Today we’d like to introduce you to Porsha Hodge.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Porsha. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
As a mother, educator, and author, L.I.T. Kids was an avenue that came to me as a light bulb idea. I had recently had my son and was looking for books of color to read to him yet found that it was difficult to find these types of books. So from there, I begin visiting book stores, going on weekly library visits with my son, and collecting children’s books that I found fitting for my son and I to read together along with may other fun reads. In addition to noticing a lack of representation of kids of color in books, I also saw this trend within my classroom. Teaching majority Hispanic students, I realized that books lacked representation for them along with many other people of color. From there, I also begin to jot down words in my spare time of what would later blossomed into my first children’s book, Cocoa Delight and Her Chocolate Chip Tears. I would like to say all of this derived from me being in education for 2.5 years when this begins to manifest. Since then, I have recently launched L.I.T. Kids, LLC and I am currently working on the finishing touches of my book.
In July 2019, L.I.T. Kids, LLC was registered to serve and provide books of representation, educational tools, and more to children. We provide them with the opportunity to see the world with a different lens by learning about others from different places around the world or different backgrounds, cultures, and walks through life. In October 2019, we began our literacy initiative, L.I.T. Kids Book Box, geared towards providing books of color to children to promote representation in books while building theirs at home libraries and a joy for reading. We recently released our 1st box, “The Inspire Box” on March 29th to ages 0-8 and our now selling our 2nd book box, The Champion Box. Consumers can buy boxes individually or subscribe to a plan to receive book boxes monthly. Each month our box is curated with a special theme in mind for our #LITLearners.
We were recently featured on Spectrum News Austin last month for our business efforts with our youth. Check it out here.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been a rather smooth road due to me letting this business venture take its course in development. I didn’t think of this random book box idea and immediately jump to producing content and products, but I instead allowed for my thoughts and ideas to take shape with time. I was working on this book box initiative for over two years without doing any real groundwork because of my biggest fear, failure. So I took my time, worked on bits and pieces here and there, begin creating my website from scratch and reviewed it over and over along with sharing with friends and family every now and then for feedback. Once I felt I was ready to make it public (which I held as an accountability piece for myself), I eventually made social media pages and began garnering my following from posts, etc. I would say the biggest I had was fear. What could’ve been presented to the public two years ago, I waited until I was over my personal fear of failure. I knew I had something good for children and families but just didn’t want to not meet my own expectations or those whom was anticipating my launch. I’m glad I conquered what could’ve held me back from working what I feel is part of my purpose.
Please tell us about L.I.T. Kids Book Box.
L.I.T. Kids, LLC. is a children’s literacy initiative that focuses on providing children with diverse books and apparel that exudes confidence and self-expression. We provide books of color, educational tools and activities, fun, engaging gifts for each #LITLearner. Our books are not your typical “books of color,” the books we feature represent many people of color from African-Americans, Afro-Latinos, Hispanics, Asians, and more. We truly believe in the importance of representation and exposing your child to many different people, places, and cultures. I am most that over the course of our 1st month in business, we were able to exceed our projected sales and outreach goal as well as be featured in our local news broadcast on Spectrum News.
L.I.T. Kids is set apart from others because we work towards parents Learning to Inspire and Teach THEIR Kids. We are not just a LITeracy program we are an enrichment program for students to grow in their love for reading and build their own at home libraries of books that represent themselves and others. With my background in education for six years, I know what some students need in order to be successful and grow in literacy. We are not like every other book box. We stick to providing three simple things that can be used as an additional resource for parents, educators, home school parents, and anyone who wants to provide an additional educational resource to little ones.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite memory from childhood is hanging with my six boy cousins everyday in the summer. We were outdoor kids, so we would ride our bikes all day, play in the dirt, go to the pool, and just have good old school fun (no ipads, no tech) just you, your family, and all of the creative opportunities we could find outdoors. I remember, not a favorite but a memorable one would be in the summer of like ’97 or ’98, we were riding bikes. It was a steep hill we would typically race down with no problem. Talk about an adrenaline rush! However, one day when we were riding we decided to race down, my cousins and I and my tires did something weird while gliding down and I fell! I mean the fall was tough. I rolled a few times and halted dramatically. All I remember is blood, tears, and my cousins packing me back home. I was bruised all up, head to toe. This is memorable because those scares are still visible and have a story of their own. It also reminds me that at one point in my life, I was a true Tomboy and proud of it.
Pricing:
- 1 Month Plan, $36 – Receive one book box for one month only.
- 3 Month Prepaid Plan, $88 – Receive one book box for 3 months of different books of color.
- 6 Month Prepaid Plan, $170 – Receive one book box for 6 months of different books of color.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.litkidsbooks.com
- Email: litlovelearn@gmail.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/l.i.t.kids
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/litlovelearn
- Other: https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/austin/news/2020/04/24/-book-box–provides-kids-with-diverse-reads
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