Meet Paisley Elliott | Founder and Chief Ideas Officer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Paisley Elliott and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Paisley, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
Paisley’s pals was started when I was 5. When I first learned about refugees I was heartbroken and I knew I had to do something. My first project was collecting stuffed animals for kids in Syria. But then Ilearned that it didn’t actually help anyone. I learned that education is the best way to make an impact. So I set out to build a school for children from Syria and Afghanistan. I raised $20,000 to transform a warehouse across the street from the Moria refugee camp-which was Europe’s worst refugee camp. It made me feel so good to help. But then just a few months later the refugee camp burned down and they moved the refugee camp across the island, so the education center was too far away. That’s when I decided to design a pop up classroom that could go anywhere. I continued learning more about he struggles of being a refugee and the programs that helped them the most. I -emailed the UNHCR (United Nations Refugee Agency) and I continue to keep learning. About 2 years after the Moria Fire crisis, my pop up classroom called the Shine Box was ready to pilot. With the help of the UNHCR, I choose Uganda as the perfect place for my pilot project because of their empowering refugee laws. My biggest priority was making sure it was a refugee led program. The pilot project had several pieces- the pop up classroom, a bike share program, a digital skills training program that doesn’t need Internet, a menstrual health education program for young girls , 400 books to begin a library and an ECD program. Asaf today, I am proud to say that more than 2500 displaced children have been impacted. And just last month I started raising $ to build a preschool. peacemaker Preschool Will be the first refugee owned, refugee led free preschool in the Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement in uganda. One classroom has already been built and 63 children are enrolled. We hope to have 12 classrooms and upto 500 Students once finished. We are working on sponsoring teachers for teacher training and certification and adding sustainable food program so all the children get a healthy meal each day.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I started my non-profit when I was 6.My parents realized my passion for helping refugees wasn’t going away So they helped me set up a 501 (c)3. I think one of the hardest things is that not everyone takes me seriously because I’m a kid. They assume it’s my parents ideas. But it’s my ideas that started this. My mom had to google what countries had the most refugees fleeing because she didn’t know. It’s also hard to raise money at my age. I’m not old enough for most competitions so I raise almost all of my money through LemonAID stands. And I’m sure my neighbors are sick of buying my LemonAID. I want to people to know That Kids are capable and we really can help change the world. I’m not going to wait around. I’m going to continue using my voice and standing up for what’s right. There are more than 50 million children dreaming of going to school.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Well, We would definitely visit the House of Shine in Grapevine and then spend an afternoon at Talking Animal Books- the best Bookstore ever. They’d help me at an afternoon LemonAID stand and then We would celebrate with some ice cream from Kilwin’s. Hopefully we could play pickleball at Chicken’n pickle and have Sushi for dinner one night. We could ride our Bikes to the playground or run in the fountains at Hotel Vin.Then either an outdoor movie or game night.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My mom and all my family helps to empower me and to create big goals for myself even when they seem crazy. A huge shout out to the House of Shine in grapevine- they were my very first supporters at my first LemonAID stand when I was 6.

Website: www.paisleyspals.org

Instagram: Paisleyspals

Linkedin: Paisley Elliott

Twitter: paisleyspals

Facebook: paisleyspalspage

Youtube: Paisley’s Pals

Image Credits
The picture of me on the Skateboard was taken by Peachy Perspective photography and we have the rights to use it. All other pictures were taken by my mom or step- dad.