On Sunday, October 27, 2024, the 1882 Foundation hosted a hybrid Talk Story event featuring Bitty Bao founders Lacey Bernard and Lulu Cheng. Bitty Bao is a small business that specializes in creating bilingual books for multicultural families and anyone interested in teaching young children Mandarin and Cantonese. The company offers children’s books in three languages: Mandarin with simplified characters and pinyin, Mandarin with traditional characters, pinyin, and zhuyin, and Cantonese with jyutping.
Lacey and Lulu shared the story behind their company, founded in 2020. Lulu aimed to help her children communicate with their grandparents in Taiwan but struggled to find suitable teaching materials in English and Mandarin. She reached out to her long-time friend Lacey, who provided her paper-cutting skills to create illustrations for the books. The business quickly grew, addressing a significant need among Chinese, Taiwanese, and Cantonese American families.
In addition to their origin story, Lacey and Lulu discussed how their business has evolved, including the publication of longer picture books, collaboration with other authors and illustrators, and the expansion of their catalog to include wooden toys. Approximately 20 attendees joined the event via Zoom, along with the 1882 team in the office.
A special thanks to Lacey and Lulu for sharing their inspiring journey with us.