Awesome Thoughts from our Blog

Tana and Myla Zapf are the teen inventors of Curly Petz, currently on Kickstarter to raise funding to put their idea into production.

From Necessitees.co Founder Karina Dixon: "I wanted to start a business that would give a percentage of every sale back to helping end diaper need. I was already working full-time, volunteering with other organizations and focused on life with my husband, Sean, and Eliot. But the idea of starting a business of my own that would give back just wouldn’t go away. I had a background in operations and HR, and Sean’s technical and marketing expertise made him the perfect partner to help me get things off the ground."

A child may know how to narrate stories effectively, but writing them down can be difficult. We can help our children develop the skills and motivation to feel comfortable expressing thoughts in writing at a young age. To empower a child to write, we can help them see that writing is a skill they can learn, and that it’s not just useful – it’s fun! Here are five ways to empower a child to write.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Just for you, here are some awesome Princess Awesome geeky, math-y, science-y valentines. Just print, color, and sign! There are 8 total - here's a preview of four of them.

“You are not only extremely beautiful, but intelligent beyond what you even recognize.”

I wish someone had shared these words with me as a girl growing up. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York by a single immigrant mother, more things seemed pressing than the need for positive affirmations. I was always told that hard work was inevitable for success and that good company was essential for good character so that was my focus throughout my adolescence.

I am extremely fortunate to have an expert laundress as my mother-in-law. Her father was a tailor, and she learned to care for fabrics and do laundry (well!!) from him.

I asked her what to do to keep the fabric from fading.  Here's the secret!

We live in a world full of choices.

This can be a wonderful thing as your daughter grows up because she can try so many different hobbies, sports, trends, career paths, books, technology tools, and more. However, with the plethora of choices also comes the challenge of encouraging her to make strong choices.

“Why not me?” It’s the question that changes a dreamer into a leader. The problem is that many dreamers get stuck at “I don’t know how.” And from there, it’s just a short step to “...so I can’t.” We can empower our kids to push past their doubts and take the steps toward becoming leaders by encouraging them to cultivate some habits that all leaders need.

The decision we made while we were on Project Runway: Fashion Startup - not to take an investment - was a happy ending for Princess Awesome. We knew how much our business was worth. We knew how much equity we would be willing to give, and for what price. We had carefully calculated how much each investor would be worth to us, and how much we were willing to negotiate. In the end, we did not come to an agreement with any of the investors, and that’s ok. It’s still a happy ending for us - because no deal is a better outcome than a bad deal, for either party.

When adults speak to children, unless they are fairly well-acquainted, they tend to look for clues to the child’s interests on their clothing. How many times have I said to little boys, “Wow! A dinosaur shirt! You must like dinosaurs”? But I don’t often say that to girls. Why? Because very few items of girls’ clothing feature dinosaurs - or pretty much anything else other than flowers and cute animals.

But now we have collected anecdotal data about the kinds of conversations adults have with girls who are wearing Princess Awesome dresses. They're different: 

In October of 2015, we got an e-mail out of the blue.

It was from the producers of a new show - sort of like Shark Tank, but just for fashion companies. Because it was totally new, they were searching for companies to audition for it. They had found us on Kickstarter and thought we would be a good fit.

A recent scene from my house:

This was a watershed moment for me as a parent. I was so sick of telling my kids to stop calling each other names, I inadvertently turned the issue around on them - I felt guilty at first, like I was blaming the victim. But it worked! Brother 2 took control of himself and the situation. And I found a powerful way to help kids become resilient.