Welcome, everybody for another edition Today we have with us, Shane koja. So welcome Shane.

Hi, how are you, Michelle?

I’m good. Shane is a mult, a serial entrepreneur. She has a new tech startup called thrive. And I am so excited to have her on, because she’s going to share not only her new business thrive, but also her journey to getting here, and all of her other businesses. So, welcome, welcome. It’s so exciting to have you here. Thank you. Can you tell us how did you get started as an entrepreneur?

Well, I think that story starts from a very young age, because we were a displaced family. And I came from what was a wealthy background. But when my parents moved as refugees, they literally moved with two suitcases of clothing. And so we started from the bottom up, we lived in a three bedroom apartment, three families, each family had a bedroom, and we bought a little grocery store, and I was the eldest. So I was always helping my father labeling tins serving the older people delivering and so it’s in my blood.

So when you think back to that time, what do you see as as unique skill set that has helped you be successful at this point in your life?

So I think, Michelle, that’s a great question. I think at the time, you know, I was a little bit
you know, sad that I couldn’t do some of the extracurricular activities that other people did, you know, ballet elocution piano that was like, much later on in life. So you know, my extracurricular activities, were learning about business, how to work a cash machine, you know,
doing stock taking and stuff like that. But what that also taught me was, you know, the importance of hard work of perseverance of persistence. It allowed me to speak to the customers and really develop those social skills of engaging with people, and really understanding their needs. And once I didn’t understand it, then, but many years on now, as I get the gray is in my hair, I can see the value of that.

Yes, um, a lot of parents seem to think they lose their children lose something. And when they have a business and the kids, kids, we always see this as losing something. But coming from a small business background as well. Um, I gained more from it, I think, I have to say, and even my bosses have seen my work ethic different than those who didn’t, you know, weren’t brought up in a small business with our parents.

Yeah, I think, you know, some of the research, Michelle backs this up, that children actually look at what their parents do. So they see their parents work hard read, play music, persevere, etc. They build those traits.

Absolutely.
Okay. When, um, what advice would you give to somebody who is thinking about becoming an entrepreneur?

entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone. But it is certainly a great way to earn a living. I think I give just more generic advice. One is, everything is possible. You know, so many of us grow up thinking, I’m not good enough. I won’t get the money. Maybe it’s not a good idea. We’re always second guessing ourselves. So I’d say take the blinkers off. And think with a more positive light. It is a fact that if you are a woman, if you are a woman of color, and in my case, even if you’re a little bit older, it’s that much harder. There are biases, there are barriers. And there will be times when you will get rejection, and there will be disappointment. But I think that the one thing that I would really like to share with people is that when those things happen to me, I use that fuel at from a sort of yearning point of view like
I’m going to beat this. And in a way I felt, I feel that I took away the joy from the pursuit, I would advise people to use that disappointment and rejection to fuel the joy for working towards what they’re trying to do and actually enjoy the journey. Because ultimately, it’s about the journey, all the people you meet the things you do, and you let it’s how you grow. Absolutely agree, it is definitely how you grow. Let’s dive into your current venture, which is thrive. Can you let everybody know what is thrive?
Sure, thrive is a platform that aggregates everything that caregivers and seniors need on one platform. And it’s critical sort of service is this idea of checking in with your senior on the go on the move and capturing their mood. The reason being that caregivers often these are informal caregivers, right? daughters, granddaughters, etc, who are busy doing their daily work and managing their families don’t always have the time to call their parents straight away. And this is a good way of them to be able to make sure that their parent is up with their daily routine. And there’s no hiccups and that they’re feeling good. They see a message where they haven’t checked in or the mood is bad, then they can actually react and mitigate any risk early on.

What are some myths that you’ve heard when it comes to seniors in technology? Let’s start there. But everybody’s like a technology.

So you know that there is this sort of stereotypical belief that older people don’t like technology, and they won’t touch it. Now, it’s a very broad spectrum. And there are the people that find technology difficult and will not address it. But the largest segment is the 50 Plus, that is growing. And so I think the stats go that 65 plus year olds, 70% of them will have a device and use it, the minute you get to 75 years old, it drops to 49%. And then at 85 years old, it goes down to about 20%. So I think it is a real myth. And for many seniors, they recognize that technology can help them. I think, where the actual pain point is, is that there’s very little technology that’s made with the seniors, lens in mind. So Facebook is for everybody, whether you’re seven or 70.

Right.
And the smartphone screen is the same, there’s very little done that’s specific for older people

agree. Now what are myths when it comes to the caregiver, or for seniors?

So, you know, I think that there’s this sort of societal code that obviously caring for your parent is something you should be doing correctly, and that it should be joyful, and, you know, a privilege and all of that, especially in my culture, which is the Indian culture, you know, nobody would say God, I hate looking after my mom, right. And nobody really does hate it. But the fact of the matter is that if you’re trying to juggle work Korea, children, husband, and parents, and the shopping and the cleaning, you know, you’re going to break. And a lot of the research is showing that, you know, 60 70% of caregivers are actually in poorer health as a result of their caregiving duties. So think this idea of, you know, it’s easy, you’re just checking in it really is a myth. And and there are closed groups where people that are in this situation can vent privately because, you know,
society they can’t they can’t say that.
What do you wish you had known about creating thrive?
When you started out?
You know, I think that with thrive, it’s been something that came out of my own experience. So I think of myself as a good daughter that’s always looked after my mother. And despite my calling a two or three times a day, there was a day when she spent eight hours on the floor.
And that was just the most terrible day of my life because I felt so helpless, so accomplished yet so helpless.
And I wish I had known that this was a bigger problem at that time, because I spent so long just feeling so badly for myself. Before I actually embarked on researching this and talking to other people, because this is not a topic that people often speak about. It’s not dinner party or cocktail party conversation.

Yeah, it really isn’t. We often feel as though we’re going through this alone, because nobody else is talking about it. So you must be the only one experiencing it in its opposite way.

Exactly. And I think, you know, the other thing is that, think about how competitive the work places today, right? So you know, as a woman, you feel even less able to speak about this. It was really interesting that I did a focus group with men and women. And I actually had a couple of men break down in that focus group. Because, you know, there were a bunch of issues that they were dealing with, they were never going to get married because they were otherwise inclined. You know, their parents didn’t get that. And they had that pressure and the caregiving pressure. And it was interesting that once you gave permission to, to speak about it, it became something that they could actually objectively begin to handle. So, you know, I think that’s why with thrive, whilst I explain that one, functionality, it is a platform, because it’s where we want to curate everything, that a caregiver in a senior needs, so that we can make sure that that last phase of life is as good as the baby being born.

But you know, yeah, yeah, it’s, it’s interesting, um, a lot of people too often see the daughter or a woman being a caregiver. And there are a lot of men who have sons who take that role, especially today. So it’s, it’s good that you brought it up?

No, and there’s hopefully a Harvard study going to be published soon. That is talking about C suite CEOs actually taking sabbaticals to look after their parent.
Which is great, I think, I think it’s great that they can do it, but not everyone’s privileged to be able to
do that.

And I want to talk about that as well, when it comes to be able to take care of our parents. What does that look like in today’s workplace? So are they giving options or benefits? Or employees who can’t take a sabbatical to take care of their take care of their parents?

so sadly, Michelle, the The short answer to that is no. There are a few forward looking organizations, you know, like eBay and Accenture and so forth, that will give you eldercare leave. If there’s been an incident, they’ll give you six weeks of paid leave, much like maternity leave type stuff. But the majority of organizations do not provide this. And that’s why it’s so many times people have to take time off. They’re absent, you know, they eventually even leave their jobs because it’s just too difficult to manage juggling all of it. And that is a massive cost to employers, it amounts to something like $38.2 billion a year. And additionally, you know, not giving care and leaving seniors isolated and lonely deteriorates their health, which is costing another 7 billion a year.

That’s that’s a huge financial costs. A huge financial cost. Yeah.
We’re in the midst of COVID-19. Yeah. What should employers be aware of when it comes to their employees who are caregivers right now, what are some things they should be considering? They should be asking? They should be providing to their employees who are caregivers.

So I think that the first thing Michelle here is compassion and understanding. I’m not even sure that many employee employers know what their employee situation is. So I think that’s first and foremost. I think the second thing is that many cases givers are going through a very distraught period of time. Either they’ve got a loved one in assisted living or a care home, or they’re living alone at distance. And it’s really hard for them to keep tabs on what’s happening and keeping connected. So I recently found through my research that some of the larger firms, they pay something like $23,000 a year for a package of benefits for their employees, but they don’t allow the employees to pick and choose the benefits they want. So you might have a benefit for I don’t know, nursery school, but you don’t need nursery school, you need eldercare. So maybe you need daycare or, you know, for a senior or something like that. So think it’s really important for employers to wise up to this. What is going to happen, though, is that over the next decade, we’re going to have fewer employees actually in the workforce, because, you know, Millennials that came out early late bloomers had kids, less, fewer kids, you know, later in life. And so therefore, if you are an employer, and you are not providing these benefits, you’re going to lose a lot of talent. And that talent will likely stay with employers that are taking care of those things. So I think this will be forced upon employees and employers, but it’s a question of getting ahead of it. And I think COVID sorry, to interrupt you in a shot, I think COVID has been terrific because it’s shine a light on aging in a different way. You know,

I absolutely agree, it has shone a light on aging, and a lot of different other disparities of employers, or even the world doesn’t talk about enough and really haven’t made changes.

I’m like, and I mean, I think you’ve got to think about the fact that you know, a lot of these employee benefits, I’m talking about middle and senior management. Yeah. But think about the workforce that’s, you know, working at some of the more sort of the supermarket chains, the sort of mechanics, you know, gas stations, etc. Those individuals, yes, they can do shift work. But they are like you and me, they have the same responsibilities, exact, and they need support and navigating the whole medicaid medicare system is crazy. I mean, you know, even with three degrees, I find it difficult. So, I don’t know.

It is, it is interesting, I’ll put it this way. I’ve heard my mother on the phone, with her insurance and on the phone with her pharmacy, and are saying different things about why she couldn’t even get her medication. And her having say, hold up, I have one phone, let’s get up. Let’s all get together. And they’re like, Huh, are we gonna settle? So, so she literally just like, you know what, I’m tired of going back and forth, uh, you changing your story every time she like, got to get it straight this because she needs her medication. So you write it, it takes.

And I think, you know, in my sort of one thing I’m guilty of is thinking about things in an ecosystem way I say I dream in Technicolor. Because when I look at this, you know, think about the pharmaceutical industry. Think about the provider industry, right? Think about the government industry, like the incentives are wrong, right? You’re getting paid to treat people with thrive, what I want to do is keep people healthy. So you don’t have to treat them right. And I’m trying to change the mindset to say, okay, insurer, cover this. You know, when somebody turns 65, give them a subscription to thrive. For 150 bucks a year, you’re going to make sure that even if you start one ER visit, you’re going to say 10 $15,000 Plus, right, it just makes sense. And I think the models need to change because it’s unsustainable, the way it’s going,

I think is going to come, especially through this pandemic. It may take something else along the way because you know, people tend to forget. But yeah, it will. We’ll see. During this pandemic, more healthcare tech companies like yours, come into play, be very successful, and really start turning the health care, elder care and go
And entities around So, and whether it’s privacy policies to tell a hell to smart devices that are able to then share information on how to do preventative care, as opposed to?

Yeah. I mean, that’s what I would love to see. Right, you know, something that I’ve toyed with is this, you know, social impact bond type of model where you actually get paid by capitation. Right. So, I would happily take a capitation model to say, okay, of these 10,000 elders, if I save so many costs, you pay me x. Right. And I would love to do that. And I think most millennials today would, would find that purposeful ambition really rewarding.

Absolutely agree. Absolutely agree. The, it should be more of a reward, and the penalties the wrong place and rewards thrown. Exactly.

Yeah.

Where do you see and we kind of talked about this, where do you see thrive in five years, post COVID.

So I would Well, first start, I’d want to be profitable, I want to have impacted in excess of 50,000 lives by five years. And although this is a business that is global, I’m focusing on the US market, but because I’ve lived globally, I’m Canadian and British citizen, I’ve worked in all these countries. So I would like to see it sort of spread globally. Yeah. And I’d like to spend a little bit of time focusing on the Middle East as well, because a lot of people don’t understand this market. And I do. And so I’d love to pull that market up into it, too.
It’s not so much a ambition that’s all around sort of the money or the unicorn, but it’s around making the difference, you know, changing the mindsets. But I do understand that, you know, you’ve got to put food on the table for the people that work for you. And for yourself. So that’s the profitable piece of it.

It’s all about the process of where you were to make the money first get the revenue in, and then shifting gears to grow into other markets to make impact. Absolutely, I understand that. Good. But I absolutely get it. Now we’re post COVID. Um,
what are resources caregivers can use, that will help them in the process, whether it’s during COVID, or post COVID.

So there are several groups that caregivers can can go to. So what one is working daughters as a Facebook group called working daughters, which has very good advice, it’s a private group, so you have to apply to it. There are also several websites, around caregiving around daily caregiving around sort of managing your seniors, finances, and bills, etc. So I think those are good places to go to. And there are a handful. So it’s not like you’re going to get 1000 hits. And you can get good information from there. And then there are obviously technology companies that are providing a variety of solutions not just thrive, but there are others. It just depends on the price point that is right for you. So there’s everything from cameras and sensors, to you know, software downloads without a tablet, right, you use your own device, but there are tablets that you can buy that are pre populated that do little bits and pieces as well. So this is a market that is growing and disrupting already. I think COVID is really kind of fine tuning it, which is great. Yeah, absolutely.

How can people find out more about thriving, maybe probably joining in, especially during COVID, and more about you and connecting with you.

So basically visit the website, which is www dot thrive dash community.com. To learn about thrive and through there. You can also contact me through the info at thrive community.com
and Google me. I’m also totally available through LinkedIn and that I love talking to other entrepreneurs and people going through various journeys. It’s been my life’s passion. So I’ll never turn someone down.

Thank you So much shame for joining today. Everybody. eldercare is very important. We’re in the midst of COVID-19. And I and I have a feeling and we didn’t even talk about this, um, culturally, especially here in the US for black and Hispanic families, being able to go and help physically in person help our elders is often what we do. And this is anti intuitive to us culturally, like staying away and you can’t go do anything has been very, very difficult.

So I think for both parties, for the caregiver and the senior, it’s a lonely scary, fearful time. So

yeah, so definitely check out thrive, it may be a great option for you and your elder to stay connected during COVID my nephew’s birthday is today, and my mom’s like, I want you to do the face thing so I can see him. So, um, and he was like, wait, Granny, how did you do this? Like, oh, you’re on Michelle did it.

So definitely, definitely take. They want to use the technology, my mom 72. So they want to use the technology to stay connected. So thank you, again, Shane. Everybody, be sure to check out thrive as a great option to stay connected with the elder in your family to help them so that it helps you as well. I’ll talk to you next time.
Thank you. You’re welcome.