Spark Creators

For this episode, we invited Aryana Sahai and her mom Kavita Sahai, who are founder of Ladlis, an NGO that helps girls in poverty in India to access education. 

Aryana Sahai, an 8-year-old girl from South Florida, took a family trip to India and was devastated by the poverty she saw. She partnered with NGO Ladli (ladli.org), where impoverished girls are taught how to make jewelry, as well as provided with education, medical check-ups, and counseling.

Aryana worked with the young artisans to create the Aroma Collection: a custom, handmade set of bracelets with natural gemstones and one lava stone, which acts as an essential oil diffuser. The bracelets are created to inspire mindfulness, meditation, and positivity. 

Aryana brought the gemstone bracelets back to the United States to help fund girls’ education. She purchased the bracelets using her own funds, and the first batch sold out immediately. The sale of every bracelet funds one month of a girl’s education. 100% of the proceeds go to empowering lives and driving freedom.

Learn more about their initiative through the following links:

Website: www.ladlis.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/ladlislove

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ladlislove/

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For this episode, we invited Ricky Dong, an young minecraft instructor for coding at Bay Coding Club based in California. Ricky is an eight-grade student who is going to high school this coming school year. He is based in Fremont, California and he currently enrolled in Honors English, Honors Science, and Accelerated Math as he strives to maintain his academic excellence. 

He received certificates on a couple of programming languages like Java, Pathon, HTML, CSS, and he also started to use JAVA to develop mini-games. Ricky participated in FIRST Technology Challenge. He has a big passion in Minecraft, and is determined to turn that into a fun and educational platform for his friends.

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For this episode, we invited Kirstie Wang, founder of A Jar of Pickles. A Jar of Pickles is Kirstie’s small side business that she started as an Etsy shop in college. She taught herself how to use Illustrator and Photoshop, and then she designed logos and flyers for various student groups. She loved all the design experience, but she didn’t seriously pursue Pickles nor a career in design when she graduated. Instead, it took quite a few years for she to fully invest in a Jar of Pickles while pursuing a job as a designer.

Now Kirstie still works full time as a product designer but running her side business in her spare time. Wondering how she handles all the daily business details while balance her life with friends and family? Want to know her secret of productivity as a side hustle and an entrepreneur? Let's tune in to hear what Kirstie has to share!

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For this episode, we invited Teela Cunningham, the founder of Every Tuesday. Teela grew up in Upstate NY, studied at SCAD in Savannah, GA and completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design in 2008.

She worked as a designer at a startup children’s gaming company, a boutique home furnishings business and a design studio in Atlanta, GA. While at the studio, she had the pleasure of working on many large projects with Coca-Cola, Visa, the winter and summer Olympic Games and many wonderful small businesses.

She started a youtube channel in January of 2014 and shared a lot of her knowledge on design softwares and hand lettering. The kind responses she got were overwhelming, so she started doing more frequent tutorials. From there, she began teaching online courses.

Teela’s husband Spencer is a self taught web developer and is the driving force behind the web design and development of Every-Tuesday. In 2015, they decided to pursue Every-Tuesday together full time and haven’t let up since!

In December 2018, she welcomed the newest member to our family: our daughter, Tuesday. They also have a lovely dog Nuna Petunia, who has been with Teela since March of 2009.

Wondering how Teela built her empire of Every Tuesday by posting a Youtube video every Tuesday? Want to learn Teela's journey from a designer to an entrepreneur? Let's tune in and see what Teela has to share!

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Amanda’s business - Amanda Creation started with her own interests on planning parties. She loved (and still does) to throw themed parties. But couldn’t find the right supplies.

That’s why Amanda started her special invitation and party supply company. She explored the Etsy store before she sold it on Amazon. She found her way on Amazon and she shares her lessons she learned by making printable products. 

“Amanda has been married to her husband, David, for 14 years. They live in the suburbs of Chicago and have 3 sons: Zachary, Joshua, and Benjamin. Her family is the reason she celebrates as often as she can. It’s also the reason why she started her design business. 

Wondering how she navigated her way from a non-design background to creating a design business? Want to know what it is like selling on Amazon using Fulfilled by Amazon? Let's tune in to hear what Amanda has to say. 

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For this episode, we invited Kayleigh Dumond, the Founder and Owner of Etsy Store of her own brand- Kayleigh Dumond: Vintage Botanicals Handmade Stationery

Kayleigh Dumond grew up in a little town in the beautiful state of Michigan. She found a love for botanical prints a few years ago doing product design for a company in St. Louis. She took her love for design and everything vintage and started her own stationery business here on Etsy. It's fun to take something that is vintage and give it a new life, which is what she strives to do with her stationery. She takes vintage prints and turns them into invitations, greeting cards, and personal stationery. She is now blessed to be back home in Michigan, splitting her time between her Etsy business and being a mom and wife. 

Wondering how she creates her stationery and why she is selling so well on Etsy? Let's tune in to hear Kayleigh's story!

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For this episode, Host Li Zeng shares with you the whole process of creating a greeting card business starting from your kids' art and doodles. At the end of this episode, Li also introduced you the upcoming series about "Creating Printable Products". 

Wondering how to encourage your kids to create more in the summer and how you guys can build a greeting card business together? Tune in to hear more details!

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For this episode, we brought Karin Hurt, co-founder of Let’s grow leaders, and Sebastian Hurt, co-author of Glowstone Peak, a children’s picture book about Courage, Influence, And Hope.

Karin Hurt build Let’s grow leaders with (Her Husband) David Dye and they help leaders achieve breakthrough results without losing their soul. They are keynote leadership speakers, trainers, and the award-winning author of Courageous Cultures: How to Build Teams of Micro-Innovators, Problem Solvers, and Customer Advocates (HarperCollins Summer 2020) and the other book is called Winning Well: A Manager’s Guide to Getting Results Without Losing Your Soul. Karin is a top leadership consultant and CEO of Let’s Grow Leaders. A former Verizon Wireless executive, she was named to Inc. Magazine’s list of great leadership speakers. 

To learn more about Karin, visit her website: letsgrowleaders.com

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For this episode, we brought Dr. Brian Barnes. Dr. Brian Barnes holds a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Humanities and an MA in Philosophy from the University of Louisville. Barnes is a veteran of the US Army, along with other non-academic careers, and currently teaches face-to-face and online classes at several universities in traditional philosophy topics, along with courses in sustainability, critical thinking, and Japanese sword practice.

He has co-authored articles examining critical thinking strategies and tactics for the National Teaching and Learning Forum and is the author of the textbook, The Central Question: Critical Engagement with Business Ethics (2013).

Barnes co-hosts the weekly radio show, Critical Thinking for Everyone!, on 106.5 Forward Radio in Louisville, and he also created the critical thinking comic book series, Adventures in Critical Thinking. Dr. Barnes is a Scholar of the Foundation for Critical Thinking, and was a direct student of Dr. Richard Paul.

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For this episode, we invited Brett Schilke. Brett is an author, speaker and educator. Right now you’ll find Brett immersed in the launch of his first book, Journey to City X, and leading an education research lab currently designing the learning experience for the Museum of Solutions, a groundbreaking new 10-story children’s museum being built in central Mumbai. He serves on the faculty for the Future of Learning at Singularity University in Silicon Valley.

To learn more about Brett's background and story, visit his website at brettschilke.com. Want to know how to cultivate design thinking skills in your kids? Tune in and listen to what Brett has to say :)

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