WCBU - NPR Interview
WCBU | by Jody Holtz | 03.07.23
'We're going to make understanding exist': How a Peoria family is spreading the friendly with Pretendly
Pretendly Family (Left to Right): J Scott, Willa, Larkin, and Jennifer
Audio Interview
Article
Two Bradley University alumni are the founders of an online art shop that wouldn’t be possible without the help of their children.
Jennifer Rosa and her husband J Scott Hinkley met during their time at Bradley University, both having extensive musical backgrounds. The pair moved to New York City to pursue their own artistic endeavors, eventually starting their own production company, Flat World Productions. Several years after being in New York, they decided to bring children into the mix.
“When we had children out there…you just adapt and you're outside a lot, and it looks different,” said Rosa. “But when we were there, they were young, we had our oldest, she's 8 years old now. Her name's Larkin…And then we had our youngest, she was about 6 months before we ended up having to make an emergency move from New York City. Her name is Willa.”
This emergency move back to their Peoria roots was spurred during their annual visit to see family in the area around the holidays. While the family was staying with Rosa’s sister, it was fun, chaotic family times as normal…until it wasn’t.
“We noticed just really suddenly, just a shift with our oldest daughter, just some debilitating symptoms that just, it seemed something neurological had taken place," said Rosa. "It wasn't a seizure or anything like that. But it was definitely something that we noticed, and we wanted to get attention right away, especially if it's your brain.”
The family found themselves in the Children’s Hospital of Illinois emergency room where a team of medical experts lined up to run tests.
“And they were bringing up Easterseals and talking about things that we had kind of questioned, but they sort of weren't validated when we were still in New York,” said Rosa. “And so we thought okay, well, they're getting it, and this is clearly a yes path. And like we operate very much in seeing what the yes path is and what the no path is, and we saw well, this is a yes path,” she said…
