Sisters and founders of Kids for Culture — Lamia Haley and Kristen O’meally — had a mission to create diverse and inclusive products for children, which has now received a stamp of approval from Walmart.
Haley and O’meally created Kids for Culture in response to O’meally casually scrolling on Instagram and stumbling across ABC flashcards. Despite the great intention behind the product, she could not help but feel indifferent due to the lack of representation.
“I saw some ABC flashcards and I said well those would be nice if they also represented other races because it was just majority caucasian children that were on there and I said ‘Well I’m going to create some,'” O’meally shares in an interview with WHAS 11.
After excitingly revealing the concept to her sister, Haley suggested the incorporation of affirmations to their products. The idea blossomed at the height of the pandemic and Kids for Culture has grown to feature products such as affirmation cards, emotional literacy flashcards, a kids of the world memory match game, and positive pals, which feature an array of diverse characters.
Little did the sister duo know that they would soon gain the attention of retail stores like Walmart, who sent them a hopeful message that would lead to a partnership fueling the development of more products. As a worker in the school system, O’meally feels hopeful that their product’s reach will make a difference.
“A lot of teachers are telling us there is not a lot of diversity in the resources that we have in our schools to teach kids about diversity,” O’meally told WHAS 11. “And these are the reasons why we continue to create products and create products that showcase many races and different cultures.”
Kids for Culture is now available online and set to debut in Walmart stores by spring 2022.
For more about Kids for Culture, visit their website.
