Building an edutainment universe for the next generation

Founded by Sadeke Walsh, Life Heroes Universe builds original heroes who explore identity, community, and real-world choices through story.

The project blends education and entertainment through storytelling rather than instruction. Not lessons disguised as content, but stories led by characters with clear values, flaws, and personalities. The goal is simple, yet ambitious: help young people feel inspired, capable, and seen.

A universe built around characters

At the center of Life Heroes Universe are six heroes: Arty, Bizz, Natt, Vin, Saul, and Helen. Each represents a different life element, from social connection to health and creativity.

From the start, these characters were written with depth and intention. They were meant to feel familiar, like someone you might know. But there was a missing piece. Without distinct voices, the characters could not fully stand on their own.

Early production relied on a single voice actor, with occasional guest actors. Consistency was hard to maintain, and scaling the universe felt out of reach. The characters existed visually and on the page, but not yet as recognizable personalities.

Giving each hero a voice

Through the ElevenLabs Impact Program, Life Heroes Universe was granted free access to ElevenLabs and began shaping voices that matched each character’s identity.

This changed how the universe felt. Each hero could now speak consistently, across episodes and platforms, in a way audiences could immediately recognize.

That recognition mattered. One student shared, "I definitely see myself in Helen the most, but I noticed a small part of me in all the other heroes too." That response captured exactly what Life Heroes Universe set out to do: reflect the audience back to themselves.

From ideas to reach

Since integrating ElevenLabs into their workflow, Life Heroes Universe increased YouTube views by over 1,200 percent, growing from 338 views in 2024 to 4,555 in 2025. Audience watch time also doubled.

More importantly, the content expanded in scope. The heroes now lead discussions on mental health, food systems, self-talk, and motivation, across YouTube, TikTok, and long-form projects developed for community workshops and policy events.

Why this partnership matters

Life Heroes Universe shows what happens when creative nonprofits have the tools to focus on storytelling rather than logistics.

Their work is not about technology for its own sake. It is about building characters children can grow with, learn from, and recognize parts of themselves in. Voice simply made that world coherent and scalable.

As one of our earliest Impact Program partners, Life Heroes Universe represents the kind of long-term, mission-aligned work we want to support: grounded, creative, and built to last.