Regardless of all our digital connections, we’re within the midst of what U.S. Surgeon Common Vivek Murthy has described as an epidemic of loneliness. That sense of isolation is what Nicole Kenney needs to deal with with Hey Auntie!, an rising social assist community that’s connecting Black ladies throughout ages and life levels. The platform “designates a nurturing relationship that could be organic however is extra typically what we name a ‘fictive kinship,’ emotionally vital bonds not primarily based on blood or authorized ties,” Kenney says. “Each baby is your baby.”
Kenney is a longtime advocate for the ability of intergenerational knowledge as a nonclinical social assist community for Black ladies to remind them of who they’re and who they are often. Her documentary, It Starts with Me, was proven on the 2017 Congressional Caucus on Black Ladies & Ladies Psychological Well being briefing in Washington, D.C. “Our objective is to ship culturally competent assist to assist Black ladies thrive, and whereas I have fun aunties throughout the globe, this particular affect is rooted within the historic and cultural lens of the Black aunties from my West African heritage,” Kenney says.
Guided by her personal auntie
Almost a decade in the past, Kenney was at a profession crossroad that was beginning to really feel like a disaster. A graduate of Smith Faculty with a masters from Johns Hopkins, the younger communications skilled could have appeared profitable from the surface whereas truly struggling to navigate her profession and the world at giant. She knew she wanted assist however wasn’t certain the place to show and was reluctant to disclose her vulnerability.
“I used to be 32 on the time and hit a psychological well being tipping level as a result of years of hysteria and pressures of navigating academia and workplaces as a Black girl feeling obligated to uphold the expectations of the Superwoman schema,” she says. A dialog with one among her personal aunties, well being educator Dr. Deborah Roebuck, pointed Kenney in a brand new course.
“The final place it’s essential be when you’re in a low place is by your self,” Roebuck advised Kenney earlier than sharing her personal struggles to seek out her means. These tales created a connection that made Kenney really feel much less alone. And that planted the seed for Hey Auntie!
Accelerating Hey Auntie!
In 2021, Kenney was accepted right into a six-month incubator/accelerator to develop her Hey Auntie! pitch for the Well City Challenge, a social affect partnership between Independence Blue Cross and the Economic system League of Better Philadelphia that rewards revolutionary options to well being and wellness points.
Upon profitable first place within the competitors, Kenney used the $50,000 award to conduct market analysis that yielded insights concerning the ladies almost definitely to have interaction with the platform. She was stunned to find that nearly half have been over 50, steadily experiencing life disruptions and searching for an opportunity to have interaction and provides again to a group in want. Whereas many noticed Hey Auntie! as a possibility to show a rising technology, in addition they expressed a need to study from youthful friends.
She acquired extra funding as recipient of an Innovation Fellowship from CoGenerate, a nonprofit supporting co-generational options to urgent social issues. Moderately than investing in new applied sciences, she employed current web site instruments and acquainted digital engagement platforms. “Using established applied sciences simplifies communication and makes everybody one really feel included,” she says.
Constructing the community
A personal community out there by way of utility, Hey Auntie! brings collectively Black ladies of various ages who wouldn’t meet every other means. They comply with group tips known as “Auntie’s Home Guidelines,” governing norms developed by Kenney. She additionally acts as an preliminary “icebreaker” till the relationships grow to be self-sufficient. Members achieve entry to a biweekly e-newsletter, can join in peer-to-peer discussions, and take part in Q & A with consultants. They’ll additionally have interaction the non-public Slack channel for group or one-on-one conversations, and make the most of a vetted 1-to-1 matching service that unites a extra seasoned girl with one who’s starting to navigate an analogous season.
Presently, subscriptions are free, however Kenney has shaped Hey Auntie! as a for-profit firm. Because the platform grows and generates engagement metrics, she will likely be experimenting with paid membership. “We’re additionally exploring B2B gross sales with monetary companies and insurance coverage firms which have devoted affinity teams and count on this facet of our enterprise to grow to be a key income driver,” she says.
Awarded the 2021 “Invention of the 12 months” from Technical.ly, a regional information group targeted on mid-Atlantic tech entrepreneurs and startups, Hey Auntie! presently has about 700 members, many in Kenney’s residence base of Philadelphia, one of many nation’s most important West African enclaves. The platform additionally consists of members throughout the US and internationally, from England to Kenya.
With out early advertising and marketing efforts, the platform’s development has been grassroots. Numbers are rising in response to Kenney’s frequent talking engagements and thru member phrase of mouth. “Explosive development just isn’t a part of our ethos: The protection of our group is our utmost precedence,” she says. “As a relationship-building enterprise, we have to defend our digital group from messages of judgment, perfectionism, and cyber violence so typically directed at ladies—particularly Black ladies.”
The trail ahead
Kenney continues to use to enterprise accelerators and social affect fundraising initiatives. Hey Auntie! was one among 30 semifinalists out of greater than 3,000 functions for the 2023 J.M. Kaplan Fund’s Innovation Prize, early-stage assist for entrepreneurs with Twenty first-century options to pressing social challenges. It was additionally a semifinalist within the pitch competitors on the 2024 Good Soil Discussion board, targeted on below resourced entrepreneurs.
“Even once I don’t advance to the finals, I’ve gained,” she says. “In fact, I would like the extra funding. However simply making use of places me within the orbit of people who find themselves deeply encouraging. Generally, it’s so simple as being requested considerate questions or listening to somebody say, ‘I imagine in you, hold going.’ Generally it’s a connection to a brand new alternative.”
Appearing on a type of strategies, Kenney was accepted into the College of Pennsylvania’s PennHealthX SDoH Accelerator. This system pairs college students with startups targeted on well being fairness, the primary of its variety nationally. “We intention to exhibit how multigenerational connection and collaboration is a dynamic pressure for good,” says Kenney. “And why innovators closest to the challenges must be these closest to designing the options.”