About Us
Why We Created Building Humans
After laying awake one night thinking about how much he needed to teach his children our founder, Josh Howell, decided to start teaching his two daughters a life skill each week. His goal was to feel confident sending them out into the real world when the time came. While working with his daughters, he realized that the time they spent talking, learning, and sharing was not only beneficial for the girls’ “life toolkit,” but also for his relationships with them. After 10 years of accumulating ideas and writing down content, friends and family started asking him for ideas and the content he’d developed for teaching life-skills. Building Humans was born.
You’ll hear us say this many times – “competence builds confidence”. Ultimately, our goal is to create confidence in children and parents alike; in children’s ability to navigate our complex world and parents’ ability to communicate and parent effectively. We’ve developed each of our Blocks to build better relationships between parents and children, and teach children important life topics before they’re faced with an issue they’re not aware of.
Our Blocks are designed for busy parents who want to find a meaningful and structured way to connect with their children. All of our content is broken down into easily-digestible text and audio lessons so a parent can quickly prepare and feel confident working through a Block with their child. We’ve done the prep work and give you the distilled content. You teach your child and strengthen your relationship with every Block.
Co-Founder
Josh a is father of two teenage daughters, and a professional who has worked in multiple industries including construction, the military, manufacturing, high-tech, and higher education. Josh grew up abroad, earned a computer science engineering degree, and later an MBA with a focus on innovation and technology management. He served as a special operations soldier in combat in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He has now lived in the Pacific Northwest of the United States longer than anywhere else, so considers it home for now. Josh enjoys spending time with his wife and two teenage daughters, doing wood and metalworking, preparing to sail the world, and helping his daughters see and experience as much of the world as possible.
Parenting Expert Consultant
Melissa is a licensed therapist with more than 20+ years of experience working with children and families. Melissa has a Master’s degree in Social Work, is a Credentialed School Counselor, and is trained in Positive Discipline. She is also a Certified Gottman Educator offering the Bringing Baby Home Program for families with young children and workshops on Emotion Coaching. Melissa practices as a parenting consultant, coach, and speaker to groups and individuals by blending her clinical training with her knowledge of child development and discipline. In 2011 she co-authored the book The Childproof Parent. You can learn more about Melissa at: melissabenaroya.com and childproofparenting.com