HeyKiddo™ Talk

One Conversation At A Time For A Better Tomorrow

We've innovated the HeyKiddo™ family of solutions from our own experiences as psychologists, parents, and professionals.

After years of research - funded in part by a National Science Foundation grant - we learned that parents need ways to find the right words to evoke powerful conversations with their kiddos. Big feelings can be addressed with the right questions asked by people kids trust the most. HeyKiddo™ provides quick, easy-to-implement ideas that work well in the car, classroom or around the dinner table. That's how HeyKiddo™ was born and why we know it works-- we've seen it first-hand!

The idea behind our products is simple: We want to empower parents, caretakers and educators with tools to help kids discover their potential and feel better; one week at a time. Word-by-word, activity-by-activity, we've seen the building blocks of what happens when families and classrooms invest in resilience, empathy, and the power of storytelling.

HeyKiddo™ gives parents and caregivers the tools they need to help develop fundamental social-emotional skills. In less than 15 minutes each day, our solutions create a positive, lifelong impact.

We Believe In The Power Of A Shared Mission

With a combined 100+ years of experience, our team has world-recognized psychologists, educators, child specialists, and designers who all believe that families and caregivers need the right tools to solve our globe's largest problem: Kids need better support.

Each HeyKiddo™ team member is a leader in their sector. Together, we're changing not only the face of social-emotional health, but we're committed to creating a future filled with resilient, compassionate children. Featured on NPR, The New York Times, Fox News, and Entrepreneur Magazine, we are sought-after leaders and speakers in our field. Get to know our team below...

Dr. Nicole Lipkin, Psy.D., MBA, Founder & CEO

Preferred Pronouns: She/Her

"Every night I am in a race with my husband to finish brushing my teeth first. I'm the only one who knows about the competition, and every night I win!"

Dr. Lipkin is an internationally recognized clinical & organizational psychologist, executive coach, speaker and founder of HeyKiddo™. She brings 23 years of experience and thought leadership in human and leadership development and assessment. She is an NSF SBIR funded entrepreneur and has a proven track record of starting and scaling companies with a successful exit. She is a 2x published author, a columnist at Forbes.com and has been featured on numerous international and national media outlets. Lipkin has built a network of companies with one, intertwined mission: To enhance from the inside-out. Nicole's personal mission is to help all humans (big and small) connect deeply to their potential and build impactful leadership, social and emotional skills to fortify them throughout their lives.

Nicole is working on this social emotional skill:
For Nicole, it's always more than one. Currently, mindfulness and patience are at the top of her list, a challenge of a lifetime!

Dr. Kayla LaBarge, PsyD, Head of Research and Content

Preferred Pronouns: She/Her

"Kayla often makes up and sings impromptu songs about things that inspire her in the moment. And just to be clear, these songs are not great songs. They are more like a list of sometimes rhyming words strung together. Here's one, "Sunflowerrrr, you got me thinking of sunflowerrsss! It's a beautiful day. Shake all the stress away."

Dr. LaBarge is a licensed clinical psychologist trained in evidence-based neuropsychological assessments and behavioral treatments for children and adults. She has a strong research and writing background having published several peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters on topics including resilience, service utilization, public health disparities, rural health, and positive psychological interventions. She currently acts as Director of Content and Research at HeyKiddo, managing the teams responsible for content and assessment creation, technological product development, and efficacy research. Over the course of her career, she has worked on large federal grants, including NIH and NSF, focused on positive community health outcomes. Over the past four years, Kayla has worked at the intersection of technology and psychology to create products that help parents, educators, and children thrive and flourish.

Kayla is working on this social emotional skill:
Patience. She likes to move fast and get things done. Practicing mindfulness has helped Kayla to slow down and appreciate the present moment in new ways.

Matthew Leleux, Head of Technology & Senior Software Engineer

Preferred Pronouns: He/Him/His

"One of my passions is in the kitchen cooking up Cajun & Creole dishes for my family and friends!"

Matthew is a Senior Fullstack Software Engineer who is always looking to learn new ways to build meaningful and impactful cloud technologies. He holds a Bachelor's in Computer Information Systems (CIS) with a concentration in Application Development from Northwestern State University. His experiences at Real Vision Software Inc. & Blackbaud Inc. have allowed him to grow in several areas of the IT industry. He has experience building web applications, mobile applications, and is also versed in many DevOps concepts & solutions. He likes to consider himself the "Jack of all trades" when it comes to programming because he is determined to learn any facet of the development process, and he is never afraid to accept and overcome any challenge.

Matt is working on this social emotional skill:
Being more mindful and present.

Dr. Nicole Lipkin, Psy.D., MBA, Founder & CEO

Preferred Pronouns: She/Her

"Every night I am in a race with my husband to finish brushing my teeth first. I'm the only one who knows about the competition, and every night I win!"

Nicole is working on this social emotional skill:
For Nicole, it's always more than one. Currently, mindfulness and patience are at the top of her list, a challenge of a lifetime!

Dr. Kayla LaBarge, PsyD, Head of Research and Content

Preferred Pronouns: She/Her

"Kayla often makes up and sings impromptu songs about things that inspire her in the moment. And just to be clear, these songs are not great songs. They are more like a list of sometimes rhyming words strung together. Here's one, "Sunflowerrrr, you got me thinking of sunflowerrsss! It's a beautiful day. Shake all the stress away."

Matthew Leleux, Head of Technology & Senior Software Engineer

Preferred Pronouns: He/Him/His

"One of my passions is in the kitchen cooking up Cajun & Creole dishes for my family and friends!"

Matt is working on this social emotional skill:
Being more mindful and present.

Dr. Kate Browne, Learning Experience Designer

Preferred Pronouns: She/Her

"Kate wrote the first academic book on The Golden Girls (yes, the TV show!)"

Dr. Browne is a learning experience designer and digital content editor who believes in holistic, high-impact digital education that offers transformational experiences to learners of all ages. She holds a PhD in English Studies with specializations in rhetoric and composition, digital writing, and literature pedagogy. Kate's teaching experience includes higher education, K-12 fine arts, and continuing education for adult learners. Her research on autobiography as a teaching tool has been published in both academic journals and popular publications like Runner's World, Refinery29, and SELF Magazine.

Kate is working on this social emotional skill:
Mindfulness, always.

Demi Leleux, ATR-BC, MA, Content Specialist

Preferred Pronouns: She/Her

"I'd choose to watch a good, animated show or film over anything else. I've come to understand that when my inner child is content, so am I!"

Demi is a board certified art therapist on track to receive her licensure in counseling in the state of PA. She holds a Master's in Art Therapy and Counseling from Drexel University. She oversees the creation and design of social-emotional and therapeutic content at HeyKiddo™. In her work, she integrates knowledge and interventions from developmental, cognitive, behavioral and creative modalities. She has contributed to and presented on child development research topics and has worked with infants, children, adolescents, and adults. She believes that a strong, foundational, social-emotional skill set fosters on-going, long-term positive changes in wellness for children, parents, and educators.

Demi is working on this social emotional skill:
She's working to continually build communication because she values actively listening and thoughtfully responding to those in her life.

Ava I-Wen Huang, MA, Senior UX/UI Designer

Preferred Pronouns: She/Her

"Work hard, travel harder and make the world a better place."

Ava is an award-winning user experience designer who believes meaningful and delightful experiences can improve human welfare. She holds a Master's in Interactive Telecommunications Program from New York University with mobile and web development expertise. She has worked with brands across different industries like Nickelodeon, Johnson & Johnson, ASUS, Cooper Hewitt Museum, to name a few. Her work at Nickelodeon was recognized by The Webby Award (Winner, Apps, mobile, and voice - Family & Kids) and App Store Editors' Choice. She currently oversees UX/UI, branding as User Experience and Design Lead at HeyKiddo™.

Ava is working on this social emotional skill:
Managing stress. Mindful breathing and yoga have helped Ava cultivate a new perspective during stressful times.

Dr. Kate Browne, Learning Experience Designer

Preferred Pronouns: She/Her

"Kate wrote the first academic book on The Golden Girls (yes, the TV show!)"

Kate is working on this social emotional skill:
Mindfulness, always.

Demi Leleux, ATR-BC, MA, Content Specialist

Preferred Pronouns: She/Her

"I'd choose to watch a good, animated show or film over anything else. I've come to understand that when my inner child is content, so am I!"

Demi is working on this social emotional skill:
She's working to continually build communication because she values actively listening and thoughtfully responding to those in her life.

Ava I-Wen Huang, MA, Senior UX/UI Designer

Preferred Pronouns: She/Her

"Work hard, travel harder and make the world a better place."

Ava is working on this social emotional skill:
Managing stress. Mindful breathing and yoga have helped Ava cultivate a new perspective during stressful times.

Colton Kennedy - HeyKiddo™ Software Engineer

Colton Kennedy, Senior Software Engineer

Preferred Pronouns: He/Him/His

"I'm a HUGE Marvel & Star Wars nerd. I also love to watch football and manage my three fantasy football teams, but I'm a Saints fan till the end. WHO DAT!"

Colton is a Fullstack Software Engineer whose focus is mostly around the UX/UI aspect of development, however, he doesn't mind a challenge on the backend. Colton studied Computer Information Systems at Northwestern State University with a concentration in Web Development. He changed his major four times before a friend suggested he consider a career in IT. From that day forward, they have been great friends and now work together at HeyKiddo™ where he's met an incredible team that he hopes to be part of for many years.

Colton is working on this social emotional skill:
Self-management. He is very ambitious, however, sometimes you get more food on your plate than you can eat. He is working on achieving his goals one step at a time rather than shooting for them all at once, while maintaining the abilities to manage stress and stay motivated/optimistic.

Saul Tessler, Marketing and Strategy

Preferred Pronouns: He/Him/His

Saul is a global technology and marketing executive with over 25 years of experience across a wide range of sectors including finance, investment, internet and business analytics & intelligence, entrepreneurship and more. Previously Head of Global Operations for Learnlight, Saul maintained oversight of more than 1,350 talented individuals across 150 countries. Prior to that, he worked as VP of Mobile Product, Innovation and Strategy for OppenheimerFunds, an asset management firm with more than $250B in AUM. Within this role he was responsible for Marketing Digital Strategy and Innovation. Most recently, Saul has worked as a Professor, teaching Master's-level Digital Transformation Leadership at the Barcelona Technology School. Saul holds a joint Technology MBA awarded by the Wharton School of business and Penn Engineering.

Colton Kennedy, Senior Software Engineer

Preferred Pronouns: He/Him/His

"I'm a HUGE Marvel & Star Wars nerd. I also love to watch football and manage my three fantasy football teams, but I'm a Saints fan till the end. WHO DAT!"

Saul Tessler, Marketing and Strategy

Preferred Pronouns: He/Him/His

Strategic Advisors

Amrish Mercado

Amrish Macedo is an entrepreneur and former turn around executive. Equipped with computer science and business degrees, Amrish started his career with software companies, selling predictive modeling solutions to enterprise clients. He has managed up to 250 people, run IT delivery as well as operations delivery in organizations. He has experience in health, pharmaceuticals, finance and energy. His recent areas of interest have included IoT and machine learning and his primary focus is on helping companies find product - market fit.

Sushma Rajagopalan

Sushma is a global leader who is extremely skilled in scaling companies and passionate about entrepreneurship & innovation. She is a Partner with Rittenhouse Ventures Fund III in Philadelphia. Rittenhouse Ventures is an investor in emerging growth software companies focused in HealthTech, PharmaTech, FinTech, HRTech and general B2B SaaS.

Her framework for success rests on designing and executing strategies that result in rapid scale up, building an innovation ecosystem, driving a high-performance culture, staying ahead of technology trends and globalization through effective partnerships. Her management style can be described as strategic, entrepreneurial and inclusive. She leads with 4Cs - Clarity of thought, Courage of Conviction, Charisma to carry the team and True to Character always!

Sushma was the CEO of ITC infotech, a global technology solutions company that is a wholly owned subsidiary of a $10B+ leading consumer product goods company ITC in India. She has more than 25 years of experience as a Chief Strategy Officer, and CEO/President of technology companies in the US and India including LiquidHub (Wayne, PA), Larsen & Toubro (Edison & Mumbai) Igate ( Pittsburgh), Citibank (Mumbai, India) and CMC (Mumbai, now a TCS company).

Sushma has an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University, specializing in entrepreneurship & strategy, in addition to a Master's degree in Personnel Management & Industrial Relations from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India. She was the Chair of IT Services @ the National Association of Software Services Companies (Nasscom). She also serves on the boards of several technology companies in New Jersey, Philadelphia, India & California. She actively mentors companies and women entrepreneurs and CEOs in the US & India as a member of Harvard's mentorship program, PACT & 1Crowd. She is on the board of Jenkins Arboretum & Gardens in Devon, Pennsylvania and WISH Foundation, USA.

Russ Starke

Russ Starke is CEO of Think Company, a service design and digital experience design and development firm based in Philadelphia. He's been a professional designer for almost 25 years, working with corporate and nonprofit clients as an award-winning digital strategist, experience designer, information architect, instructional designer, business analyst, and project manager. Originally from Long Island NY, Russ holds an M.S. from Bloomsburg University in Instructional Technology, a B.S. in Telecommunications from Kutztown University, and was an adjunct graduate faculty member and course designer for Philadelphia University's Digital Design and Instructional Technology programs from 1999-2010.

In addition to his work at Think Company, Russ serves on the board of LEADERSHIP Philadelphia (Class of 2015), the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, Pennsylvania Small Business Development Centers, and on the Hospitality & Corporate Council for Broad Street Ministry, an organization dedicated to tackling homelessness and hunger in an innovative way by bringing public and private sectors together. He is also a founding partner of the Philadelphia chapter of Social Venture Partners, a trust-based philanthropy community building powerful relationships to alleviate intergenerational poverty.

Amrish Mercado

Sushma Rajagopalan

Russ Starke

Mel Baiada

Mel is a managing partner at BaseCamp Ventures, an early stage venture fund and co-founder of Huddy Health. Mel founded Bluestone, Inc. in 1989 to provide technology expertise to Fortune 1000 companies and government organizations. Under his direction, Bluestone rapidly grew, earning its inclusion in the Inc. 500 list of the fastest growing, privately held companies in the U.S. for three straight years, from 1994 to 1996. The software arm underwent a successful IPO in 1999, and was acquired by Hewlett-Packard in 2000.

Mel currently serves on the board of directors of BAYADA Home Health Care (and multiple subsidiaries); Drexel Online; and Ionfield Systems. In addition he is a mentor in the PACT Mentor Connect program and serves on multiple advisory boards Through his contributions, Drexel University was able to add the Laurence A. Baiada Institute for Entrepreneurship in Technology to its campus.

Amy Manning - HeyKiddo™ Strategic Advisor

Amy Manning, MA

Amy holds master's degrees in cognitive psychology from Yale University and in elementary education from the University of New Haven. She has been a classroom teacher in Connecticut public school systems since 2004. She is passionate about teaching kiddos the skills that they need, both academic and social, to be successful in their futures. She loves to create a classroom environment in which her students feel safe to respectfully challenge her, themselves, and each other. Amy is an advisor to HeyKiddo consulting with the team to ensure the content is applicable, inclusive and impactful.

Marcy Diamondstein - HeyKiddo™ Strategic Advisor

Marcy Diamondstein, MBA

Marcy is a dynamic, high energy, results driven Sales Executive. She is recognized for developing strategy, defining processes and structure to improve business practices, boost productivity and increase revenue and profitability. Marcy leads and inspires teams undergoing internal company change and culture shifts. She is known for being collaborative, innovative, and unwavering in her pursuit of excellence.

Marcy comes to HeyKiddo with a breadth of experience. She has helped a Fortune 100 company reshape its go-to-market strategy, created strategic and tactical initiatives to improve process and profitability, and has led a privately held organization through unprecedented growth the last few years.

She earned her MBA from University of Maryland.

Mel Baiada

Amy Manning, MA

Marcy Diamondstein, MBA

She earned her MBA from University of Maryland.

Get To Know Our Solutions

HeyKiddo™ Talk is a social & emotional coaching subscription, delivered via text, that is designed for:

Parents and families
Quick insights that become positive habits over time
Tracking & developing your child's critical life skills
Talking about challenging world events

Get to know HeyKiddo™ Talk

HeyKiddo™ - Social Emotional Learning curriculum

HeyKiddo™ Huddle is a comprehensive social-emotional curriculum that is designed for:

Educators, tutors and pod or homeschooling parents
No-prep planning for virtual or in person classrooms
Integrating critical skills into daily learning
Daily conversations that adjust to each child's needs

Get to know HeyKiddo™ Huddle

General Information

What is the difference between HeyKiddo™ Talk vs. HeyKiddo™ Huddle?

Simply put... Both Talk and Huddle are based on the same evidence-based research to build kids' social, emotional and leadership skills. And both products are developed by our team of psychologists and child experts. Here are the key differences to decide which one is right for you:

HeyKiddo™ Talk is best for parents and caregivers looking for coaching, tips and activities. After you sign up, you will take a quick assessment to establish a baseline of your child's social-emotional functioning. Then, you will receive a few texts each week to help you build your child's leadership, social and emotional skills. You will be able to check on the progress of your child's development by re-taking the assessment at different times.

HeyKiddo™ Huddle is a complete social-emotional curriculum designed to be incorporated into the school day. It requires no preparation and is designed for teachers, parents who are homeschooling or parents or tutors teaching pods. Every week, you will receive an email with a link to connect you to the following week's curriculum. It's as easy as that. Each week is a different topic and you will receive 5 different questions to ask your kiddos in class. Underneath each question you will see possible responses you may hear from the children and then things you can say to encourage conversation.

How do I use HeyKiddo™ Talk?

Once you sign up for HeyKiddo™, you will begin receiving texts three times each week that include expertly developed content that helps your child grow and develop.

After receiving each text, take time to read and think about the content of the text. Some texts will be geared toward you, the parent, with areas for you to self-reflect on. Other times, there will be texts that help guide your conversations with your child.

HeyKiddo™ texts that offer targeted suggestions should help guide you through conversations with your child, not dictate exactly what you should say to them. You know your child better than anyone, so use what you know about them to make the content as impactful as possible.

As a part of this, use your own voice and style when interacting with and presenting the HeyKiddo™ content to your child. Focus on making the interactions natural and genuine.

Implementing a new routine, learning new skills, and having deeper conversations are all things that can be difficult, but if you stick with it and make it a consistent practice, deeper conversations will become a natural part of you and your child's daily experience.

Remember, you can always text the HeyKiddo™ team of experts if you have a specific issue you need to address. We will curate content specifically for you and your family to help.

How do I use HeyKiddo™ Huddle?

HeyKiddo™ Huddle is a 36-week curriculum for classrooms, homeschools, and pods that ensures kids continue to meet important social and emotional milestones.

Designed by psychologists and child and learning specialists, it maximizes learning impact with only 15 minutes of instruction a day!

The HeyKiddo™ Huddle curriculum is linked to Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) core competencies, the most trusted K-12 model for high quality social and emotional learning.

Over the course of the school year, whenever you begin, you will receive weekly topics that enhance learning and coping skills in these areas.

The HeyKiddo™ Huddle curriculum is designed for elementary school aged children. The curriculum also works well for children with special needs.

HeyKiddo™ Huddle At A Glance:
Prior to the start of each new week, you will receive an email that includes a link to the HeyKiddo™ Huddle portal and everything you will need for that week.

All materials are designed to be accessed quickly and easily on this portal, so you can review the curriculum plan in less than 10-minutes.

Each week of HeyKiddo™ Huddle includes:

Introduction Video: A brief video summarizing the week's curriculum, what is included and why the skill is important for short- and long-term success.
Conversation Starters: 15-minute daily conversation prompts that build social, emotional, and coping skills.
Common Responses: Common responses and reactions children may have to the conversation prompts along with ways for the educator or parents to respond.
Creative Activities: Weekly bonus activities connected to the skill and questions that take conversations to the next level and can be delivered virtually or in-person.

How do I adjust HeyKiddo™ for my kiddo?

One thing we cannot say enough is that all of the content provided as a part of HeyKiddo™ are suggestions to help facilitate deeper conversations with your child. While using HeyKiddo™, it is important that you adjust based on your child's needs and responses to the content and activities.

Adjusting Activities - Sometimes your child will need help reading and understanding the directions and goals of the activities, other times they might need help finding the supplies but can do the activity on their own. And sometimes they might be able to do the entire activity on their own. You know your child best and you will have to gauge the amount of support they will need from you!

Adjusting Questions - The questions we provide for you are meant to be general enough so that you can find a way to ask them to your child in a way that is natural and will make the most sense to them. It is recommended that questions be adapted to fit the child's age and communication level. Also be sure to use words you would generally use and that your child can understand.

Adjusting Prompts - Whenever you are prompted to model a skill, it might be something that feels uncomfortable for you because it is something new. That's okay and is actually our goal 😊. It means growth is happening! Our goal is to help you build skills that help you engage your child in deeper conversations, and doing that might require some reflecting and practicing on your end.

What if my child finds HeyKiddo™ challenging/too easy?

When kids feel challenged, it means they are pushing the limits of what they know and do. This is exactly our goal! HeyKiddo™ content is meant to challenge both you and your child to explore new topics and skills that will help your child succeed now and in the future. Be sure to push your child to try and learn new things and reward them when they overcome these challenges.

If you find that your child is having a negative response to HeyKiddo™, start by adapting it to their needs by asking them what they like, don't like, and ways the conversations and activities could be implemented more naturally into their routine. Be open to their opinions and suggestions and work with them to make this work for everyone involved.

If they continue to have a negative response after you have adapted the content, please discontinue use and contact our support team at support@hey-kiddo.com to share feedback regarding your child's response.

When kids find things too easy, it may mean that they can go deeper and be challenged to explore further. Adjust and adapt to your child's needs. Every coaching tip, conversation starter and activity is designed to be basic enough to give you the flexibility and movement to challenge further or adjust to a level your child understands.

How is HeyKiddo™ different from social-emotional learning (SEL) that my child learns at school?

If your child is learning SEL at school, that’s great! HeyKiddo™ Talk and HeyKiddo™ Huddle can stand alone as SEL programs, but they can also supplement what your child learns at school. Our program teaches all competencies of SEL learning as outlined by The Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Success (CASEL), but we focus on the everyday social interactions kids have at home and at school. This gives you the opportunity to customize your child’s learning based on their real world.

Does HeyKiddo™ align with state standards?

HeyKiddo™ follows the guidelines established by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), the leading policy development group for SEL curriculums. This includes all five Social Emotional Learning competencies included in their guidelines: Self-Awareness, Social-Awareness, Self-Management, Responsible Decision-Making and Relationship Skills. Check with your local school board to determine whether HeyKiddo™ aligns with other state standards.

I want to share HeyKiddo™ Huddle with my child’s school! What’s the best way to do that?

You can talk to your school’s administrators or parent-teacher organization about bringing HeyKiddo™ to your school. We offer affordable enterprise licenses for schools of all sizes. Sign up for our newsletter to get more information or sign up here to get a sample curriculum and pricing information to share.

Do you have an app?

HeyKiddo™ Talk is delivered via text message. HeyKiddo™ Huddle is delivered through a web portal that’s optimized for browsers like Chrome and Safari, so you can use it on a desktop or mobile device. If you like the look and feel of a web app on your phone, follow these instructions to make an app icon from our web portal page. We have big plans for an app in the near future, so stay tuned!

Technical Support and Getting In Touch

How to contact HeyKiddo™ for technical support

If you run into any issues with HeyKiddo™, please contact our support team immediately at support@hey-kiddo.com. Our team is standing by to resolve any technical issues or concerns that arise. Your feedback is valuable in making this an even more powerful tool for parents and children everywhere.

I have some recommendations for HeyKiddo™

We are constantly looking for ways to improve the connection between caregivers and their children. Please drop us a line with feedback or suggestions at support@hey-kiddo.com

How can I unsubscribe from HeyKiddo™?

There are three ways to unsubscribe:

Visit Paypal and login to your account. Find your subscription for HeyKiddo™ and click unsubscribe. Paypal will automatically unsubscribe you from the product and stop any subsequent payments.
Email us directly at support@hey-kiddo.com and we will unsubscribe you. This may take up to 5 business days and we will manually unsubscribe you from the product and stop any subsequent payments.
If you are a HeyKiddo™ Talk user, just text us STOP and we will unsubscribe you.