01About
A project developed by the Tampa Bay IVMF Ambassador team.
Four people in Tampa Bay who kept noticing the same thing: military kids rebuild from scratch every two or three years, and nobody has ever told them that is a founder's skill set.
They've been called brats their whole lives. We made it stand for something.
02The team
April Caldwell
April Caldwell is the co-founder and CEO of fayVen, a B2B marketplace connecting vendors with venues for pop-ups, markets, and multi-vendor events. She served ten years in the United States Air Force before building her first business — a gourmet popcorn company she grew from farmers' market tables into local retail. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management and an MBA in Small Business Entrepreneurship, and has come through accelerators including Tampa Bay Wave, Stella Labs, Bunker Labs, and multiple IVMF programs. She is a long-time member of Embarc Collective and serves as an IVMF Ambassador for the Tampa Bay region. Within BRATS, she leads Pop Up Like a Professional, covering booth design, pricing strategy, in-person sales, and pitch preparation.
03Why purple
Purple is the color of the military child because it is every branch at once — Army green, Marine red, and the blues of the Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard, combined. The Month of the Military Child has been April since 1986. Purple Up! Day falls on or around April 15 each year.
Cohort 01's Market Day is Friday, April 16, 2027 — inside the month, the day after Purple Up. Every dollar these teens earn gets printed in the military child's color.
04Where things stand
BRATS is a project developed by the Tampa Bay IVMF Ambassador team. It is not accredited, and it does not claim formal endorsement or nonprofit status.
Cohort 1 runs January 18 to April 16, 2027, in Tampa Bay. Applications open in December 2026. Cost to families, venue, and final cohort size are still being finalized.
Mentor names are not listed publicly, and there are no public participant profiles.