Jade Kearney suffered from postpartum depression when her daughter was six months old and she was trying to complete her second master’s at NYU.
So she decided to create a solution to the problem. She created “She Matters,” an app to support Black women who also suffer from the illness.
“While I was trying to finish my second master’s degree, I had to figure out how to navigate that space alone because between cultural stigma and medical neglect for Black women in the postpartum period, there was really no outlet for me,” Kearney told TechCrunch. “And that’s how I founded She Matters because I felt like I didn’t matter,” she said.
Kearney was not entirely familiar with the tech space but taught herself about the ins and outs of starting and running a company.
According to the website, She Matters is a “digital health platform designed to provide Black mamas who experience postpartum anxiety and/ or depression with community, culturally relevant resources and culturally competent therapists.”
The first cohort of therapists has all been trained in a 12-week certification program.
“Therapists pay a fee to be on the app and be connected to Black women who want therapy. But the thing that’s different with our app and others is that these therapists are culturally competent and understand the very tumultuous relationship that Black women have had in the healthcare system,” Kearney explained.
She Matters already has 180 trained therapists and another 700 on the waiting list. There are currently more than 7,000 service users on the app.
She has raised $300,000 in angel money and is now talking with multiple investors to raise $2 million in seed funding.
Kearney says it hasn’t been all smooth sailing when dealing with investors.
“I’ve cried more behind closed doors in the last 12 weeks than I have in my entire life, but I refuse to give up because Black women are suffering and the problem is fixable. It’s about community and communication, and it’s about making as much noise as possible in the healthcare industry so they know we will not stop until change in maternal morbidity and patient outcomes drastically improve.”
