Anna Lozano and Lindy Sood are on a mission to empower children to become mindful leaders through positive affirmations.
By Julia Migné
From an early age, children around the globe learn the importance of being physically fit. Be it through ads on TV repeating that they need to eat fruits and vegetables or through campaigns run at schools, the message is loud and clear: be careful with what you eat, exercise regularly and you’ll be healthy.
But despite this torrent of advice on physical health very little is taught to children about another crucial aspect of our life: our mental health. Things as essential as self-worth, self-confidence or positive thinking are more often than not completely absent from children’s education.
Anna Lozano and Lindy Sood, two Toronto-based moms and entrepreneurs have been heavily involved in “this new age spirituality, psychology, and personal development” as Lindy explains. “We are both entrepreneurs and in that world, it’s very imperative that you keep your head on straight and you keep going forward and learn how to grow professionally and spiritually,” she adds.
Sharing strong core values on the way they want to live their lives and raise their children, the dynamic duo quickly realised that by applying those different techniques and strategies they “were becoming much better people overall”. They decided to bring some of those techniques such as repeating positive affirmations for example to their homes and practicing them with their families.
“We realised that when we were looking for tools to use with our children there were very few and nothing really attracted us to these tools,” explains Lindy. “The branding wasn’t on point and this is something we know so much about so we thought it would really add value to the world if we created what was not there!”
The two friends started masterminding over the subject and came to the conclusion that they could actually develop a set of tools themselves. Having both an entrepreneurial background and a degree in marketing, they decided to launch their own startup and after a year of brainstorming Love Powered Co. came to life! “It was just perfect,” exclaims Anna. “This was a universal gift that was meant to happen!”
Once the concept was defined and the name set in stone, the two mums had to find a way to fund the whole venture. In August, they launched their Kickstarter campaign determined to conquer the world with their positive vibes. Running for an entire month, the campaign proved extremely successful mostly due to the preparation work as Anna explains: “The three weeks leading up to the launch is actually what helped us reach our full goal in the first 18 hours!”
With only 30 days to get their message out, the duo started putting out little teasers and videos few weeks before the launch of their Kickstarter page to draw people’s attention to their concept. “Within the first week the video hit 20,000 views and from there we knew that we had a market,” exclaims Lindy. “We knew that people liked what they saw and that they were interested in what we wanted to bring to the world!”
“It’s such a brilliant business model,” she adds. “You have people who want your product, they’re pledging, they’re pre-ordering and it’s actually funding you, giving you money to create what they want,” exclaims Lindy.
Teaming up with a range of experts including psychotherapists, yoga teachers, and mindfulness experts, the two women designed a set of children-friendly positive affirmations cards. Far from considering themselves as experts when it comes to parenting, Anna and Lindy insist however that they “truly believe that parenting experts don’t exist”.
“One of our big visions is to make positive affirmations mainstream, to make that deeper connection a core priority in the home and really to explode in the mindfulness realm because as humans we are all just craving to go back to basics.”
“Parenting is such a unique journey for everybody.” explains Anna. “We are constantly learning different techniques for mindfulness, for connection, for communicating and we have done quite well as entrepreneurs when it comes to building successful online businesses so we’re really translating that expertise into building this startup.”
Having reached as far as Saudi Arabia, Love Powered Co. already has orders from all over the world but the big challenge for the two moms remains to expand their reach and make sure that more and more people keep hearing about their idea and concept. To do so, the duo has been working in parallel with teachers to make sure that their products reach children across Toronto.
For every box of positive affirmations bought on the Love Powered Co. website a digital version is then gifted to a teacher. As Anna explains: “Influencers are one way to get our message out but if we want to have a deeper effect we need to start with families and with teachers who are in contact with the little ones we are looking to impact!”
Committed to the personal development of their children, the two entrepreneurs strongly believe that parents can set the stage for their children to grow into mindful leaders.
“The world is moving really fast right now,” adds Lindy. “It’s chaotic, it’s fragmented, it’s busy, we’re always online. I think it is now necessary that we ground ourselves, that we stay focused in the present moment, teach ourselves positive self-talk, learn how to instill self-love, self-worth and confidence in our children and in ourselves. We need to disconnect in order to truly connect and that’s what Love Powered Co. is all about!”
With the constant flux of negative news coming through our hyper-connected lifestyle, it can be hard on days to see the light but Anna highlights the fact that every time a tragedy hits it actually brings people together. She adds: “We know that the world needs more love and so mindfulness, yes, it’s a buzzword right now but people are trying to find their way in.”
“We need to disconnect in order to truly connect and that’s what Love Powered is all about!”
“People are craving it and so one of our big visions is to make positive affirmations mainstream, to make that deeper connection a core priority in the home and really to explode in the mindfulness realm because as humans we are all just craving to go back to basics.”
Julia Migné is a multimedia journalist and wildlife photographer specialising in environmental issues and odd hobbies. She has written for Africa Geographic and BBC Wildlife among others. An endless traveller, she swears that she would visit one country for each letter of the alphabet.