Halie Thomas – The HAPPY Organization
Halie Thomas is the 24-year-old founder and executive director of the HAPPY organization. She founded HAPPY when she was just 12 years old. She had previous experience in healthy cooking due to her dad being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes when she was young and she had learned how to cook from her mother when she was 5. She decided after the diagnosis that she wanted to explore healthier cooking options. A year later she started a YouTube channel with her little sister called Kids Can Cook. Later on in her life she attended the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and became the youngest student to graduate. She even competed in the White House Kid’s state dinner and her quinoa salad won.
HAPPY stands for Healthy, Active, Positive, Purposeful, Youth. Their mission is to engage, educate, and inspire young people to embrace healthy habits. HAPPY does this in multiple ways. Their target audience is children in 2nd through 5th grade. The organization provides hands on cooking activities, lesson plans, summer camps, and fun physical activities to help youth develop healthy habits.
The launch of this organization led to many opportunities for Thomas such as giving TED Talks, joining Michelle Obama at the 2013 State of the Union address, and even curating another business called Matcha Thomas. Thomas’s determination to create a lasting impact on health in children’s lives is inspiring. She is an example of how what seems like a small idea can blossom into something wonderful.
Learn more about HAPPY at https://edibleschoolyard.org/program/happy-organization-inc
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I think it’s awesome how the inspiration for her business started when she was only 12 years old. I also love how the idea for this business started as something as simple as a Youtube channel, and is now a growing business.