Why did we change our name to Lillio?

Nov 15, 2023 | 5 minute read

When we founded HiMama just over a decade ago, we wanted to help childcare programs everywhere to engage and delight families through daily communication. The name “HiMama” was meant to capture the sweetness, warmth, and joy behind families getting to peek inside their child’s day and be greeted by their smiling faces. Today, HiMama has evolved into so much more than a platform for family communication. It is time for our name to evolve along with us. And while we wanted a name that would reflect our journey from software provider to fulsome early education company–we’re also keenly aware that the name HiMama often felt exclusionary to the diverse programs and families that we are so grateful to serve.

A New Future

As we look toward our future as Lillio, we’re proud to have added comprehensive center management tools, high-quality curriculum, and engaging professional development opportunities to our suite of solutions. To us, so much of what makes early childhood education so magical has been getting lost. From overwhelming requirements for rigorous curriculum implementation to time-consuming, almost clinical, data-focused assessment processes, for so many teachers, the joy and creativity of caregiving has been replaced by data and a developmentally inappropriate focus on academic outcomes. It’s time to get back to basics. At Lillio, we are committed to serving the field as an authentic voice of the ECE workforce, and helping to swing the pendulum back to what early educators have always known to matter most for children’s successful development and learning: relationships, play, creativity, and loving, nurturing caregiving.

• We will not change our pricing
• Our product is the same
• Only our name is changing
• No new owners

Our New Name

As we began the process of choosing a new name, there were a few things that were certain: one, we wanted our name to capture the warmth and joy that the name HiMama was originally intended to evoke; two, we wanted something that reflected the priorities of the dedicated early childhood field; and three, we wanted all programs and families to be proud to say that they partner with us. We chose the name Lillio - something that we hope honors our commitment to early childhood education (with Lil’ meaning little, or little ones), yet still gives a nod to our technology roots (with i/o meaning input/output, common tech industry terms).

While our name may be changing, we want to assure you that nothing else will. For the last ten years, we’ve prided ourselves on our dedication to responsive customer service and to listening to and delivering on your needs. Staying true to our company values is something we’ll never deviate from, no matter what else may change.

We’ve included some FAQs below to help you navigate through our name change and what it means for you (hint: nothing different!) And we’re proud to also share our updated Lillio brand values with you, to help reassure you that we’re just as committed to your success as we have been from the very beginning.

Our 5 new brand values

• Practice accountability
• Embrace community
• Innovate purposefully
• Create impactful change
• Act with care and empathy

Common questions

What's changing?
Besides our brand name, product names, and our logo/app icon, nothing else will be changing at all. We will still offer the same services and support to our partners that we always have. You will see the name Lillio and our new logo reflected throughout our products, but everything else that you are used to will remain as it is currently.

Will this impact my licensing?
The change in our name will have no impact on your licensing or any other aspect of your center operations. Since everything about the company and the services we provide is staying the exact same, aside from the name change there should be no impact to your center in any way, related to licensing or anything else.

Do we / parents need to download a new app?
There will be no need to download a new app. The updated app icon will appear automatically once the change has been made official on our end. Our new app icon resembles a house (or child care center) built from colorful blocks, so you can look for that to appear in place of the app icon with the train on the screen of any device where you have previously downloaded the app.