Early On

My mom noticed “small things” at age 4. Zoning out. I had a hard time following instructions and managing time. I would cry often about small things and get frustrated easily.

The first doctor she spoke with said it was ADHD. I was her first kid. She believed what the doctor told her. My dad pushed back, “She’s 4 years old. Of course she’s responding like this.” He wanted more opinions. So, they got more opinions. They talked to a therapist, ADHD coaches, teachers, doctors, more therapists, psychiatrists, ADHD specialists, my school principal.

All of them sensed something.

And, with…

“The tiny seed knew that in order to grow, it needed to be dropped in dirt, covered with darkness, and struggle to reach the light.”

— Sandra Kring, author

The truth is, one year’s hardships do not simply dissolve with one orbit around the sun. …

We originally wrote this children’s book for publish in our mobile app, maro, where we give parents & kids content to use as a medium for tough growing-up conversations around mental & reproductive health, empathy, and diversity. Although the following story contains important knowledge about the body & how it works, it doesn’t really align with those 4 education verticals. So, we thought we’d release it for free. Tell us your honest opinions (i.e. would you use this to teach young kids about their bodies?) …

Understatement of the year: parenting while struggling with your own mental health is challenging.

The truth is, as much as we don’t like to hear it, the ways we manage our own anxiety and stress — positive or negative — can impact our kids. But, before you can help your child, you have to learn to manage your own stress and anxiety in healthy ways.

All of us react poorly at times when we’re overwhelmed or frustrated. We raise our voice at our child when we shouldn’t or we let little things bother us that normally would not. …

Entrepreneurs become entrepreneurs because we are addicted to the adrenaline rush. In therapy, we’re told not to allow ourselves to conflate our personal identity with that of our companies, projects, products…

Why are entrepreneurs at heightened risk for this test of psychological objectivity? Why, in this demographic, is our sense of personal worth so deeply and so perilously tied to the same metrics that we report to our shareholders?

The answer is undisputedly human. Ideating, building, delivering. This is how we establish our sense of purpose and we crave that purposefulness 100% of the time. Every day is judgement day…

In my early-to-late teen years, I was raped and experienced sexual trauma and harassment that required an immense amount of work to begin to heal once I was in college. I began engaging with the women’s center and the Gender Studies program my Freshman year which led to opportunities to volunteer with local women and children’s advocacy groups and direct service organizations. This gave me life. Surrounded by women I deeply admired — doing work that helped me heal in the process.

After spending two and half years working with various grassroots organizations and becoming certified in trauma-informed care, a…

My Co-Founder, Lilly Mittenthal, and I started building a technical solution to increase access to effective health, wellness and sex education about 7 months ago. Now, we’re ready to share it with the world. If you’re interested in being an early adopter, please let us know at www.beforewebegin.com.

The Genesis

BeforeWeBegin spun out of three years of research on the implementation of sex education in the United States. After gaining a deep understanding of the barriers that educators face (i.e. time, fragmentation of resources, lack of engaging digital resources, varying regulation and compliance state-by-state, etc.), it became evident that many…