WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:04.960 Yeah. I grew up in northern Ontario, North Bay. My origin story 2 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:09.599 is so connected to the company because I really struggled in school. In grade 3 00:00:09.640 --> 00:00:12.519 four, I was in the dumb class. The teachers called it the dumb 4 00:00:12.519 --> 00:00:16.320 class. It was the three four split, the only girl in the class, 5 00:00:17.320 --> 00:00:20.640 and it was because I struggled with reading. I had a speech impediment, 6 00:00:20.839 --> 00:00:24.000 and I think as a kid, I just really wanted to be seen, 7 00:00:24.519 --> 00:00:27.640 and that became a bit of a theme in my life. I stopped 8 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:32.079 being interested in school at that point and I started focusing on sports, and 9 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:36.359 so I started training really hard as a swimmer, and my coaches saw some 10 00:00:36.399 --> 00:00:40.880 potential in me, which gave me this huge motivation to keep pushing hard. 11 00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:46.600 So I swam until I was about sixteen and was in a pretty horrible skiing 12 00:00:46.640 --> 00:00:51.799 accident which took me out of swimming. And discovered the sport of knuw kayak 13 00:00:51.880 --> 00:00:55.640 later on in life, and I became an Olympian in two thousand at the 14 00:00:55.719 --> 00:01:00.359 Sydney Olympics. After retiring from sports, I wanted to do something else at 15 00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:06.680 the on the world stage, something else globally successful, and started my business 16 00:01:06.680 --> 00:01:12.159 career from scratch and over the years built technology companies, which led me to 17 00:01:12.319 --> 00:01:17.040 the one that I'm in now. So I got inspired to get involved in 18 00:01:17.159 --> 00:01:22.920 education technology specifically because I saw my son go through the same challenges at school 19 00:01:22.920 --> 00:01:25.879 that I had had when he was in grade four us the same time, 20 00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:30.640 same challenges, and I really wanted to use my experience to help other kids 21 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:34.480 like my son master reading and do well in school and just be seen. 22 00:01:34.760 --> 00:01:38.439 And so that's what led us to where we are today. Well, thank 23 00:01:38.439 --> 00:01:40.799 you for sharing all that, and we are here to talk about CHULACE, 24 00:01:40.840 --> 00:01:42.560 and I'm very excited to talk to you. I've got a daughter who's twenty 25 00:01:42.599 --> 00:01:46.159 one, but I think any parent that's listening to our conversation right now that 26 00:01:46.239 --> 00:01:49.519 has children is going to be very excited about what you and your team do. 27 00:01:49.599 --> 00:01:52.680 So before we get into the weeds on CHULACE, why don't we talk 28 00:01:52.719 --> 00:01:59.760 about what the mission statement is. We have a big mission. Ultimately, 29 00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:04.719 we want to help future generations of learners broaden their thinking so they can tackle 30 00:02:04.760 --> 00:02:07.159 some of the world's big challenges. And the way we believe we're going to 31 00:02:07.239 --> 00:02:12.599 do that is to improve literacy, comprehension, and critical thinking. And so 32 00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:15.479 what we do in our games. It's a game based learning platform. But 33 00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:21.159 what we do is we help kids master their reading skills, their comprehension skills, 34 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:23.280 and then build the muscles for critical thinking. All right, let's do 35 00:02:23.319 --> 00:02:25.479 this. Let's get a little bit more into the weeds. If somebody has 36 00:02:25.479 --> 00:02:29.800 been introduced to Shoelace for the first time, who do you work with and 37 00:02:29.879 --> 00:02:36.400 what exactly do you do. We focus on teachers because teachers have access to 38 00:02:36.520 --> 00:02:39.080 kids in grades three to eight, So we're focused on delivering for kids in 39 00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:44.400 grades three to eight. And teachers sign up to the program, they use 40 00:02:44.439 --> 00:02:46.599 it in their classroom. And what happens is kids play mobile games, mobile 41 00:02:46.680 --> 00:02:50.520 games like the ones they would play at home on your phone, on your 42 00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:54.240 iPad, and as they're playing mobile games, content pops up that they have 43 00:02:54.319 --> 00:02:59.319 to read and then they have to answer questions about that content to go back 44 00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:01.000 to the game. It's almost like if you're playing a mobile game and an 45 00:03:01.039 --> 00:03:05.319 AD pops up. Instead of an AD, it's learning content, and it's 46 00:03:05.400 --> 00:03:07.840 learning a content that your teacher wants to see if you can master. So 47 00:03:07.879 --> 00:03:13.879 it's basically delivering assignments through mobile games. Parents use it as well at home. 48 00:03:13.960 --> 00:03:15.719 A lot of kids want to play at home, which is great because 49 00:03:15.719 --> 00:03:20.520 it encourages them to read while they're playing games. You know, we're using 50 00:03:20.520 --> 00:03:23.719 that screen time for good, but that's the experience. The kids play the 51 00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:30.719 game, they do the learning, and then teachers get diagnostic reports and skills 52 00:03:30.759 --> 00:03:34.719 reports to show how the kids are doing over time. So I like that 53 00:03:34.759 --> 00:03:38.840 there's a lot of connection in that with parents and children, and you're connecting 54 00:03:38.879 --> 00:03:42.280 a lot of dots there to all the work that's been done and just not 55 00:03:42.360 --> 00:03:45.800 giving somebody screen time. I did want to circle back on something. We 56 00:03:45.879 --> 00:03:49.639 have a lot of CEOs and a lot of future CEOs and entrepreneurs that listen 57 00:03:49.680 --> 00:03:53.599 to this series, and I'd love to know the origin idea because you touched 58 00:03:53.599 --> 00:03:57.080 on it a little bit early on, but maybe we could go more into 59 00:03:57.120 --> 00:04:00.680 it because you obviously saw a hole in the industry. You used your own 60 00:04:00.759 --> 00:04:03.520 experiences, but as an entrepreneur starting a business, as we know it is 61 00:04:03.560 --> 00:04:06.879 not easy. Now you've grown this into a worldwide company that we'll talk about 62 00:04:06.919 --> 00:04:11.319 this a second, because it's just amazing about how far shoelaced a stretch, 63 00:04:11.719 --> 00:04:15.159 But can you talk about that epiphany, that idea about what you did, 64 00:04:15.240 --> 00:04:16.959 and you started with it. I thought, you saw a hole in the 65 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:20.519 industry. I'm going to act on this leap of faith, start a business. 66 00:04:20.519 --> 00:04:26.240 Here we go, tell us that story. Sure, I think that 67 00:04:26.439 --> 00:04:29.680 the really important piece of that part of the story is that so my son 68 00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:30.600 had a problem. It was a problem that I saw. It was a 69 00:04:30.600 --> 00:04:35.279 problem I thought I could tackle with my background and technology. But what I 70 00:04:35.319 --> 00:04:39.600 did, and what led to our early success, was I put myself in 71 00:04:39.639 --> 00:04:43.000 the classroom. I really wanted to understand what is the teacher experience, what 72 00:04:43.160 --> 00:04:46.439 is the learner experience? And it was very different than what I thought. 73 00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:49.839 I wanted to build a technology that would help kids be strong readers. It 74 00:04:49.920 --> 00:04:53.600 was as simple as that. But when I was in the classroom, what 75 00:04:53.639 --> 00:04:57.439 I was seeing was it teachers were just managing behavior. Most of the time. 76 00:04:57.519 --> 00:05:00.040 They were really struggling to teach, and it was because kids were checking 77 00:05:00.040 --> 00:05:03.279 out of their education. They weren't interested in their learning. They weren't interested 78 00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:08.120 in you know PDFs that had been printed out that they had to answer questions 79 00:05:08.160 --> 00:05:12.279 on. And no wonder, these kids are being delivered the most exceptional you 80 00:05:12.319 --> 00:05:16.639 know content outside of the classroom, and their bar is high for they're what 81 00:05:16.680 --> 00:05:21.720 they're experiencing. So immediately I got interested in how we could use games to 82 00:05:21.800 --> 00:05:26.519 motivate kids to want to drive their own learning. But I don't think I 83 00:05:26.519 --> 00:05:30.120 would have got there, definitely not as quickly had I not seen the real 84 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:33.000 problem that teachers were facing in the classroom. And and I really advise anyone 85 00:05:33.079 --> 00:05:38.839 who's looking at tackling a problem to really get into that problem. You know 86 00:05:38.920 --> 00:05:43.920 firsthand, understand it, and that's it's just critical to being able to come 87 00:05:43.959 --> 00:05:46.720 up with the right solution. So you started the company it looks like maybe 88 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:50.560 about nine years ago now, and I'm wondering if you knew you'd be where 89 00:05:50.560 --> 00:05:55.639 you are today, because you need to share this with people starting this business 90 00:05:55.720 --> 00:05:58.839 in Canada. Now, I know you're probably in North America, but you 91 00:05:58.959 --> 00:06:00.759 work in a lot of country. Reason that makes sense because you're online, 92 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:04.319 so everybody has access to it. But tell us a little about the growth 93 00:06:04.360 --> 00:06:09.439 about it. Everybody wants to have a sustainable business, but you also and 94 00:06:09.680 --> 00:06:14.399 under a decade, have grown this business too. Yeah, we have over 95 00:06:14.439 --> 00:06:17.519 six million users in over one hundred and sixty countries. Now, I started 96 00:06:17.560 --> 00:06:23.839 wanting to help one kid, but I always had this vision and passion to 97 00:06:23.959 --> 00:06:27.160 scale. I wanted to be able to scale this at the global level, 98 00:06:27.160 --> 00:06:31.600 and that impacted how we how we designed our business models. So since scale 99 00:06:31.639 --> 00:06:36.040 was important to me, we decided accessibility was critical, and so we built 100 00:06:36.040 --> 00:06:40.759 this to be a freemium product so anyone could use it and then they could 101 00:06:40.839 --> 00:06:45.879 upgrade to a paid subscription when they saw the value. And that allowed us 102 00:06:45.959 --> 00:06:50.560 to really witness this huge amount of growth really really quickly. And I think 103 00:06:50.600 --> 00:06:55.959 something we've always looked for as a team is this idea of market pull. 104 00:06:56.000 --> 00:06:59.319 You know, not trying to push your product to the market, but where 105 00:06:59.319 --> 00:07:01.439 are you seeing people are picking it up and wanting to use it without you 106 00:07:01.519 --> 00:07:05.279 even telling them about it, without you even kind of you having to train 107 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:10.959 them on it, and really leaning into those parts of the product to really 108 00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:15.480 guide your roadmap. Yeah, the market poll is critical and something we're always 109 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:18.560 looking for as we grow the company. If I could ask, because once 110 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:23.399 again you're very entrepreneurial, the growth is extraordinary. A lot of people are 111 00:07:23.399 --> 00:07:27.199 going to say, how on earth did Julia get in that many countries and 112 00:07:27.279 --> 00:07:30.519 that short amount of time? So what did you do to market the company? 113 00:07:30.600 --> 00:07:34.040 And hook onto this great idea that you have in Cheelace, it was 114 00:07:34.120 --> 00:07:41.120 referrals. It's about the market poll it's about building something that's working for your 115 00:07:41.240 --> 00:07:44.959 users and working exceptionally well, so well that they want to share it. 116 00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:47.800 We happen to be in education, and teachers loved, you know, teaching, 117 00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:51.480 They love sharing things that are working. So we are in a market 118 00:07:51.519 --> 00:07:57.800 that has exceptional opportunity in terms of referral. But that's absolutely how we got 119 00:07:57.800 --> 00:08:01.399 there. In the first several years we spend a time on advertising or marketing, 120 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:05.360 it was all referral. As we get more sophisticated, we get more 121 00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:09.000 sophisticated about our channels to market. But at the beginning, it was really 122 00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:13.600 just one person telling another Julia, I know you have a great team with 123 00:08:13.639 --> 00:08:16.319 you, but I'm also curious about doing research, working with teachers and whether 124 00:08:16.360 --> 00:08:20.480 it's psychologists, literacy people, you know, book writers, whatever it is, 125 00:08:20.519 --> 00:08:24.720 because there has to be all these different tentacles that connect back to you 126 00:08:24.759 --> 00:08:28.560 about the latest thing, what to do, getting the feedback, making sure 127 00:08:28.600 --> 00:08:31.639 the execution is there. Can you tell us about all the different kind of 128 00:08:31.159 --> 00:08:35.120 education that you and your team do and who you work with to get to 129 00:08:35.159 --> 00:08:39.679 where you are now with HULAS. Yeah, that's always been so important and 130 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:43.759 from day one was something that we really focused on. You know, as 131 00:08:43.799 --> 00:08:45.679 an athlete, the only way you get to be as good as you are 132 00:08:45.759 --> 00:08:48.879 is by building a team around you of people who were world class, and 133 00:08:48.919 --> 00:08:52.480 we did the same thing with this company. From day one. We found 134 00:08:52.480 --> 00:08:56.799 people who were building games for education that we're best of class researchers and literacy 135 00:08:56.879 --> 00:09:01.120 best of class, teachers, best of class, and now we're looking at 136 00:09:01.159 --> 00:09:03.960 people who are understanding how to build data models best of class, you know, 137 00:09:05.080 --> 00:09:11.000 understanding the importance of diversity and inclusion and cultural responsivity, best of class. 138 00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:15.919 And it's always about pulling those individuals in and getting them to contribute to 139 00:09:16.759 --> 00:09:22.600 how we're building. So our company is mainly engineers, engineers and product people. 140 00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:28.440 We have a growth team and then we're always bringing in experts and consultants 141 00:09:28.440 --> 00:09:31.559 to help inform us on projects that are important to us at the time. 142 00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:37.080 And I find that way of growing is always successful. You're a small company, 143 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:41.320 we're only twenty, but we always bring in people who help us be 144 00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:46.279 bigger and better by bringing their expertise. Julie, I also like to ask 145 00:09:46.360 --> 00:09:50.799 our leaders and CEOs about the cool things that are happening with a company. 146 00:09:50.879 --> 00:09:54.879 Maybe sharing a good story, because I'm sure you have handsfuls of that, 147 00:09:54.279 --> 00:09:58.799 especially maybe some of the countries where access isn't as great as we have the 148 00:09:58.919 --> 00:10:01.240 luxury here in North America. Let's put a pin in a great story just 149 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:03.240 for a second. I'll let you think about that. But I want to 150 00:10:03.240 --> 00:10:07.000 ask you about challenges because I know, as an entrepreneur and as a co 151 00:10:07.080 --> 00:10:11.639 founder and CEO of a company that is doing very well right now, there 152 00:10:11.639 --> 00:10:18.759 are still challenges out there. What are they currently? I'd say the biggest 153 00:10:18.840 --> 00:10:22.399 challenge as an innovation company is the ability to continue to invest in innovation, 154 00:10:22.440 --> 00:10:26.080 I think especially when markets are challenging, right So we're in the in a 155 00:10:26.120 --> 00:10:30.720 phase of challenging markets kind of across the board of education. Technology is no 156 00:10:30.840 --> 00:10:39.039 different, and continuing to invest in in innovation is so critical to a company 157 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:43.320 like ours. But it feels scary, right It feels scary at times because 158 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:48.320 you're also thinking about operational efficiency to make sure you can you get as far 159 00:10:48.360 --> 00:10:50.519 as you can. So I'd say that's the biggest challenge right now is how 160 00:10:50.519 --> 00:10:56.159 do we look at our different sources of income, whether it be revenue or 161 00:10:56.279 --> 00:11:00.919 grants, or ways that we can keep investing in innovation, you know, 162 00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:03.600 pushing the needle in terms of trying to be a best in class technology for 163 00:11:03.720 --> 00:11:09.360 education, because there's so much room to push and I don't want to get 164 00:11:09.440 --> 00:11:11.480 stale. I don't want to get static. I want to make sure we're 165 00:11:11.519 --> 00:11:13.720 always pushing. So i'd say that that would be one of the bigger challenges. 166 00:11:15.399 --> 00:11:18.600 And I want everybody that's listening that's a future entrepreneur. There's a good 167 00:11:18.679 --> 00:11:22.120 lesson in there is that don't stay pat on anything because it's easy to get 168 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:26.159 you know, lazy about things and take for granted that everything's okay. You 169 00:11:26.159 --> 00:11:30.120 always want to grow, and I think that's what Julie is talking about. 170 00:11:30.120 --> 00:11:33.159 So Julie, that's a great life lesson for everybody that's running a company out 171 00:11:33.159 --> 00:11:35.200 there, to don't stand pat and keep on growing, get out of your 172 00:11:35.200 --> 00:11:39.120 comfort zone and grow the company more and more and more. With that said, 173 00:11:39.159 --> 00:11:41.039 I wanted to ask you, and I know it's not fair to ask 174 00:11:41.080 --> 00:11:45.559 about maybe one great story, but I would like you to share maybe something 175 00:11:45.600 --> 00:11:48.919 that there's either heartwarming or you said to the team you know, we knocked 176 00:11:48.919 --> 00:11:52.279 it out of the park that day for either that family, that school, 177 00:11:52.600 --> 00:11:54.720 that city of something that was really special. Can you share maybe a story 178 00:11:54.799 --> 00:12:00.440 or two with us, Sure, I've got two that comes to mind. 179 00:12:00.960 --> 00:12:05.600 The first one was a teacher who called me a couple of years ago and 180 00:12:05.679 --> 00:12:09.360 she was in tears, and she told me that she had had a student 181 00:12:09.480 --> 00:12:13.240 who was autistic, non responsive, non verbal, and our products built for 182 00:12:13.320 --> 00:12:16.519 all kids, So it's built for kids who are high performers, but it's 183 00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:20.960 also built for kids who are really struggling, and she hadn't been able to 184 00:12:20.960 --> 00:12:24.399 get this student to respond to her at all. And she was crying because 185 00:12:24.440 --> 00:12:26.840 that day she had opened up the game and put it in front of the 186 00:12:26.919 --> 00:12:31.840 student, and the student was able to not only respond to the game and 187 00:12:31.879 --> 00:12:35.720 answer questions, but they were answering them correctly, so she knew that the 188 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:41.360 learning had actually gotten through. It makes me almost emotional thing for it because 189 00:12:41.399 --> 00:12:46.120 it was such a special moment. The other one that I I'd love to 190 00:12:46.200 --> 00:12:50.440 highlight is it was kind of it was a transformational piece and it was a 191 00:12:50.519 --> 00:12:54.759 challenge. We got an email from a from a parent whose child was playing 192 00:12:54.799 --> 00:13:01.679 the game and the question basically said somebody. It implied that somebody who used 193 00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:05.440 a double negative I ain't no is somebody who's ill educated. And she had 194 00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:09.320 a real problem with that because because frankly, it's not true. And so 195 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:13.720 she went on social media and it became almost a viral tweet, tweet, 196 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:18.080 you know, don't use this program, and it made us really reflect why 197 00:13:18.080 --> 00:13:20.720 did that even get in there? Why had Because we build every piece of 198 00:13:20.720 --> 00:13:24.600 our content, we review every piece of our content, we didn't understand how 199 00:13:24.600 --> 00:13:28.639 that got there, and we learned by digging into it, it's actually a 200 00:13:28.639 --> 00:13:33.960 piece of content that's used in the US curriculum right now. And that made 201 00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:39.679 us really kind of really question, is this what's right just to align just 202 00:13:39.720 --> 00:13:41.840 to very specifically aligned to curriculum, or do we want to be better? 203 00:13:43.720 --> 00:13:46.639 And we decided we want to be better, So we pulled down all of 204 00:13:46.679 --> 00:13:52.879 our content at that point and we started rebuilding the content historical studies, social 205 00:13:52.919 --> 00:13:56.720 studies, and we did it with a lens of what we call JEDI, 206 00:13:56.799 --> 00:13:58.720 you know, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion to make sure that 207 00:14:00.159 --> 00:14:05.279 we're being culturally responsive. And it's been a really interesting exercise. It's been 208 00:14:05.399 --> 00:14:09.799 years now of building content that we believe as bests of class that brings in 209 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:15.519 lots of different perspectives. And that is so critical because if we're trying to 210 00:14:15.559 --> 00:14:20.360 teach critical thinking, you need to teach kids that their perspective matters, right, 211 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:24.799 that's the mirror they can see themselves, but also others have perspectives that 212 00:14:24.840 --> 00:14:28.960 matter too. Those are the windows in other ways of thinking, and that's 213 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:33.519 something our kids are really missing these days, especially as we get technologies that 214 00:14:33.559 --> 00:14:37.960 are reinforcing kind of the same message over and over again. We need to 215 00:14:37.960 --> 00:14:41.279 help them broaden their thinking. And that's what we're committed to, is really 216 00:14:41.279 --> 00:14:43.960 making sure that kids are learning in a way that they're challenged to think of 217 00:14:43.960 --> 00:14:48.240 other perspectives and to recognize their own matters. So that was the other story 218 00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:52.679 that I think, you know, truly transformational and has guided us and our 219 00:14:52.759 --> 00:14:56.480 vision you know for the future. Well, thank you for sharing both of 220 00:14:56.480 --> 00:14:58.960 those. NFIMA say, that was a very bold move, and I think 221 00:14:58.960 --> 00:15:03.200 there is another life less and for all leaders out there and entrepreneurs and people 222 00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:07.039 to run companies, is that integrity was online for the company and you saw 223 00:15:07.080 --> 00:15:11.399 it fit to go down and change up and get better, right, right. 224 00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:13.320 It was an opportunity. You know, we kind of got kicked in 225 00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:16.840 the stomach a little bit, but we should have been and we could address 226 00:15:16.840 --> 00:15:20.000 it and be better, and we did, and I tell you it motivates 227 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:22.759 every single one of our team members to know that we're building, right, 228 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:26.360 I bet it. Thanks for sharing all of that very cool stories. I 229 00:15:26.399 --> 00:15:30.360 did want to ask you about the future, and it's very clear that you're 230 00:15:30.399 --> 00:15:33.559 growing. You continue to not only be sustainable, but the growth is there. 231 00:15:33.960 --> 00:15:35.799 What's the plan going down the road for Shoelace? What other things do 232 00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:39.559 you have in mind that you want to bring to the table. Well, 233 00:15:41.399 --> 00:15:43.840 very simply, we'd like to attract ten million new users in the next couple 234 00:15:43.840 --> 00:15:48.759 of years. We're also building out our assignment library what I was just talking 235 00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:52.840 about in terms of content that shows in many perspectives, and to do that, 236 00:15:52.879 --> 00:15:58.159 we're working with communities to publish their stories. So we're getting communities to 237 00:15:58.200 --> 00:16:03.399 tell their stories and our curriculum team is writing questions around those stories and that's 238 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:07.240 how we're helping broaden the context for learners. So those are some big pieces 239 00:16:07.279 --> 00:16:11.559 that we're focused on right now, but really the reach is very important. 240 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:14.279 To me, I want to make sure that we are growing and continuing to 241 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:15.840 grow and getting in the hands of as many kids as we can support. 242 00:16:17.679 --> 00:16:21.039 So you know, ten million new yearsers. So if anyone's listening and they 243 00:16:21.080 --> 00:16:26.320 have kids in grades three to eight, it's a platform that can help them 244 00:16:26.360 --> 00:16:29.919 and that they'll love so well you're talking when you're talking to iHeart, so 245 00:16:29.960 --> 00:16:32.559 people will be listening, Julie, And I'm very excited, and I think 246 00:16:32.600 --> 00:16:34.159 you're going to get to that goal because it really is amazing what you have 247 00:16:34.759 --> 00:16:37.960 and I just love what you and your team are doing for everybody worldwide. 248 00:16:38.039 --> 00:16:41.519 And as we put a bow in our conversation, I know it's probably hard 249 00:16:41.559 --> 00:16:45.639 to just talk about one thing, but if there's maybe one or two takeaways 250 00:16:45.639 --> 00:16:48.320 that you would like our listeners to go away when it comes to Shoelace, 251 00:16:48.720 --> 00:16:55.679 what would it be That there is a great opportunity for kids to be engaging 252 00:16:55.840 --> 00:17:02.120 on mobile devices in games and learning and strengthening their literacy, strengthening their ability 253 00:17:02.159 --> 00:17:07.920 to comprehend and becoming strong critical thinkers. And it's not a nice to do, 254 00:17:07.079 --> 00:17:11.160 it's a must do. It's something that we need to do for our 255 00:17:11.160 --> 00:17:14.640 future generations. And so yeah, I encourage everyone to check it out. 256 00:17:15.240 --> 00:17:18.960 And I know that most of our listeners have already googled and saw exactly where 257 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:22.000 you are. But for the ones that happen, maybe social media channels you 258 00:17:22.079 --> 00:17:25.440 might be on, and of course the website what is that, Yeah, 259 00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:30.119 Shoelace learning dot com outstanding. Well, listen, this has been a tree, 260 00:17:30.200 --> 00:17:32.680 Julia. I love to talk to people like you that come up with 261 00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:36.799 a great idea but then execute it and it really takes a lot of intestinal 262 00:17:36.839 --> 00:17:40.799 fortitude, hard work, taking a leap of faith and chance out there, 263 00:17:40.839 --> 00:17:44.279 and you've grown into something just extraordinary. So it is our pleasure to talk 264 00:17:44.319 --> 00:17:47.119 to you. Continue success, and thank you so much for joining us on 265 00:17:47.200 --> 00:17:49.839 CEO. As you should know, we really appreciate your time. Thank you 266 00:17:49.880 --> 00:17:51.279 so much.