8-Year-Old Tulsa Girl Develops New Product Ideas For Sun-Maid Raisins

We first told you about Isabelle Murphy last June when she was competing to join Sun-Maid's Board of Imagination. She joined News On 6's Alyssa Miller on the Coca-Cola Porch to talk about that experience and the opportunity to do it again.

Monday, August 5th 2024, 5:41 pm

By: News On 6, Alyssa Miller

TULSA, Okla. -

A Tulsa third grader is not only going back to school soon but back to work as a member of the Sun-Maid Board of Imagination.

Isabelle Murphy, 8, was one of only three kids asked by the raisin processing company to return as part of its first ever Boomerang Class. With that honor she will also receive a $5,000 scholarship.

Isabelle said the news came as a complete surprise.

"There was a letter and then there was this box, this mysterious box," she continued saying, "First, I read the letter, and it said I am back."

Isabelle was first chosen for the Board of Imagination in 2023. It was the company's third class made up of kids ages 6 to 12 years old.

Her mother, Amanda Murphy, said Isabelle was thrilled as she had eaten Sun-Maid products for several years.

"A box would arrive before each meeting, and they could not open the box until the meeting," Amanda said. "Each meeting had a different theme. One was package design, one was food science, and she got into it the whole time."

Using the food test kit to create her own raisin flavors became a hobby for Isabelle.

"She writes down all the ideas that she thinks would be really good products for Sun-Maid," said Amanda.

Getting to be on the board for a second year in a row now gives Isabelle the opportunity to share those ideas.

"I have lots and lots of ideas," she said. "Cinnamon vanilla yogurt raisin, it is just a vanilla yogurt raisin and then it has cinnamon on it that just sticks to there, so it does not come off."

The flavor is already mom-approved and could one day end up on store shelves.

It begs the question why do more companies not take the same approach with innovation?

"What Sun-Maid is doing is absolutely brilliant by incorporating kids because kids have amazing ideas and sometimes their ideas go overlooked, but they are such a fantastic voice," said Amanda.

She calls it a win-win for the company and the kids.

"It got Isabelle really interested in food science, she did not even know that was a possible path," Amanda continued saying, "It really inspired her to tap into her own imagination and come up with product ideas."

To learn more about the Board of Imagination, click here.

Alyssa Miller

Alyssa joined the News On 6 team as a multimedia journalist in January 2023. Before that, Alyssa anchored 13 NEWS This Morning and told Northeast Kansans stories as a reporter for WIBW-TV. In her four years there, she won several Kansas Association of Broadcasters awards for her anchor and reporter work.