Ross James | Pioneering Leaders of the Year | Exeleon Magazine

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CONTENTS

CONTENTS

CONTENTS

#MyJourney

Information Technology

Information Technology (IT) is considered the ield of advanced and future technologies that help mankind lead simpler lives. However, “latest” and “future” may be ironic as IT has been around for a long time; in fact it existed before the invention of computers. Abacus is known to be the irst tool ever made in the industry. Ever since then, IT has come a long way. Today, major economies are dependent on the industry and would collapse without them.

It must have been a great challenge for people to grapple with a constantly changing and ever-growing industry, let alone creating a business around it. However, for passionate leaders, great challenges are mere drivers that lead to success.

Ross James , CEO, CTO, and Founder of Accloud, is the perfect example of passionate leadership vs the growing challenges of IT. With over three decades of experience in the ield, Ross has grown on to become a veteran of the game.

Founded in 2015, Accloud offers state-ofthe-art cloud-based management system

tools to Small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs). Under Ross's supervision, the company aspires to help entrepreneurs “grow at the scale of their ambition.”

Accloud's journey began when Ross decided to create an end-to-end platform to enable B2B trading along with accessible micro-inance services. The need for the same emerged when the World Bank announced crisis in the SME job creation market. Ross saw this as an opportunity and created the Accloud platform that can help small businesses actively participate in the formal economy by ensuring more employment and social wellbeing.

In 2019, Accloud rolled out a full suite of mobile-irst business management and accounting tools, while offering SMEs access to affordable capital and entry to new markets. In addition to this, Ross collaborated with the government of India to help them bring millions of rural citizens online.

FROM EXPORTING COMPUTER PARTS TO BUILDING A COMMUNITY

Adaptability is one of the most important traits of a true leader. It enables them to

identify the shifting dynamics timely, so that they have irst-mover advantage against new opportunities and enough time to be ready against new challenges.

Ross's journey has been similar to a certain extent. In his thirty years of experience, he has observed the IT grow from an industry of the niche to the most proitable.

For Ross, these changes were opportunities to shift gears and ind

new problems so he can build better solutions for emerging businesses. From exporting computer parts to specializing in LAN integration to creating software solutions that help businesses grow, it has been quite a journey for him and Accloud.

WE WALKED SO YOU COULD RUN

One of the greatest challenges for entrepreneurs in today's business environment is managing a

business. In the modern business era where competition is intense, managing a business is a game of margins. Hence, entrepreneurs today require years of expertise and technologically advanced solutions to cover the extra mile.

Having faced similar challenges in his early entrepreneurial days, Ross is aware of these pain points. He has used his experience to build a platform that eases the pressure off business owners. Accloud offers a diverse range of solutions including micro inance, e-commerce, and accounting, which help businesses focus on their products and services.

Additionally, Accloud has grown to become a community among likeminded businesses from the secluded parts of the world.

According to Ross, this will create a sense of community among isolated businesses in developing economies.

Our mission is to make a sustainable change for the better in emerging and high-growth economies.

FINDING THE RIGHT PEOPLE

Building a company is a long and complicated process, however, for determined entrepreneurs, it's an enriching journey. Ross went through his fair share of learnings in the process of building Accloud.

Among which, one that stuck with him over the years is related to people. Ross admits that inding the right set of people for a business is one of the greatest challenges an entrepreneur comes across.

Another major challenge that he has come across is undercapitalization, which can be a sour spot for any enterprise.

Not to mention the COVID-19 period, that can be counted as the era of uncertainties for all businesses across the world. According to Ross, the pandemic and the resultant lockdowns have been speciically harsh on growing businesses.

Speaking about the issue he states “I've seen the massive impact felt by so many small and medium businesses who have struggled to survive the lockdowns. And as inancial markets have tightened, so have capital markets, which has been a huge challenge for growing businesses.”

THE TEAM DRIVING THE COMPANY

The secret to a successful company lies in its value system. Great companies are driven not on numbers but a speciic set of values, which is followed by all their

employees. Ross believes that the passion with which he started the company can be seen in his team. According to him, the core values on which the company's foundation was established, align perfectly with the values that drive his team every day.

I have been so fortunate to have an amazing team of developers around me for many years now, helping get Accloud off the ground.

Led by Ian Beard, the Head Programmer of Accloud, Ross has a remarkable team of 20 developers in Europe. In addition to that, the company operates through partners in India, who provide constant feedback to help upgrade its solutions. Ross believes that this kind of open communication is one of the key factors in making

Accloud a success story.

Ross values his team and feels privileged to work with them. He states “I have been so fortunate to have an amazing team of developers around me for many years now, helping get Accloud off the ground. ”

GREAT IDEA. BETTER ADVICE.

It is said that great ideas can change the world. But great advice can help sustain those ideas till the time of execution. All great companies are excellent ideas that sustained long enough to become great companies.

Similar is the case with Accloud. An idea turned into an epitome of growth, culture, and success.

Ross, who spearheaded this idea, has one such advice to share. He advises new entrepreneurs to ind the right mix of people. According to him, it is very important for a leader to be around people who can support, encourage, and mentor them in their entrepreneurial journey.

RIPPLE EFFECTS OF ONE GOOD DEED

Giving back to society and the environment is something all businesses talk about, however, it is very dificult to deine how the same can be achieved. Ross has made it simple by building a business that impacts the people directly. He has strategically created solutions that will positively impact those “less fortunate, less privileged, but are striving to achieve.”

Ross had always dreamt of doing something for the people in Africa, and now, looking at the response Accloud has received in Australia, it seems like his dream will sooner rather than later turn into a reality. He believes that through Accloud, he will be able to help all those who stood by him in his days of struggle.

A SUSTAINABLE CHANGE FOR BETTER

Ross is incredibly happy to share that he has big plans for Accloud. The company is even considering getting listed in the London Stock Exchange, which will further enhance its appearance in the UK market.

Moreover, Accloud is anticipated to reach around 2 million users by next year, due to its consistently growing operations in India.

On the other hand, the company is expected to expand its business in Latin America, Nigeria, and South Africa by the end of 2024.

Accloud's mission is “to make a sustainable change for the better in emerging and high-growth economies.” And with the aforementioned development and expansion strategies, it's fair to claim that Ross and his team are one step closer.

We Embrace Excellence!

Exeleon Magazine features some of the leading players in business and shares their journey of excellence to inspire aspiring leaders across the globe.

LOOMY

Ukrainian developers have launched Loomy application for creative processing of posts, stories and visual for Instagram and TikTok. It allows to design a photo or video in an original way by using rare fonts and effects which make posts design differ from the rest of the news feed.

Users can easily and quickly create unique content for their social networks with Loomy by using a wide range of opportunities to implement various creative tasks. The app is completely free and available for download in the AppStore.

202 continues the trend of vertical 2 videos, stories and inluencers. TikTok, Shorts, Reels are the main channels for attracting an audience due to the fact that vertical videos are more popular than other content in the recommendations. People can publish in their accounts three types of content — stories, Reels and regular posts. At least, the video should be processed.

One of the problems of content creators is that with the development

of short content users have started to watch more photos and videos. They spend an average of 52 minutes a day in TikTok. The video lasts a maximum of three minutes, during this time a person watches at least 17 videos. This creates a problem for bloggers, businesses and ordinary users — it becomes more dificult to hold attention, so the number of views, likes, reposts and saves decreases. When the competition for the user's attention increases, it becomes more dificult to hook it. Content simply merges with the rest and no longer looks attractive. This is called banner blindness. You need to stand out from the competition to solve the problem.

There are two main ways:

Ÿ Non-standard behavior, sometimes going beyond the generally accepted norms

Ÿ Original visual design of the effect

The most eco—friendly way to grab attention is through visual effects. The Loomy applications solves this problem, it contains rare fonts and visual effects that most social

networks users do not have. It will make the account's feed more creative and original. The Loomy application is based on more than 200 different popular and original fonts, options for backgrounds and stickers for the design of text posts and layouts. The functionality of the application also allows to decorate texts in geometric shapes.

The main advantage of Loomy application from competitors is the variety of fonts. Besides the fact that the app contains it more than competitors, it is conveniently divided among themselves. The fonts in the library are divided into three sections - color, animated and classic. In the window of each font user can see how it will look on a photo or video if it is suitable or not, this function saves time.

The interface is intuitive — the selected ile is located in the center, and a carousel with fonts and effects is located at the bottom. The structure of the application interface does not differ from the stock photo and video editor in Instagram and TikTok, which allows the user quickly get used to it - he will get the impression that Loomy is part of his favorite social network and won't need to get used to the new interface. One of the priorities of developers is that a variety of tools and effects should combine simplicity and clarity.

As a result, the application is implemented as if the developers simply supplemented the standard interface of Instagram and TikTok with a new set of tools.

The process of creating content: open the application and select a photo or video, a carousel of fonts and effects appears at the bottom. Select the desired one and edit it in the photo — strengthen or weaken the overlay using sliders, increase or decrease the size in the case of a font. As a result, you will receive a photo or video with an original font that won't leave your subscribers indifferent.

Any user of social networks will be able to understand it and process photos. His content will stand out from the competitors because of original fonts and effects which the application has.

A l l is o n W a l s h

DRIVING RESULTS U n m a t c h e d

Leadership is a unique and multifaceted

blend that inspires and fuels progress. At the forefront of this dynamic force are leaders who drive results, the catalysts of change who infuse their teams with purpose and determination.

Allison Walsh is an example of a powerful leader who knows how to drive results to ensure optimal client satisfaction. In this Exclusive Interview with personal brand and business coach – Allison Walsh shares about her journey and ideas of entrepreneurship.

What according to you makes one a powerful woman? How do you integrate the same thought into your leadership?

A powerful woman is ALL WOMEN ALL THE TIME. The Most powerful woman, though, is one that sees her passion and her craft through to happiness and success. The Most powerful woman prioritizes her needs and her goals and makes them happen! I hold myself accountable and teach all of my clients

the importance of happiness and passion in success, and how it takes action in order to achieve it all.

What prompted your interest and subsequently your foray into the consulting and coaching space?

I started as Miss Florida in 2006 and quickly realized that I have been able to ind success in many things that I do. After gaining that title for myself, I knew I wanted to help others achieve amazing results pursuing their goals because I am a huge fan of both personal and professional development.

I had a few clients that I was working with, but it wasn't until 2009 that I jumped in and started treating the company as a priority. My irst business was truly born during the recession because I needed to igure out how to help us dig ourselves out of the hole that we were in as a result of my husband losing his job.

I knew I had experiences that I could share and that there were clients who wanted to learn what I had to offer, so I igured out a pricing structure and started hustling. They were getting great results and word of mouth referrals were coming in. I knew it had even greater potential and so I decided to partner with a dear friend to expand the business, which was such an incredible experience.

In 2015, I returned to a solo practice and evolved what I offered to reach a new clientele. Fast forward to 2021, and my niche has continued to evolve as I have. In addition to running my own business, I've built other very successful businesses along the way. Consulting has always provided so much joy and I am eternally grateful to the amazing clients I've had the chance to work with.

What is the approach followed by you when offering your services to ensure optimal client satisfaction?

I am constantly evolving, growing, and learning. Everything I've ever done or experienced that's moved the needle is incorporated in my training and work. I've seen a lot of coaches pull back and not share, at the risk of over-sharing and not having anything new to sell. I'm the opposite and a complete open book.

I also know how to drive results, and always give 110% to my clients. If I can't provide what someone needs, I will refer them out. To me, results are what matter and if I am not the woman for the job, I'll connect you with someone who is and cheer you on as you chase your next goal.

What does a day in the life of Allison Walsh look like? How do you ensure work-life balance?

4:30 AM: Rise and shine, meditate, light exercise and journaling.

5:15 AM: Working on a passion project or something that lights me up and ills up my cup.

7:00 AM: Getting my 3 kids ready for school.

8:00 AM: One-on-one coaching sessions with my clients

9:00 AM: Team meetings and one-onones with my team

12:00 PM: Lunch, meetings and reprioritizing the afternoon to ensure deliverables are able to be completed.

3:00 PM: Grabbing a snack, meetings and praying that my kids don't zoom bomb any videos calls (which happens at least once a week).

7:00 PM: Doing the dance mom shufle, picking up and dropping off, and getting my little guy ready for bed.

9:00 PM: Fast asleep. I'm an early to bed, early to rise kinda gal.

Balancing work and life are extremely hard, as I'm sure most of the FemFounder readers know! One of the main ways that I work to ind balance is by knowing and understanding what is in alignment with my goals. This is both professionally and personally. When I understand and acknowledge what is working with me, instead of additional work, I am able to cut what does not serve me and focus on what does. I focus on integration and alignment over balance.

Looking back at your journey, what would you have done differently when starting out?

Stop overthinking and just go for it. I learned so much when things didn't go right and one of the biggest lessons is that procrastination, especially around launching something new, will never result in sales (it only delays progress).

I got in my own way, more ways than I care to share but now I've adopted the mentality that it's better to put things out there than to talk myself out of doing what I know I need to do.

What would be your advice for women entrepreneurs in today's work environment?

Finally, recommend / mention one thing in each of this category:

One Book Entrepreneurs must read: Scale of Fail by Allison Maslan

One Productivity Tool that everyone should use: Jasper.ai

One Mobile App that you use the most: Instagram.

One Movie / Show that you would recommend: Schitt's Creek

One Quote that Motivates you the Most: “The whole point of being alive is to evolve into the complete person you were intended to be.” Oprah Winfrey

One Investment Advice that you Follow: Hire an experienced advisor to help you.

I see way too many women with brilliant ideas fail at execution - not because they weren't capable - but because they allowed their excuses to be way louder than their WHY. Once you lay out a plan for what you want to do and why you want to do it, the most important and critical step is HOW.

You grow stronger, more resilient, and more capable each and every day as an entrepreneur, and I promise you will be so impressed

with your results if you commit to your “why” and “How” and stay crystal clear on your vision.

What does the future look like for you and your brand? What are you most excited about?

This year will allow me to cross an exciting goal off my list as my irst book will be out this Fall! I've dreamed of this opportunity since I was a teenager, so I'm thrilled that it's coming to fruition.

I am also really excited to continue speaking and contributing, and I've also looking forward to my company scaling. Our methods and approach work, and not only am I excited to work with new clients, I am excited to bring new coaches into the company to help us scale.

MEET HARMONY VALLEJO

CEO OF UNIVERSAL EVENTS INC.

Harmony Vallejo has nearly 20 years of

experience in the world of communications and marketing. Today, she leads a team of passionate professionals after founding her own business, Universal Events Inc., which provides branding and backend support to nonproits.

Harmony gained much of her experience in communications and marketing two decades ago at WYTV, a Western Youngstown television station. She would later go on to spend some time as a marketing representative for Winners Advertising, improving brand awareness and developing relationships with its clients. There, she developed her talent for branding and marketing.

After establishing herself in communications and marketing, Harmony went on to found her own company: Universal Events Inc. Her company focuses on the mission of strengthening the bonds between nonproits

and the community.

At Universal Events, Harmony manages a passionate team of communications professionals in a collaborative environment.

If she isn't working directly to impact local and international nonproits, Harmony writes articles and guides to help nonproits with practical, step-by-step methods to utilize social media, manage compliance paperwork, and succeed in their missions.

Harmony Vallejo earned her bachelor's degree in communications from Youngstown State University. Today, we're going to ask her some of the most burning questions about her career.

What drew you to entrepreneurship?

HARMONY VALLEJO: I always wanted to help people, and felt that my background would allow me to ill a niche section of the market and provide services that nonproits

desperately need. Communications and marketing isn't just about developing a logo or making a newsletter – there's a lot of moving parts involved, and that's what Universal Events exists for. I igured if I had the ability to ill this gap, that it was my responsibility to do so.

How do you feel your background has prepared you to be a CEO?

HARMONY VALLEJO: My background required me to constantly ind solutions and complete objectives, much of which often involved me working collaboratively with a team. I learned how to manage projects and get results, so I feel like I had a pretty good repertoire of knowledge to work with. I feel those experiences are what made me into the CEO that I am today.

Speaking of your team, how did you go about building it?

HARMONY VALLEJO: You have to ind a team of like-minded people who really share in your vision. Having professional experience is important, of course, but if they don't have the same passion for the profession that you have, it may not be a good it. I also believe in fostering a positive, collaborative environment that allows for everyone to excel. Being able to grow as a team really inspires everyone to work together for a common goal. I think that's one of the best ways to build a successful team.

What do you feel is required to be a successful business professional?

HARMONY VALLEJO: Selfconidence and self-trust is a big one, no one's irst few attempts are likely to be completely successful. If you stumble and fall, don't give up –try, try again. It also helps to have a real mission behind your desire to succeed: for me, I wanted to be able

to help nonproits to better serve their communities, and by knowing that I could help make positive change in the world, it really empowered me to make sure I succeeded.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to start their own business?

HARMONY VALLEJO: Study your market and identify what it is that sets you apart from your competition. You have to have something unique about you and your business that will make people want to work with you. From there, you need to establish a good team to help back you up and make sure you're successful. If you can identify those two things, you're on the right track. Oh, and it helps to be positive, too. It goes a long way.

The Language Barrier Bey ond

> Interview with Rishi Anand

What according to you makes one a powerful leader? How do you integrate the same thought into your leadership?

Strong leadership is when you can encourage, motivate, inspire, and challenge your team to produce their best work.

Strong leadership connects a team together through a common purpose and builds relationships in the workplace that allow for effective communication, more creativity, and better problem-solving skills.

In my view, a powerful leader is one who connects the team together with a common goal and builds relationships in the workplace that facilitates effective communication, increased productivity, and better problem-solving skills.

For me, it is important to connect with people around me. Moreover, I prefer to have frequent brainstorming sessions with my team. Also, on the personal front, I do not encourage micromanagement. It is crucial for my team to have an opportunity to be the owner of the task assigned to them and take accountability and responsibility for the same.

Talk to us about your growing up years. What is your earliest memory as a leader / entrepreneur that you can remember?

I was born and brought up in Patna, Bihar in a middle-class family. During my school days, I was very notorious and hardly had any interest in studies. After completing my High School, I came to New Delhi for my higher studies.

As already mentioned, I had no interest in studies but yes, I was always inclined towards different Languages. I followed my interest and completed my Bachelors in German Literature and Translation from Jawaharlal Nehru University.

In my twenties, I had big dreams but no money in my pockets. However, With the monetary and emotional support of my friends and relatives I came to Germany to study Masters in German Literature and Translation from the University of Rostock. After gaining all these experiences, I registered my Company pertaining to Professional Language translation services in Berlin, Germany.

What was the idea behind Linguidoor Language Services.? What was the pain point that you wanted to address?

The main pain point was the language barrier. Due to globalization, internet boom and advances in social media, companies are expanding and making their presences across the globe. During this process they face language barriers.

Language has always been one of the most empowering as well as the most limiting factor for businesses. On one hand, it stems a sense of understanding and enables you to reach out to customers and, subsequently, convert them.

However, on the other hand, the diversity of it can be a barrier for communication. In order to tackle this limitation, business professionals have always been on the lookout for a solution that enables them to get past this barrier

At Linguidoor we help them to grow their customer base in foreign markets by providing them professional translation and localization services. We provide document Translation, Website Translation, App and Software Localization, Video and Audio Transcription. As per a survey, 70% of the people want to make online purchases in their native languages. Hence, we provide services to E commerce, Apps, software.

What is the approach followed by the company to ensure optimal client satisfaction?

At we follow a very customer Linguidoor, centric approach. We continuously take measures to provide high quality, accurate and timely translation services. We make use of various CAT and CAD tools and most importantly the 6 eyes Principle. The 6 eyes principle means that a translation is reviewed and proofread by two other

linguists to ensure the quality of the translated document.

Our priority is providing error free and timely services to our clients. For Client relationship management we assign a dedicated project/ account manager to each customer so that they are available for client requirements whenever they require.

As the Founder and CEO, what role do you play in the day-to-day proceedings of the company?

In addition to conceptualization of the overall strategic decisions I am also deeply involved in day-to-day operations of the Linguidoor. My normal day at work would be attending client meetings, exploring opportunities of collaboration, supervising the stafing needs, sales forecast, Branding & digital presence and so on.

Other than this I make to represent Linguidoor at different platforms such as meetups, events, trade fairs, job fairs, webinars speaking platform's, interviews etc.

Looking at your journey, what would you have done differently if you were to start again?

I think it would be a delegation of tasks and responsibilities. I started Linguidoor Translation Services by being a one-man army. In the initial phase most of the functions such as business development, Marketing, Sales, Finance Client relationship management, project management in addition to overall strategy formulation was taken care of by me single handedly.

So that is one thing I would like to change as it is important to delegate tasks to experts in the respective function to ensure smooth functioning of the organization.

Additionally, I also think I would like to have the assistance of a business coach to guide me in my initial stages.

What would be your advice for young and emerging entrepreneurs trying to build a successful startup?

Think huge and have a irm belief in your conviction. Be open to networking and let your critic help you form a better version of yourself. Know your market and focus on their pain points and strive to provide solutions to those pain points in an effective and eficient way.

Finally, what does the future look like for Linguidoor? On a personal front, where do you see yourself standing in the coming years?

I look forward to seeing my company offer one of the most fast, eficient, and best translation services in Europe. Through Linguidoor, I eventually will help businesses around the globe in driving growth by being understood.

On a personal front, I wish to make 'language' an opportunity for everyone, not a barrier. I strive to see a future, where anyone can communicate candidly, and convey their message in the way they want with ease, in any language.

Moreover, to actualize my true potential and to fulill my dream, I have already worked my way through a cloud based software development called Awtomated which will help small and medium size translation companies to automate their business processes and revolutionize their business worklow resulting in sustainability, eficiency and cost effectiveness.

How

Two Young Female Entrepreneurs Use Their Love for the Arts to Advance Their Community

The coronavirus pandemic inspired countless adults to reassess their careers and life choices and perhaps make some changes. But it was not only adults that felt they could have a greater impact. Two young female entrepreneurs felt compelled to share their love for the performing arts with their communities. Their goal: improve conidence and mental health among children and create performing arts opportunities for others.

HOW MENTAL HEALTH CHALLENGES CREATED A SPARK

In the early days of the pandemic, stories about mental health challenges among kids and teenagers abounded. Uncertainty, lockdowns, and fear of the disease put additional pressure on young people who already felt the need to perform at school and beyond.

While external demands continued to mount, many felt their conidence drop, often because they were unable to express themselves, demonstrate their talents, and realize their potential. About one-third of high-school students reported mental health challenges during the pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A Johns Hopkins survey found that nearly one in ive young people

suffered from an increase in depression.

While those igures are rightly giving cause for concern, they inspired two accomplished young artists. Elite dancer Madeleine Chen and award-winning musician Elizabeth Echt decided to use their love of performing arts for the beneit of young people in the wider community. They founded Vision for Conidence (V4C), a non-proit with the goal of supporting aspiring artists on their journey and sharing the mental health beneits with their wider community.

HOW FINE ARTS SUPPORTS MENTAL HEALTH

For years, evidence of the mental health beneits of exposure to and participation in ine arts has been mounting up, both anecdotally and scientiically. For example, studies have shown a connection between ine arts activities and increased mental health and well-being in those affected by autism.

Madeleine and Elizabeth believe that every young person can beneit from easier access to ine arts activities, whether they are dealing with a disability or suffering from low conidence in general. One of their most recent target

Madeleine Chen & Elizabeth Echt, Co-founders

groups includes young people with rare diseases. Their conditions have been linked with a higher risk of feelings of isolation and other mental health problems, including low self-esteem.

Aside from these speciic groups, the two entrepreneurs are looking to create performing arts opportunities for young children and teens who would otherwise have missed out. Although arts feature in many schools' curriculums, funding cuts in the public school system have made access to ine arts education and related opportunities more dificult.

As a result, talented children and teenagers have been missing out on an important creative outlet, and some are missing once-in-a-lifetime career opportunities. V4C is attempting to make up for the shortfall.

“We've been involved in ine arts from a very young age, and we realize that the resources that were given to us are not necessarily available to a lot of other kids outside of our own community,” says V4C co-founder Madeleine Chen.

“That inspired us to create a program that supplies resources and monetary support to students who want to pursue the arts as a career when they get older.”

Since the non-proit's inception, the team has been able to raise nearly $30,000 in scholarship funds and has started transforming lives. In June 2021, for example, V4C awarded a travel scholarship to an

exemplary young artist at The Dallas Conservatory. The scholarship allowed her to participate in the national inals of the New York City Dance Alliance (NYCDA), an incredible opportunity she would have otherwise had to miss.

The result speaks for itself. The scholarship recipient used the opportunity to win a $100,000 scholarship to PACE University's commercial dance program, successfully laying foundations for continued education and a career in the arts.

A WIDER VISION FOR CONFIDENCE AND MENTAL HEALTH

With early success stories conirming that the organization is on a promising path, founders Madeleine and Elizabeth have not lost sight of their bigger vision.

“I think there is a direct link between conidence and success, and we want to help other children attain both of those things through performing arts,” says Madeleine.

Psychologists believe that projecting conidence helps people gain credibility, deal with pressure, and tackle personal and professional challenges. All of those could also be considered prerequisites for success.

The V4C founders believe that performing arts can become a gateway to growing conidence for children from less privileged backgrounds, or those with disabilities or rare diseases. They

are poised to share their skills and passion not only by teaching the arts but also by establishing longterm relationships with scholarship recipients and others.

The V4C founders believe that arts and self-esteem training can help children with disabilities or rare diseases participate more fully in society. While it may be easy for these children to become marginalized and somewhat trapped, performing arts and selfesteem training can help them step outside of their niche. As they grow their conidence, they will ind it easier to participate more fully and increase their quality of life in the long term.

BENEFITTING ALL OF SOCIETY

Mental health concerns affect all age groups. However, mental health challenges in children and young people can be particularly detrimental as they may predispose the person to a lifetime of mental illness or mental health concerns.

Using performing arts as a path toward improved self-conidence and mental health not only helps those affected by mental health challenges since the pandemic. Their changed mindset can make a big difference for entire families and our society as a whole. As the pandemic continues to recede, we all stand to beneit from a generation of healthier, happier, more conident young people.

Jessica Wong , Founder and CEO of Valux Digital , is a digital marketing expert and experienced PR executive with over 20 years of success driving results for clients. Using cutting-edge technology, Jessica and her team at Valux Digital helped corporations and startups achieve digital transformation and develop robust data-centric marketing campaigns. They strive to improve eficiency, affordability, rapidity, quality, and - most importantly - results.

As a digital expert, Jessica was invited to publish thought leadership articles on Forbes as an

oficial member of the Forbes Communications Council. She also provides business advice to millions of Entrepreneur.com readers. She was named the Most Inluential CEO by CEO Monthly magazine.

The Women in IT Awards have named Jessica a inalist for the Digital Leader of the Year. MARsum USA has recognized her as one of the Top 100 Marketing & Advertising Leaders. In recognition of her work with Valux Digital, The Female CEO of the Year Awards recognized her as the Best Digital Marketing & Public Relations

About the Author

Agency CEO. The Global100 Awards have also named Jessica CEO of the Year.

Through her extensive digital experience in pharmaceutical, healthcare and biotechnological, Jessica has been named as the authorized digital transformation advisor for the Rare Advocacy Movement (RAM), the irst community-based decentralized autonomous organization dedicated to the best interests of people diagnosed with life altering rare diseases and their families.

Meet MARCo

A Mental Health Assisting Robot Companion

Jacob Boyle, Founder and CEO of MARCo Technologies LLC, has created a one-of-kind mental health assisting robot.

Fueled by his own struggles with

mental health and inability to ind proper counseling solutions, Jacob Boyle decided to change the way we address mental health struggles.

MARCo is an interactive robot that can not only help young adults and teens as an innovative, reliable, and affordable solution, but it can also help drive the industry forward by introducing new technologies and solutions.

In this Exclusive Interview, Jacob Boyle talks about mental health, entrepreneurship, and MARCo.

What is your earliest memory as an entrepreneur that you can remember?

When I was in elementary school, I had a “company” I called “Wallet Full of Businesses, Inc.” It was just me making various things - hand-drawn comic books and children's books, cookies, clay models, etc. - and selling them to family, friends, and our neighbor Ed.

At that age, I just saw it as something fun to do and get a couple dollars out of, but looking back I realize how much of an entrepreneur's journey I went throughpitching to my parents Shark Tank style to fund my latest venture, doing customer interviews to learn what would make my classmates be willing to buy my books, pivoting when a bigger opportunity came along, and choosing the freedom of the entrepreneurial life over a 9-5 job (i.e., chores for an allowance).

Talk to us about your personal experience with mental health and your struggle when it came to inding a helping solution.

I've struggled with my mental health since late middle school, early high school, primarily with depression, anxiety, and self-

harm. I irst noticed depressive symptoms in middle school, and started harming around sophomore year of high school, but I couldn't understand what was going on or that these were parts of a bigger problem.

I didn't get help until senior year of high school, and even then, it required a lot of people to notice what was going on, understand this was serious, and ind the help for me. I never would have known how to navigate getting help on my own, and when I spoke to most people my age, they didn't understand and got angry with me for the ways I was acting - there was just a lot of stigma around it at that time. And once I graduated high school, I lost access to the care I needed.

College was better, as my school had a great on campus counseling center, but once I was out of school - whether it was for a semester or post-graduation - inding external support was near impossible. I had no money, had to pay out of pocket, and got placed in months-long waitlists with no hope of getting any support when I needed it. And I wasn't alone - most of my friends were going through similar struggles and didn't or couldn't get any help when they needed it most. I knew something needed to change in the way we address mental health struggles.

You created MARCo to help teens and young adults struggling with mental health. What was the innovation that went behind creating this interactive robot?

The two big innovations behind MARCo were its conversational design and its physical form factor. Work had been done before on developing chatbots for mental healthcare, but what we've tried to do is step beyond a simple chatbot interaction. We designed MARCo's conversations to be long-form to mimic real human interactions.

Chatbots have had the limitation of one phrase input and one phrase output, but MARCo's dialogues are more dynamic. If the user wants to talk to MARCo for 30 minutes straight without interruption as they rant about their day, they have that option. We've pushed the envelope in terms of the limits of conversational AI to make it as intelligent as possible.

Beyond that is its physical form. Whereas others in our ield have taken costly, existing robots and added their own software at a signiicant price markup, MARCo's hardware was designed from the ground up based on hundreds of customer interviews to make it optimal for our target users and keep the costs as low as possible to the end customer. This has taken years of design optimization and user testing.

Do you think robot-assisted therapy is the future? Can it replace traditional therapy services or stand as an alternative?

I'm a irm believer that the best technology never replaces human skills and services; it either augments them to be better than ever or ills a gap between those skills and services.

Likewise, with MARCo, we are not trying to replace any traditional therapy services but accomplish those two goals. For those currently receiving some degree of care, robot-assisted therapy can augment care to deliver better outcomes to the client, reduce wait times and gaps in care, and enable providers to deliver care in new and more

eficient ways.

For those who are not receiving any degree of care, robot-assisted therapy can ill in the gaps created by lack of access, high out of pocket costs, stigma, mistrust in services, and seemingly endless wait times. This combines not to form a replacement, but a “therapeutic alliance” between traditional services and robot augmented services.

More and more people are talking and discussing about mental health in recent years. What would you attribute this change to?

COVID's been a big item that's shifted the conversation to be more open. It has affected everyone in some way and has created an unprecedented mental health crisis. Rates of mental illness rocketed, and typically as something becomes more common, it also becomes more normalized to talk about.

Aside from that, there's been a big generational shift. Older generations grew up in very stigmatized times, whereas younger generations, especially Gen Z, have grown up with mental health services, groups, clubs, and media much more prevalent in their lives thanks to the hard work of service providers and advocates. As these younger generations enter the workforce and dominate social media platforms as they emerge, they are much more comfortable sharing their own experiences and stories, even if it's anonymous, across all kinds of media.

Finally, another big shift has to do

with the money. Mental health startups and unicorns have been around for years, but over the past couple years they've seen tons of funding pour in from VC's and investors who see the growth potential in mental healthcare. As that money lows into these companies, it enables them to get higher proile sponsors, get their messaging out further, and drive the conversation not just about their company but about mental health in general.

Being a young entrepreneur, what would be your advice for aspiring and emerging entrepreneurs?

To me, there are two primary reasons people might become entrepreneurs. The irst is that they themselves love the entrepreneurial lifestyle and all its perks and challenges and want to live it.

The second is that they have a vision of a way to make a signiicant impact or change on the world or some industry and the only way they see to do that is by becoming an entrepreneur to bring their vision to reality.

My advice is to know which reason you're getting into entrepreneurship and stay true to that purpose. I got into it for the second reason - I had no intentions of getting into entrepreneurship in my life at irst, but when I saw a problem with the state of mental healthcare and had a vision for how it could be better through technology, I saw starting my own business as the way to make my vision a reality. But there's so much pressure to switch, to look for the

quickest path towards personal success that it can become overwhelming.

My advice is also to stay true, no matter what, to what you want to do. Because if you don't feel like you're doing the right thing for you, you're going to be miserable the whole time.

Finally, what does the future look like for MARCo? How do you plan on expanding its reach and usability?

MARCo is currently great for supporting people with their mental health, but our vision for MARCo is to help the people at highest risk in the most serious situations with it. This means a medical device MARCo for treatment of those with chronic mental illness, suffering immensely as the result of major depression and comorbid diseases.

This MARCo would be at irst prescription only, but as the technology, science, and regulatory

environment improve, eventually it could be something that anyone suffering from severe mental illness could get over the counter, covered by insurance as soon as they needed.

To get there, we are doing a combination of real-world tests and clinical.

“I’m a firm believer that the best technology never replaces human skills and services; it either augments them to be better than ever or fills a gap between those skills and services.”

Founder & CEO MARCo Technologies LLC

Jacob Boyle