Student entrepreneur on a mission to restore eye contact for nonverbal people
When Annie Rogers from St Andrews Lutheran College realised her school friend Matilda, who is nonverbal, wasn’t receiving eye contact during conversations, she wanted to do something about it. To communicate, Matilda types on a device that reads her words out loud after she pushes a button often resulting in people looking at the device instead of her. Even worse is that some would move behind her to watch what she’s typing.
Recognising how upsetting this would be for her friend and others in similar situations, Annie - who just started Year 12 - developed a solution to make sure people like Matilda get the eye contact they deserve.
From idea to action
The journey started when Annie was in Year 7 when she signed up to ‘Innovate and Create’, St Andrews Lutheran College’s flagship entrepreneurial program to develop skills crucial for students as they prepare for a world where technology and job markets evolve quickly. Designed to foster practical and innovative thinking by having students acknowledge a problem, ideating and prototyping a solution, it was the perfect opportunity for Annie to leverage her entrepreneurial skills by developing a product that will tackle the problem faced by her friend and others.
Annie came up with the idea of creating a Bluetooth speaker necklace that works with communication devices so that the voice is projected outwards to others from the user. As part of the design, the necklace needed to be lightweight and blend in with the user so that it doesn’t become a distraction. Through multiple iterations, Annie has made the necklace lighter and more comfortable to wear, as well as developed interchangeable pendants so it can double as jewellery that complements any outfit.
Since launching the necklace, which she called My Voice, Annie’s work has received widespread recognition. She’s won a bunch of high profile awards, including Young Entrepreneur of the Year at The Next Gen Awards, and Gold Coast Young Woman of the Year. She also received backing from one of Australasia’s leading venture capital firms, Blackbird.
Roadmap for the future
Annie is determined to see her necklace improve the quality of life for nonverbal people around the world, and with 1.2 million nonverbal individuals in Australia alone, it has the potential to make a huge impact.
As part of winning our 2024 Edstart Achievement Award in the Entrepreneurship category, she's using her $1,500 award grant to create a smaller, sleeker speaker needed to bring it to market, and is working with the manufacturer behind iPhone speakers to ensure the quality of the final product.
Looking ahead, she believes the necklace can be a catalyst for change, by removing the temptation to look at communication devices, and eliminating feelings of disrespect and loss of human interaction that nonverbal people may experience.
To learn more about the Edstart Achievement Award Program, visit edstart.com.au/award.
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Edstart is an education fee management company helping schools improve the payment experience with family care and technology. We offer comprehensive fee solutions that enable schools to increase payment flexibility for families without the added complexity and workload.
To see how we can help you, visit our main website.
Find out more