Sep 8, 2020
Aimee-Louisse Carton, founder of KeepAppy, shares her story with
us which includes getting cornered in a bathroom by an investor at
a startup event, where the investor called her “suicide girl.”
This investor continued to tell Aimee she would never
be able to raise money because of her past suicide attempt.
In this episode, Aimee talks to us about her struggles with
mental health and how they did lead her to an attempt on her own
life and how that moment has ultimately led her to build something
to help many people who have experienced similar pain.
Aimee describes herself as a social entrepreneur, leveraging
tech-for-good to destigmatize mental unwellness and to empower
people with the tools they need to regain control over their
well-being. She is on a mission to create the most comprehensive
and engaging wellness app out there, aiming to create something
that can be used and made accessible for all!
Her startup, KeepAppy is a mission-driven social
enterprise. They are actively seeking partnerships with
emergency helplines, student unions and corporate wellness officers
across the globe.
Connected with Aimee and KeepAppy: www.keepappy.com, Aimee-Louise
Carton on LinkedIn,
Aimee’s Email: alcarton@keepappy.com
HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED
ABOUT:
- We spoke with Aimee about her own mental health journey. She
shared about a time when she made an attempt to take her own life
at the culmination of mental health, and physical health struggles
she had and how that led her to pursue mental health and wellness
and ultimately to create her own startup in the space.
- We talked about proactive and positive techniques she learned
to use to take control of her mental health from a preventative
perspective (journaling, goal setting, meditation, and more).
- Aimee created Keepappy,
just over 1 year ago which has reached over 25,000 people in over
100 countries – we talked about how her journey, and her pain has
been turned into a resource to help people all over the world.
- Aimee told us about how she has been discriminated against by
rather influential investors in her local startup ecosystem because
of her mental health past. After a startup event in Ireland, she
was cornered in the restroom by an investor who told her that
mental health was just a fad, and that she would be forever known
as “that suicide girl” and nobody would ever invest in her because
they couldn’t trust her.
- Aimee talks about how that incident cut her to her core. She
felt reduced to one moment in her life and that one moment was
going to define her to some people. Many people who struggle
with mental health differences feel like they will be defined by
that one moment if they come forward and ask for help. This
is stigma, and this is what we exist to combat. We are so
grateful that people like Aimee are willing to come forward and
tell their stories. This is the only way we will ever
overcome stigma as a society and encourage people to take care of
their mental health broadly.
- Thankfully, Aimee and her team were able to overcome that
moment and raise their pre-seed round.
- I shared with Aimee about a time when I was fundraising when an
investor told me I could not raise money because of my past. In the
coming weeks, I plan to share more about times when I’ve been
singled out and discriminated against because of my past with
addiction and bipolar disorder as well.
- Aimee and I talked about needing to change the conversation
around mental health so that people who need help managing stress,
or anxiety etc. feel comfortable coming forward to get help before
their problems turn into a major mental health issue that could
lead them to where Aimee was with her struggles. Aimee talks about
how we spend a lot of time building solutions for the 1 in 4 people
who struggle with mental illness, but we also need solutions to
help the 3 in 4 who do not technically have an illness, but who do
need to proactively manage their mental health just like they
manage their physical health on a daily basis.
- We also talked about reducing stigma in order to foster more
mental health startup creation. Aimee talked about the high
concentrations of occurrences of mental health differences within
the entrepreneurial ecosystem and how entrepreneurship attracts
people with these differences to it, like moths to a flame she
said. We’ve talked about this and the numbers that support
this claim in past episodes with Dr. Michael Free man and others as
well (see episode #2).
Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following
ways: Patreon, Website, Twitter, Facebook,
LinkedIn,
Email
Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website,
Twitter, LinkedIn,
What If Ventures (Mental Health
Venture Fund)