October 26, 2015
Entrepreneur Creates Storybook Apps to Represent More Children of Color
Describe 3 habits that have enabled you to be successful?
1.Being very organized. I start each morning with a numbered post-it of the things I will accomplish for the day
2. Meditating. It’s important to shut the world out so I can receive creative inspirations for my stories. It helps me release stress, stay focused on my goals, and maintain a positive outlook.
3. Being a planner. Whether my goals are short term or long term, I plan every day and do something towards the goal. I maintain confidence in my end result. I keep in mind that a daily goal holds as much weight as a yearly goal. Each step, each stone laid down is building the road to success.
What financial resources did you use to launch your business?
Instead of taking out loans and borrowing from my retirement, I used some of my personal savings to get started and started living below my means so I would have extra resources to dedicate to the business.
Did you build the app or did you hire an app developer?
I am the author of the stories, I create the storyboards for artwork, and I build the apps.
How long did it take you to go from idea to market?
It took 2 years to go from idea to market. I wanted to create a female heroine, but her visual image had to be created, her message had to be developed. I had to come up with subject matter and themes for the stories, and I had to learn a number of app development tools and experience experimenting with a number of different software, study tech industry trends and trends in children’s literature, and children’s animated content.
What’s the biggest challenge you’ve ever faced?
My biggest challenge in my adult life was after college. I entered the work world as an employee instead of an entrepreneur. In my heart of hearts, from a child, I always wanted to be an entrepreneur, and having to go work for someone else instead of myself was a serious emotional challenge. How I finally overcame it was by trusting my intuition and abilities and creating Higher Mind Apps©™.
Currently, there is a lack of minorities and women in STEM careers. How can we get more minority children engaged in and excited about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers?
Children need exposure to a myriad of STEM career options. They need the opportunity [to] see how everything that exists has its foundation in science, engineering, technology, and math. For example, if a child desires to become a fashion designer, they need to know that the industry uses CAD and 3D software to make patterns, not just paper patterns anymore, and currently you can use 3D printing to manufacture your finished product; that’s engineering and math! If a child wants to be a rapper or a singer, they need to know that the most successful song structure is based on the Fibonacci sequence, a computation of phi, also known as the golden mean, which all-natural creations in the universe are founded on…that’s science! It’s all about taking their interest and showing them the mathematics foundation and undertones.