As the founder of Higher Mind Apps, Ameka Ali’s journey to entrepreneurship can be summed up in one sentence: If something doesn’t exist, you must create it.
“Buying books and checking out books from the library made me realize female heroines were non-existent in children’s literature,” said Ali. “I also found we were non-existent in the publishing world. So I decided to write stories for children with characters who look like them. I self-published the picture book apps to meet children where they are, using today’s technology to bring educational content in the fastest growing medium–portable devices.â€
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Higher Mind Apps develops animated picture book apps, such as the Ameka Love brand for children age 3-10. Each interactive picture book app takes children on a journey covering traditional subjects like science, and unconventional topics like yoga. “Every little girl is the inspiration behind each Ameka Love story,” said Ali.
Ameka Love represents the brown girls throughout the world. Neuroscientific research over the past few years has shown us that reading can develop and hone key socialization skills, such as empathy and compassion. If no characters in books look like you, your sense of self-worth is diminished. You don’t feel valued. When I write the stories, I think about the psychological impact a young female heroine has on the psyche and subconscious mind. I know our girls need to see a reflection of their own unique beauty, and they need see their inner strength, power, and what they can create just by focusing and having a goal.â€
For Ali, making the decision to take the leap from her cushy full-time job as a supervisory contracting officer at a federal agency to entrepreneur, was more about having an impact and freedom than making money.
“I had one foot in my full-time job and the other foot building my own business for a number of years. But before taking the leap I dedicated my time to Higher Mind Apps during lunch breaks, the evenings, and weekends. When my children slept, I worked. After I had my second child I decided, ‘it’s now or never.’ When others were partying, I was working. Higher Mind Apps©™ has allowed me to build the Ameka Love ©™ brand, allow my creativity to flourish, spend more time with my family, and develop apps and products that have a positive impact on my community and the precious minds of our youth.â€
While making plans to market and grow the Ameka Love series into a globally-recognized lifestyle brand, Ali still finds the time to juggle the needs of her family, including a husband and three beautiful children.
BlackEnterprise.com caught up with the trailblazer in technology to learn more about her journey.
BlackEnterprise.com: Tell us about your background.
Ali: I have a  bachelor of science degree in aviation management from Hampton University with an executive masters in public administration from Golden Gate University. My professional history spans from working on multi-million dollar information technology (IT) contracts at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to acquisition financial management at Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
I started my first business in the 5th grade, making and selling jewelry, and when asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I replied, ‘I want to own my own Texaco!'” The tech industry is a 180’ from the oil and gas industry, but I love it because nothing is better than having an artistic vision that I can bring to the world via apps, and it is lucrative and uplifting to our children at the same time.
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Describe 3 habits that have enabled you to be successful?
1.Being very organized. I start each morning with a numbered post-it of the things I will accomplish for the day
2. Meditating. It’s important to shut the world out so I can receive creative inspirations for my stories. It helps me release stress, stay focused on my goals, and maintain a positive outlook.
3. Being a planner. Whether my goals are short term or long term, I plan
every day and do something towards the goal. I maintain confidence in my end result. I keep in mind that a daily goal holds as much weight as a yearly goal. Each step, each stone laid down is building the road to success.What financial resources did you use to launch your business?
Instead of taking out loans and borrowing from my retirement, I used some of my personal savings to get started and started living below my means so I would have extra resources to dedicate to the business.
Did you build the app or did you hire an app developer?
I am the author of the stories, I create the storyboards for artwork, and I build the apps.
How long did it take you to go from idea to market?
It took 2 years to go from idea to market. I wanted to create a female heroine, but her visual image had to be created, her message had to be developed. I had to come up with subject matter and themes for the stories, and I had to learn a number of app development tools and experience experimenting with a number of different software, study tech industry trends and trends in children’s literature, and children’s animated content.
What’s the biggest challenge you’ve ever faced?
My biggest challenge in my adult life was after college. I entered
Currently, there is a lack of minorities and women in STEM careers. How can we get more minority children engaged in and excited about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers?
Children need exposure to a myriad of STEM career options. They need the opportunity [to] see how everything that exists has its foundation in science, engineering, technology, and math. For example, if a child desires to become a fashion designer, they need to know that the industry uses CAD and 3D software to make patterns, not just paper patterns anymore, and currently you can use 3D printing to manufacture your finished product; that’s engineering and math! If a child wants to be a rapper or a singer, they need to know that the most successful song structure is based on the Fibonacci sequence, a computation of phi, also known as the golden mean, which all-natural creations in the universe are founded on…that’s science! It’s all about taking their interest and showing them the mathematics foundation and undertones.