(from left) Kevin Dedner founded Hurdle, a mental health startup that pairs patients with therapists. Ashlee Wisdom’s company, Health in Her Hue, connects women of color with culturally sensitive health care providers. Nathan Pelzer’s Clinify Health analyzes data to help doctors identify at-risk patients in underserved areas. Erica Plybeah’s company, MedHaul, arranges transportation to medical appointments.
Kevin Dedner; Kolin Mendez Photography; Aaron Gang Photography; Starboard & Port Creative
hide captions
switch captions
Kevin Dedner; Kolin Mendez Photography; Aaron Gang Photography; Starboard & Port Creative
(from left) Kevin Dedner founded Hurdle, a mental health startup that pairs patients with therapists. Ashlee Wisdom’s company, Health in Her Hue, connects women of color with culturally sensitive health care providers. Nathan Pelzer’s Clinify Health analyzes data to help doctors identify at-risk patients in underserved areas. Erica Plybeah’s company, MedHaul, arranges transportation to medical appointments.
Kevin Dedner; Kolin Mendez Photography; Aaron Gang Photography; Starboard & Port Creative
When Ashlee Wisdom launched the first version of her health and wellness website, more than 34,000 users – mostly Black – accessed the platform in the first two weeks.
“It’s not the most fully active platform,” Wisdom, 31. “It’s not sexy.”
But the launch was successful. Now, more than a year later, Wisdom’s company, Health in Her Hue, which connects Black women and other women of color with culturally sensitive doctors, doulas, nurses, and therapists across the country.
When many patients search competent cultural care – an acknowledgment of the patient’s heritage, beliefs and values in the treatment process – a new wave of Black tech founders like Wisdom wanted to help. In the same way Uber Eats and Grubhub have revolutionized food delivery, black tech health startups across the US want to change the way people exercise, the way they eat, and the way they eat. communicate with your doctor.
Inspired by their own experiences, plus the experiences of their parents and grandparents, Black entrepreneurs are starting startups to bridge the cultural gap in healthcare with the public. technology – while creating profitable businesses.
See problems and solutions that others miss
Unity Stoakes, president and co-founder of StartUp Health, a San Francisco-based company that has invested in several health companies led by people of color. Those leaders, he said, have “a necessary and powerful understanding of how to address some of the biggest challenges in healthcare.”
Platforms created by Black founders for Black people and communities of color continue to flourish because those entrepreneurs often see problems and solutions that others might miss. Without a diverse voice, entire categories and products would not exist in critical areas like healthcare, business experts say.
“We’re really talking to a need,” said Kevin Dedner, 45, founder of a mental health startup. Fence. “Mission alone is not enough. You have to solve a problem.”
Dedner’s company, which is based in Washington, D.C., matches patients with therapists, he said, who “glorify culture instead of ignoring it.” He founded the company three years ago, but many people have switched to Hurdle after the death of George Floyd.
In Memphis, Tenn., Erica Plybeah, 33, is focusing on providing transportation. her company, MedHaul, which works with providers and patients to secure low-cost trips to get people to and from their medical appointments. Carers, patients, or providers fill out a form on MedHaul’s website, and Plybeah’s team helps them schedule rides.
While MedHaul is for everyone, Plybeah knows people of color, anyone with low incomes, and residents in rural areas are more likely to face transportation obstacles. She founded the company in 2017 after years of watching her mother care for her grandmother, who had both legs amputated because of complications from type 2 diabetes. They live in the Mississippi Delta, where it’s scarce. means of transport.
Plybeah says: “For many years, my family struggled with our transportation because my mother was her primary transporter. “Trying to schedule all of her doctor’s appointments around her work schedule is just a nightmare.”
Plybeah’s company recently received Sponsorship from Citi, banking giants.
Plybeah’s mother, Annie Steele, said: “I’m more than proud of her. “Every step she takes amazes me. What she’s doing will benefit people for years to come.”
From six doctors to 1,000 healthcare providers in three years
Health in Her Hue launched in 2018 with just six doctors on the list. Two years later, users can download the app for free and then scroll through about 1,000 providers.
“People are constantly talking about the poor health outcomes of Black women, and that’s where the conversation stops,” says Wisdom, who lives in New York City. “I don’t see anyone building anything to empower us.”
As her business continued to grow, Wisdom drew inspiration from friends like Nathan Pelzer, 37, another Black tech founder who founded a company in Chicago. Clinify Health works with community health centers and independent clinics in underserved communities. The company analyzes health and social data to help doctors identify their highest-risk patients and those they haven’t seen in a while. By focusing on preventive care for those patients, healthcare providers can help them improve their health and avoid having to go to the emergency room.
“You can think of Clinify Health as a company that supports surgery beyond the emergency room,” says Pelzer.
Pelzer said he started the company by printing out online slideshows he’d made and tossing them in the trunk of his car. “I was driving around the South Side of Chicago, knocking on the door and saying, ‘Hey, here’s my idea,'” he said.
Her experience as a patient provided a fresh perspective
Wisdom got the idea for her app due to the stress of working during her graduation, that she got hives.
“It was really bad,” Wisdom recalls. “My hand would swell up and I wouldn’t be able to understand what it was.”
The breakouts also prompted her allergist, a Caucasian woman, who told Wisdom to take two Allegra tablets a day to manage discomfort. “I remember thinking if she had been a Black woman, I could have shared a little more about what was going on in my life,” Wisdom said.
The moment inspired her to build an online community. Her ideas started at a young age. She finds health content in academic journals, looks for eye-catching photographs that will complement the text, and then posts the information on Instagram.
Everything started from there. This fall, Health in Her Hue launched a “care group” for users who want to discuss their health with a doctor or with other women interested in the same topic.
“The last thing you want to do when you walk into a doctor’s office is feel like you have to put on a suit of armor and feel like you have to fight that person or, you know, confront the person who’s supposed to be helping you. in your wellness journey,” says Wisdom. “And that’s often the position Black people, and largely Black women, are dealing with as they navigate healthcare. And it shouldn’t be.”
“We are each other’s therapists”
As black tech founders, Wisdom, Dedner, Pelzer, and Plybeah find ways to support each other with trading advice, funding conversations, and finding ways to come together. Pelzer and Wisdom met a few years ago while participating in a contest sponsored by Johnson & Johnson. They reconnected at another event for Black tech company founders and decided to help each other.
“We’re each other’s therapists,” says Pelzer. “It can get lonely here as a Black founder.”
In the future, Plybeah wants to provide transportation and extra support for those caring for elderly family members. She also hopes to expand the service to include shuttle customers to grocery stores and pharmacies, gym workouts and other basic errands.
Pelzer wants Clinify Health to make healthcare tracking more enjoyable — possibly with incentives to engage users. He’s developing plans and wants to tap into competitive energy just like fitness companies are doing.
Tui wants to help doctors find ways to improve their relationships with patients of color. The company plans to build a library of resources that professionals can use as a guide.
“We are not the first to try to solve these problems,” says Dedner. However, he and the other three felt the pressure to succeed beyond just themselves and those who came before them.
“I feel like if I fail, that has the potential to close the door for other Black women trying to build in this space,” Wisdom said. “But I try not to think about it too much.”
Health News Kaiser is a national newsroom and editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation. KHN is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
