Meraki
A Journey of Creativity & Entrepreneurship for Young People
Does your child have a creation inside of them that wants to come out?
Like a small business, advocacy initiative, or creative project — but they’re not sure how to get started? Meet Meraki.
Meraki is a 12-part workbook that guides your child to build their creative dream — all with the magic of play.
Combining the hard and soft skills of creativity and entrepreneurship, your child will learn everything they need to bring their dream to life.
A tiny investment in a gigantic future
$20 Digital Download Workbook
Your digital download includes a 170-page, beautifully designed workbook featuring 12 lessons to guide your child through the venture-creation process, from finding their idea to discovering their audience to branding their creation.
MERAKI [may-rah-kee] adjective
Greek; To do something with creativity, love, and soul — to put something of yourself into what you create
Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money or fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside of you, to make your soul grow.
—Kurt Vonnegut, in a letter to high school students
Meraki was created by Jessica Carson, a celebrated expert in the field of entrepreneur and creative psychology.
From its warm tone to accessible instructions to beautiful illustrations, Meraki is like a friendly creativity and business tutor in your child’s pocket.
Jessica’s work has been featured by
Praise for Jessica’s work
“The essential user’s manual for the entrepreneurial spirit.”
—Justin McLeod, Founder of Hinge
“A user manual for the creative mind — and those who live in their wake.”
—Jason Silva, Futurist & Host of Brain Games
“Should be required for anyone who builds products in the 21st century.”
—Chris Messina, Inventor of the Hashtag
“With Jessica as our river guide, we are reminded that as we shape the outer world, we must remake our inner worlds as well.”
—Andy Dunn, Founder of Bonobos
“Carson’s message should be emphasized in institutions responsible for educating the next generation of entrepreneurs.”
—Howard Warren Buffett
“Converges the genetics, psychology, and neuroscience of entrepreneurs.”
—Harris Eyre MD PhD, Neuroscientist & Diplomat
Frequently Asked Questions
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In an effort to keep the spark of creativity as accessible as possible, the Center for Human Creativity is offering this robust workbook for just $20.
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This workbook guides your child to create their own venture, from idea to execution. Importantly, it teaches your child to do this in a way that’s aligned with their unique interests, beliefs, experiences, and traits, as well as their desired impact and creative vision. Depending on your child, their venture can take the form of a talk, march, craft, short story, club, song, social media account, advocacy initiative, tutorial series, business, non-profit, or more.
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You will receive a link to a digital download. This will allow your child to view it as a PDF on a digital device, or print it out. The journey can be started and finished at any time. Each lesson takes approximately 30 minutes. For each lesson, your child will first read written text, with accompanying images, and then complete an activity.
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Continue scrolling for a full outline of the journey!
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This journey was designed with 8-13 year olds in mind. That said, younger children can enjoy it with the help of a parent, and teenagers can benefit from its teachings.
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Practical Skills: Cultivate essential entrepreneurial skills for a head-start in school and the workplace, including opportunity recognition, marketing, project planning, and more.
Emotional Skills: Develop confidence in their skills, abilities, and uniqueness as a creator, with a focus on resilience, authenticity, resourcefulness, empathy, courage, and self-discovery.
Social Skills: Appreciate the impact that creations have on people, society, and the planet, along with the importance of diversity and individual differences in the creative process.
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Yes! The journey is designed to promote creativity and entrepreneurship in young people of all backgrounds and abilities. Stories of historical and modern day creators are told that reflect a diverse range of genders, ethnicities, sexual orientations, and more. An emphasis is also placed on the creative power of those with physical, cognitive, and emotional differences.
The Meraki Journey
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Introduction
All great creators have one thing in common: It's called meraki. Meraki is a Greek word that means to do something with soul. It’s the spark inside of us that we put into our creations. This journey will help us discover our unique creative gifts so we can create our own venture. It doesn’t matter how young we are: We can still create with soul.
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1. Quirk — Embrace Your Quirks
Our quirks are special and unusual qualities that make us stand out, like our interests, experiences, beliefs, and traits. And here’s the great secret of creativity: Our quirks are our greatest tools as creators. While many people try to hide their quirks, the best creators learn to use them to fuel their creativity.
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2. Vision — State Your Vision
Our vision is the dream we have for our work. It acts as a compass on our journey of creation. While many people may want to create similar things as us, our vision makes our work totally unique. It ensures that we continue to aim true, no matter where our creativity takes us.
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3. Venture — Pick Your Venture
Our venture is the product or service that we’ll share with the world. From art projects to advocacy initiatives to businesses, there are as many types of ventures as there are creators. The venture we choose will be the focus of the rest of our journey.
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4. Impact — Discover Your Impact
Our impact is the influence we have on people, society, or the planet. But not all impacts are positive: Many creators leave not-so-nice impacts on people and the planet. But with a bit of mindfulness, we can be sure we add goodness to the world.
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5. Muse — Greet Your Muses
Our muses are all of the things that inspire us creatively. From famous figures we've studied to life-changing books we've read to landscapes that takes our breath away, there are as many types of muses as there are creators. As long as it inspires us, it's a muse!
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6. Intel — Gather Your Intel
Our intel is all of the information we gather about our competition — creators who have similar ventures as us. By looking into their wins and flops, we can benefit from their discoveries. We’ll learn that competition isn’t the enemy, but information waiting to be discovered!
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7. Crew — Meet Your Crew
Our crew includes all of the people who will use, buy from, or enjoy our venture, also known as our audience. Many creators think they know who their crew is, but it’s not always so obvious! By learning who our real crew is, we can be sure to build a venture that’s just right for them.
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8. Voice — Find Your Voice
Our voice refers to what we say about our venture, as well as how we say it. From our name to our tagline to our tone of communicating, our voice tells others who we are, what we stand for, and why they should care. It makes the personality of our venture really shine.
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9. Style — Define Your Style
Our style includes all of the visual parts of our venture. From the logo we make to the colors we use to the images we choose, our style paints a picture in our crew's mind about who we are and what we're all about. It’s about turning the essence of who we are into a look.
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10. Buzz — Make a Buzz
Our buzz is the excitement and interest we generate in our venture — also known as marketing. From flyers to emails to events, there are tons of way we can make a buzz around our venture. We just have to learn what buzz is right for us.
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11. Tool — Choose Your Tools
Our tools are all of the things we need to create our venture — also known as resources. From materials to technology to space to create, tools help us get the job done. Tools will look will look different for everyone, so it’s important to learn what we need in advance.
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12. Map — Draw Your Map
Our map is a set of instructions that will guide our venture — also known as a project plan. From tasks to timelines, a map helps us stay on track. Without a map, we risk losing our way in the exciting and sometimes overwhelming journey of creation.
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Conclusion
This might be the end, but it’s really just the beginning. It’s time to start creating our venture. Over the past twelves lessons, we’ve learned all the skills and developed all of the pieces of our venture. But it’s up to each of us to bring it across the finish line and share it with the world.
