen Press, LLC, launched Operation: Care Package in April 2026. The debut picture book in the Zooming Zoey & Wingman Willie series has since sold more than 500 copies globally. Another 80 copies have been sponsored for military families, and the book has moved beyond online sales into storytimes and community events.

Behind that early traction is a tightly focused mission.

Creating Stories With a Specific Reader in Mind

Volodkevich is an Air Force veteran and graduate of the United States Air Force Academy. When she entered children’s publishing, she chose to build around a community she understood.

Military children live with a particular kind of uncertainty. Deployments change family life. Moves can mean leaving friends behind and becoming the new student again. These experiences can become routine, even when the emotions surrounding them are anything but routine.

“Military kids are little heroes who face deployments, new schools, constant moves, and change. They deserve to see themselves in books too,” Volodkevich says.

Together with illustrator Garry Vaux, she translated that belief into Operation: Care Package.

Growing Through Community

Rather than treating publication as the finish line, Little Wingmen Press has continued bringing the book directly to military families.

Volodkevich has hosted storytimes at USO North Carolina Fort Bragg and Fort Belvoir, with additional military base expansion planned. The company also distributes through online channels, military family events, and community partnerships.

Those efforts are helping the Zooming Zoey & Wingman Willie name develop beyond a single book. Volodkevich’s broader vision is a children’s series where adventure and emotional meaning sit comfortably together, giving military children recurring characters whose experiences feel closer to their own.

A New Platform for the Founder

That work will soon reach a different audience.

Volodkevich was selected from thousands of applicants to appear on Operation: CEO, a television show produced by Inside Success TV and scheduled to air this fall. The series features veteran entrepreneurs making an impact in their industries.

For Volodkevich, the recognition arrives at an interesting point. Little Wingmen Press remains a young company, but its purpose is already translating into growing sales, community engagement, and broader visibility.

The next chapter will be about building on that foundation without losing the specificity that made the company meaningful in the first place.

For military children who rarely encounter their own lives in picture books, that growth could mean something simple but powerful: more stories in which they recognize themselves.