#69 - "Suicide Girl" - How One Founder Was Labeled by an Investor Due to Her Past

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:

1. 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.
   
   
   
2. 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).
   
   
   
3. 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.
   
   
   
4. 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.
   
   
   
5. 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.
   
   
   
6. Thankfully, Aimee and her team were able to overcome that moment and raise their pre-seed round.
   
   
   
7. 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.
   
   
   
8. 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.
   
   
   
9. 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)