“JoCari Beattie, 26, is a science teacher and community outreach specialist by day, and the inventor of ‘Besk’ by night.
Besk, a backpack that turns into a portable desk, is a product that Beattie has been designing and enhancing since 2014, when he got the idea to create the concept in college while sungazing at the beach.
‘I used to watch the sunrise every Sunday,’ Beattie said. ‘I got this weird urge to do homework and I thought to myself, I only have a backpack, but I don’t have anywhere to work.’
Unable to find the product online, he decided to start crafting it himself. Early versions of Besk were made from yardsticks and shower curtain rods.
‘They started off pretty rough,’ he said. ‘I always had to be extremely resourceful, but each one has definitely progressed a lot.’
Beattie says he is on the ninth prototype and is still working to perfect the product before its release in August. Bringing this concept to reality is an everyday grind for Beattie, who has entered and won multiple pitch competitions and launched a successful Kickstarter campaign that exceeded its goal.
But, it was the recognition of the product’s promise from his own community after the Louisville Urban League in December invested $123,000 to jumpstart the production of Besk.”
View the whole story here: https://www.wlky.com/article/louisville-entrepreneur-to-launch-innovative-product-that-turns-backpack-into-desk/35293788