Who To Watch: Robyn Rosenberger
Tiny Superheroes is a small local business with a big mission. The superhero cape company wants to empower kids of all abilities to embrace differences as their superpowers.
Run by native St. Louisan Robyn Rosenberger, they started by focusing on children who were overcoming serious illness or disability, but their capes are for all kids.
Rosenberger started the organization in 2013 while living in Seattle, and it’s been on an upward trajectory ever since. She and her family moved back to the area in 2014, in 2016 she won an Arch Grant, and in 2017 she moved her business out of her home to an office in Kirkwood.
“What I found is that what kids with special needs really want is to be included, and a lot of typical developing kids don’t have the opportunity to learn about kids with special needs until well after they start school - so we are using the TinySuperheroes squad that we’ve created to push that change and to teach kids to embrace what makes them special,” said Rosenberger.
Arch Grants noticed her work, and awarded her a $50,000 equity free grant with priceless pro-bono support services. In return, they asked her to stay in St. Louis for at least a year.
Some of that money went into launching a membership program that sends kids on a mission from a TinySuperhero. That child who received their cape from the wish list now has a mission for all kids centered around love, kindness or other virtues.
Rosenberger says she hopes the missions will provide an “open door for conversations” between kids and their parents about disabilities, illness and how to live.
I profiled Rosenberger and her company, TinySuperheroes, for HEC Media in 2017. Little did any of us know, the day we went with her to film Rosenberger meeting Super Michael and delivering his cape, that this first meeting would change both of their lives forever.
Super Michael, then barely one year-old was born with an underdeveloped kidney and had benn living on dialysis his whole life. Upon learning that Super Michael would be looking for a living kidney donor, Robyn was inspired to be tested and found she was a match.
On January 17th, 2018, Robyn donated her kidney to one of her Tiny Superheroes she barely knew. Both are doing well and the families say they have forged a strong friendship through the process. Talk about living your mission!