Glasses for Kids and The “MEsquad” Journey
Creator of MEsquad, a brand of affordable, customizable, and nearly indestructible pairs of silicone-based glasses for children, Katherine Giovannone is a versatile entrepreneur who comes from a strong background in finance and business operations.
The “MEsquad” Journey
Katherine initially began her career in banking. After realizing very quickly that the profession wasn’t for her, she decided that it was time to peek inside and explore all the creative parts of her brain. From there she went on to land jobs in sales, distribution, and manufacturing roles, a journey of events that eventually led her to create the MEsquad brand after seeing that the children’s eyewear industry was desperately missing an affordable and durable kids’ collection that was also fun for them too.
The first MEsquad designs were meant to be launched in stores, however, the COVID-19 pandemic changed all of that, with all of their tradeshows shut down and stores no longer making purchases. So, with the creative edge needed to adapt to her situation, Katherine redesigned her brand for the end consumer so that kids can customize their own MEsquad pair at home without any tools required!
Meet Katherine Giovannone: Creator of the “MEsquad” Glasses for Kids
Positive Influences
A first-generation Canadian, Katherine and her husband have a daughter together, Emily, who is the light of their lives, and the mother-daughter pair share an indescribable bond. However, Katherine’s foremost influence is her mother. “I have an amazing family,” says the MEsquad founder, “We are crazy good at communicating and we are so loving and fully accepting. My mom went through so many challenges in her life, starting from a very young age, but every day, no matter how hard things were, she woke up with a smile and went to work. She didn’t let the things that happened around her define who she is.”
“My parents came to Canada with only one suitcase, not much money, nor did they speak the language,” Katherine recalls. “I think about this a lot. How brave you need to be to leave your homeland, family, and friends, to live in a country in which you don’t speak the language or have anyone with you. We may have had humble beginnings, but we definitely had what we needed.”
Being a mother now, Katherine came to realize how hard it must have been for her parents during her own childhood. She often reminds herself of how lucky she was that neither she nor her sister needed glasses or braces themselves growing up. Yet, she can’t help but think about what her parents would have done and given up just to make sure that their children would have such necessities, and it was this sort of sympathetic thinking that led Katherine to develop the affordable, yet super-flexible and durable, MEsquad childrens’ glasses collection with both kids and parents in mind.
Doing More for the Greater Good
“I think Covid was tremendously hard on a lot of people for so many reasons,” Katherine mentions who feels that since then, we as a people have lost our sense of community and need to get back into helping one another again. That’s why she and her family started a not-for-profit during the COVID-19 pandemic, The Kind Pantry Project, to help get donated food to her local food banks. For her, it was an incredibly rewarding experience because her friends, family, and strangers really stepped up to help, managing to fill up six truckloads of food last year and multiple skids of food for six local food banks, and more on the way this upcoming Christmas. The Kind Pantry Project is run by Katherine, her husband, her sister, and friends with around 20-30 volunteers.
Katherine Giovannone: The Person Behind “MEsquad”
Ultimately, Katherine would like to be known for being the person who fearlessly went after her dreams and inspired those around her to do the same. She enjoys helping children and the elderly, and her family is the source of her joy and happiness. If there was a movie named after her, she would like it to be called “She Came, She Saw, She Conquered”.
She lists Leonardo Da Vinci as a creative inspiration and marvels at the fact that he invented the parachute and painted the Mona Lisa. She loves art (paintings specifically), including French Impressionism such as Monet, Cezanne, and post-impressionism like van Gogh. Her favorite quote is “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams” by Eleanor Roosevelt, and if there was one thing she would like to learn more of, it would be becoming more proficient in Google Ads.
To find out more about the MEsquad brand of children’s customizable glasses, be sure to visit the MEsquad website, www.MEsquad.ca, and its social media platforms: YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.