Sign of the Times
Rachel de Azavedo Coleman, 32, Mother of Leah, 10, and Lucy, 6, and Cofounder of Two Little Hands Productions, Salt Lake City, UT
Her Idea: Create videos to teach American Sign Language so hearing kids can "talk" with the deaf.
How She Did It: She charged $25,000 on her credit cards to make the first video.
The re are scenes that Rachel de Azevedo Coleman remembers all too vividly: Her daughter Leah, who is deaf, standing alone at the playground as a toddler because other children didn't know how to communicate with her. Kids on Leah's soccer team saying they didn't want to be her partner during practices because she couldn't hear. Even parents shying away from inviting Leah to their children's birthday parties because they didn't know sign language.
The isolation Leah experienced inspired Rachel in 2002 to partner with her sister, Emilie, to create Signing Time!, a fun easy-learning video that teaches American Sign Language to kids. "When we started, my intention was to create a signing community for Leah," says Rachel, a singer-songwriter. But the video soon gained a much larger reach.
Little did the sisters know that their personal project would become a hit with thousands of families across the country. Two Little Hands Productions has since produced 17 Signing Time! videos, books, flash cards, music CDs and a nationally broadcast series on public television. Sales rose about 32 percent last year, four years after the company's launch, to nearly $3 million and are projected to double in 2007 as the company adds retail partners.
That's even more impressive when you know the business started with a single $25,000 video. In production for a year, they contained costs by making the most of family talent. Emilie developed the script; Rachel wrote the songs. Leah starred, along with Emilie's son, Alex. "They were paid in LEGOs and Barbies," jokes Rachel, who was then working ("very part-time") as a voice-over artist. Without family assistance, she says, the video would have cost closer to $80,000.
Rachel and Emilie gave away 100 copies of Signing Time! to family and friends and created a website. They also put the video for sale on Amazon.com.
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