Bless was crowned winner of the West Coast regional Young Enterprise Scheme (YES), which has earned her a top spot in a “Dragon’s Den-style” business competition.

She won three out of four prizes in the regional finals and will now pitch her business idea for the Pride cards to a panel of judges at the national final in Wellington in December.

Groome, a Year 12 student at Westland High School, said the idea for the cards came from wanting to help people understand the LGBTQI+ community better, but mainly to help other young people who are questioning their sexuality and identity.

Bless said she discovered she was aromantic – a much lesser known term for when a person doesn’t experience any romantic attraction or have any interest in romantic partnerships – earlier this year.

“I would always get teased in primary school and at intermediate by my friends, and slumber parties were a nightmare never having any crushes,” she said.

“If I’d known what aromanticism was when I was in primary school that would have made my life a lot easier and less confusing.”

She discovered the term while listening to her favourite YouTube artist.

“When she was explaining her experiences with aromanticism in her youth it was just like, ‘I’ve never related to a person so much in my life’.

“It was so great to finally see, ‘Oh hey, I’m not alone in this’. I want to give other people that chance to learn about it sooner rather than later in life,” she said.

Bless created the cards and secured sponsorship from Gender Minorities Aotearoa for her first run of the game.

Her first 250 decks have sold out, with 100 selling in a week after Bless sent out 6000 emails to schools and health providers around New Zealand. She is taking orders for her second production run online.

Bless says she has always been an artist and comes from an artistic family.

Now she makes a living from selling items like stickers, badges and custom commissions using her digital designs through online marketplace Etsy.

She has applied to study graphic design at the University of Canterbury and says that’s what she would use the $23,000 prize money on if she won at the Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme’s national awards.

Her mother Lyn, also an artist, said she had always taught her children to be who they want to be.

She said she was proud of her daughter for wanting to help other young people, and Bless had used her artistic skills to raise money for charity and make masks during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“She’s got so much support from people at her market stalls. She makes things herself, she’s made so many things. I’m so proud of her for putting herself out there and following her heart,” she said.

Development West Coast chief executive Heath Milne said Bless’s card game was very marketable and had gained a lot of interest already, and become very successful.

“Bless is a very brave young woman who put a great deal of thought into her product messaging,” he said.

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