Business

Family fun blossoms into family business

MINNESOTA SPOKESMAN-RECORDER — Family gatherings have proved fruitful for the Lewises. With the launch of their Pick Your Brain board game, the Minnesota-based family has turned its love for trivia into a budding enterprise.

Published

5 years ago

January 12, 2019

Oakland Post

By Paige Elliott

Family gatherings have proved fruitful for the Lewises. With the launch of their Pick Your Brain board game, the Minnesota-based family has turned its love for trivia into a budding enterprise.

The multi-category, knowledge recall game, created by family matriarch Celeste Lewis, was launched in the fall of 2018 and is now stocked in various stores in the Twin Cities. Below, Mark Lewis (ML), the game’s CEO, spoke with the MSR about its origins and inspiration.

MSR: What is the genesis of the Pick Your Brain board game? How did it come to be?

ML: My mother (Celeste Lewis) who is 83 going on 84 — it’s her concept. We’d get together at her house and she’d want to play a game, but she didn’t have Monopoly or any kind of board game to play, so she came up with this concept.

It started out as all of us sort of writing down how many TV shows we know. That’s how it all developed… We started playing the game at home. We’d come up with a topic and we’d see who could guess the most items on the topic.

MSR: So, how did it go from a family game to something you put on the marketplace?

ML: Well, we saw how much fun we would have with it, you know, coming up with the topics and some of the ribbing and the teasing and back and forth between family members — all in good humor and fun. And we were like, wow, there’s really nothing out there like that! Let’s take a run at this thing and see if there’s interest in the marketplace.

So, we did some research and figured out how we could market this, and have it distributed. And, I have a long history and background in demand creation [introducing new products to the market].

A number of us family members have a background in certain areas — for example, Erick, my brother, and his daughter Sarai. She did all the artwork and designed the packaging that’s on the box. She’s 18 years old and in college and has been doing [graphic design] for a long time.

And Erick is an entrepreneur and is always coming up with ideas. He brought together a lot of the elements that needed to be done, working with the different vendors, manufacturers and so on to produce the items of the game. He and I together then went out and started pitching it to different distribution channels.

MSR: What are some of those distribution channels?

ML: Right now, our largest distribution channel is the Games by James organization [all eight stores, including Air Traffic Toys and Games] that’s in a number of the malls here in the Twin Cities, and one mall in Wisconsin and one in St. Cloud…

One of the things that we wanted to do, because of all the traffic in the malls, is we’d go out and do demos in Games by James stores, introduce our game, and have people play it. And every time that we went to a location [to do a demo] we’d sell out in a two- to three-hour window.

MSR: So how is the game played?

ML: The box contains various topic cards with over 208 different topics. You try to list as many items of a chosen topic… The first person [who gets] up to 100 points wins. It’s about 45 minutes to play a complete game. It doesn’t tie up the whole day, you know, and you get a lot of laughter and teasing and all that; it is contagious that way.

The topics can be something as simple as colors — because the game is for [ages] eight and up and for the whole family — to cartoon characters, periodic table elements and different state parks, to name a few. We also have one that asks you to name as many Prince songs as you can. It’s a game that we take a lot of pride in, and we list on the cover that it was created in Minnesota.

$Pick Your Brain is billed as a game for the entire family. \\ Submitted photo$

[/media-credit] Pick Your Brain is billed as a game for the entire family.

MSR: What else sets this game apart from others on the market?

ML: There aren’t games like this that we’ve been able to find — and we researched and sat down and talked with the marketing director at Games by James. There’s no game currently that is as inclusive for the whole family and age groups and range of topics. If you’re looking for a family party trivia-type game, there’s no comparison.

MSR: Are there plans for a mobile app?

ML: We have an app [in the works]; it’s about 80 percent complete right now.

MSR: So, what’s next for the game? What are your plans for the future?

ML: We have received an official email from Games by James to carry the game permanently. They told us it was a huge success.

The other boutique locations where we’ve had the game [Heroic Goods and Games in South Mpls., Gathered Goods in Excelsior, and four Dreamers Vault stores] sold out during the holiday season, and that was without us doing demos…

We have ideas; there’s always room to grow, so we can do the next iteration with different topics. We’d like to see it at schools, nursing homes and assisted living places to try to bring some joy there, and hospitals, children’s hospitals. We’re just looking to introduce people to the game and try to, you know, bring a smile to their faces. That’s the purpose and passion behind it.

You can purchase Pick Your Brain games by going to pickyourbraingame.com or at various Games by James stores.

This article originally appeared in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.

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Faces Around the Bay: Sidney Carey

Sidney Carey was born in Dallas, Texas. He moved with his family to West Oakland as a baby. His sister is deceased; one brother lives in Oakland. Carey was the Choir Director at Trinity Missionary Baptist Church for 18 years.

Published

19 mins ago

May 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Courtesy of Sidney Lane.

By Barbara Fluhrer

Sidney Carey was born in Dallas, Texas. He moved with his family to West Oakland as a baby. His sister is deceased; one brother lives in Oakland.

Carey was the Choir Director at Trinity Missionary Baptist Church for 18 years.

He graduated from McClymonds High with a scholarship in cosmetology and was the first African American to complete a nine-month course at the first Black Beauty School in Oakland: Charm Beauty College.

He earned his License, and then attended U.C., earning a secondary teaching credential. With his Instructors License, he went on to teach at Laney College, San Mateo College, Skyline and Universal Beauty College in Pinole, among others.

Carey was the first African American hair stylist at Joseph and I. Magnin department store in Oakland and in San Francisco, where he managed the hair stylist department, Shear Heaven.

In 2009, he quit teaching and was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure. He was 60 and “too old for a heart transplant”. His doctors at California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) went to court and fought successfully for his right to receive a transplant. One day, he received a call from CPMC, “Be here in one hour.” He underwent a transplant with a heart from a 25-year- old man in Vienna, Austria

Two years later, Carey resumed teaching at Laney College, finally retiring in 2012.

Now, he’s slowed down and comfortable in a Senior Residence in Berkeley, but still manages to fit his 6/4” frame in his 2002 Toyota and drive to family gatherings in Oakland and San Leandro and an occasional Four Seasons Arts concert.

He does his own shopping and cooking and uses Para Transit to keep constant doctor appointments while keeping up with anti-rejection meds. He often travels with doctors as a model of a successful heart-transplant plant recipient: 14 years.

Carey says, “I’m blessed” and, to the youth, “Don’t give up on your dreams!”

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Business

Maximizing Your Bank Branch Experience

In a world of online tools that let you make banking transactions with the touch of a button, the idea of visiting a branch might seem unnecessary. However, if you haven’t visited your local branch recently, you might be surprised by what it has to offer. Your branch is much more than a place to deposit and withdraw money – it can offer the opportunity to build valuable relationships with people who can help you achieve financial independence.

Published

21 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Oakland Post

Diedra Porché, National Head of Community Banking, JPMorgan Case & Co.

Sponsored by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

In a world of online tools that let you make banking transactions with the touch of a button, the idea of visiting a branch might seem unnecessary.

However, if you haven’t visited your local branch recently, you might be surprised by what it has to offer. Your branch is much more than a place to deposit and withdraw money – it can offer the opportunity to build valuable relationships with people who can help you achieve financial independence.

Diedra Porché, Head of Community and Business Development at Chase, talks about how the bank model has evolved to maximize the branch experience for customers; how connecting with your local branch team can help you think differently about money and investing for your future.

How can a customer feel connected to a bank branch?

I love that question because we ask ourselves the same thing every day. Being part of the community means meeting with local leaders to find out what they need from us and then designing our branches around that. For example, at some of our community branches we have what we call a living room where we can host financial workshops, small business pop-up shops or nonprofit organization meetings. We also hire locally. You feel much more connected talking about financial aspirations with people from your community who went to the same high school, place of worship or maybe frequented the same recreation center down the street when they grew up.

How can I build a relationship with my bank?

Customers should feel comfortable sharing their goals, needs and wants with their banker. Also, it helps to remember the Community Manager is there to help solve your finance challenges and build a roadmap for success. You might have a short-term or long-term goal to open a business, build your credit, become debt-free, buy a home, or save for retirement, and our community team can help. At Chase, we strive to make dreams possible for everyone, everywhere, every day. Your financial future starts with building those relationships.

How can customers change negative perceptions they have about managing their money?

Far too often, customers are intimidated when they visit a bank. Our goal is to demystify banking and money myths empowering people to make the right decisions. For example, a big myth is assuming you need a lot of money to have a bank account. You don’t! Another myth is you need to carry a balance on your credit card to build credit — actively using your credit card can demonstrate that you can use credit responsibly but carrying a balance won’t necessarily improve your credit score. Finally, understanding mobile and online banking safety is key. There are so many safeguards and protections in place to guard your personal information and funds.

What’s an easy step one can take to shift their financial behavior right now?

Cultivating self-awareness is a good first step. Start by taking inventory of your spending. Be honest with yourself about what you need and what you want. Too often, people confuse the two, which leads to bad decisions. Rent is something you need to pay. An extra pair of shoes is something you may want but before you buy them ask yourself if that’s the best use of your hard-earned money. Too often, our beliefs and our fears shape our financial realities. If any of those beliefs are limiting your financial behavior, it’s important to question and examine them, and then decide you’re open to learning something different.

What’s one perception about banking that you’d like to change?

I think folks are surprised there are so many resources available and accessible both at our branches and online, it’s always a good idea to visit a nearby branch and speak to a Community Manager or banker. Outside of what we offer in-branch, our teams also work with local neighborhood partners who provide a variety of services to support the community, businesses and residents. I received a unique piece of feedback from an employee who started with the bank and had lived in the same community his whole life. When he visited his local community branch, he said, “Diedra, when I walked in, I felt dignified.” Every time I recount that story, it warms my heart because that’s what we want — we want our centers to belong to the community.