Mercer Henderson’s creativity is yet simplicity is the story of her success. At just 13 years old, now almost 14, she founded Audiots that allows you to add sounds to your emojis. Henderson did not pull this idea out of thin air but rather took inspiration from her own life. She describes how she and friends would communicate via audio links and texting and said wouldn’t it be nice to have these combined? What sets her even further apart is she went out and did it. Now being used across 50,000 apps, Audiots was no genius of the invention but the genius of entrepreneurship. She saw a need in a growing niche and took the opportunity to make a difference. It took her five months of setting up, being the youngest on a team, carefully personalizing each one just for the launch!

However, Mercer Henderson did not stop there, following up that app with another called Friendits. She once again used the same process, pulling from her own experiences and problems. She described the difficulty of finding unique clothes in her wardrobe; she needed a creative way to solve that. Mercer then realized what if you could make private communities of people with similar interests that allow the customers to make the experience even better as their community grows? She once again saw the gap and went for it. Friendits creates those private communities where you can share pictures and messages allowing you to swap and exchange clothing items or more with people you know or new people with similar interests!

Mercer Henderson has had great success with both apps and showed the importance of using the real-world experiences around you to bring that change. She was later featured in Forbe’s magazine and still inspires people with her story four years later. She inspires me to go after my ideas and not just sit back and watch them fade out of the horizon; the importance of being proactive in my research and looking for the problems right in front of me. Creating two whole apps is no small feat. Yet, Mercer was not daunted by this nor by the fact she was too young.

Forbes Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/toriutley/2016/10/31/13-year-old-founder-mercer-henderson-is-creating-apps-to-make-a-difference/?sh=6f45c0992c9c

At nine years old, my biggest aspirations spun around Legos and soccer. For Caine, try building an entire arcade from practically nothing. Caine Monroy’s father owned an auto parts store in East L. A and that little garage is where young Mr. Monroy made history. Using cardboard and what was available to a 9-year-old, he made a full-blown cardboard arcade in the auto parts store for him and his father. His father was amazed by the evident and creative genius of his young boy. Hoping to create a buzz to help fund his son’s education, made a short film to promote the homemade arcade. The video had the intended effect, and the small venture attracted quite the audience. Becoming internationally known and featured on networks like ABC World News, Good Morning America, and MSNBC led to internet fame. Soon after, the lines for entry to the arcade began to lengthen. The buzz created more attraction than the auto part store could even handle; customers were waiting for four hours or more to catch a glimpse of the young geniuses’ creation.

Caine Monroy’s story was about a lot more than just success, but the inspiration of millions of other kids, a scholarship fund, and a non-profit organization designed to encourage creativity and entrepreneurship among children. Furthermore, Caine Monroy’s father was successful in funding his son’s education bringing in a $200,000 scholarship fund.

The Imagination Foundation, founded because of Caine’s story, is now trying to encourage this activity and entrepreneurship thinking that we saw from this prodigy. This story was and is an inspiration to millions of other kids and young adult entrepreneurs who are perhaps tentative to give their idea a chance. He inspired me through his dedication to creating what he envisioned simultaneously changing what most people think an arcade even is. He turned a dream and cardboard into a movement at nine years old. What is our excuse?