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About Us

Providing kids a proven effective mental healthcare experience that makes them emotionally healthier

About Us

A Story on Purpose

“Purpose is a definitive statement about the difference you’re trying to make in the world.” Roy Spence, Co-Founder, GSD&M, Austin, Texas

I love this book, “It’s Not What You Sell, It’s What You Stand For: Why Every Extraordinary Business Is Driven By Purpose” by Roy Spence with Haley Rushing. I reread it often. I talk about it with University of Texas social venture students who are building their own impact companies. My partner, Beth Carls, and I mentor students every semester as part of our volunteer “pay it forward” commitment.

My copy of Mr. Spence’s book is dog-eared, underlined in multiple highlighter colors and tabbed with sticky colored flags from start to finish. Why? Because I want to bring these purpose insights into my role daily.

Being a kid most days is challenging. All you have to do is turn on the news or your social feed to understand why today’s kids need help. Immediately. From the growing national mental health crisis Covid-19 has exacerbated to the near-weekly school shootings and increasing youth suicides. Every child has more to deal with now than ever before. It’s unprecedented.

Everyone knows kids use their technology 24×7 for everything they feel is important – connecting with friends and family and learning about a whole world of other stuff. Frequently, this “stuff” can be dangerously harmful and life-threatening unbeknownst to them. That’s why we’re using mobile technology responsibly and on purpose to help eradicate this problem for kids.

Because we already know machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies used for healthcare are focused on improving treatment outcomes while reducing costs and making care more accessible. That’s helpful. Because over 75% of kids who receive mental health treatment, do receive it at school where they spend most of their time. That’s significant.

Tech-based tools deliver people efficiencies too. By allowing machines to handle mundane, but necessary, admin tasks, counselors and therapists save valuable time to focus on caring for their students.

An easy-to-use suite of data and predictive analytics tools provide kids with an unprecedented and unique engagement for their mental health they’ve never before experienced. reThinkIt! helps kids make smarter choices, and make sense of their lives and the people around them whether they’re at home, at school or on their own. Minty, reThinkIt!’s Intelligent Mental Healthcare Chatbot Companion™, is like a check engine light performing an Emotional Digital Triage™ that checks for a child’s trending mental and social emotional needs.

reThinkIt! is so powerful, it’s already prevented a school shooting and multiple youth suicides.

Real-life results and tangible outcomes our team couldn’t be more proud to be a part of – on purpose.

Amy Looper, Co-Founder

READ WHEN BETH AND AMY LEFT FOR GOOD…

 

Team

Beth Carls

Beth Carls
Co-Founder, CEO
Board Member

Amy Looper

Amy Looper
Co-Founder, COO
Board Member

Eric Castro

Eric Castro
Partner
CTO

Mike Castro

Michael Castro
Partner
Engineer

Pam Heller

Pam Heller, M.Ed.
Content and Training Director

Jennifer Furlong

Jennifer Furlong, LPC-S
Lead Clinician
LiveChat

Darci Bechen-Terry

Darci Terry
Creative Director/Illustrator

Melina Soroka

Melina Soroka
Marketing Consultant

Cassie Thompson

Gillian Parker
All Teens Considered Podcast Host

Zac Ziebarth

Zac Ziebarth
Partner
Business Development

Minty Ro Bot

Minty Ro Bot
Virtual Partner
AI Analyst
Personal Assistant

Advisors

Eric Boyce

Eric Boyce
BKA Wealth Partner/Advisor/
Board Observer

Bob Bridge

Bob Bridge
Southwest Angel Network/
Investor/Partner
Board Observer

Cliff Drane

Cliff Drane
Aduro, VP Product & Design, New Markets/
Partner/Advisor

Sandeep Gupta

Sandeep Gupta
CTO/Business Strategy
Investor/Board Observer

Meeta Kothare

Meeta Kothare, Phd
Univ of Texas, McCombs Bus School, Global Sustainability
Leadership Inst, Managing Dir./
Advisor

Brian Mikulencak

Brian Mikulencak
Blue Dot Advocates, PBC/
Board Observer

Jackie Montaine

Jackie Montaine
US Dept of Justice, Special Advisor/
Advisor

Funders


“Covid-19 has exacerbated the growing national mental health crisis — creating huge issues for parents, educators and employers right now. reThinkIt! has proven effective to reach kids when they’re upset which helps kickstart the intervention process earlier.”

Bob Bridge, Executive Director
Southwest Angel Network

See how easy it is for children to have their own Personal Intelligent Mental Healthcare Chatbot Companion always-at-the-ready.

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Beth and Amy partied, as the Prince song goes, like it was 1999! Literally – because they, along with eight other co-founders, had taken their internet consulting firm public in September 1999. In fact, on that momentous day, there were 28 new millionaires created from the initial group who decided to “take the plunge” in 1996 with them.

The team created the largest mid-cap, high-tech IPO and had grown 8,164% in a mere 35 months. By creating the first internet consulting company to fully integrate a cracker-jack team of tech and creatives under one roof, they picked up a Fortune 500 group of early adopter clients such as Exxon, Chevon, Dell, Sony, Enron, Halliburton, Master Card, United Airlines, Hilton, M&M Mars, Continental Airlines, Merrill Lynch, Duke, Marathon Oil, USAA, and more.

An exciting local achievement came when their company won the Houston Business Journal’s Fastest Growing Private Company award and went public a month later. Who wouldn’t be partying, happy and ready to kick back and relax? They’d just come off of a huge rocket-ride of success.

Not Beth and Amy. They knew this was actually just the beginning for them. The beginning of what they really felt called to do as social venture entrepreneurs – use technology and sound business principles as a true force for doing good and doing well in the world – for kids…

Today, Beth and Amy – along with OneSeventeen Media’s innovative team, many who have worked together since the rocket-ride days – share a common commitment to using technology so kids can thrive.

Beth Carls Co-Founder, CEO, Board Member

My Story

"It’s true. I’m the techie parent who introduced my boys to Twitter!” From busts in the plumbing lines to facilitating board meetings, I guess you could say I’ve done it all around the office! Sometimes with more finesse that at other times but all the while wanting to serve our team as a rock solid example of doing whatever it takes. As a social venture entrepreneur, my commitment is to building our company with a greater purpose that includes higher standards of accountability, transparency and performance.

I grew up in a small East Texas town of 2,500 and experienced what it means to be supported by a “village”. There was always someone to give me advice or encouragement. I had a wonderful education experience and grew up believing I could accomplish anything.

Still, despite having confidence and caring people to turn to, like most adolescents, there were things I didn’t share that I tried to handle on my own. Having an unbiased, anonymous resource of trusted advice – like the advice given by our products – would have been very helpful.

My grandmother’s example instilled in me the importance of giving back. Throughout my working career, I have valued volunteering to non-profit organizations such as, The HEB Feast of Sharing, The March of Dimes, FotoFest Intl., The Women’s Home, Human Rights Campaign, Target Hunger, Boys and Girls Clubs, ChildBuilders, SafePlace and Travis County Healthy Adolescent Initiative. I also enjoy mentoring young people and have supported the amazing work of Austin’s Un.Incubator, SXSWedu Advisory Board, University of Texas’ Social Entrepreneur Leadership Lab (SELL) Fellowship and University of Texas’ McCombs School of Business Social Innovation Initiative.

The professional stuff

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead

In 1996, I helped found a private Internet professional services firm, Align Solutions – the fastest growing private company in Houston from 1996-1999. It was a wild ride - we grew 8,164% in 35 months working with innovative clients like Exxon, Container Store, Continental Airlines and Dell Computers. Align merged with 7 other companies in 1999 creating Luminant Worldwide, the largest mid-cap IPO in the tech sector (September 1999) with a $158 million valuation. It was exciting to see 28 young team members who took the plunge with us become millionaires the day we went public.

With co-founder Amy Looper and eight other partners, we created Luminant as the first Internet consulting firm to fully converge two industries into a “technology-meets-design” company. Out of this hard word and the IPO we created with a $158M valuation and 1200 employees, Amy and I were able to fund our first social enterprise.

From 2000-2008, we produced online interactive tools to help almost 200 schools and 500,000 kids stay in school and develop their character skills.

My fourth and latest venture with co-founder Amy Looper, OneSeventeen Media, helps kids self-discover to make sense of their world with social media. Our latest tipping point products are reThinkIt!, a kid’s personal need-it-now mobile mentor, and ThinkingApp, interactive e-books that help children make wiser decisions through SEL and Restorative Justice principles.

Two main things that motivate me today: 1) creating mobile tools that give digital natives a safe “virtual village” for support; and 2) growing our company to such financial success that we can help fund other women-led companies.

Amy Looper Co-Founder, COO, Board Member

My Story

“He walked right up to me and put the noose around my neck.”

Yes, I was hung on the playground with a jump rope by a classmate twice my size. Literally, my life was saved that day by the recess bell. I was an easy target because I had repeated first and third grade, being labeled “the stupid kid”. I was bullied regularly for what seemed like an eternity from my kid point of view. I had loving parents who did everything they could to try to help alleviate the problems, still there were things I didn’t share.

Fast forward, I’ve realized my unique experiences as a bullied kid and understanding the power of technology are some of the main sources of our innovation today. Building the world’s first and best AI-driven mobile apps, smart enough to help kids make wiser decisions and develop a healthy sense of self, are the main goals that fuel my passion. We’ve reimagined school-counseling-meets-social-emotional-learning for 21st Century kids.

By building today's intelligent data-driven virtual Jiminy Cricket, from my childhood era, or virtual Baymax, for today's kids, we gather and adjust content specifically tailored to meet their individual needs – personally there for them on-demand.

Our team is building smart applications for a world where kids can focus on being kids, while having their own AI-driven intelligent chat-bot counselor and a live counselor at their fingertips – just a simple text away. This is my personal why – to help kids discover their value so they can revel in who they are and thrive.

The professional stuff

I cut my creative teeth in the fast-paced advertising world at one of the largest ad agencies in the Southeast. In 1982, after moving back to Houston, my hometown, I found myself with a stellar portfolio of agency experience. Even after my work experience on several major national accounts, I was still unable to get full-time work thanks to the 1980’s oil boom-bust and subsequent economic recession. Being young enough to not know how afraid I probably should have been, I jumped in for an eat-or-die entrepreneurial venture, founding my first private company by breaking a continual sweat and delivering exceptional creative and customer service experiences.

In 1997, I parlayed the design and marketing firm I co-founded with Beth Carls, into founding partner equity in Align Solutions, an internet consulting startup. I was one of ten co-founders that steered Align to a staggering 8164% growth in less than three years, garnering us Houston Business Journal’s Fastest Growing Company. Align became Luminant Worldwide, the largest mid-cap IPO in the tech sector (September 1999), with a $158 million valuation. Yes, those were the heady days when you could get money for an idea sketched out on a napkin!

Leveraging my past experiences to co-found OneSeventeen Media feels like I’m home. A place where everything I’ve learned (and continue to learn today) is poured into building mobile applications with an innovative team of like-minded folks. We all have purpose to use technology as a force for good and doing well especially for kids.

I watched my Mom volunteer all of her life and frequently tagged along. It's something I've tried to model so volunteering comes naturally to me as well. There's too much volunteering over the years to list but I currently enjoy serving as a long-time SXSW Edu Advisory Board member, Startup Launch mentor judge and Student Startup Emcee. I also volunteer as a mentor-in-residence for the University of Texas' Social Entrepreneur Leadership Lab (SELL) Fellowship and University of Texas' McCombs School of Business Social Innovation Initiative.

As an author and energetic speaker I've enjoyed representing our company's successes and have appeared on national media outlets such as CNN, CNN/HLN, A&E, USA Today, TIME and People Magazine. I've presented our bullying research to the U.S. Congressional education staff members as well as participated in the White House Conference on School Safety.

Recently I was honored to represent OneSeventeen Media by presenting remarks to the US Conference of Mayors 86th Winter Conference's Education and Workforce Development Committee Members in Washington, D.C. about our research and innovative use of Artificial Intelligence to affect school safety.