We recently connected with Janie Desir and have shared our conversation below.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I have been working on Teaching Your Baby In Braille for 3 years. I decided to create these books because I’m when I became pregnant all I think about I could I prepare my child if he end up with my eye disease. I wasn’t born blind I have a rare eye disease called Keratoconus which doesn’t affect you until your adult. So while I was in class I created a children book in Braille as an assignment, and on my last semester I decided to create a whole collection. After I graduated I printed a prototype of my books, and I used puff paint to create the braille dots. I have taught my child the alphabets, numbers, shapes, and colors from the books I created and I’m legally blind. Plus, the bond that me and my child share is priceless and I would like to share my experience with every parent.
My goal is help visually impaired/blind parents help teach their sighted children. Plus if the child is visually impaired/blind as the parent is teaching their child/children the parent will also be learning how to read in braille. My books is a collection of book that teaches the child the alphabets, numbers, colors, and shapes in braille, also in different languages. The books are full illustrations that would capture the little ones attention. I really want people to be aware about Braille because at anytime you can lost your sight. Just like people who are so eager to learn different languages and ASL, I feel braille should be just as important too. My age group is around 0-to grade school level, and I believe in early intervention. My books will benefit a lot of family, preschool/ daycare centers, and even occupational therapists with their patients.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
Funding my business have been very hard, I have not thought about taking any type of loans. So far I have profited my own business with my own money I do have a go fund me page so that people can donate, But that’s not going so well. I do community work I hold a Sippy Cup and Paint event every other month on the last Saturday of the month based on donations. Where are the kids can sit on juice boxes and paint whatever they want that all includes the drink the sandwiches and their paint canvases. I also have shirts with my logo on there for sale, plus my part-time job. Right now I am in a competition called super mom trying to win $20,000 for my business, so, as you can see, I really do have a hustle mentality, and I’m a keep on pushing by any means to see my business, grow and not take no for an answer.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I did not start my audience on social media. It all started by hearsay. I was on the front page of the hometown newspaper, and then I started to do presentations at local daycare centers, where I would educate them about my disability for ways to communicate. When more people were asking about me and information about my business, that’s when I created a Facebook page, Instagram, and now I have a YouTube page. I also do community events like family fun fest with ELC Early Learning Coalition, where I can promote my business and hand out flyers about myself, and how to contact me on social media, which will also help build my audience. I was on a TV show called the Beta Blox for entrepreneurs I was in season eight where I also promoted my business to help my social media platform and my next step is to get on the Jennifer Hudson TV show so I can continue building my platform. But I’m not going lie. It’s really hard doing it by yourself especially with my condition that’s continuing to progress and with my son who is autistic, he keeps me on my toes.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/teaching_your_baby_in_braille?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087758798782&mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Linkedin: Follow me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/comm/mynetwork/discovery-see-all?usecase=PEOPLE_FOLLOWS&followMember=janie-desir-540a9b238
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Teaching_Your_Baby_In_Braille
- Other: https://gofund.me/3f5e63eb https://www.hometownnewstc.com/news/student-overcomes-disabilities-on-way-to-success/article_01fc5570-8f4b-11ec-a1b5-6715efb0b9ec.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share&fbclid=IwAR3Xz5e0iH2dOo7vqX6-d1oCTLPSEeO3PLI0APA6aory5D_vgqfNbL0Sk8E https://irsc.edu/news/articles/irsc_seal_awards_recognize_achivments_042922.html https://blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2022/05/19/adobe-celebrates-global-accessibility-awareness-day https://thesupermom.org/2023/janie-desir