Category: Empowering-Wome- Leaders-Follow-May2024

Amidst my studies at the esteemed Sport Institute of Finland, a captivating journey unfolded—a journey that would sow the seeds of Vilike’s inception. Engaged in conducting the APM Inventory—a method devised to assess motor and perceptual skills in children aged 3-6—I found myself deeply intrigued by the intricacies of early childhood development.

As a devoted mother and a semi-professional football player, the evolution of motor and perceptual skills in young children held a profound fascination for me. However, amidst the meticulous data collection using pen and paper, a pivotal moment of frustration ensued—the loss of essential assessment papers. It was a moment that sparked a revelation, igniting the spark of innovation.

Simultaneously pursuing studies in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) at Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, I found myself at the nexus of opportunity and ingenuity. Inspired by the potential of technology to revolutionize traditional paradigms in early childhood education, I ventured into discussions at our university’s startup incubator.

It was within this dynamic environment that the seeds of Vilike were sown—a vision to harness technology for the advancement of childhood development. Thus, from the convergence of passion and innovation emerged Vilike—a testament to the power of perseverance and the boundless possibilities of merging technology with education.

As we embark on this transformative journey, Vilike stands poised to redefine the future of childhood development, one technological innovation at a time.

Navigating the Challenges: Vilike’s Journey of Resilience

In the early days of Vilike, the road to innovation was fraught with challenges, yet each obstacle became a stepping stone towards progress. Securing adequate funding was a formidable hurdle, but with the support of the Finnish Invention Foundation and the fortuitous hiring of a development company, we forged ahead. As fate would have it, my final thesis and work placement led me to collaborate with the same company, resulting in the development of Vilike’s inaugural digital version of the APM Inventory in 2014.

Transitioning into the role of a solo entrepreneur after graduation presented its own set of challenges. Despite my earnest efforts to introduce Vilike’s digital solution to daycares, the concept was met with limited understanding. However, a serendipitous encounter with Riikka Luoto from the UKK Institute in 2015 breathed new life into our vision. Collaborating on Motor Skill Master events, we successfully collected data from over 200 children using Vilike’s digital solution.

Yet, amidst our triumphs, adversity struck once more when an integer mistake in the backend rendered our collected data unusable for scientific research. It was a devastating setback that led to a period of burnout. However, with resilience and determination, we regrouped and embarked on a journey of redemption. Joining the Boost Startup Journey accelerator, we found renewed inspiration in collaborating with Haaga-Helia students and digital artist Jenni Nadin.

The culmination of our efforts materialized in Vili’s Playbook: Active Adventure—a testament to our perseverance and commitment to innovation. In 2018, at the Junction Hackathon, we forged a pivotal partnership with computer vision specialist Sarthak Tripathi, enabling Vilike to integrate AI technology into our assessments. Recognized as the most promising startup at the HYPE sports tech accelerator in 2020, Vilike has emerged from a decade of development with a solid founding team and a bright future ahead.

As we prepare for our re-launch, we remain guided by our unwavering dedication to our mission and bolstered by the invaluable support of our peers. The journey ahead may be fraught with challenges, but with a holistic approach and a resilient spirit, Vilike is poised to redefine the landscape of childhood development for generations to come.

Fostering Curiosity, Igniting Growth: Vilike’s Mission and Vision

At the core of Vilike’s ethos lies a commitment to harnessing the transformative power of technology to enhance childhood development. Our mission is rooted in the belief that technology should serve as a catalyst for growth, igniting curiosity and fostering holistic well-being.

In a world inundated with digital distractions, Vilike envisions a future where technology becomes a facilitator of movement and learning, rather than a passive observer. Rejecting the notion of excessive screen time and linear user experiences, we are dedicated to leveraging the power of AI to create immersive solutions that inspire children to explore, discover, and move.

Central to our vision is the recognition that the journey of childhood development is not confined to a single moment, but rather a lifelong process. With this in mind, Vilike assumes full responsibility for the entire product lifecycle, ensuring that our digital offerings not only entertain but also nurture the growth of young minds.

As we embark on this journey of innovation, Vilike remains steadfast in our commitment to empowering children to thrive in the digital world, fostering happiness, health, and holistic development along the way.

Empowering Play, Inspiring Growth: Vilike’s Services

Vilike is proud to offer a range of innovative services designed to enhance childhood development and empower educators. Our flagship product, Vili’s Playbook: Active Adventure, is a groundbreaking digital experience that seamlessly blends physical movement with motor skills assessment and analysis. Through interactive gameplay, children are inspired to explore and engage in active learning, while our cutting-edge technology provides valuable insights into their developmental progress.

In addition to our pioneering product offerings, Vilike is committed to fostering collaboration and innovation within the education community. We will soon launch a digital community platform where educators can connect, share ideas, and develop similar solutions tailored to their unique professional needs. By providing a platform for collaboration and knowledge exchange, Vilike aims to empower educators to create impactful learning experiences for children and youth across diverse settings.

With a focus on harnessing technology to inspire growth and facilitate lifelong learning, Vilike is poised to revolutionize the landscape of childhood education. Join us on our journey as we empower the next generation to thrive in a digital world filled with endless possibilities.

Redefining Childhood Development: Vilike’s Unique Approach

Vilike sets itself apart by prioritizing children’s natural growth over entertainment. Our interactive games engage, educate, and promote holistic development. Unlike competitors, we tailor experiences to diverse learning styles, ensuring every child thrives. Vilike also champions responsible technology use, inspiring movement alongside digital exploration. Join us in reshaping childhood education for a brighter future.

Connecting with Vilike’s Clientele: Empowering Partnerships

Vilike’s clientele spans from renowned institutions like the UKK Institute to forward-thinking daycares. As we prepare to launch Vili’s Playbook via vilike.fi, we’re eager to forge co-creation partnerships with schools and academia. Our focus is not just on transactions but on collaborative relationships, where together, we tailor solutions to meet unique educational needs.

Through early access to Vili’s Playbook, stakeholders can experience firsthand the transformative potential of Vilike’s offerings. Our goal is to empower educators and caregivers, fostering holistic growth and innovation in childhood education. Join us as we shape the future of learning, one partnership at a time.

Vilike’s Collaborative Work Culture: Empowering Innovation

At Vilike, collaboration is at the heart of everything we do. With a commitment to holacracy, every team member’s input is valued equally, fostering an environment where innovative ideas thrive. Transparency and open communication are key, ensuring everyone is informed and empowered to contribute meaningfully.

We celebrate diversity of thought, encouraging all team members to share their insights freely. This inclusive culture extends to our partnerships, where we collaborate with like-minded individuals and organizations to drive positive change in childhood education.

Our work culture is defined by a spirit of openness, respect, and shared purpose. Together, we’re reshaping the future of childhood development through technology and education, one collaborative effort at a time. Join us as we empower children to learn, grow, and thrive.

Client Testimonial: Vili’s Playbook in Action

Saara Viteli of Boutique Fun Learning Kindergarten Metsäpirtti, Finland, praises Vili’s Playbook for its simplicity and effectiveness in evaluating physical activity. Children thoroughly enjoy the engaging storyline while their physical skills are seamlessly documented and evaluated. Saara commends the product’s ease of use, highlighting the quick preparation for educators and the added charm of Panda plush toys enhancing outdoor activities. Inspired by their experience, Saara expresses interest in further digital documentation and database creation for outdoor-focused kindergarten groups. She enthusiastically recommends Vili’s Playbook to other early educators and primary education setups, affirming its value in promoting active learning experiences.

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Visit Website – https://vilike.fi/

Although it started with students at first, when social media arrived on the professional scene it took off quickly.  Clients became curious then distracted before getting overwhelmed with the growing number of platform options from Facebook to Twitter/X, Insta, Snap, Pinterest, TikTok and then there were blogs too.  I was getting questions about what to do, where to be and how to do it without wasting a lot of time and energy. Even if we have not mastered the latest online tools and communities many of us have made peace with social media by picking one or two that work for us and focusing our attention.  For me and my business LinkedIn matters most.

The Metaverse started to get a lot of attention during the pandemic as the whole world migrated online but it seems to be cooling off a bit now that Artificial Intelligence or AI has moved to the forefront.  Media stories abound about ChatGPT being able to replace doctors, lawyers, MBAs, you name it.  Robots took away factory jobs years ago and now this.  Many people have asked me lately about whether I am worried that AI is going to replace marketers too.

Newspapers, radio, and television all had to adjust as technology has evolved with computers, cell phones, streaming, etc.  The marketing fundamentals will continue to be relevant – understanding what motivates your target audience to buy your products or services never goes out of style.  We will continue to help clients find the right words and pictures to tell their stories that educate, inform and/or entertain using AI but I’d argue the real killer application today is Authentic Interactions not Artificial Intelligence!  While your competition generates robotic copy that sounds generic you can stand out and break through the sea of sameness with personalized thoughtful content serving their specific needs. So don’t get distracted by the latest shiny object, to win today authenticity is what people remember.  Building connections and relationships with your audience is more important now than ever!     

I have found a nice framework for evaluating whether or not ChatGPT (or any AI) is appropriate for your task is to consider:

• Is the task high or low stakes?
• Does the task require high accuracy or high fluency? If your task is low stakes, high fluency (i.e. writing a birthday poem), conversational AI is likely a good fit for the task. If your task requires high stakes and high accuracy (i.e. making a business investment), conversational AI is most likely a bad fit for the task.

There are thousands of tasks that fall somewhere in between these two extremes so you need situational awareness and subject matter expertise to get the most out of this (or any) technology.

In my experience, the human touch always wins.  We’ve seen the push and pull between campaign automation and human-driven approaches, and human wins every time. When influencer marketing first began, every aspect of a campaign was done manually. This was by necessity since we were essentially building the playbook and executing this new marketing tactic simultaneously. Those early days required a strong foundation of brand marketing experience, smart instincts and a whole lot of grit.  Successful influencer marketing requires building relationships with influencers, crafting personalized campaigns and creating authentic content that resonates with the influencers’ audiences. These tasks require a tailored approach for every client, as well as the ability to understand the nuances of influencer marketing, specifically the unique nature of working with content creators.

Any smart marketer will tell you that technology can help streamline aspects of a campaign, but you won’t find an experienced strategist who will recommend relying solely on automation for influencer marketing.  The best influencer marketing approach is a hybrid one: human-driven campaigns enhanced by technology.  With ChatGPT generating text with just the click of a few buttons, I can see why many are questioning whether this new language model will replace content creators. If AI is so good at natural language processing and personalization, it could seem like a worrisome proposition but don’t sound the alarms yet.  Effective influencer marketing relies on the ability to create genuine and engaging content that resonates with the creator’s audience, and this requires creativity, empathy and a personal touch that is difficult for AI to replicate.  We need to keep tabs on AI developments, but I am confident that authenticity will continue to reign supreme. Influencer marketing requires experienced professionals with real—not artificial—intelligence to use tools in a smart way to engage creators who ultimately connect with and influence their followers on a personal level. Tools can enhance but cannot replace that human touch.  Technology does not have to be isolating it can be used to build our real world communities and relationships too!  

Here is my bio:   Paige Arnof-Fenn is the founder & CEO of global branding and digital marketing firm Mavens & Moguls based in Cambridge, MA.  Her clients include Microsoft, Virgin, The New York Times Company, Colgate, venture-backed startups as well as non profit organizations.  She graduated from Stanford University and Harvard Business School.  Paige serves on several Boards, is a popular speaker and columnist who has written for Entrepreneur and Forbes. 

In today’s fast-changing business landscape, companies are looking for effective strategies to accelerate sales and drive growth. Hiring a full-time Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) has traditionally been the go-to approach when a company reaches a certain size. The primary reason CEOs hire an experienced Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) is to add strategic leadership skilled at building and scaling the company’s sales efforts and to drive revenue growth. An experienced CMO possesses the expertise to develop a comprehensive marketing strategy that aligns with the company’s vision, goals, and objectives, effectively communicates the brand’s value proposition, and identifies and capitalizes on key market opportunities to increase revenue.

Prosh Marketing is a collective of Marketing leaders with decades of experience, passionate about helping entrepreneurs access senior-level marketing talent, affordably. Prosh Marketing is led by Roshni Wijayasinha and supported by a network of partners and expert consultants.

Our Services

Prosh Marketing helps CEOs, Startup Founders, and Marketers to maximize their potential with proven marketing leadership that has helped companies attain nine-figure exits and launch over 50 products and brands in worldwide markets. Leveraging over 15 years of experience and a wide network of specialists, Prosh Marketing has designed cost-effective programs that are built to deliver an ROI and use a sustainable approach by building up internal marketing resources and capabilitieswith flexible team integration, hands-on training, and knowledge transfer.

Fractional CMOs

• Help with collaborative goal and strategy definition with leadership.
• Design and build the marketing engine, including the team, vendors, programs, processes, tools and partnerships.
• Manage Marketing implementation and operations with hands-on mentoring of marketing staffand / or vendors to deliver KPIs.

PT Marketing Directors

• Help with implementing the marketing plan ensuring timely execution of marketing activities and budget management.

The Inspiration Journey

“I saw an opportunity for growing businesses to tap into senior marketing leadership more affordably with a part-time model. This differed from consultants because our marketing leaders would not just create strategy but also help implement and build infrastructure inside organizations. This differed also from agencies who did everything for their clients but left them with no knowledge or systems in place internally. This Fractional CMO model was perfect for smaller businesses that couldn’t afford or didn’t need a full-time head of marketing and were trying to maximize their growth by leveraging junior employees. Here, they could afford seasoned marketing leaders on demand,” added Roshni Wijayasinha, CEO, Prosh Marketing.

Beating the odds as a women

“As a woman marketing in the tech field, there were not many of us in the early days. In addition, most of the founders who were funded and could afford our services were men. I find that focusing on my unique strengths has allowed me to feel more at home in a room that might be completely different from mine, and also focused on really understanding my target audience, their needs, and pain points so I could relate, regardless of gender,” says Roshni.

The work-life balance

“I try to carve out weekends for self-care, and time with family and friends. I will prepare for my week on a Sunday night but the rest of the time, I do not open my email. Having a clear boundary on my weekends is also necessary because I work late on weekdays and our clients sometimes reach out during the week at various times because they are across a variety of time zones,” elaborated Roshni.

Women, Leadership and Business

“Many of the women leaders I’ve met are strong communicators and can lean into emotional intelligence to truly connect with people. This has not only translated into success from a marketing perspective connecting with target audiences and customers but also helped them inspire and engage their teams. This has created strong work cultures where they can attract and retain great talent, as well as support their staff and partners to maximize their success. I think more women will rise to leadership positions shortly.They will have more role models and more funding available to them as well. I also foresee social norms and educational opportunities will drive more women into STEM careers and entrepreneurship. I believe that this will inspire more innovation for women, as well as businesses that service women’s needs.”

The Work Culture

“At Prosh Marketing, we have a diverse roster of Fractional CMOs from across the world. We value and hire for this diversity as it allows us to appeal to a broader client base and also have a broader range of skills and experiences to draw upon. This also means we celebrate a variety of holidays across different cultures, use inclusive language when we speak to our collective as well as our clients, and collect feedback from our stakeholders to ensure we’re including their opinions. I’m also an angel investor with The Firehood, a group that invests in women founded businesses to help them access capital and resources to build and grow their companies.”