Turning Ideas into Impact: Kristen Turner’s Safe Spots Seating Journey

In honor of August being Black Business Month, the Chicago Defender is running a series of profiles on our city’s dynamic Black entrepreneurs.

Imagine a world where everyone pursues the coolest ideas that live in their heads. I’m referring to those ideas that distract you from a reality that would drastically change if given a chance to exist. I genuinely believe that the world would be a much better place if we gave our ideas a lot more credit. Today’s idea innovator, Kristen Turner, reminds us how important it is to maximize the creativity that lives inside of us.

Identity

I am a poet, an educator, technology professional, community organizer and DIY Specialist, states Kristen. Everything I do is in reflection of what could promote people, specifically children, which are my heart and my passion. The things I’m invested in and am passionate about have a central focus, which is to help people to actualize and realize their healthiest self and help children learn as much as they can to realize the future they could actually have.

The Chicago Native

Like many, Kenwood Academy shaped the creative lens of numerous Chicagoans. Kenwood alums play  such an integral role in the culture that it is unmatched. Turner, a Bronco alum, credits Kenwood for her exploration and creativity.

My intricate parts have been influenced by Chicago and the culture that culminates in this city. It being such a rich city allows me to cultivate the culture here and use it as an example for the rest of the world. Chicago is home, and I think it’s important to know that you could take me out of Chicago, but you can’t take Chicago out of me.

Safe Spot Seats

With her Safe Spot seats, Kristen Turner invented, which are made with recycled water bottles (Photo Provided).

The pandemic birthed tons of creative ideas, and like many, Turner decided to act on what she knew was both innovative and necessary. Needless to say, her invention, Safe Spots, was more than an idea. It was a game changer.

As a teacher preparing to come back into the classroom, I was looking for ways to help differentiate the anxiety for kids who had just been at home. I was looking for flexible seating options and decided I wanted to do something with the water bottles in my classroom. What sets Safe Spots apart is that they are covered in a fabric with small doodles that children can use to incite and enhance conversation. Not only is this tool used for something that can engage students with coloring, but it can teach them about the circularity of plastic and how it can upcycle it into things we can use for everyday experiences. It’s also washable so they can reuse it over and over again.

By the end of the school year, I was able to make each student one as a gift for their graduation, and students in other grades quickly became intrigued and interested as well! Before I knew it, I had more people asking to purchase them, and it prompted me to get this message out there in addition to the drinking of water. This helped students with mindfulness and stillness, as opposed to the anxiety that the pandemic had brought about.

Target Audience

It is child-sized, but not limited to children. It’s light and portable and can be taken on road trips, outside or just something that anyone needs as a safe spot for a moment of mindfulness. This is something that will be able to transform people’s experience with furniture. We were always taught as children not to color on the furniture if you don’t want to get in trouble. This challenges the concept of making static furniture into usable art that you can experience. It merges interactive art installation and furniture.

Manufacturing

Selling them now has been interesting. The last time I sold them was for Englewood Arts Collective, which resulted in me receiving a grant to continue to build Safe Spot seating. They’ve been an enormous help in the creative and brand identity of me trying to make something sustainable. Since then, Healthy Hood Chicago has allowed us to use their space to collect water bottles, and we have about five interns that are committed to helping us to make the seats on a consistent basis so that we can continue to pump them out.

You can find Safe Spots on Instagram @safespotseats, as they promote a variety of experiences of plastic reduction and the upcycling and recycling of plastic into different things. You can also purchase a Safe Spot seat on my website, thekristenturner.com. We accept Visa and Mastercard.

Water-Shaped Passion

Experiencing some health issues and wanting to be healthier prompted the desire for Turner to increase her water intake.

Water helped me refocus myself and the things I desired and wanted. As a teacher, the recycling of water bottles came from the “reduce, reuse, and recycle” themed unit that every teacher is familiar with. We did a water affirmation science experiment in my classroom where we would speak positive things into one jar of water and negative things into another jar of water, and we were blown away by the results! Humans are all water, and me being intentional about cleansing myself with it will ultimately propel me into anything that I envision.

Confidence & Perspective

Oftentimes, going on a cleanse or fast exposes so much more than what you’re sacrificing. It can inspire you to explore yourself deeper as well as strengthen you to dive into those new discoveries.

Interestingly enough, I was on a seven-day cleanse and after that cleanse I had an experience that really catapulted me into taking a leap of faith. After having an intentional cleanse and fast from food, my perspective shifted on the eighth day when I ate again. It was as though the world had shifted to my exact desires that I had been manifesting and praying for. 

An opportunity opened for me and really inspired stepping outside of the box after having worked at a school for six years. In those years, I had recommitted to my health, gained a deeper understanding of community and my impact, found out some of my gifts and was able to explore different things. As soon as I took that leap, doors were opening left and right that I didn’t imagine would open.

Betting On Yourself

Kristen Turner with a grant award she received for her Safe Spot seats (Photo Provided).

For a long time I had so many beautiful ideas but didn’t have the courage to bet on myself and run with it. 

I applied for a grant and literally submitted it at 11:50 pm, when the deadline was midnight, and ended up winning the grant. The judges who scored my application told me that I should apply for more grants. They were moved by Safe Spots. Had I not betted on myself, I wouldn’t have known there was a door waiting to be opened after betting. It’s easier said than done, but you never know what doors are waiting to be opened.

It is so important to bet on yourself! 

If you know you have something special, let nothing or no one get in the way of you pursuing it. That special idea is yours to use, so use it. When you use it, you keep it. Handle with care what’s rare and you’ll never regret the moment you pursued your idea.

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