I Feel You, A Fortify Wellness Production
Bettina Mahoney the Founder/CEO of @atfortifywellness is a rape survivor who started her brand after struggling to not only find a therapist, but multiple mediums to heal through her trauma. Fortify Wellness is a 360 holistic platform offering therapy, coaching, fitness, and meditation on one subscription platform. We dive deep with our trailblazing guests about overcoming adversity.
I Feel You, A Fortify Wellness Production
From Adversity to Innovation: Navigating Entrepreneurship and Family Dynamics with Technologist Zoya
What if resilience was the ultimate key to success in the face of adversity? In our latest episode, we introduce you to Zoya, a remarkable first-generation immigrant who arrived in the U.S. with her mother and just $8. Her journey from overcoming language barriers to becoming a successful technologist and entrepreneur is nothing short of inspiring. Zoya opens up about the influence of her mother's courage and a pivotal pandemic moment that pushed her to reevaluate her identity beyond professional triumphs. Discover how she left behind a prestigious corporate role to create Orgo, a groundbreaking platform that eases the chaos of youth sports logistics for families.
More about Zoya Lehrer:
Zoya Lehrer, a first-generation immigrant founder, arrived in the U.S. with her mother in 1992, carrying just $8 in their pocket. A second-generation technologist, Zoyabrings over 20 years of experience in corporate executive roles across banking and tech, where she led large teams and developed complex digital products.
Transitioning to entrepreneurship, Zoya bootstrapped a founding team of seasoned experts to build a better solution for the #1 stressor in her family life - logistics of youth sports. Orgo, short for "organization on the go", is a collaborative mobile platform that empowers parents, kids, and caregivers to see the day like never before and execute on the day's commitments with clarity and confidence.
Download Orgo: https://www.orgohq.com/
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**This information is not to be misconstrued as medical or psychological advice. Please contact your medical team if you have questions or concerns pertaining to your medical or psychological well-being. All of the linked products are independently selected, and curated by the fab Fortify team. If you love and buy something we link to, we may earn a commission.**
Welcome to I Feel you, season 6, the podcast where we dive into real, raw conversations about mental health, resilience and personal growth. I'm your host, bettina Mahoney, here to guide you through stories that inspire, challenge and empower. Please know this podcast may touch on sensitive topics and is not a substitute for professional mental health advice. If you or someone you know needs support, please reach out to a mental health professional. Now let's dive into today's episode. I am so excited to welcome Zoya.
Speaker 1:A first generation immigrant founder arrived in the? U with her mother in 1992, carrying just $8 in her pocket. A second-generation technologist, zoya brings over 20 years of experience in corporate executive roles across banking and tech, where she led large teams and developed complex digital products. Transitioning to entrepreneurship, zoya bootstrapped a founding team of seasoned experts to build a better solution for the number one stressor in her family life logistics of youth sports. Orgo, short for Organization on the Go, is a collaborative mobile platform that empowers parents, kids and caregivers to see the day like never before and execute on the day's commitments with clarity and confidence. Please welcome Zoya. Hi Zoya, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today. How are you? I'm well. How are you? Thanks for having me. I am so excited that you're here and I always love to start with this question. It's such a grounding question for us when you strip away all of your professional titles and achievements, how you define who you are.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's a great question. In fact, if I can just cite the very moment where that became very apparent to me that I would need to even ask myself that question to begin with, is during COVID, when we stepped back into the home and outside of the office. But then at that point, 15 years that I had spent inside an office where I wore what I call armor. I had my bag and my outfit and my nails and the whole presentment that we brought into the room right, and we were taught, we were taught this this is polish, this is corporate polish. This is how you show up, so you participate in the meeting, you get your notebook, your planner at the time, whatever it was. You strip all of that away and you just become a talking head as you and I are sitting here today, you know, many years after.
Speaker 2:That was one of those moments where you're like, oh yeah, I really kind of have to figure out. You know who we all are and what do we actually bring to the table, and you know who we all are and what do we actually bring to the table. And so at that point, luckily, great skills were already in hand and sets of experiences that kind of shaped, you know, just impact that one has to make when they show up to a meeting without those things. So that was the moment where I kind of realized that so at the heart of it I'm just a doer and an executor, like kind of a special teams person, that comes in and readily heads into the bouts of the unknown and tries to figure out what is all needed, whether it's in that moment, on that day.
Speaker 1:And adversity comes to everyone, and what's so cool about, you know, bringing on high performing women is that they are all doers and it's really interesting when I put them all together. We just did another recording that we just figure it out as women. We just figure out how we're going to make things happen. And I started my business sort of unconventionally, after I survived rape and going from waking up super early at like 5 AM to train with a personal trainer I was a competitive dancer in college, psych major as well to go from that to being sort of bed ridden, not being able to see past the next hour next day, it was really hard, and so I had to go after my own what I called it at the time just like figure out what worked for me, my own wellness and then I kind of coined it as like a 360 wellness. It took me forever to find a therapist. Why does that happen? I don't know. It takes the average person six months to find a therapist. And then I realized I like to move my body, I needed fitness and I was like, why is this not on one platform? So I created that for Gen Z and for moms 360 approach therapy, coaching, fitness, meditation and one subscription platform.
Speaker 1:And you know, at the time I thought you know that event was the catalyst for what I built in this headspace. And then now I always knew I had it in me. I had that like righteous fire in me to problem solve and to create something that I felt like was lacking. Your story is so incredible. You talking about coming here to Brooklyn with $8. Yes, that's like daunting. What personal qualities do you think helped you overcome those early challenges? I mean that's like commendable. I can't even imagine.
Speaker 2:So I didn't get a chance to to come here on my own will, right it's.
Speaker 2:It's a direct extension of my mom's heroism that sought out the opportunity and, frankly, the need to go ahead and leave everything we have behind, and we immigrated here from the Ukraine at a time when, you know, there's a lot of sociopolitical change Not there isn't now, but certainly during that time and so there was cause for that, and one that necessitated a start from the very early, beginning with nothing.
Speaker 2:So those $8 were indicative of the then cab fare that took from JFK to Brooklyn. So from there it was all about survival, and my mom had a job that's been lined up for her. She was a computer programmer even in those days, and so she was able to put her skills to work immediately, even regardless given the language barrier that she had. Even when we came here, we literally didn't speak a word of English, and I had to go to the local library in Brooklyn to teach myself English based on Disney books. I would sit there with Disney colored pictures, like these large books with large font and texts, and translate every single word to try to figure out how to get ready for school in just a couple of months, so that'll kind of teach you pretty early on.
Speaker 1:Right, you're literally like pushed into it. What was going through your head when you came here? You didn't have a lot of money, you're in a completely new country. What was going through your mind as a young person and how did you sort of move through that in your own mental wellness?
Speaker 2:You constantly don't know or have a context for things, which is something that I think we take for granted, if you do grow up in an environment that you are immediately accustomed to and you understand the rules of engagement and the norms. And so, because I kind of landed into truly a foreign country, of course, but to me, even as a kid, that had a specific set of a mental map of what my childhood was at the time, and now it's been completely reset within a setting that didn't have any precedent for that, that's a big jostling moment. Right, you mentioned that you were a competitive dancer. I used to dance as well. That's not something that I was able to continue given our circumstances, but, again, something that I probably would have otherwise found solace and normalized my acclimating into this new life. So that wasn't an option. And then new friends and new language and new school system and all the things, and we moved around a lot. So that restart something was, it's like, a pervasive thing for me.
Speaker 2:So over time, you develop a muscle into adulthood and, yes, into professional lives, that says, wow, a restart is not that bad, a beginning is not scary. Some muscles that we've developed, this you know, mental resilience, this excitement for a Monday, just as we talked about the onset of something new whether it's the new week, the new day or even, in this case, a new job where you walk into something, you go. You know what. I'm going to ask some questions. I'm going to have the confidence to know that there was a mental map for me to kind of start developing now for this thing, parlay that into the skills that I already have and then start to exert value really in terms of, you know, trying to feel active in whatever that situation is. So that is very much a theme throughout and something that I would encourage, you know, folks to kind of invite into their lives. That change is good and being afraid of it as opposed to readily heading into the face of it is a disservice really that you know could serve over time.
Speaker 1:And how old were you when you came over into the States? Nine years old. That's such a young age, I mean, but it's like life lived because you have memories.
Speaker 2:At that point, you have a basis of friends and relationships and norms and you know kind of crushes and hopes and aspirations and you kind of reset. That was a big confidence thwart in a way, where you're just like, oh, I used to be kind of you know this like badass girl that used to run around in the yard with like all of the older kids and now I'm just this meek thing that doesn't understand the rules and regulations of the environment around me and I felt that every time we moved I'm like, oh shit, that's another thing that I don't understand. It was not well into adulthood where I started to kind of feel like I've got the systems in my mind, to feel like there's not a whole lot of new things that will come and jostle me, cause I would anticipate that always like, oh, there's a whole other set of things that I don't understand and don't have any context for.
Speaker 1:I think it's interesting, like the sense of like nature versus nurture. I think about that a lot. How much of that was in me, like the sense of resilience, and how much has it been learned from the people around me? I'm curious coming to the States from Ukraine at nine years old, how much of that do you think was just like nature versus nurture? Do you think you just had it in you or was it a skillset you feel like you were mirroring from your mother, for example?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well, I think that when the circumstances are what they were, you don't have a lot of choice. So would I want to have felt that way? No, would I have opted to have nothing and feel without and observably different than my peers? Of course not, but because those are the circumstances and were the immovable objects that were kind of before us, you move through it. You move through those moments and you're like, okay, make the best of it.
Speaker 2:We would get furniture from the way that we furnished the apartment was, from whatever the trash day was, from the week before and before it would be picked up. It would be like a nightstand or a vacuum cleaner or some object that we otherwise were missing. Many of our peers at the same circumstances would just walk the street and you would be like, oh, that's an item. That's an item Like, did you want to do that? Necessarily no, but that was a means to that particular need. So I think circumstances drive that so much. And so, back to your point probably nature more than anything in that, excuse me, nurture, rather Nurture, nature, nurture. We're going, with circumstances being nurtured, yes.
Speaker 1:I think it's interesting, though, because you've had choices. You had a choice to submit to the experiences and circumstances around you or overcome. I want to highlight that because it's so admirable. You do have choices. You can decide yeah, I'm going to lean into it or I'm going to overcome it. So that is really admirable, considering what you went through. It's something that I think should be highlighted and celebrated. I think one of the things I've noticed is that, across the board, you know these really high performing women they're like, yes, I did this thing and I overcame it, I just did it. I do the same thing. And then when you, when you're able to celebrate that, there's a lot of pride in that. That I think should be celebrated as well. You know, and I think, of course, you've learned so much from that experience I'm curious what you, what transferable leadership skills you took into the executive work that you do today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I appreciate that so much because we do tend to kind of take that for granted to go. It was done, it needed to be done and now we're moving on to the next. So the point you're making is to reflect and pause and recognize the effort and the process that it took, because it's not natural for many and it does require a special cut of character, resilience, maybe set of experiences that even shaped and molded previously. So I recognize and appreciate the point you're trying to make there for sure, appreciate the point you're trying to make there for sure. Into the executive roles over time.
Speaker 2:Empathy is definitely one and I have not been perfect, you know which is kind of building teams over time and recognizing the differences and the personal factors that would shape the individual, not only as they were as that employee or member of the team, but also who they were outside of that team.
Speaker 2:Have not always been perfect in trying to be the best support system for those individuals, but at least recognizing that like they need to be recognized as such, because I've got my individual walk, they have theirs who we bring ourselves as into the office at the time in person every single day, checks that at the door sometimes better than others, and so that was kind of another curve is to say, look, you know, my set of experiences shape who I am today.
Speaker 2:Someone else is going through something differently. When we all come together as a team, you can't assume for all of that to just, you know, disappear and being empathetic to that. So building organizations over time with that human factor in mind was definitely one, and just I don't know, execution first, like facts first, data driven, get shit done. Back to the point we were making earlier, kind of like the doing aspect, having not a whole lot of patience maybe not a virtue there just because you want to get to that outcome or to that result and just kind of move through the adversities and some take longer to get through than others. So I just think the balancing act between wanting to get things done, recognizing that there's people as part of that process, and just galvanizing that as much as possible to ultimately come together with desirable outcomes.
Speaker 1:You have no idea how many times a day I say get shit done, yeah, just get shit done.
Speaker 1:You just get it done, you find a way. And it was funny because one of my advisory board members was like you took something from like idea to like now we're launching, and I sat with that for a hot minute going like wait, I did what? Yeah, it's funny because I was at like a tech stars event last week and someone that was a little bit earlier on was like, how did you do that? And I'm like, well, you just do it.
Speaker 2:It's a day by day doing.
Speaker 1:It's just a day by day. It's like the resiliency it's. You know you, you were, you know you danced as well. I think a lot of the regiment, like you have to be super regimented to be an entrepreneur. No one's going to tell you to wake up at 6am and go for a run or go to the gym or to be super, like, strategic in how you spend your time. No one's going to do that. You have to. And so I think that's why you know we're so high performing, because we have a goal in mind and we're going to figure it out.
Speaker 1:And I think I'm really resourceful and I'm sure you are too. We find a way. If we don't know the answer, we get someone else to get the answer too. And you know I never built a tech product prior to this. I don't have any experience in it, but I knew what I wanted to build and I found a way to ask the right people to make it happen with. You know I'm bootstrapping. I didn't get, you know, venture capital money, but you figure it out if you want it bad enough and I know that's kind of like in your face sort of feedback, but it's true Like, if you want it bad enough. You will find a way to make it happen and get shit done.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and if anyone's not telling you that, then then it's. It's. It's a confirmation bias that you surround yourself with because that's really the only way. That's the answer. Yes, there's luck. Yes, there's connections. Yes, there's connections. Yes, there's fortunate circumstances, but on average, at mass, those are not the cases. There's obviously outliers where that is the case, but for the most part, it's just to figure it out yourself, carve out a path where the doing every day is accretive to a very clear set of goals that are measurable, that you yourself can control first and foremost, especially in a bootstrap capacity. I am as well, and so it's. It's that it's the stuff that no one really talks about, cause it's like everyone wants to hear the outcomes right. Everyone wants the wins, the launch, the ARRs, the, the hiring announcements, all the things, but there's a process in between. Actually, one of the things you said resonated with me and made me recall. Someone said this to me very, very early on in my journey, and I'll never forget these words. They guide me almost like every day.
Speaker 2:The hardest thing about being an entrepreneur is you get to invent your own problems every day. Not only solve them, but invent them, and that's a stark difference versus being in a structured organization where you get to execute with precision, absolutely. You get to be amazing at that right. Someone gives you a goal, you'll go out there, you'll push through it, you'll perform better than. But there's a goal, there's guardrails, there's guidelines. Here you get to set those problems, solve them, create the next set of problems, solve those again, and so that whole process, the cycle of it, and the resilience on top of it and the mental capacity that comes along with wanting to wake up and do that again, over and over and over again over a long span of time, is really that endurance that I think, again, is not really explicitly forewarned about.
Speaker 1:No, I don't think so. I think, like no one could possibly prepare you for what you're about to endure. It's stimulating, it's very rewarding and not everyone can do it. It's not for everyone, and that's okay. You are in a corporate position and then you decide to go and become an entrepreneur and that there's that cool lineage there of you know coming from a place of understanding financial insecurity, getting into a corporate position, you know having stability there and then deciding I actually want to leave and become an entrepreneur and that's high risk. So I'm curious what inspired that transition and how do you manage, you know, those challenges, especially bootstrapping.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, you're picking up definitely in the right theme there and that's the threat to draw. So, given the financial constraints, what you learn is capital efficiency. We learned we lived on $20 a week, like that was I mean back then. Right, so like everything is relative, but you can imagine, was it 30 years ago? Do you have siblings? I don't only child, my, yeah, I mean. So there's there's some commonality there for sure.
Speaker 2:And my first job, if you call it that, my first revenue stream at nine years old, was taking the soda cans and the soda bottles the big like seven up coke bottles and returning them to the store for five cents to redeem, and then enough of that. I would then go to the dollar store. Remember the trolls? You're too young, you're like literally baby, but there was like the trolls on a string. There were these trolls that we would wear and I just would want the troll, like I just wanted the troll in the dollar store with like the little jam belly button. You know I'm a kid, I want these things, and so that was like the first time that you kind of correlate like effort. However, beneath you with maybe it's like literally going to the garbage chute and picking up bottles and then just packaging them up into like a giant plastic bag and hauling that onto a public street, into the store there's no back entrance. Like you're walking in as a kid with, like these bottles and you're like, here you go and they're like standing there and counting the bottles and like giving you the 90 cents or whatever it was that it was worth, and like you're walking proudly into the dollar store like that'll teach you some shit, like that's a humbling moment.
Speaker 2:But fast forward now. So you know my own career too. Like I, I wanted the executive roles. Like I was on a path and I worked for banks, and so you know I've done well.
Speaker 2:And then the decision to step out was a family decision. So at this point you know we've got three kids and we have a household and we've got responsibilities in this way, and so this definitely was, you know, a time and a place that would allow and permit for a financial risk factor to be introduced at a time, let's say, when five years prior just would not have been the case due to those family circumstances. So it's the right place, right time, right stage of a career which is highly personal, right. Like I didn't have the option of like I'm just going to couch there for a while and like live in a garage at a friend's house and like make this business work. There's a different implications that you know when you're kind of at a more mature point in your parenting journey, et cetera. So timing yes. By the way, I missed my banker's paycheck. Let me make that very, very clear.
Speaker 1:There still is risk in its own right. I'm assuming you have a partner that you share in on the expenses, right, but did you feel like a sense of, wow, I have to make this work for my family. Do you have any of that pressure that you would like to share?
Speaker 2:any of that pressure that you would like to share.
Speaker 2:There is a pressure, but it's a self-imposed pressure point because at this point you're just like look, there is no cushion.
Speaker 2:Right Like, this is a path that's decidedly been laid out in front of me in a way that I have decided to be on. Therefore, it must be the singular path, because if I wanted to bootstrap and still maintain my old job or a job right just from, like the financial perspective, I don't think that you can yield full-time results with part-time effort, especially in that early kind of zero to one stage when everything is a 16-hour day that requires, you know, 10x the typical energy. I just don't foresee a time and a place where that would have been expended in the space between thought and the space between meetings, as my day previously was laid out. So it really isn't all or nothing, and this capital efficiency is a theme that's pervasive throughout our team's practices as well. We're a team of first-time generation, or rather first-generation immigrant founders as well, mostly as well as LGBTQ+, and so it's a diverse team with diverse sets of experiences and perspectives, and so capital efficiency is probably like the one underlying common thread amongst us all.
Speaker 1:We're full out in the way that we work and operate. Pun intended.
Speaker 2:I think that's the point. I think that's really the differentiating factor, because you can, you can. I hate the word balance, but you can take on both, but you're half-assing both, right. You're not giving your 100% or 150%, as is required in this particular case. It's just mathematically impossible. I mean because your level of expectation and grit and everything else is like at such a higher frequency you just don't accept that 50% as the mark. You want to and need to go to the 150, right. So you have to create runway for that, and so for us, those decisions are very binary, like are you in or are you out?
Speaker 1:Let's talk about Orgo your mission of powering logistics of daily life. How does that connect to your broader goals? When it comes to social impact and wellbeing that you talk about, yeah, no.
Speaker 2:I appreciate that. So we really niche down in our messaging, our presence, our investor story, most importantly, our mission-led story, and that we are aligned with youth sports. So it's powering logistics of youth sports. Daily life, of course, is just kind of the thing that's wrapped around it. But as our initial target ICP, it is the sports family, like my own. So whether it's the dancer, whether it's, you know, the violinist or whomever is in the arts, call it extracurriculars we just kind of niche it down to sports parents. But it's the same sentiment, it's the families who have multiple children between the ages of six to 17, ideally, because that's kind of where those logistics start to become felt at scale. My own kids I've got 13, nine and six, all girls. They're athletes and we do competitive swimming year round, all the club sports for lacrosse and soccer, and so just like that is our lifestyle, that's the speed of life, and so when that becomes the case, it's almost like military grade time management to the minute that starts to track leave time, preparation time, travel time, early arrival, true duration, drivers, driver to driver, from staying at, all these dimensions that are part of our vernacular as part of the day-to-day when they go unanswered or unsolved in terms of data elements. That's where the stress comes in, that's where the administrative burden is greatest. And in my own life, and doing that at scale every single day, every weekend, every weekday, for the foreseeable future to, and in my own life, and doing that at scale every single day, every weekend, every weekday, for the foreseeable future to come.
Speaker 2:In my parenting journey, I became incensed by the fact that there's no centralized aggregating, true to life tool that I have within my consumer personal life, like I do in my professional, where there's no shortage of productivity tools and time management and all the things that kind of make me successful. And I was like why is there such a gap, like as a technical chasm, between these two worlds? I'm a singular individual. I have needs similar in both worlds. I don't want to be lacking in this way, especially when I spend the next 15 years in this active parenting journey doing just that developing my kids through their you know extracurriculars, being there for them, supporting them, coaching them, as my husband and I do like giving our time back to the community, as we are Like.
Speaker 2:I would like a tool for that to centralize time and, you know, basically manage it in the way that I spend it already, allow for me to collaborate with the people in my life we call it your crew and then there's so many different things that we want to do within the platform itself in terms of aggregating the lifestyle that is and drawing more integrations into the space, et cetera.
Speaker 2:But that's kind of how it all began is that there's a pain point, there was a technical chasm that we observed. There's time management tools that were kind of lacking in the way that we were leading our life, and that's where we are today. We're in market in both apps. We are free to start. We're growing and scaling, raising pre-seed now, but that's only after a year being, you know, together as a team and bringing a product to market that we feel resolute, is making a difference and is garnering the type of trend, you know, traction that we'd like to put a machine toward, and so we were very intentional about kind of reaching this point. So that's where we are today.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's incredible and within your own right you're kind of like a 360 model. You know, our few demographics are Gen Z and moms.
Speaker 2:Okay, come on over.
Speaker 1:With what. Yeah Right, there's like so much integration opportunities there to promote each other, but I feel like that's one of the biggest stressors for moms are the scheduling, like that's the biggest thing for them is like, and then with the mom guilt, if they work full time. You know, I want to be present for my children. That's a big thing, and so I really think it's interesting how you have that 360 model, because that that's really at scale, like every family with small kids. You know. That's really at scale, like every family needs with small kids, you know, yeah.
Speaker 2:So what's interesting about that? Because we've kind of niched down and we've done our own research, not only by way of our own kind of lens onto the space, but also just kind of observing the types of families that gravitate to us the most. The age difference is a huge factor. If you're not within the six to 17 kind of age group, you're still fairly in control of your schedule in a way that you can choose to not get involved in such an overt way, or like your schedules are kind of still at bay and like you're in control of your weekends. To my house on a Saturday and Sunday my husband and I literally say goodbye to each other at seven in the morning. We go completely two different directions, like different states, different fields, back-to-back schedules. We won't see each other back up again until like 9 PM most days, like that's. I mean we choose that lifestyle right, like that's kind of the space that we operate within. But we're not alone, literally everybody I talk to, whether it's in Houston, whether it's in Texas, whether it's in Texas, whether it's in Wyoming, utah, jersey, wherever it's like that's kind of what people are doing, plus or minus, like that's been normalized. So if that's the normal pace of life plus or minus being led, why aren definitely like the starting block of where we like to kind of come in and serve as an impact for, and then for us too. You said moms and I totally appreciate that sentiment, but interestingly, our data indicates that it's a 50-50 split, or nearly, because in this kind of team sport, provided that there are multiple partners in the home and all the different ways that folks are kind of collaborating with one another, it's a all hands on deck operation. When we leave the house, especially with multiple kids, there is no option. There. No one's sitting around being like let me know how your day was, honey. Everybody is coaching, driving, participating, administering, which is why the need for centralized information and dissemination of that information is more critical than ever, because the administrative burden is so great, because other people are reliant on that data so they too can execute and help out and participate in a given way.
Speaker 2:So that's kind of this integrated life that we've started to live, that craves for information to be at our fingertips and we want to be independent, like I don't want to be the one, or do I want my husband to be the one to be like. This is where you have to go, this is what's next. Like, give me a thing that shows me very clearly what's next. We actually even drive out notifications that say it's time to start preparing, it's time to start driving. When you start to drive, there's a go button that takes you right into integration and off you go doing the thing you're going to be doing anyway.
Speaker 2:So like thinking through the ecosystem that emulates life the way they already live. It is kind of like one of our earliest mantras. So I've got a 13 year old and that's she's the oldest in my stack and one of the biggest observations and frustrations that we have within our home honestly, before Orga was kind of like a thing that's keeping us all ticking together was that she's just constantly floating through space and time aimlessly, seemingly as overstructured as you would think that she would be like being a competitive swimmer and you know lacrosse, soccer, all of it. She just constantly had to be led and told. Being like this is what's next, this is what's coming up, grab your bag, you're going to want to think about this thing on top of it, you're going to want to be ready at this time. You're getting picked up by this person. So there's this script that would kind of guide her to it, which was such an administrative burden on us as well. And then we're like this parroting thing that's just yelling at her all day and finally I'm like enough is enough.
Speaker 2:So, like the way that we've structured the ecosystem is that she too gets to participate in our crew. So she has Orgo and she sees the days. Everyone else sees theirs. She gets to own her day, everybody has to own their day. So when she schedules for stuff it is seen by all. But also if she needs something from us, she'll assign us as a driver. Let's say she only needs a ride too, because she's getting picked up from that's on the calendar. If she calls me in the middle of the day, like you know, teenagers do like everything is urgent. You need everything right now. We encourage her for her to take a look into Orgo and be aware, especially on the weekend, where is everybody Cause if you call dad and he's coaching on a field and he's not picking up, don't keep calling. Be aware of where everyone else is and what your role relative to all the other people.
Speaker 1:I love what you said. I want to highlight something that you said owning your day, because there's a lot of empowerment in that, and I'm curious as a mother. You said you have a child. That's 13. What do you fear with your kids and school systems right now when it comes to mental health? Because I think owning your day is something I really want to highlight because that can give them incredible life skills and improve their mood and make them feel more confident for life. But what are you kind of thinking about as a mother right now when it comes to your children in schools? What are they lacking when it comes to wellness, care or education around wellness I'm curious about.
Speaker 2:For sure You're not going to hear me say social media, like that's like the catch all sentence. That's not, that's a byproduct, right? Like that's just like a nature sorry, nurture I keep going back. Like that's just like circumstantial and it's got a whole other topic around that. Executive skills for me, is huge, not in the way that you and I kind of think about that within corporate, but it's not something that this particular generation is explicitly taught, whether it's studying, whether it's managing time, whether thinking about others in the ways that we've just talked about.
Speaker 2:That's like the hidden component with Orgo is that, once again, like when I say own your day, yes, be confident, but like just really drive through it, understand how to move through space and time where nothing is happening to you.
Speaker 2:I'm not doing this to you.
Speaker 2:You are the one that gets to prepare, get your shit together, walk out this door on time, be picked up by so-and-so or make plans accordingly and know exactly when you're available or when other people can be of help to you.
Speaker 2:There's such great power and control in that. So maybe when these folks, where these teens, feel out of control with their day because things are happening to you all the time and you're just like this cog in the wheel, like in the system, and you don't have any say in it. Here, as minute of a role as this may be playing, like there's no question about what's happening and what role she plays within that day, and I just want that to parlay into the rest of her life, to be like I own this shit, this is my day, this is how I move through it, this is what I need from other people talking about get things done. In order for me to go to this party from there, for me to go to this game, I need to line up this coverage or to have these people be on my side to be able to drive me to X, y, z, like.
Speaker 1:I love this. I don't think it's minute at all. I mean like there's so much stress around the schedule as, like a family, like mother having kids, you know, even dueling out the schedule between your partner, like that's a big deal, and I think that notion of owning your day can really empower young people. So I don't want that to be overlooked, because I think there's a lot of value in that. To get those skill sets really early on, I think is incredible, so I can't wait to check out the app and talk more with you about it. That's really, really interesting.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of empowerment within that very mood boosting. You know, for a 13 year old, be like. I owned that schedule.
Speaker 2:I you know, I, you know, I did this is I had a busy day and I feel really proud. Like we have like a silly little thing. We're like we'll gamify all of this and especially like lean into the teen aspect. There's also mindfulness that we want to bring into it. Like you're going to especially love some of the improvements that we've got coming up or we're going to incorporate. Like our tagline is hustle handled, but we're going to have an offshoot of that. That says hustle mindfully. Like there's like a moment that we want to introduce as part of the experience, but like that's that's kind of how we want to bridge the gap. It's like there's the doing part, there's the hustling, but then there's also kind of like the empowerment and the feeling, the sense of accomplishment and ownership that comes as an extension of having those things be already done. Like there's a check mark. You should feel good about the day that you've had, you know.
Speaker 1:I agree. I mean, that's super empowering. I see a lot of crossover there with what we're doing, which is really cool, so let me know how I can wait to do more. In one word, what do you want to be remembered for?
Speaker 2:I don't know. Okay, sorry, I'm unprepared. I told you that I would be ad-libbing this. I promised for it to be 100% organic, so you're hitting me up off the cuff here. Pain to purpose, maybe like yours.
Speaker 1:I love that Well. Thank you so much for your time today. I appreciate you. Thanks for tuning in. At Fortify Wellness, we make taking care of your mind and body a breeze With therapy, coaching, fitness and meditation all in one place. And guess what? We have collaborated with Orgo. Orgo is here to help busy families manage all the logistics so you can get to the right places on time and still have time to focus on you. Head over to orggoHQcom to download the app today, available on both Google Play and the iOS app store. Get organized and take control of your time with Orgo. And don't forget join us again next week for more inspiring stories and insights. Until then, take care, find your balance and remember wellness isn't just a destination, it's a journey, and you're not alone.