New Family-Owned Company Creates “Smile Mask” to Assist Deaf Community and Strenghten Social Cues

I made an off-the-cuff Facebook post a few months ago after seeing countless sponsored posts for designer masks. To paraphrase my own, it went something like this: “I don’t need to see masks with Marvel characters on it. Let’s not make it a thing now.” I immediately received some good-natured backlash. “This is the new normal.” Blah blah. But, what I was essentially getting at was I didn’t want masks to be a fashion statement. I just wanted people to wear them. Period. But, after some reflection I realized what I was really throwing down. I didn’t want the reality that masks were sticking around. The disposal and the no frills ones were as well, too. I started to “get it.” Unlike #45, I always wear a mask. I don’t mind it. I can live with the fogging of the glasses and what not, I just didn’t want this to last. Hopefully it won’t much longer. I miss seeing people actually talk to me. I miss actually seeing laughter. Facial expressions. Smiles. With all that said, that’s why when I read about a specific new mask, I did a proverbial backflip.

The Needham-based Rafi Nova is a relatively new company that didn’t set out to develop masks. They’re a family-operated fair-trade fashion brand that up until the Covid outbreak (and keep in mind they really got up and running at the start of the pandemic) were targeting adventurous families by marketing travel bags and the like. The company was co-founded by Marissa and Adam Goldstein who are world travelers with their two sets of twins Raya, Efi, Noah and Eyva. Anyway…back to the masks since I just threw those facts out of context.

Faced with pitching a brand focusing on travel in a world in quarantine, the Goldstein shifted gears and developed masks. Their first was, going back to the start of all this, a mask aimed at the hearing-impaired community. Working with a clinical speech pathologist fellow Olivia Gampel, they worked to improve masked communication for and with children, teachers, therapists, and the hard of hearing with a mask that safely cuts a spot to allow for full facial recognition.

The clear-paneled Smile Mask shields against the virus while providing an effective way of connecting with one another. Rafi Nova has donated 500 masks to the hard of hearing and the deaf thus far, and has made these masks available via their website. With the demand of masks in general, they sell others obviously. They recently created social-conscious masked tied to the Black Lives Matter movement as well as one commemorating Pride Month. Earlier this month, I chatted with Marissa Goldstein about the Smile Mask and how her family’s new company has evolved with these strange times in which we live. Watch below…