Hi, my name is Jessica Lam and I'm here to tell you about my brand Karuna - the buddhist term for compassion. The inspiration for this brand comes from my many years working in marketing and from being a mom. Inspired by Oprah's brand positioning of spreading kindness and compassion and by Arianna Huffington's egalitarian approach to diverse, user-generated content, which allows numerous points of views to be shared. I wanted to take their ethos and channel it into a brand for children.

Today, children are exposed to a level of stress which is unparalleled from our youth. Ill-equipped to handle the proliferation of online bullying, sexual exploitation and cyber crimes, less than 20% of children report anything uncomfortable they experience online.

Karuna hopes to change that and provide a platform for children to cultivate self-reflection and expression and share with each other in a safe environment. Join me as I create a story-powered universe where kids create, explore, and grow into compassionate adventurers. In the Karunaverse, every brushstroke, beat, and word grows kids superpowers—empathy, creativity, and decision-making. When kids build resilience and self-awareness, they’re stronger and smarter about handling the inevitable challenges they will face online.

Online creative makerspace Karunaverse provides a safe and convenient way for children of working parents to be challenged and to work collaboratively, while building a creative and growth-driven mindset; its success will be measured by the number of drawing, writing, coding and music composition projects and collaborations on a weekly or monthly basis.