Candice S. Pascoal on Accidental Tribes, Belonging, and Writing for Young Readers
What does it mean to find your people in a world shaped by technology? For Candice S. Pascoal, that question sits at the heart of Accidental Tribes. Drawing on her experience in technology and as a mother, she set out to write a young adult mystery that gives teenagers room to explore identity, belonging, and the choices they make online.
In this conversation with Book Nerdection, Pascoal shares how the story grew within her UnBoxMe community, what she learned from her teenage readers, and how she balances careful planning with bursts of inspiration. We also talk about memorable characters, honest feedback, and the small steps that can help a writer finish a first book.
But First, Who Is Candice S. Pascoal?
Candice S. Pascoal (author pen name C.S. Pascoal, Accidental Tribes – Sept 22) is an award-winning Tech for Good innovator and best-selling author who leads social impact ventures from New York City, where she raises her son and serves on the PA DEI Committee of the United Nations International School. She founded UnBoxMe, a global community of philosophers, researchers, innovators, and authors confronting the questions technology alone cannot answer. Her ventures also include Alfredus Creatives and Kickante, the crowdfunding platform that earned her the 2017 Cartier Women’s Initiative Award.
Candice is an international speaker whose work has reshaped how millions engage with entrepreneurship, philanthropy, and purpose. Her career began early and moved fast: she entered the tech industry at 16, apprenticed in New York under a multiple-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee at 19, and led the international expansion of American companies by 23. An American with Italian and Brazilian roots, she is a polyglot whose multicultural life shapes everything she builds; her work in business for good spans five continents and 90 countries.
Book Nerdection Interviews Candice S. Pascoal:
1. What inspired you to become an author?
I am drawn to questions that don’t have easy answers, and writing gives me space to explore them. With Accidental Tribes, that became very personal. As the mother of a teenage boy and someone who has spent decades in technology, I wanted to write for the generation growing up inside the systems my generation helped build.
The book began through the Book-Writing Club of UnBoxMe, my community of thousands of philosophers, authors and founders. I hadn’t intended to write a YA book, but this story emerged. I wanted to give teenagers a mystery they would want to read, with room to explore belonging, identity, and the consequences of their choices online – instead of a lecture.
2. How has your professional background influenced your approach to writing?
I entered technology at sixteen, and my work has taken me across five continents. It has shown me how much people can create when they have access, encouragement, and someone who believes in them. It has also made me attentive to the consequences of what we build.
That perspective shaped Accidental Tribes. These teenagers are intelligent, inventive, and capable of extraordinary things, but they don’t always understand the consequences of their power. I wanted to explore the people behind those decisions, including the adults responsible for guiding them.
3. What does your creative process usually look like, from the first idea to the finished manuscript?
With Accidental Tribes, I didn’t force myself to write when the inspiration wasn’t there. But when it arrived, I could write for twelve or fourteen hours straight. It felt as though a portal into my characters’ stories had opened, and I wanted to stay inside it before it closed again.
Then came the work of listening and revising. Irish poet and philosopher, Dr. James McCabe, mentored my writing over a year, and my Teen Advance Reader Council read the manuscript as it developed. Their reactions helped me understand what connected with them and what needed more work. Giving teenagers permission to judge my writing while I was still creating it may have been my bravest decision!
4. Where do you usually find inspiration for your stories and ideas?
In conversations, in people, and in the questions that stay with me afterward. Through UnBoxMe, I meet people with very different experiences who are exploring purpose, identity, and what it means to be human. Motherhood brings those questions into my everyday life.
For Accidental Tribes, I kept returning to the pressures teenagers face as they grow up online and offline at the same time. Who gets to define them? What happens when a mistake becomes their identity? And what becomes possible when someone gives them another chance?
5. What is the most challenging part of writing a book for you?
Writing about something I care deeply about while giving the characters enough freedom to live their own lives. There is so much I want to explore about technology, belonging, and responsibility, but the reader needs to care about the people experiencing those things.
That was especially important when writing for teenagers. I wanted them to feel recognized and become caught up in the mystery. Their feedback helped me see where my intentions were getting in the way of the story.
6. Are you a careful planner, or do you prefer to discover the story as you write?
I am a meticulous planner and there is also a strong element of discovery in my writing. I allow myself room to follow an idea and see where it leads, especially when the inspiration arrives with that intensity.
But discovery also needs revision. With a mystery, the pieces have to connect, and the characters’ decisions need to make sense. I enjoy the freedom of creating, followed by the careful work of making the story hold together.
7. What qualities do you believe make a story memorable?
Characters who feel alive, emotional honesty, and a question that follows you after the last page. A memorable story can make you care about someone whose life is very different from yours. And to me, it needs to make you think about the world inside and around you.
I also love when humor and tenderness exist alongside difficult experiences. We can laugh while we are struggling. We can have a difficult personality and still deserve love. Those contradictions give characters depth and make their stories stay with us.
8. Were there any authors or books that had a particularly strong influence on you?
I read Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet when I was fourteen, and it made a lasting impression on me. Encountering those questions about life, love, and our relationships at that age was powerful.
9. What advice would you give to aspiring authors who are struggling to complete their first book?
Study the art of writing. Structure gives immense room for creativity to flourish. Find people who will help you keep going and tell you the truth. Accidental Tribes grew within a community, with mentorship and young readers who were willing to respond honestly.
You don’t have to solve the whole manuscript today. Work on the next scene, the next question, or the passage you keep avoiding. Give yourself permission to produce something you will improve later. And when you ask for feedback, listen with curiosity. Someone showing you where they lost interest may be helping you find the story you were trying to tell.
10. What do you hope readers will remember most about your work?
I hope they remember how it made them feel about themselves and other people. Perhaps they will recognize someone they have dismissed too quickly, or feel less alone in a struggle they thought nobody understood.
With Accidental Tribes, I hope young readers feel that their choices matter and that they have something valuable to contribute. They can question, create, repair, and find people who will stand beside them. Sometimes a tribe begins with one person making room for another.
