Jessica Kim, Co-Founder & CEO of Ianacare, joins ChedHER to discuss the biggest challenges caregivers are facing today, the story behind the company, and gives advice to other founders out there.

chedHER

Bridging Gaps in the Caregiving Crisis

let's switch gears now to our first guest november is national family caregivers month, this is the time to recognize those individuals and china light on the biggest issues impacting caregivers and their families gonna care is a platform for family caregivers on a mission to encourage empower and equip those caregivers everywhere. And joining us now is Jessica kim co founder and ceo of Ionic air Jessica, thanks so much for joining us. Welcome to the show, what's the story behind your company? How does it all work? Well thanks for having me Chloe, it's great to be here. Um well like millions of family caregivers, I was thrust into it. My mom had pancreatic cancer for 7.5 years. My kids at that time were 10, 7 and five and I felt forced to quit my job for the first time ever in my life to be her full time caregiver and it was the hardest loneliest time um and what I realized after she passed away was how fragmented and broken our support looks like Outside the hospital which is where over 90% of the care actually happens. And so my co founder Steve Lee and I leverage the combination of technology and really high touch human navigation to create Ayana care which is a full infrastructure of support to navigate all the care in the home for family caregivers by pulling together all the possible layers of support in one place and we work with employers to offer full family care support as an employee benefit but I do you want to mention that you know true, support requires cultural change and of movement. So we are launching and I am not alone Care alliance, that's what the I A. N. A. Stands for bionic care. And so we've pulled together incredible leaders um influencers, policymakers, culture changers to really collaborate between the public and private sector before between the community and employer resources because that's what it takes to really create this kind of impact. Jessica is such a story of resilience and inspiring to see you pull from your own struggles to really make a change here. I want to talk about the landscape for working caregivers because it has changed drastically since the pandemic, one of the biggest challenges that caregivers today are facing. Yeah, I'll try to boil it down to three major buckets. You know one caregivers are often thrust into this role with no planning or warning. So think about your spouse who has a chronic condition or a parent who fell and broke their hip or a child with a recent diagnosis and people don't know where to go, you know, or where the resources are. Um and so and especially do the panic. There's a major labor shortage that we have to account for. And the second is caregiving is completely hidden. It's not visible. So the lack of Recognition makes it hard to get the support that they need, especially in the workplace. This adds stress productivity loss, mental health issues and employers lose over $530 billion dollars of productivity loss due to caregiving. And so although it's hidden, it's very visible in terms of the impact that it has on a business. Um and then the third thing is the diversity and care is often not taken into consideration. So you know, care situations don't choose, but it really looks different depending on your cultural values, your socio economic status, your work shift requirements and your living conditions. And so caregiving support needs to be accessible to all. And so I am care really is built to help with all of those big challenges Jessica, you mentioned workplace and losses related to employees dealing with or thrust into caregiver roles. So how can employers build a better culture of balance in the workplace to kind of support these individuals? I mean that's a great question Chloe and I think the first thing is for employers to recognize that over 60% of every workforce is juggling family and work in some capacity. And over 20% are intense caregivers to find as 20 plus hours of care per week on top of their full time jobs. And so employers need to understand that employees are demanding a different work life integration today, which directly impacts war talent and culture. Um and so two major things that employers can do today is one create space to talk about it. You know, establishing an employee resource group, having town halls promoting company wide webinars around this topic, that in itself clearly indicates that you as an employer, understand and value their whole lives that they bring to their work every day. And the second is to provide tangible benefits and to name it. So don't just have F. M. L. A. But offer caregiver leave and call it that um it gives employees permission to take time off at critical care moments other than what we typically think of, which is when we have a new baby and offer a tangible benefit like Ionic Air that handles all the planning, logistics and emotional support employees really need. So they can continue to be um productive at their work without burning out. Now you are a serial entrepreneur, a three time founder, you've also raised $16.5 million dollars in funding to date. What advice do you have for other founders on their leadership journeys and other women in a similar position. You know, I think it's two things. One focus on the people, you know, in startups, we tend to think about the product or service or your business model or the funding, but the whole reason why you exist and feel so compelled to create this is to serve and help people. So if you deeply understand them all the other decisions were really follow that. And the second is what my dad would always tell me, which is if not you then who like if you have a vision, if you have conviction, then you have to believe that you are uniquely set up for success in this and you have to believe in yourself. If you want anyone else to believe in you, Jessica thank you so much for your time and for that, you know, inspiring chat that we just had. That's Jessica kim, co founder and Ceo of Ionic Air.