Lisa Martin is an Entrepreneur with a business idea driven by her determination to make a difference. After years of personal experience searching for gifts and merchandise featuring multicultural characters, Lisa always found it difficult to find any product that fitted the bill.
She says: ”Inspired by my children and the lack of multicultural products, I decided that if I couldn’t find what I was looking for, then I would make sure myself that my children had the experience of receiving a gift that reflected their identity.”
Lisa has launched a range of child-friendly gifts featuring multicultural characters. The range so far includes bags, coasters, mugs, hooded sweatshirts and key rings, but she is always working on ways of extending the range of her products further. She explains:
“I source products carefully and work with my 15-year-old son on the character illustrations. I’m really excited about the products’ potential to teach children about one another and raise awareness that many types of people make up our communities. Our first character was based on our daughter and when we gave her one of our bags her exact words were ‘Look mummy, she looks like me, she has hair like me.’ She was so excited and now takes her new bag everywhere. That day we heard and witnessed the reaction we were hoping for. It was such a beautiful moment for us. We would love all children to have that same excitement and sense of pride when they see an image that reflects their identity and for parents to have that warm feeling it gave us.”
Lisa attended Meet A Mentor in Bristol last year and, as she puts it, ‘came as a mum with a passionate business idea.’ Since then, Lisa’s worked hard with great support from her mentor Marguerite, who has been volunteering her time to help Lisa move forward with confidence to open her online store, and talk through any issues and ideas. Lisa has done the occasional stall at school fairs, but believes there is much more potential for her products not just online, but also locally. She is keen to find local retailers to stock a range of her products:
“There have been lots of ups and a few downs on my journey but I’m working hard and I’ve learnt some new skills along the way, including building my own website from scratch. I would strongly recommend Meet A Mentor, as it has helped me turn ideas that were in my head for years into reality.”
Find out more about Lisa’s family-run business Uneek Flair. Lisa is very keen to find another mentor and would love to hear from anyone interested in supporting her as she grows her business.