When Mya Prehn appeared on CBC’s Dragon’s Den to pitch her healthy eating program, she knew hundreds of thousands of people would see her on television. She never thought that Barbie would be one of the ones watching.
Mattel’s flagship doll and her handlers saw Prehn on Dragon’s Den and knew she would be perfect as a team leader for the new project they were launching.
Super Hero Barbie set up her website, www.besuper.com, and picked four girls from across Canada who are inspiring others to be super, and Prehn is one of those four.
She and the other three, Noemie, Veronika and Faith, shared their stories in the hopes of inspiring others across the country to be heroes in their own lives – something that doesn’t require super powers.
Barbie’s encouraging them to be kind, be bold and be creative, all traits Prehn has shown by developing the program to help others eat healthy, facing the Dragons, and by turning healthy eating into a fun rewards-based activity.
Since appearing on Dragon’s Den, the Prehn family has been overwhelmed by orders, though they’ve tapered off.
“Within the first 48 hours we had hundreds of orders,” Erin Prehn, Mya’s mother, said. It put a bit of stress on the home-based business, but now that the orders are down to single-digits per week, and with summer coming, it’s a lot more manageable.
The initial glut of orders, though, allowed the Prehn family to meet the obligations set for them by the Dragons.
Prehn was given $1,000 each by the five dragons, with the caveat that once she made a certain per cent of profit, they must make a donation of the same amount to Breakfast Clubs of Canada.
That presentation is tentatively scheduled for April.
Prehn’s video and story is available on besuper.ca, along with the other three super hero team leaders.