Brooklyn Park Woman Launches Board Game that Teaches Healthy Money Habits
For Brooklyn Park designer and mother Martasia Person, building wealth starts with learning how to talk about money. After creating financial exercises for her young daughter, Person turned those lessons into Posterity: The Wealth Building Game, a board game that challenges players to build cash and assets, eliminate debt and become the first to reach a $1 million net worth — all while developing healthier money habits along the way.
Posterity means “all future generations.”
“It really was rooted in me wanting to make sure that my daughter had a certain level of understanding as she grew up and making sure that my story is not in vain,” Person said. “I'm also sharing with other families so that they can escape their situation as well. Knowledge is access and there's a lot of practical things that we can put into place that can really change the trajectory of our life.”
A Promise to Her Daughter
By day, Person is a corporate designer specializing in outerwear and swimwear for men and boys. By night, she is still creative, often partnering with other local brands as a creative director charged with assembling the visual identity of a project.
Person’s idea for the board game emerged from motherhood and an internalized promise to empower her daughter for a strong entrance into adulthood.
“Growing up, I dealt with a lot of instability in my life. My mom had us very young, and she dealt with her own trauma, so she wasn't able to parent us,” Person said. “She did the best that she could do.”
As a result, Person ended up living in more than 10 homes and became a victim of several forms of abuse — all of which impacted her growth as a young teen.
“This is when I found creativity as my voice,” the designer said. “I used to be very quiet, very timid. I would act out in anger. I went to five different high schools; at the last high school that I went to, my principal, whenever I got into trouble, she would ring me in her office and she would ask me to draw. I would feel a sense of calm and peace after I drew. That's when I realized this is how I communicate, and this is my sense of relief.”
Person went on to college to study social work but never lost her creative edge and yearning. After pivoting to study fashion at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, Person experienced homelessness in Los Angeles for three months, she said. Person persisted and eventually graduated from college, becoming the first in her family to do so.
From Survival to Financial Stability
When she moved back to Minnesota, even with a college degree, it took time to establish financial stability. She remembers barely making ends meet and relying heavily on government assistance.
“At this time I was pregnant and living in a public housing apartment,” Person said. “Once I had my daughter, I remember looking at her and saying that this will not be her life. From that moment, I started to think about longevity and what I needed to do strategically to make sure that she didn't have to hustle or depend on government assistance. And I became a student at that moment.”
Eventually, after finding mentors and teachers of life, Person’s situation changed. Even in her darkest days, a money habit that Person clung to was saving what she could.
“I ended up landing my first six-figure job, but I had already adopted that mindset of ‘pay yourself first’ — don't live off 100% of your paycheck.”
Following a few years of newfound stability, Person channeled her creativity after work into exploring what she could produce to supplement the learning she had already poured into her daughter, now 6.
“I took my design and product development background and I started creating her exercises so that she can understand money. Once I started to see her catch on and have fun with it and it take shape in her own home, I felt like it was my duty to share this with other families. I have a list of products that I want to build out, but the board game felt like the most unique in a sense, a good entry product,” Person said.
Turning Money Lessons Into a Game
Person already knew what steps to take to develop her board game and bring it to the market. The process included traveling to China to visit factories and suppliers and see samples for herself to ensure her vision would come to life through a quality process.
“No matter what you're developing, the process is the same,” Person said. “It starts with trends and research, then you sketch it, you source the materials, and then it goes into production. But I wanted to establish that relationship with my suppliers so that they understood my vision.”
Person advises that if you believe in the product you’re building, make sure to protect it, such as by having it trademarked.
“Protect it early. I've already had investors reach out who want to take 49% of my business,” she said. “It makes me feel like there's something to this, and I'm very happy that I protected it.”
Making Wealth-Building Conversations Easier
Person recognizes that because many families are stuck in survival mode, having conversations about wealth building can feel elective.
“That’s why I say knowledge is access, it's important for me to create products that can fit naturally in households and make those conversations easier,” she said. “If it's easy to play spades with the family at cookouts, I'm hoping that it'll be easy to play this game, but then we're talking about something a little bit more meaningful. When you feel like you don't have anything to give, it's hard to think about building wealth for your children.”
The hope to inspire healthier habits and mindsets around money has also shaped new ways of bonding in her family, such as biweekly money talks over Zoom that cover budgeting, saving and investing. It’s fun, and conversations continue even after their gatherings, she says.
“There is a verse in the Bible — ‘A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children.’ I still want her to work hard and I still want her to know how to pave her own way. But I don't want her to struggle or to inherit lack,” Person said. “That would be my challenge for parents. There is a sense of responsibility that we have to make sure that they are OK when they enter into the real world.”
To learn more about or purchase Posterity: The Wealth Building Game, visit shopposterity.com.
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