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Vese | Building for Children

@vese.bloom

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42

following

I build for children.
Products • stories • experiences • ideas
Building @snugglesapp + @bfklabs
Founder @phillynfriends
Steward @prayerfirecrackers

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This month, apparently, I'm #comingtotheFRONT… So let's start with a reintroduction shall we?

Hi, I’m Vese 👋🏾

And the simplest way I’ve found to explain what I do is this: I build for children.

I’ve been building products, stories, experiences and ideas for children and families and helping others do the same.

It started with Philly & Friends @phillynfriends and one children’s book. Somewhere along the way, that one idea became products, stories, partnerships and a much bigger narrative about childhood and the things we create around it.

Today, I’m building @snugglesapp, a storytelling platform where children can hear stories in the voices of their parents, grandparents and the people they love. I'm also growing BFK Labs @bfklabs, my children + family innovation studio, after many years of doing it informally. Give me an idea and I'll give you a tangible product or service in return. It turns out I'm pretty resourceful and what you'll call a doer 🤭

It took me a while to figure it all out but now I get it, there’s a thread underneath all of it.
I care about the whole child. Identity. Belonging. Faith. Curiosity. Confidence.

I care about what we build for children, how we raise them, what they believe about themselves, the stories they hear, the spaces they grow up in and the kind of world we are creating around them.

That belief also led me to start Firecrackers @prayerfirecrackers, a children’s prayer community helping children grow in faith and prayer. 🔥

I've been silent, trying to figure out how it all ties in but I’m going to change that. Who says it needs to tie in?🤷🏾 Take me as I am please, my mind is constantly moving 🤭😂

Along with 90 other people and our captain @kunbiesq I’ve committed to showing up here more over the next 30 days, so expect more of what I’m building, what I’m learning, what I’m questioning and probably a few ideas that aren’t fully baked yet. Let's see where my brain takes me... 😄

I believe we can build better things for children. ❤️

So, hi again. I’m Vese.
Apparently, I’m coming to the front. 😂
#ComeToTheFront by @vese.bloom

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a month ago

I had the absolute privilege of being the guest speaker at @howegreenhouseschool’s Speech Day on Saturday. What a wonderful school, I truly felt at home. 🥰

Their values strongly align with mine, I mean their school song is titled Everyone is Special 🥹. And if you know me, you know that's my core message. ❤️ In this moment, I invited the children (and their grown-ups too!) to shift from the pressure of “what do you want to be when you grow up?” to the beauty of “who are you becoming?”

Because honestly, the greatest gift we can give our children is permission to be their full, curious, colourful selves and to know that who they are is already enough.

Here's a short clip from the speech and if you’d like to hear the full message, you can find it on @phillynfriends' YouTube (linked in bio) or comment SPEECH to get the link in your DM.

#BeYouShineBright #PhillyAndFriends #VeseBloom #SpeechDay #RaisingConfidentKids #InspiringSpeakers #EarlyYearsMatters #ParentingWithPurpose #WhoAreYouBecoming by @vese.bloom

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a year ago

As someone who is very particular about many things, especially how things look and feel, I'm learning something new this season.... Done is better than perfect! 😊

I'm behind on the #Cometothefront challenge but I'm determined to finish no matter how long it takes. So you may get day 11 today and day 23 tomorrow. 🤭 I'm committing to showing up and completing what I started.

So here's my #Day11 - How can we work with you? Well here's how 😊😊

For a long time, different parts of my work have lived in different rooms.

🧡 Some people know me from @phillynfriends
🧡 Some know me as a children’s author. #whodoiseeinthemirror. I've also written for Tonies, National Geographic Learning and a few others
🧡 Some know the strategist, advisor or trustee. I've been a board advisor for 5 years now 😯 and worked in Corporate Strategy for years before my career transition.
🧡 Some know I’m building @snugglesap
🧡 Others have quietly come to me over the years to help them think through an idea, write the book, make the transition, build the business or work out what comes next.

But actually, it all belongs in the same house. I build for children and families.

Sometimes that looks like creating the product myself. Sometimes it means helping another organisation build something better. Sometimes it’s storytelling, strategy, mentoring, speaking, advisory work or sitting around a table asking the questions that help move an idea forward.

And I realised recently that I probably don’t say clearly enough that you can actually work with me 😂

So, here is the whole house.

You can work with me through BFK Labs @bfklabs

You can partner with Philly & Friends.

You can build with Snuggles.

You can bring me in to speak, advise, sit on a board or support your team.

And if you are at that slightly messy stage between “I have this idea…” and “how on earth do I make it real?”, I also mentor and coach founders, creatives and people figuring out their next chapter..

So... how can we work together?

Swipe through the house. And if something makes you think, “Actually, I need Vese for this”, send me a message. ❤️

#ComeToTheFront #ChildrenAndFamilies by @vese.bloom

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16 days ago

This is 7 year old me 🤭. I remember this day so clearly, it was my sister's 10th birthday party and I was in charge of throwing confetti while she cut her cake. 😆 I also remember deliberately losing a game to help my 1 year old sister get ice cream.🥹 I loved my sisters so much, they were my world and kind of my identity too.

I was soft, quiet and very uninterested in stress. 😂
I loved school and did really well at it. I was happy. I knew I was very loved at home. My parents cared.

And when I look at this picture now, I think those things mattered more than I understood at the time.

I had the freedom to just be a child. To learn, play, be curious, feel safe and know I belonged somewhere. I always had a childlike spirit, that never left. I hum while I eat, I walk on my toes, I dance on the streets to the music in my head 🤭, I have a skip to my steps sometimes. I'm free to be me.

There was no grand plan. I certainly wasn’t thinking about entrepreneurship, product strategy or building for children.
I was just living childhood. I had lovely neighbours and we had fun doing nothing and everything. 😆

And maybe that is part of why I care so deeply about it now.
Because when childhood is good, it gives you something.
Confidence, security, curiosity and a strong sense of self. A belief that the world can be a safe place to explore.

Not every child experiences that in the same way, and I think that is one of the reasons I keep coming back to this work.

The books.
The stories.
The products.
The schools.
The spaces.
The technology.

I want children to feel seen, loved, represented, curious, confident and free to actually be children.

Sometimes I think I am building for the child in front of me.
And sometimes, I think I am building for her too. ❤️

P.S. I was quiet, but clearly the face was already saying plenty. 😂

#Cometothefront #Day18 by @vese.bloom

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20 days ago

I’m building again and this time, it looks very different.

With Philly & Friends, I could hold what I was building in my hands. A book, a doll, a puzzle. Something physical.

With @snugglesapp, so much of the work happens behind a screen.
User journeys, story libraries, voice technology, testing, bugs, pricing, fundraising, things breaking for absolutely no reason 😂. Fixing them and testing again.

And somewhere in the middle of all that, I’ve realised something.I haven’t only been building businesses over the years. I’ve been building myself too. 🥹

I trained as an engineer, then moved through strategy, product, storytelling, entrepreneurship and almost a decade of building for children.

For a long time, those things felt like different chapters.
Now they’re starting to feel like they belong in the same story.

I certainly don’t know everything. There are days when something clicks immediately, and days when I’m asking someone to explain GPUs to me again 😭😂.

But that’s the building process. I'm learning, testing, listening, changing my mind, getting things wrong, making them better.

And slowly watching something that once existed as an idea become real.

So I want to share more of this part too... THE MESSY MIDDLE!

Right now, that messy middle is @snugglesapp. And I’m excited to see where we take it. ❤️

#ComeToTheFront #BuildingInPublic #SnugglesApp #Day8 by @vese.bloom

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a month ago

I started secondary school at 9 and looking back now, my goodness, I was SO young. 😂

I had a wonderful childhood. But did I have to grow up so fast.

I remember planning my 10th birthday party and being very conscious that I didn’t want anything that felt too childish.
TEN. 😂

If I could go back now, please give me the biggest bouncy castle you can find. Add every ridiculous party game. Face painting, pass the parcel, the whole lot. Those were really some of the best years and I might just do it for my 40th 🤭

And yet, somewhere around those pre teen years, we become so desperate to grow up. Is it nature or nurture? Reality or circumstances?

I think the world plays a huge role in this and one of the biggest shifts happens between primary and secondary school.
It's like clockwork... A child starts secondary school, and within a term they are now a little more self conscious, a little more serious and suddenly certain things are “for kids”. They don’t want to play that game anymore. They are too old for this. Too cool for that.

My heart breaks every single time I watch it happen because honestly, they are still children and there's so much adulthood that lies ahead.

Growing up should bring more independence, responsibility and maturity but I don’t think it should require children to leave all the fun behind.

So let's encourage them to
Jump.
Dance.
Get on the swings.
Go to the playground.
Make up ridiculous stories.
Run in the rain.
Be silly.

In fact, let's encourage adults to be a little more childlike too!

Childhood is such a small season of life, and adulthood comes at you so fast.

There’s no need to rush towards it. Perhaps we need to think about this in the things we build for children too.

Why does play disappear so dramatically as children get older?
Why do our spaces become more serious? Why do we lose hold of our wonder? 🤔💭

#Cometothefront #day7 by @vese.bloom

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a month ago

When I started doing author visits and speaking engagements at schools, I didn’t realise how much the children would change me. ❤️ I didn't even realise how animated and childlike I could be 😆

So, I'm bringing this one back today. #Day2

These are little snapshots from years of author visits, school talks, readings, workshops, speech days and conversations with children.

They started because of my children’s book Who Do I See in the Mirror? And these visits became one of my favourite parts of the journey.

Because children fill the room with so much positive energy. They are curious and direct. They notice things adults completely miss. They ask the question you weren't prepared for. And they are absolutely hilarious as well as hilariously honest 😄🤭

Being in those rooms taught me so much about the children I was supposedly building for. It really made childhood feel less like a “market” or an age demographic and much more like what it actually is.

Children are really just individual people, developing their own ideas about themselves and the world around them.

And I think that has quietly shaped a lot of how I work today.
I care about the stories children hear. I care about whether they see themselves in the things we create.

I care strongly about identity, curiosity, confidence and belonging.

And increasingly, I've been wondering,
How would we build differently if we really paid attention to children?
Better products? technology? schools and learning experiences? public spaces? stories?

Now, years after I first started walking into schools with my children's book and resources, I’m still asking versions of that question.

It now shows up in Philly & Friends, BFK Labs, Snuggles and so much of the work I want to do next.

So I’m bringing these pictures back because, looking at them now, I can see something I probably couldn’t see at the time.
These author visits were part of me learning how to build for children. ❤️

#ComeToTheFront #Day2 by @vese.bloom

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a month ago

Son of God! Daughter of THE King! Joint Heirs with Christ! Abba's Favourite! The appointed time to favour you is here! Arise and shine. Enlarge your tent. Make room. Rain is coming and the harvest will be plenty.

Hephzibah, His delight is in you. You shall no longer be forsaken and your God rejoices over you.

Called, Chosen, Favoured, deeply Loved. Your time is here. Speak it and see it 🙌🏾🔥

This is the year of the Lord and this new chapter is called EMBOLDENED. BACKED. EQUIPPED.

This year, we speak to our selves and sprirt man. We awaken that which Abba has put in. We decree and declare 🙌🏾🔥

Happy Birthday Abba's Favourite. You are the one He loves. Walk like you believe it. 💓🥹❤️. by @vese.bloom

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7 months ago

Yesterday, I overheard this conversation between my kids and I got so emotional. I encourage the children to read a chapter of the bible a day. My 8 year old daughter just finished 1 Kings and was so excited, she decided to read two chapters in 2 Kings, 1 and 2.

I was going to their room to switch the light off and overheard her telling her 7 year old brother about what she read and asking him what it means to him. Wow! 🥹🤯🤧

I recorded this from the doorway and just stood there emotional. She read the story herself… and then began teaching her brother. Lord, raise them 🙏🏾

God is in the midst of His children and He's doing a quick work in them. May our children be taught of the Lord and great will be their peace. They are marked for signs and wonders, dedicated to His plans and purposes.

We are firecrackers and raising children who love and know the Lord 🥹🙏🏾❤️ by @vese.bloom

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8 months ago

2025 stretched me. The kind of stretching that makes you pause mid step and ask who sent me? 😅

A couple of weeks before the new year, @kunle_wolu and I had a wild idea. 🤯

What if we moved to Lagos for three months?
Not a holiday.
Not a visit.
But life.

The city I was born and lived in for 15 years. The place that shaped me before the world carried me elsewhere.
I had always wanted the kids to experience the Lagos I grew up in.
Not as visitors, but as children belonging to it.

So in under two weeks, we packed our bags, told the school, and stepped into the unknown. If you know me, you know how much I prayed about this and Abba gave the word to go. "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest" Exodus 33:14
And something shifted.

They went to school. Thank you @prioryprepschoollekki they loved it 🥹❤️
They swam, played tennis, rode horses, ran freely at the beach. They spent time with grandparents.
They modelled, thanks @dye_lab ❤️
They flourished.

I got to spend time with my parents, friends and family. It was beautiful and I'm grateful ❤️

When it was time to go back to England, they cried.
One of them screamed,
“I can’t believe I’m leaving this beautiful country.” (Dramatic much 😅)

There was an ease there.
A quiet confidence.

One day my baby girl said,
“Mummy, it’s so much easier to make friends here.”
That really stayed with me.

Because children don’t just grow because of what we teach them.
They grow because of the environments we place them in.

When they feel safe.
When they feel seen.
When the world around them reflects possibility.

And somewhere in the middle of it all, I had my own realisation.
I am not a tree.
I can move.
I can stretch.
I can experience the world God has given us.

You see I had lived in England for 22 years, twenty of those in London. I had become comfortable. Abba needed to shake me and push me into destiny.

This season changed how I see life, how I parent and how I walk with God. It caused me to step into a peace like never before and walk in a new boldness because I know who I am.

Sometimes you need to move to discover yourself and the grace over your life in a whole new dimension. by @vese.bloom

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9 months ago

I received this scripture in my Spirit, read it in my NLT bible and thought okay, nice. I felt led to dig deeper and read a few more translations and BOOM 🤯. There is soo much power in reading Scripture in different translations. It became so much clearer why the Holy Spirit gave it to me.

Each one opens a new window into God’s heart towards me (and you!) in this season 🥹.

Psalm 86:17 becomes even more beautiful when you sit with it slowly…
“Give me a sign of Your goodness.”
“Send me a sign of Your favour.”
“Make a show of how much You love me.”
“Give me a miracle.”
“Show me a token for good.”

The different translations felt like peeling a banana, showing a new dimension of God's love towards me.

Save this prayer for the week.
I pray you see His goodness in ways you cannot miss. 🧡 by @vese.bloom

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a year ago

A daughter of a King! The Lion of the tribe of Judah is my daddy and He ROARS!!! That scene from The Lion King will forever remind me who my daddy is.

You get backing oh! Don't be deceived 🥹🙌🏾❤️. He will send His angels to guard over you. He will lift you out of the miry clay.

Here are 4 things to remember when you feel small, trapped or attacked:

❤️ You are not roaring alone.
Heaven amplifies your whisper.

❤️ You are backed by a Greater Voice.
The Lion of Judah roars over you.

❤️ You are guarded.
He sends His angels concerning you. You’re not unprotected.

❤️ You will be lifted.
He pulls you out of every pit, every trap, every miry clay.

Your roar may feel small,
but His NEVER is.
Remember who your Father is. 🦁🙌🏾

In Mufasa's voice: "Vese, remember who you are..."
Replace my name with yours and say it to yourself! ❤️

#womanoffaith #identityinchrist #mymusings #faithjourney #faithoverfear #findingpurpose by @vese.bloom

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a year ago