Happy September Friends and Family! Before anything....
EVENT REMINDER:
We are one week away from our next live event!! I am so excited to have the Activity Author join us for reading and crafting fun! Here's what you'll need: paper towel roll, construction paper, scissors, glue, markers, and googly eyes (optional). We can't wait to see you on September 10th at 3pm on Zoom!
MY BIRTHDAY:
As we fly into a new school year (Amara is going into the 1st grade!), may we land softly and firmly. It has been an exhilarating month! I celebrated my birthday on the 25th, first of all :-)
Milestone birthdays tend to be challenging for people like me (goal-oriented and self-critical), so I leaned on my friends to encourage me to keep truckin’ (thank you, friends!).
1-Year Anniversary for Kidogo.TV:
I launched Kidogo.TV on my birthday last year (hard to believe!). Kidogo is indeed still going! I launched with 20 curated videos and now I have over 4,500 curated videos. I have also had two live events, conducted 10 creator interviews, deepened my relationship with many creators, improved the site, grown my social media following from 0 to 2,037, grown my subscriber base from 0 to 555, clarified the business model, and are in talks with a developer to build an APP (an app y'all, woohoo!!). You can read a recap of my progress since the very beginning of Kidogo in my January 2022 blog post. I should pause here and let myself feel proud (....even as I simultaneously look back and wonder how I could have done more, gah! smh.....) :-)
My Fellowship for Female Founders and MassChallenge mentors have been amazing! MassChallenge will wrap up at the end of September and I will be launching (finally) a funding round. I’ve already had to record a pitch, which will be publicized on September 21st at the MassChallenge Showcase. The pitch was hard to do y’all. I wanted to get every word just right. I wanted to convey all of my dreams, hopes and desires for Kidogo. I wanted to tout all of our progress. I wanted to make it known that we are ready for funding-- all in 60 seconds. The day that I recorded it, there happened to be two construction projects going on at the same time (that never happens), this is life, lol! I captured a picture of me during the taping.
Here's the script of my pitch:
Kidogo Productions– a global network of creators and educators that produces authentically positive representations of Black cultures and Black people for preschoolers. I started the Kidogo Brand in part because my daughter told me she was sad that she didn’t look like Elsa. My heart also broke knowing that children’s media often depicts the color black as bad. Since young, impressionable children on average consume almost 20 hours a week of screen time, low self-esteem and bias can start early. To this long-lasting societal poison, a growing number of families, teachers, and professional caregivers have found a fun and wholesome cure in Kidogo. Thanks to Mass Challenge, we have accelerated our product roadmap and are currently raising an Angel round to complete the development of our app and to expand our creator program. Join us at kidogo.tv and press play for culture!
Thanks to all of my friends and mentors who helped me with this!!!!!
My ASK:
The MassChallenge and startup communities will have a chance to VOTE online on September 21st-- THIS MEANS YOU!! I will certainly send more details, but keep 9/21 in your mind as voting day (9/21, 9/21, 9/21!)!
Worthy of Note:
One of my mentors, informed me that Rodger's and Hammerstein's Cinderella, featuring Brandy and Whitney Houston recently celebrated its 25th Anniversary. I watched the special on Hulu. Here are some interesting facts I learned:
Brandy was the first Black girl to be featured as a princess in a major production.
The diversity of the entire cast was unprecedented.
That was the most expensive TV production of its time ($12M).
It was the most watched TV musical in decades.
Whoopi Goldberg opined poignantly, "Fairytales should reflect the world." I couldn't agree more! Kudos to all who created such an amazing musical. Whitney Houston was STUNNING in sight and sound, btw. I could watch scenes with her over and over.
Amara and I have started to review movies and shows on IG. We'll be sure to do a review of Cinderella!
Thank you for being in the Kidogo Community. You make us who we are. Please reach out to me if you have any suggestions to make this community work for you. If you would like to participate/help even more, I could certainly use you!! Here's my cell: 617-942-0577 and email: keeanasaxon@kidogo.tv. Looking forward to hearing from you!
For the Kids, for the Culture,
Keeana