Wew! From April's showers of blessings to May's flowers in bloom to the sweet aromas in June, Kidogo is skipping into the Summer! Here are Kidogo's latest updates!
NEW CONTENT:
Kidogo was one of the Creative Producers for these two videos-- one featuring Sonjoria Sydnor, a yoga instructor and another by Clarissa Shepard, a pilates instructor.
EVENTS:
Read n' Do:
We hosted our Read n' Do: The Fabulous Fashion Show on June 8th! It was stunningly AMAZING! Every element of the show fell into place. Black Market Nubian is a great location to hold an event; the owners Kai and Chris were responsive, kind and the space is beautiful. Brittney Dias of Looking Lens, the children's book author we featured was a phenomenal partner for this event! I love working with creators who have the same passion to highlight Black Joy and Black Excellence for children! Also, all of the vendors were fantastic partners! Here's the list of everyone we worked with:
Amanda Bryant: ANL Designs (balloons)
Brittne Halford: Owner of Bramilyn & Rose (hair accessories)
Brittney DIas: children's book author and Founder of Looking Lens (children's books)
Cynthia Germain-Goucher: Fashion Designer (jewelry, accessories and clothes)
Lee Francois: Francois Grphx (photography)
Maureen Brice (and daughter Mi'ah): Seven's Sunday Bread (patties)
Pamela James: Pam's Passions (jewelry, clothes and accessories)
Here's an Instagram reel highlighting our participants. I'm so proud of them! They were highly engaged in Story Time, showed off their creativity during Design Time, and strutted their styles during Fashion Time. Shoutout to my daughter who did a fantastic job presenting Kidogoville (our upcoming app) during our Presentation Time. If you see any of the participants in IRL, please give them a "I'm proud of you!" hug!
Also a message of gratitude to volunteers, Nayomi Dowman, Ivy Ngugi, CJ Clovis, vendors, Pamela James, Cynthia Germain-Goucher, who all went the extra mile to ensure that the event was a success. Special shout-out to Ajahmure Clovis who was a wonderful right-hand woman from beginning to end.
Juneteenth:
We usually celebrate Juneteenth (and have a fantastic time) at Hyde Park Juneteenth Joy, but this year, I wanted to throttle back on summer events (especially since we're trying to relocate our daughter Amara to study abroad in Togo!). BUT THEN, I got a relatively late invite to participate in the Boston Children's Museum's Juneteenth and, on a whim, I decided to do it.
Over the years, we've attempted to create Juneteenth flag projects--with various results. We've tried paints with stencils, coloring sheets, tempera coloring sticks, and this year we're using felt! Pamela James has been so helpful once again! We spent a couple of hours in JoAnn Fabrics brainstorming options. I want y'all to know that I am not naturally crafty, but I'll stretch myself for these kids, lol! It was a great time and we met great museum staff, wonderful parents, and event professionals who happen to be aligned with Kidogo's mission!
PR:
Liberty's Legacy by the LA Tribune: Speaking of Juneteenth, I was essentially in two different places at once on Juneteenth! I had pre-recorded an interview with the LA Tribune, which aired live on Juneteenth! In the interview, I talked about Kidogo's mission, inspiration, and vision. You can check it out here.
I was invited by Scroobious to be featured in the "Above 2%" exhibit, celebrating the journey and impact of female entrepreneurs in New England! It's an honor to be recognized among such incredible women! This photo exhibit to highlight that only 2% of the venture capital raised in 2022 (3% in 2023) went to female-only-led companies. For Black female founders it's even worse with a mere .41% of venture capital funding going to us. This is why the lawsuit against the Fearless Fund is like salt on a wound.
LEARNING:
Well Being x Design Fellowship:
Did I tell you that I hung out with Oscar the Grouch a few weeks ago? Well, not exactly the real Oscar, but close enough! I traveled to NYC to celebrate the culmination of a 12-week design fellowship with the Cooney Center. I made a presentation about what we're doing Kidogoville!
It was a fruitful time with the other fellows and the audience members. I have already had a helpful conversation with someone who is familiar with accessibility features for apps. The timing couldn't be better as we are building, coding and designing!
One of the great by-products of the fellowship was being invited to join a Play, Make, Learn Conference panel discussion in July with two other design fellows and one of the Cooney Center staff persons, Medha Tare. We will delve into well-being by design principles and how we have applied them to our technologies. It should be a wonderful discussion.
I believe you're all caught up now!
As always...
For the Ckids, for the Culture, Keeana
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