July 18, 2024 • 37 mins
Bridget Washington, the founder and CEO of RaveVenn, a social media app focused on preserving democracy, shares her founder’s story and the inspiration behind the app. RaveVenn aims to combat fake news, break down echo chambers, and promote diverse perspectives. Bridget discusses the challenges she faced as a non-techie entrepreneur and her plans for the future of RaveVenn, including international expansion.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:12):
Welcome to Imperfect Genius, the podcastthat helps Black women thrive by providing
technical advice on effectively navigatingthe business development journey and
offers advice to all women on buildingsuccessful careers in the tech industry.
I'm your host, Rachel Foster, a techprofessional, educator, and entrepreneur.
Today, I'm speaking with a visionaryleader taking on the challenge of
preserving democracy in the digital age.
(00:32):
Bridgette Washington is the founder, CEO,and creator of RaveVenn, a social media
app that educates and engages youngadults, people of color,
and women to make better informeddecisions to preserve our democracy.
With over 25 years experience in thecorporate world as a medical surgical
sales executive and senior accountexecutive, she's bringing her expertise to
(00:54):
the political arena.
From the heart of innovation in Chicago'srenowned 1871 hub, Bridgette is building
RaveVenn and tackling all the big issues,combating fake political news, breaking
down echo chambers, and promoting diverseperspectives.
It's not just an app, it's a movement tokeep our democracy healthy, inclusive, and
(01:14):
strong.
Bridgette is a leader who's not afraid tochallenge the status quo, and she's here
to share her insights on technology,democracy, and the power of the informed
youth and constituents.
Bridgette, welcome to the podcast.
Hi, how are you?
I'm great.
How are you?
You know, I'm doing pretty good.
I'm doing pretty good.
(01:35):
That's good.
That's good.
Let's dive straight into it.
want to first just again, thank you somuch for agreeing to be here.
I'm really excited for our audience tohear your founder story.
So I want to dive straight in.
Let's start with your background and yourinspiration.
I want to know what inspired you to createRaveVenn and what were some of the, like,
(01:56):
what was the initial problem gap in themarket that you felt like you needed to
address?
So the problem.
happened shortly after the 2020 electionwhen the ex -president decided to dip
into, try to dip into states to invalidatevotes of people who look like me.
(02:19):
So Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee,Philadelphia, Maricopa County, I was
enraged, absolutely livid and reallydidn't know what to do with it.
I, you know,
just walking around, just like, are youkidding?
Just blown away.
(02:40):
what the hell happened here?
Wait, wait a minute.
What the hell happened here?
And so just, I mean, I just wasn't used tosuch blatant debauchery as it relates to
elections before.
You know what I mean?
I know elections is a dirty business.
You know, they do a lot of things.
People probably get envelopes and thingslike that.
(03:02):
I've heard from people who have been inpolitics.
but I just had never seen anything orheard anything like that, particularly of
African -American voters in this country,because I know the history of this
country.
Right.
so that made me enraged.
You add to that.
I, at the time I was using Twitter a lotand it was just circling the drain,
(03:29):
particularly after Eli Musk took over X.
It just seemed like, well,
What, what the hell?
So these two things came together and Iliterally was just mad.
And then I went to go visit a friend.
At Christmas, December 22, 2022, I neededto get out of Chicago and I just wanted to
(03:54):
have a warmer Christmas.
And so my friend who's a writer, name isFelicia Mary.
She wrote, I don't know what it is.
Don't talk about me on that, the name ofthe show.
know the name of the show, but anyway,she's a writer and she'll be very, very
pissed off.
I'm not.
(04:15):
Well, I'll tell you what, we'll put it inthe, just tell me later.
We'll put it in the show notes to makesure that we, mentioned it.
Exactly.
Cause it's drawing is, you know, this iswhat 53 looks like.
So any, so that's why they need to leaveby and alone.
Cause I'm 53.
I even remember.
calling my dog, my brother's name all thetime.
(04:36):
Anyway, so I went to go visit her and shewas telling me about the Black Girl follow
-up train, which I had never heard ofbecause I'm not on TikTok.
I was more a fan of TikTok and I was like,okay, whatever.
But when I, you know, she's a very strongpersonality as all of my female friends
(04:56):
are.
And I mean, I roll with some very strongpersonality females, okay.
And she was just like, no, check this out,check this out.
I said, okay, all right.
So I looked it up and I saw it had 440million views.
And I want to say it was like in a month.
I was like, holy crap, right?
(05:17):
I thought to myself, if I can just getthese women, know, like focus them into
our democracy.
what in the world could I create?
So I was thinking about it, I was thinkingabout it while I was down there and I was
(05:37):
like looking at all of these videos and Iwas just blown away.
And then the thought came
And the other thought came up wasRaveVenn, the name RaveVenn.
I really liked that name.
I liked that name for a couple of reasons.
One, this is an app about our lives, aboutgovernment trying to dip too far into our
(05:58):
lives and how we need to snatch our rightsback because the moment you don't have a
seat at the table, you are on the menu.
I got that one from Melanie Spann.
I hope it's Spann Cooper.
Anyway,
thought to myself, I'm going to call itRaveVenn because I was a big Game of
Thrones fan.
in Game of Thrones, there were ravens thatthey would tie little messages to.
(06:21):
Carry the news.
Yes, to tell the messages to the otheroligarchs what's going on, what's about to
happen.
And I was like, I really liked that name,right?
And my friend Queenie was there thatweekend as well.
name is Queenus Davis, I want to say.
And she was like, she was helping mecoming up with the name because I started
(06:42):
looking at these names online and I sawRaveVenn, the actual word RaveVenn was
taken.
was like, damn it.
But then she was just like helping mefigure it out.
So we thought of rave and then Venn, Venndiagrams are interlocking circles, which
is really what a democracy is about.
People working together.
Right.
And so RaveVenn, so you pronounce it thesame.
(07:05):
but you spell it completely differently.
And so then I went and sat out on herveranda of her brand new house, lovely
house, and I was just really nervous aboutit.
I'm really into energy.
I'm really into listening to the universe,synchronicity signs, and that listening to
live beings or live entities, meaningeverything on earth, to point me in the
(07:30):
right direction.
And so I'm sitting out there on theveranda.
And I'm really nervous.
I'm like, good Lord girl, what are youdoing?
I had just bought ravevenn .com, right?
Oh, okay.
Okay.
Right.
At the same time.
And I'm just like, and it was 20 bucks.
And I was like, this 20 bucks is about tochange my life.
Right.
(07:50):
Let me ask you, Kim, I want to pause yourstory right there.
What were you, from a career perspective,were you still working as an account
executive at that point in time?
No.
So I've been had,
I was working at Abbott, which is afantastic company, literally a fantastic
company, but they had let go about ahundred of us because there was a Medicare
(08:12):
reduction in our rate of what we wereselling people, the service of helping
people who are on Coumadin.
And so they had let us go in November andthis is December.
And so I had a package, but
I was sick of medical device sales becauseit's a roller coaster.
(08:34):
It's up and down.
You could be making 120, 130, 150, 180,but then the next couple of months,
you're, know, something's changed in theindustry, right?
Right.
Right.
it's so pelvic floor mesh back in the day.
I don't know if you remember that, butthat was a big old - I do.
Yes.
Yes.
So I was so old, cause I've worked at somany huge, really good corporations, but I
(09:00):
just was over
You know, I was just like, I've got to, Ineed to do something else.
And this is the right time for me to buildsomething.
So this was the right mindset for me to bein because I'm trying to figure out what
I'm going to do next in my life.
I'm passionate as hell about democracy,our country and where it's trending.
(09:22):
And, you know, like I said, all of thathappened after the, after doing the
studying on the, or looking into the BlackGirl Follow Train and coming up with the
name RaveVenn.
I'm sitting out in the veranda and I'mtalking to the universe.
I'm just sitting out there by myself earlyin the morning and I'm a little like
stress kind of hands.
I'm like, oh my God.
(09:43):
Well, I'm like, that's a lot of pressureon $20.
Okay.
But I was like, you've got to send me areally big message, right?
A really big message in order for me to gothrough with this because I, I really, I
don't know.
I'm like, I need a big message and I needit to be a message.
(10:05):
Not only that I can see that others cansee because I don't want to be the only
one sick.
Cause you know how it is.
Somebody be like, girl, that's anyhealthy.
He'd be like, you know what?
I am not crazy.
I've never been crazy.
Believe me when I say X, Y, Z, but Ireally want someone else to experience it
Fast forward five minutes.
Five whole minutes.
Five whole minutes.
(10:26):
And my friend comes out on the veranda andshe always carrying her Mac book air.
You know, she always got her Mac and she'scoming and she sit down and she's like,
and I'm like, Felicia, guess what I did?
She was like, what?
And I was like, I bought ravevenn .com.
And so I had been talking to herthroughout these couple of days that I'm
there and she likes the idea.
She totally likes the idea.
(10:48):
you know, I'm like, okay, yeah, but Iactually bought ravevenn .com today, which
means I'm about to do something.
And she was just like, yeah, well good.
I think you should, you know?
And I was like, my God.
And so then she starts looking up andshe's like, what in the devil of east are
birds doing?
And I was like, I don't know.
Who cares about birds?
What are we talking about here?
(11:08):
Let's focus on what I'm talking about.
I'm telling you.
I'm to be wild.
The universe is like, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey,pay attention.
So unlike Felicia, I don't care aboutbirds.
What do we talk about here?
Like, listen, this is what I'm saying.
So she's just, we keep going on and we'retalking and the birds are still getting,
they're getting louder and they're alsoflying in this crazy pattern.
(11:30):
Like they're around Saturn and it's just,and patterns of two, mind you, right?
And I'm just like, yeah, they are flyingpretty well, but okay,
I just, you're like, listen, I'm like, mydad was an entrepreneur.
I've been an entrepreneur.
I've been an entrepreneur.
(11:51):
Really, when you start businesses within alarger business, you're still kind of like
an entrepreneur.
Cause if you don't, if you don't sell,you're out of there.
You've been about probably a year, yearand a half in order to make a major
difference.
You know, if something else doesn'thappen.
And so I'm sitting there telling her, andshe's just like, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay.
You know, this is any other.
(12:11):
And then her boyfriend comes out and thefirst thing he comes out of the bird is
like, dang, these birds are flying offbelow.
And then four hours straight, what's goingon?
And I was like, I don't know what's goingon, but anyway, listen to me, Mike.
Look what I'm talking But anyway, I'm justlike, listen to me people.
Like I'm, I bought RaveVenn .com and I'msitting here and I'm in, so they're
(12:32):
talking about it.
And so we're, we're just sitting theretalking.
This is minutes going on.
Yeah.
This is not like some huge compound, okay?
Like for plenty of sky space here.
This is a, you know, a smaller amount ofsky space.
And we're just, I'm just like, okay.
And so Felicia, of course, always got herlaptop and she's clicking around and I'm
(12:54):
still trying to get them to listen to me.
I'm like, y 'all are not really payingattention to what I'm saying.
And this is really important, right?
Like I'm like telling you that I'm aboutto do something with this.
And yet I don't even quite know
And Felicia looks up and she says she'slike
The first video that pops up says they areRaveVenn's mating.
(13:17):
Wow.
It was just like...
What blew me?
It blew my mind.
I just was like, universe, that was awfulfreaking quick.
And two perfectly intelligent writer andwriter director, like intelligent people.
(13:40):
went to school.
These are good people.
Yeah.
I'm just like, universe.
my God.
You know, so I start freaking out about
And then I started to get a little bitmore excited about it.
And then when I got home to Chicago, I wastalking to a friend of mine whom I met
when I was working for a moment at Bairdand Warner.
And I was only at Baird and Warner for alittle bit.
(14:02):
I did a little stint.
I really wanted to be a developer.
But anyway, I met Stacey.
And Stacey's a really good friend of mine.
She's like a sister to me.
I love me some Stacey.
And she was really the only friend.
I mean, I met another woman there that Ireally like a lot too, but I don't talk to
her.
but Stacey and I are tight.
And I was talking to Stacey and I wastelling her about it and she was just
(14:26):
like, you know, have you ever heard 1871?
And I was like, no, what's that?
And she was like, well, my cousin is theCFO of 1871 and they do tech.
I think you need to look into them.
And I looked into them, had never heard ofit, because I'm not a techie, right?
I'm a person with a big idea.
I've now learned tech because my mind isalways working.
(14:49):
and I'm just sharp on the uptake.
So I looked into 1871, filled out theapplication and then got a scholarship
like really quick.
And they went like, yeah, come on downhere.
We started two weeks and that was thebeginning of my journey.
is it an accelerator, is an incubator?
What does 1871 provide you from a techfounder perspective?
(15:12):
It is a tech innovation hub incubator likespace.
Okay.
Everything that you would need to startyour business, build your business, grow
your business, they have the resourcesthere.
They don't offer you any money.
(15:33):
Right.
Okay.
Gotcha.
But there's people there, there'sinvestors there that you can reach out to,
mentors, we could talk to, they haveinvestor meetings.
So there's everything that you need toreally start a business.
you can start, you can find at 1871.
It's a very supportive and diverse place.
(15:58):
And Governor Pritzker started it like 12years ago.
The Governor Pritzker and about 10 otherof his friends and other probably rich
people.
Gotcha,
(16:24):
Well, so it's nice to have that support,but let me ask you this, like, what were
some of the technical and businesschallenges that you hit in the early
stages?
And more importantly, the question that Ireally want to know is like, what was the
biggest challenge that you faced in tryingto develop the app?
The biggest challenge that I'm facing indeveloping the app, I am conquering at
(16:46):
this
one of which is there's lots of programs.
just got through looking at an interviewon WGN with, Robert Blackwell, was
speaking about how many programs thereare.
There's tons of programs in the city ofChicago, tons of programs in the country.
Do any of these programs offer anybody anymoney?
(17:09):
Right.
Because you can't start much of any darnthing without money.
Advertisement, like whatever it is youneed to build it.
You just need a lot of support.
So finding that type of support has beenthe biggest issue because I am a solo
(17:29):
founder, even though I've had a lot ofhelp.
There's been a lot of people who have beenwilling to help me, even the CEO of 1871.
And she has a lot of founders, right?
So I try not to put that on blast, but shehas been very helpful to me.
And I like her as a
She's a super smart, very sharp person.
(17:53):
So that's been the biggest challenge, butI'm cracking that barrier as we speak.
And in terms of technically, for a personwho isn't a techie, who only uses apps on
my phone, you know what I mean?
(18:14):
You can't even ask me to do too much onExcel and I'll be like,
You know what I mean?
I was a salesperson.
When you work for a large corporation,they give you the marketing materials.
Your job is to go out and make people likeyou, make people trust you, make people
like the products that you are deliveringthem, show up, show out, be consistent, be
(18:39):
reliable, be trustworthy, and be likable.
It's very easy for me.
Yeah, gotcha.
my personal brand so I can even do that,you know what mean?
Right.
That's difficult lift for me at all.
Right.
So you didn't have to know a whole bunchof stuff about computer, you know, a whole
bunch of computer stuff.
(18:59):
But guess what?
I am a very intelligent woman and willingto learn any darn thing, particularly that
will not only help myself and my country,but my people as a whole.
Right.
Gotcha.
Gotcha.
So where does...
What's the stage, what stage is RaveVennin right now as an app?
Like where does it stand right now?
(19:19):
So I have a version of my app on Adalo.
Created it on Adalo.
I tried Flutter Flow, but Flutter Flow isfor people who really know what the hell
they do.
You can't play with Flutter Flow.
You really can't.
I tried, my God, I spent hour and wholeseveral hours one day and I created my
first page.
And then I went back and had to do a bunchof other things for a couple of days and I
(19:43):
went back to it and it was just allcompletely gone.
And I was just so like to hell with you,Flutter Flow.
was it.
That was all.
Cause everything is supposed to just beautomatically saved.
Right?
So I have built it already on a dollar andI'm just in the process of launching it to
(20:03):
a small cohort of people so that I cantest what they really like and what they
don't
I've done customer journeys with my what'scalled FIGMAs, which for me are Usarts.
I think Wizards, I don't know how topronounce the name of their business.
It's a U -I -Z -A -R -D dot I -O.
But anyway, I've created that.
(20:26):
And so I've talked to people that are inmy target market to see what it is that
they like do the customer journey.
Like, how would you use this?
You know, first of all, would you usethis?
I haven't ran anybody, run across anybodywho would be like, I wouldn't use this.
Okay, good to hear.
Most people, I will say most of the peopleI've asked were women.
Women are highly in tuned to what the hellis going on in our country.
(20:50):
Very true.
And if they aren't, they need to be.
Because they coming for you.
I don't know how it's looking because Idon't necessarily know if I believe these
polls because...
Anytime I see a number on my phone, Idon't know, that goes into the block file.
Right.
So the question is who are they talking tofor these polls?
(21:13):
The people who weren't smart enough not toanswer the phone.
Exactly.
Or who still got rotary dial.
Okay.
Right.
Okay.
But anyway, so yes, that's, that's beenthe journey as far as that.
I'm in the process of launching it to ahundred students from 1871 that I can get
a hold
(21:33):
there's lots of college students at 1871or that work adjacent, there's in programs
and things like that.
So I'm in that process right now, but I'vealso found a developer.
His name is Cameron Flowers fromfloriallabs .org who will build what I've
created the first four screens of it in 30days because he's concerned about
(21:56):
democracy too.
So it's important that I raise the moneyfor him to do it because
I refuse to launch anything that isn'tsecure.
And if I built it, I don't trust that it'ssecure.
Right, right, gotcha, gotcha.
That's not my wheelhouse.
Right, gotcha, gotcha.
So help the audience understand, like,what are the key features of the RaveVenn
(22:20):
app and how will it differentiate itselffrom other social media apps?
Right, so social media apps right now isall about, you know, there's a lot of fake
news.
a bunch of twerking, dance trends, justoverall foolishness, right?
And there is definitely some good contenton it.
RaveVenn is solely focused on ourdemocracy.
(22:43):
You may have the cutest baby in the world,absolutely cute.
Take it to Instagram.
You may - You sick, get out of here withthat nonsense.
Get out of here with You may have theprettiest dog on planet earth that can do
in the middle of fire, my God, take it toFacebook, right?
This not the platform.
This is about your business.
(23:04):
This is about making sure whoever we havein office, first of all, it's about
information.
So it's about educating people on issuesof democracy.
Cause a lot of times people don'trecognize, know, especially like if you
live in Chicago or California or somethinglike that, New York, you may not think
(23:25):
that democracy is at risk for
You know what I mean?
Because you don't, no one's reallyprobably snatching away your right to
vote.
You know what I mean?
No one's really tinkering with that somuch.
If you're in Pennsylvania, becauseGovernor Shapiro did a great job with his
new initiative, right?
Such that whenever you sign up for adriver's license, get, you you sign up to
(23:47):
vote too.
So, and some of the larger democraticallyran states, or yeah, democratically ran
states,
They aren't really as concerned aboutdemocracy.
However, if it falters in Texas, Atlanta,Arkansas, it falters for us all.
(24:10):
This is one entire United States ofAmerica.
We cannot just be okay with thefoolishness that are going on in other
states.
There needs to be, we need to be aware ofwhat's going
and try our damnedest to fix it.
Right.
Okay.
(24:30):
Gotcha.
Gotcha.
So, I know that you're hyper -focused ongetting the app out and enlarge it on a
broad spectrum before this upcomingelection.
But what are your future plans for theapp?
So what's the future of RaveVenn?
Let's say, where do you see it in the nextfive years?
Or just walk me through those next fiveyears.
(24:52):
What do they look like?
RaveVenn will still be around.
This is not some temporary
because the damage that has been done toour country with the Supreme Court is
unimaginable, right?
And we are not guaranteed, sorry, if youhear my dog in the background.
(25:12):
That's fine.
I don't know, he must be sleep -dustin'.
No, he's agreeing with you.
He is like, yes, preach.
Racko, stop it.
So anyway, so.
With the damage that this court, thisSupreme Court has done to our country, it
is unimaginable.
And yet people talk about the nextpresident being able to perhaps put in
(25:37):
three Supreme Court justices.
That's not a guarantee.
Those men don't look like they are, youknow, ridiculously old or so, or that they
are interested in necessarily retiring.
You know, that's just a hope,
And it seems to me how they feel aboutthis country is probably about as visceral
(25:59):
as I feel, in which case they could holdon trying to wait for the next person that
could perhaps take over.
So there's a lot of work that we need todo to reverse, correct, change our waning,
fledgling democracy before it's gone.
(26:23):
into eternity, basically.
Because the moment people stop payingattention to what's going on with our
government is the moment things changedrastically and it's too hard to change it
back.
Right, right.
And I'm curious...
(26:44):
I'm sorry, where else I see it isinternationally.
You read my mind.
That was the question I was just about toask.
Go ahead, I'll let you finish.
Go
Absolutely, because democracies are havingproblems all around the world.
So if you have a free press Although Iwill say our press is owned by only a
couple of different people and they havedropped the ball here recently focusing on
(27:07):
The wrong things in my opinion, but in anyevent if they have some really good
investigative reporters and some versionof access to that information then
it would be appropriate for thosecountries too.
Because as you see in the elections thatthey just had, they banned together and
(27:28):
stopped the far right from changing theircountry into a way they totally disagreed
with.
So I believe RaveVenn will not only be theapp of democracy and the social media
platform to save our democracy in theUnited States, but it will also
(27:49):
other countries around the world andcountries who want to become a democracy.
Okay.
Yeah.
That makes sense.
Let me ask you this.
What advice would you offer to other womenof color who are aspiring entrepreneurs
that are looking to create their own techstartups?
While you are still working, start to setup your business as best you can legally.
(28:14):
Now I was able to set mine up because Iwas still
I still had a 401k, so I was settingthings up appropriately.
However, that would be my best advice.
If it's a nonprofit, the sooner you starta nonprofit, the better, because there's a
lot of organizations that are out therethat are really trying to help with major
(28:35):
issues that affect us all, right?
Meaning equality, LGTBQ.
and IA writes, I always get that wrong.
I want to say all of that, but I don'twant to say be disrespectful, but I
really, cause I get those letters kind ofmixed up sometimes.
Anyway.
Yeah, I'm dyslexic.
So I believe me, understand.
(28:58):
Yeah, but I want to, I definitely want toinclude them because I mean, they're, the
cues are any society, every society, youknow what I mean?
So, I feel as if the first things that youneed to do
create your business legally first andforemost.
Then after that, find your tribe.
(29:21):
Find your tribe.
There's always someone who cares aboutwhatever it is that you care about and
find those people and those programs andtry to get involved.
And then the other thing I would suggestis do a lot of research.
Learn how to be able to take advice
(29:43):
pivot if necessary, ask questions of yourtarget audience.
I mean, it requires you to beintellectually curious, from no end.
Right.
You need to always and forever beintellectually curious when you're
starting a business so that you can getthe right product market fit.
(30:05):
That's a point.
That's a good point.
Were there any lessons that you learnedearly on?
early in your journey and entrepreneurshipjourney that you wish you had known
earlier?
That very same thing.
I wish that had set up.
Well, although I really wasn't thinkingabout it while I was still at Abbott, I
was perfectly happy with the role that Ihad, you know, and I was still pissed off
(30:28):
about where the country was going, but itwasn't like it didn't happen.
The timing didn't happen where I got sofocused on it that I decided,
dog it, I'm making a change type of athing.
Right.
So had I known I would have done thatbecause that is really helpful.
(30:50):
Okay.
That's really very helpful.
But actually I feel like I did everythingthe way I was supposed to also trademarks.
It's a great thing that I was thinkingabout trademarks quite some time ago.
So raving where democracy lives and whatyou raving about.
I've trademarked it.
you know,
Get your UEI numbers so that you can getinvolved with the grants that they have.
(31:15):
Like really look into the resources thateach state that you live in have.
And if you're fortunate, if you're livingin a state that's run by particular
governors that care about industry becausethey'll have a lot of programs.
Yeah, no, that's true.
That's true.
That's awesome.
Well, I want to thank you so much forsharing your founder story with my
(31:39):
audience or with our audience.
But obviously before we go, you got totell the listeners, you know, more
information about RaveVenn.
How can they find it?
Like when, when do you expect to launch itfully?
Cause you're working with beta testersright now.
Just give us a little bit more informationabout how to find RaveVenn, when to look
forward to show up on the app store orwherever.
(31:59):
Right, right.
So I anticipate RaveVenn will be outaround
Mid -september.
Okay.
Mid -september because like I said, itonly takes the developer 30 days to turn
around the app because I'm only deliveringthe first three to four pages initially
(32:20):
just so that it's out there and useful forthis election.
So that's where I anticipate aboutSeptember 15th
Where you can find me, I'm on socialmedia.
am under RaveVenn, you spell RaveVenn, R-A -V -E -V -E -N -N.
(32:41):
So I'm on Facebook, I'm on Instagram, I'mon TikTok, I'm on Twitter, I am on
Discord.
am, I've, you know.
You literally on all of them.
Absolutely, that's where my audience is.
And I just need a little bit of their timeto say hello.
Don't forget to focus on your life.
(33:04):
You know what, that's an important piecebecause, you know, we get so focused on
work and, you know, just logistics andeven just the work of living, know,
errands and grocery shopping.
Like we just forget to think about the bigpicture from time to time.
So that's a good point.
That is a very good point.
Well, we just need to take just a fewminutes a day just to stay abreast of
(33:26):
what's going on.
in your area, even areas that aren't yourarea, but just what's going on in our
democracy because it is literallycratering.
I cannot believe what the Supreme Courtjust did.
I really can't.
I was floored.
Which time?
my God.
Just...
It's many cases.
(33:49):
It's really disheartening.
And so that's exactly why, you know...
Here I am showing up right on time to getthe people involved.
You know what I mean?
Because the only way we can stop this isto vote.
Vote ourselves out of it.
That's the only way.
So yes, that's how you can find me in allof my social medias.
And what's, I'm on WhatsApp.
(34:11):
I mean, what's another one?
I mean, I think you've literally namedthem all at this point in time.
I wasn't taking, I wasn't checking off onthe list, but I can't think of one that
you didn't name so far.
You gotta find those young folks.
They always like to find, Signal, yougotta find.
You're on Clubhouse too?
I'm like, they don't even have Clubhouseanymore.
(34:35):
yes, also you can find me and also onLinkedIn.
Because, you know, I knew a bunch ofpeople from my previous industry.
you know, there's RaveVenn on LinkedIn aswell.
So that's where people can find me.
I've also just started a
I will give you the link for that, forthis video.
And if people want to help, this is a freeapp.
(34:57):
People need to know that.
This is not a money grab.
This is about information, education, andlet's band together.
Because there is no community that issolely together focused on our democracy.
There's no platform for it.
There's nothing like that at all.
You know what I mean?
There's so many disparate, differentplatforms, you
(35:19):
that they have, but nothing that hasanything to do with social media, which is
how people tend to get their information.
Right, right.
No, that's true.
That's absolutely true.
So for the listeners, we will, you know,I'll send out show notes after the episode
and I'll include the links for theGoFundMe.
I'll include the links for the website aswell as all of the, I don't know if I'm
(35:39):
going get every social media.
I'll put what your, are you consistently,do you have the same consistent handle
across all social media?
Is it just RaveVenn?
I will, you know what?
At most of them, I was able to spellRaveVenn the right way under all of them.
So I was really happy about that.
I think on Twitter I wrote RaveVenn 47.
I don't know which one is actually theright one.
Is it just RaveVenn at the top or is it atRaveVenn 47?
(36:02):
But either one, if you find the wordRaveVenn spelling it R -V -E -V -E -N -N,
you'll find me.
Okay, awesome, awesome.
Well, thank you again, Bridgette.
And to my listeners, I want to say thankyou for listening and we hope that you
discover some valuable information that isgoing to benefit you either from a
democracy standpoint or from if you're onyour tech journey or your business
(36:24):
journey, if you're trying to do a techstartup, hopefully we've given you some
nuggets of information that you can usegoing forward.
Or at the very least, we've justentertained you just a little bit.
Now you know just a little bit more.
If you want to get those show notes that Imentioned, you can subscribe to our
newsletter.
at subscribe .imperfectgenius .com.
If you want to have any questions or youwant to join the conversation, can leave
(36:45):
us a voicemail at 404 -425 -9862.
Or you can, by the way, you can also sendus a text.
I'm used to saying send us a voicemail.
You can also send us a text.
Some people don't want to hear their voiceon on, you know, on the internet.
So you can leave us a text and I'll readthe, I'll read the question to the best of
my ability.
My listeners know I'm dyslexic.
So like I will read your questions to thebest of my ability.
(37:06):
You can follow us on social media at AskImperfect Genius.
And until next time, this is RachelFoster.
I'm reminding you that while your journeymay not be flawless, it can be phenomenal.
Welcome to Imperfect Genius, the podcastthat helps Black women thrive by providing
technical advice on effectively navigatingthe business development journey and
offers advice to all women on buildingsuccessful careers in the tech industry.
I'm your host, Rachel Foster, a techprofessional, educator, and entrepreneur.
Today, I'm speaking with a visionaryleader taking on the challenge of
preserving democracy in the digital age.
(00:32):
Bridgette Washington is the founder, CEO,and creator of RaveVenn, a social media
app that educates and engages youngadults, people of color,
and women to make better informeddecisions to preserve our democracy.
With over 25 years experience in thecorporate world as a medical surgical
sales executive and senior accountexecutive, she's bringing her expertise to
(00:54):
the political arena.
From the heart of innovation in Chicago'srenowned 1871 hub, Bridgette is building
RaveVenn and tackling all the big issues,combating fake political news, breaking
down echo chambers, and promoting diverseperspectives.
It's not just an app, it's a movement tokeep our democracy healthy, inclusive, and
(01:14):
strong.
Bridgette is a leader who's not afraid tochallenge the status quo, and she's here
to share her insights on technology,democracy, and the power of the informed
youth and constituents.
Bridgette, welcome to the podcast.
Hi, how are you?
I'm great.
How are you?
You know, I'm doing pretty good.
I'm doing pretty good.
(01:35):
That's good.
That's good.
Let's dive straight into it.
want to first just again, thank you somuch for agreeing to be here.
I'm really excited for our audience tohear your founder story.
So I want to dive straight in.
Let's start with your background and yourinspiration.
I want to know what inspired you to createRaveVenn and what were some of the, like,
(01:56):
what was the initial problem gap in themarket that you felt like you needed to
address?
So the problem.
happened shortly after the 2020 electionwhen the ex -president decided to dip
into, try to dip into states to invalidatevotes of people who look like me.
(02:19):
So Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee,Philadelphia, Maricopa County, I was
enraged, absolutely livid and reallydidn't know what to do with it.
I, you know,
just walking around, just like, are youkidding?
Just blown away.
(02:40):
what the hell happened here?
Wait, wait a minute.
What the hell happened here?
And so just, I mean, I just wasn't used tosuch blatant debauchery as it relates to
elections before.
You know what I mean?
I know elections is a dirty business.
You know, they do a lot of things.
People probably get envelopes and thingslike that.
(03:02):
I've heard from people who have been inpolitics.
but I just had never seen anything orheard anything like that, particularly of
African -American voters in this country,because I know the history of this
country.
Right.
so that made me enraged.
You add to that.
I, at the time I was using Twitter a lotand it was just circling the drain,
(03:29):
particularly after Eli Musk took over X.
It just seemed like, well,
What, what the hell?
So these two things came together and Iliterally was just mad.
And then I went to go visit a friend.
At Christmas, December 22, 2022, I neededto get out of Chicago and I just wanted to
(03:54):
have a warmer Christmas.
And so my friend who's a writer, name isFelicia Mary.
She wrote, I don't know what it is.
Don't talk about me on that, the name ofthe show.
know the name of the show, but anyway,she's a writer and she'll be very, very
pissed off.
I'm not.
(04:15):
Well, I'll tell you what, we'll put it inthe, just tell me later.
We'll put it in the show notes to makesure that we, mentioned it.
Exactly.
Cause it's drawing is, you know, this iswhat 53 looks like.
So any, so that's why they need to leaveby and alone.
Cause I'm 53.
I even remember.
calling my dog, my brother's name all thetime.
(04:36):
Anyway, so I went to go visit her and shewas telling me about the Black Girl follow
-up train, which I had never heard ofbecause I'm not on TikTok.
I was more a fan of TikTok and I was like,okay, whatever.
But when I, you know, she's a very strongpersonality as all of my female friends
(04:56):
are.
And I mean, I roll with some very strongpersonality females, okay.
And she was just like, no, check this out,check this out.
I said, okay, all right.
So I looked it up and I saw it had 440million views.
And I want to say it was like in a month.
I was like, holy crap, right?
(05:17):
I thought to myself, if I can just getthese women, know, like focus them into
our democracy.
what in the world could I create?
So I was thinking about it, I was thinkingabout it while I was down there and I was
(05:37):
like looking at all of these videos and Iwas just blown away.
And then the thought came
And the other thought came up wasRaveVenn, the name RaveVenn.
I really liked that name.
I liked that name for a couple of reasons.
One, this is an app about our lives, aboutgovernment trying to dip too far into our
(05:58):
lives and how we need to snatch our rightsback because the moment you don't have a
seat at the table, you are on the menu.
I got that one from Melanie Spann.
I hope it's Spann Cooper.
Anyway,
thought to myself, I'm going to call itRaveVenn because I was a big Game of
Thrones fan.
in Game of Thrones, there were ravens thatthey would tie little messages to.
(06:21):
Carry the news.
Yes, to tell the messages to the otheroligarchs what's going on, what's about to
happen.
And I was like, I really liked that name,right?
And my friend Queenie was there thatweekend as well.
name is Queenus Davis, I want to say.
And she was like, she was helping mecoming up with the name because I started
(06:42):
looking at these names online and I sawRaveVenn, the actual word RaveVenn was
taken.
was like, damn it.
But then she was just like helping mefigure it out.
So we thought of rave and then Venn, Venndiagrams are interlocking circles, which
is really what a democracy is about.
People working together.
Right.
And so RaveVenn, so you pronounce it thesame.
(07:05):
but you spell it completely differently.
And so then I went and sat out on herveranda of her brand new house, lovely
house, and I was just really nervous aboutit.
I'm really into energy.
I'm really into listening to the universe,synchronicity signs, and that listening to
live beings or live entities, meaningeverything on earth, to point me in the
(07:30):
right direction.
And so I'm sitting out there on theveranda.
And I'm really nervous.
I'm like, good Lord girl, what are youdoing?
I had just bought ravevenn .com, right?
Oh, okay.
Okay.
Right.
At the same time.
And I'm just like, and it was 20 bucks.
And I was like, this 20 bucks is about tochange my life.
Right.
(07:50):
Let me ask you, Kim, I want to pause yourstory right there.
What were you, from a career perspective,were you still working as an account
executive at that point in time?
No.
So I've been had,
I was working at Abbott, which is afantastic company, literally a fantastic
company, but they had let go about ahundred of us because there was a Medicare
(08:12):
reduction in our rate of what we wereselling people, the service of helping
people who are on Coumadin.
And so they had let us go in November andthis is December.
And so I had a package, but
I was sick of medical device sales becauseit's a roller coaster.
(08:34):
It's up and down.
You could be making 120, 130, 150, 180,but then the next couple of months,
you're, know, something's changed in theindustry, right?
Right.
Right.
it's so pelvic floor mesh back in the day.
I don't know if you remember that, butthat was a big old - I do.
Yes.
Yes.
So I was so old, cause I've worked at somany huge, really good corporations, but I
(09:00):
just was over
You know, I was just like, I've got to, Ineed to do something else.
And this is the right time for me to buildsomething.
So this was the right mindset for me to bein because I'm trying to figure out what
I'm going to do next in my life.
I'm passionate as hell about democracy,our country and where it's trending.
(09:22):
And, you know, like I said, all of thathappened after the, after doing the
studying on the, or looking into the BlackGirl Follow Train and coming up with the
name RaveVenn.
I'm sitting out in the veranda and I'mtalking to the universe.
I'm just sitting out there by myself earlyin the morning and I'm a little like
stress kind of hands.
I'm like, oh my God.
(09:43):
Well, I'm like, that's a lot of pressureon $20.
Okay.
But I was like, you've got to send me areally big message, right?
A really big message in order for me to gothrough with this because I, I really, I
don't know.
I'm like, I need a big message and I needit to be a message.
(10:05):
Not only that I can see that others cansee because I don't want to be the only
one sick.
Cause you know how it is.
Somebody be like, girl, that's anyhealthy.
He'd be like, you know what?
I am not crazy.
I've never been crazy.
Believe me when I say X, Y, Z, but Ireally want someone else to experience it
Fast forward five minutes.
Five whole minutes.
Five whole minutes.
(10:26):
And my friend comes out on the veranda andshe always carrying her Mac book air.
You know, she always got her Mac and she'scoming and she sit down and she's like,
and I'm like, Felicia, guess what I did?
She was like, what?
And I was like, I bought ravevenn .com.
And so I had been talking to herthroughout these couple of days that I'm
there and she likes the idea.
She totally likes the idea.
(10:48):
you know, I'm like, okay, yeah, but Iactually bought ravevenn .com today, which
means I'm about to do something.
And she was just like, yeah, well good.
I think you should, you know?
And I was like, my God.
And so then she starts looking up andshe's like, what in the devil of east are
birds doing?
And I was like, I don't know.
Who cares about birds?
What are we talking about here?
(11:08):
Let's focus on what I'm talking about.
I'm telling you.
I'm to be wild.
The universe is like, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey,pay attention.
So unlike Felicia, I don't care aboutbirds.
What do we talk about here?
Like, listen, this is what I'm saying.
So she's just, we keep going on and we'retalking and the birds are still getting,
they're getting louder and they're alsoflying in this crazy pattern.
(11:30):
Like they're around Saturn and it's just,and patterns of two, mind you, right?
And I'm just like, yeah, they are flyingpretty well, but okay,
I just, you're like, listen, I'm like, mydad was an entrepreneur.
I've been an entrepreneur.
I've been an entrepreneur.
(11:51):
Really, when you start businesses within alarger business, you're still kind of like
an entrepreneur.
Cause if you don't, if you don't sell,you're out of there.
You've been about probably a year, yearand a half in order to make a major
difference.
You know, if something else doesn'thappen.
And so I'm sitting there telling her, andshe's just like, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay.
You know, this is any other.
(12:11):
And then her boyfriend comes out and thefirst thing he comes out of the bird is
like, dang, these birds are flying offbelow.
And then four hours straight, what's goingon?
And I was like, I don't know what's goingon, but anyway, listen to me, Mike.
Look what I'm talking But anyway, I'm justlike, listen to me people.
Like I'm, I bought RaveVenn .com and I'msitting here and I'm in, so they're
(12:32):
talking about it.
And so we're, we're just sitting theretalking.
This is minutes going on.
Yeah.
This is not like some huge compound, okay?
Like for plenty of sky space here.
This is a, you know, a smaller amount ofsky space.
And we're just, I'm just like, okay.
And so Felicia, of course, always got herlaptop and she's clicking around and I'm
(12:54):
still trying to get them to listen to me.
I'm like, y 'all are not really payingattention to what I'm saying.
And this is really important, right?
Like I'm like telling you that I'm aboutto do something with this.
And yet I don't even quite know
And Felicia looks up and she says she'slike
The first video that pops up says they areRaveVenn's mating.
(13:17):
Wow.
It was just like...
What blew me?
It blew my mind.
I just was like, universe, that was awfulfreaking quick.
And two perfectly intelligent writer andwriter director, like intelligent people.
(13:40):
went to school.
These are good people.
Yeah.
I'm just like, universe.
my God.
You know, so I start freaking out about
And then I started to get a little bitmore excited about it.
And then when I got home to Chicago, I wastalking to a friend of mine whom I met
when I was working for a moment at Bairdand Warner.
And I was only at Baird and Warner for alittle bit.
(14:02):
I did a little stint.
I really wanted to be a developer.
But anyway, I met Stacey.
And Stacey's a really good friend of mine.
She's like a sister to me.
I love me some Stacey.
And she was really the only friend.
I mean, I met another woman there that Ireally like a lot too, but I don't talk to
her.
but Stacey and I are tight.
And I was talking to Stacey and I wastelling her about it and she was just
(14:26):
like, you know, have you ever heard 1871?
And I was like, no, what's that?
And she was like, well, my cousin is theCFO of 1871 and they do tech.
I think you need to look into them.
And I looked into them, had never heard ofit, because I'm not a techie, right?
I'm a person with a big idea.
I've now learned tech because my mind isalways working.
(14:49):
and I'm just sharp on the uptake.
So I looked into 1871, filled out theapplication and then got a scholarship
like really quick.
And they went like, yeah, come on downhere.
We started two weeks and that was thebeginning of my journey.
is it an accelerator, is an incubator?
What does 1871 provide you from a techfounder perspective?
(15:12):
It is a tech innovation hub incubator likespace.
Okay.
Everything that you would need to startyour business, build your business, grow
your business, they have the resourcesthere.
They don't offer you any money.
(15:33):
Right.
Okay.
Gotcha.
But there's people there, there'sinvestors there that you can reach out to,
mentors, we could talk to, they haveinvestor meetings.
So there's everything that you need toreally start a business.
you can start, you can find at 1871.
It's a very supportive and diverse place.
(15:58):
And Governor Pritzker started it like 12years ago.
The Governor Pritzker and about 10 otherof his friends and other probably rich
people.
Gotcha,
(16:24):
Well, so it's nice to have that support,but let me ask you this, like, what were
some of the technical and businesschallenges that you hit in the early
stages?
And more importantly, the question that Ireally want to know is like, what was the
biggest challenge that you faced in tryingto develop the app?
The biggest challenge that I'm facing indeveloping the app, I am conquering at
(16:46):
this
one of which is there's lots of programs.
just got through looking at an interviewon WGN with, Robert Blackwell, was
speaking about how many programs thereare.
There's tons of programs in the city ofChicago, tons of programs in the country.
Do any of these programs offer anybody anymoney?
(17:09):
Right.
Because you can't start much of any darnthing without money.
Advertisement, like whatever it is youneed to build it.
You just need a lot of support.
So finding that type of support has beenthe biggest issue because I am a solo
(17:29):
founder, even though I've had a lot ofhelp.
There's been a lot of people who have beenwilling to help me, even the CEO of 1871.
And she has a lot of founders, right?
So I try not to put that on blast, but shehas been very helpful to me.
And I like her as a
She's a super smart, very sharp person.
(17:53):
So that's been the biggest challenge, butI'm cracking that barrier as we speak.
And in terms of technically, for a personwho isn't a techie, who only uses apps on
my phone, you know what I mean?
(18:14):
You can't even ask me to do too much onExcel and I'll be like,
You know what I mean?
I was a salesperson.
When you work for a large corporation,they give you the marketing materials.
Your job is to go out and make people likeyou, make people trust you, make people
like the products that you are deliveringthem, show up, show out, be consistent, be
(18:39):
reliable, be trustworthy, and be likable.
It's very easy for me.
Yeah, gotcha.
my personal brand so I can even do that,you know what mean?
Right.
That's difficult lift for me at all.
Right.
So you didn't have to know a whole bunchof stuff about computer, you know, a whole
bunch of computer stuff.
(18:59):
But guess what?
I am a very intelligent woman and willingto learn any darn thing, particularly that
will not only help myself and my country,but my people as a whole.
Right.
Gotcha.
Gotcha.
So where does...
What's the stage, what stage is RaveVennin right now as an app?
Like where does it stand right now?
(19:19):
So I have a version of my app on Adalo.
Created it on Adalo.
I tried Flutter Flow, but Flutter Flow isfor people who really know what the hell
they do.
You can't play with Flutter Flow.
You really can't.
I tried, my God, I spent hour and wholeseveral hours one day and I created my
first page.
And then I went back and had to do a bunchof other things for a couple of days and I
(19:43):
went back to it and it was just allcompletely gone.
And I was just so like to hell with you,Flutter Flow.
was it.
That was all.
Cause everything is supposed to just beautomatically saved.
Right?
So I have built it already on a dollar andI'm just in the process of launching it to
(20:03):
a small cohort of people so that I cantest what they really like and what they
don't
I've done customer journeys with my what'scalled FIGMAs, which for me are Usarts.
I think Wizards, I don't know how topronounce the name of their business.
It's a U -I -Z -A -R -D dot I -O.
But anyway, I've created that.
(20:26):
And so I've talked to people that are inmy target market to see what it is that
they like do the customer journey.
Like, how would you use this?
You know, first of all, would you usethis?
I haven't ran anybody, run across anybodywho would be like, I wouldn't use this.
Okay, good to hear.
Most people, I will say most of the peopleI've asked were women.
Women are highly in tuned to what the hellis going on in our country.
(20:50):
Very true.
And if they aren't, they need to be.
Because they coming for you.
I don't know how it's looking because Idon't necessarily know if I believe these
polls because...
Anytime I see a number on my phone, Idon't know, that goes into the block file.
Right.
So the question is who are they talking tofor these polls?
(21:13):
The people who weren't smart enough not toanswer the phone.
Exactly.
Or who still got rotary dial.
Okay.
Right.
Okay.
But anyway, so yes, that's, that's beenthe journey as far as that.
I'm in the process of launching it to ahundred students from 1871 that I can get
a hold
(21:33):
there's lots of college students at 1871or that work adjacent, there's in programs
and things like that.
So I'm in that process right now, but I'vealso found a developer.
His name is Cameron Flowers fromfloriallabs .org who will build what I've
created the first four screens of it in 30days because he's concerned about
(21:56):
democracy too.
So it's important that I raise the moneyfor him to do it because
I refuse to launch anything that isn'tsecure.
And if I built it, I don't trust that it'ssecure.
Right, right, gotcha, gotcha.
That's not my wheelhouse.
Right, gotcha, gotcha.
So help the audience understand, like,what are the key features of the RaveVenn
(22:20):
app and how will it differentiate itselffrom other social media apps?
Right, so social media apps right now isall about, you know, there's a lot of fake
news.
a bunch of twerking, dance trends, justoverall foolishness, right?
And there is definitely some good contenton it.
RaveVenn is solely focused on ourdemocracy.
(22:43):
You may have the cutest baby in the world,absolutely cute.
Take it to Instagram.
You may - You sick, get out of here withthat nonsense.
Get out of here with You may have theprettiest dog on planet earth that can do
in the middle of fire, my God, take it toFacebook, right?
This not the platform.
This is about your business.
(23:04):
This is about making sure whoever we havein office, first of all, it's about
information.
So it's about educating people on issuesof democracy.
Cause a lot of times people don'trecognize, know, especially like if you
live in Chicago or California or somethinglike that, New York, you may not think
(23:25):
that democracy is at risk for
You know what I mean?
Because you don't, no one's reallyprobably snatching away your right to
vote.
You know what I mean?
No one's really tinkering with that somuch.
If you're in Pennsylvania, becauseGovernor Shapiro did a great job with his
new initiative, right?
Such that whenever you sign up for adriver's license, get, you you sign up to
(23:47):
vote too.
So, and some of the larger democraticallyran states, or yeah, democratically ran
states,
They aren't really as concerned aboutdemocracy.
However, if it falters in Texas, Atlanta,Arkansas, it falters for us all.
(24:10):
This is one entire United States ofAmerica.
We cannot just be okay with thefoolishness that are going on in other
states.
There needs to be, we need to be aware ofwhat's going
and try our damnedest to fix it.
Right.
Okay.
(24:30):
Gotcha.
Gotcha.
So, I know that you're hyper -focused ongetting the app out and enlarge it on a
broad spectrum before this upcomingelection.
But what are your future plans for theapp?
So what's the future of RaveVenn?
Let's say, where do you see it in the nextfive years?
Or just walk me through those next fiveyears.
(24:52):
What do they look like?
RaveVenn will still be around.
This is not some temporary
because the damage that has been done toour country with the Supreme Court is
unimaginable, right?
And we are not guaranteed, sorry, if youhear my dog in the background.
(25:12):
That's fine.
I don't know, he must be sleep -dustin'.
No, he's agreeing with you.
He is like, yes, preach.
Racko, stop it.
So anyway, so.
With the damage that this court, thisSupreme Court has done to our country, it
is unimaginable.
And yet people talk about the nextpresident being able to perhaps put in
(25:37):
three Supreme Court justices.
That's not a guarantee.
Those men don't look like they are, youknow, ridiculously old or so, or that they
are interested in necessarily retiring.
You know, that's just a hope,
And it seems to me how they feel aboutthis country is probably about as visceral
(25:59):
as I feel, in which case they could holdon trying to wait for the next person that
could perhaps take over.
So there's a lot of work that we need todo to reverse, correct, change our waning,
fledgling democracy before it's gone.
(26:23):
into eternity, basically.
Because the moment people stop payingattention to what's going on with our
government is the moment things changedrastically and it's too hard to change it
back.
Right, right.
And I'm curious...
(26:44):
I'm sorry, where else I see it isinternationally.
You read my mind.
That was the question I was just about toask.
Go ahead, I'll let you finish.
Go
Absolutely, because democracies are havingproblems all around the world.
So if you have a free press Although Iwill say our press is owned by only a
couple of different people and they havedropped the ball here recently focusing on
(27:07):
The wrong things in my opinion, but in anyevent if they have some really good
investigative reporters and some versionof access to that information then
it would be appropriate for thosecountries too.
Because as you see in the elections thatthey just had, they banned together and
(27:28):
stopped the far right from changing theircountry into a way they totally disagreed
with.
So I believe RaveVenn will not only be theapp of democracy and the social media
platform to save our democracy in theUnited States, but it will also
(27:49):
other countries around the world andcountries who want to become a democracy.
Okay.
Yeah.
That makes sense.
Let me ask you this.
What advice would you offer to other womenof color who are aspiring entrepreneurs
that are looking to create their own techstartups?
While you are still working, start to setup your business as best you can legally.
(28:14):
Now I was able to set mine up because Iwas still
I still had a 401k, so I was settingthings up appropriately.
However, that would be my best advice.
If it's a nonprofit, the sooner you starta nonprofit, the better, because there's a
lot of organizations that are out therethat are really trying to help with major
(28:35):
issues that affect us all, right?
Meaning equality, LGTBQ.
and IA writes, I always get that wrong.
I want to say all of that, but I don'twant to say be disrespectful, but I
really, cause I get those letters kind ofmixed up sometimes.
Anyway.
Yeah, I'm dyslexic.
So I believe me, understand.
(28:58):
Yeah, but I want to, I definitely want toinclude them because I mean, they're, the
cues are any society, every society, youknow what I mean?
So, I feel as if the first things that youneed to do
create your business legally first andforemost.
Then after that, find your tribe.
(29:21):
Find your tribe.
There's always someone who cares aboutwhatever it is that you care about and
find those people and those programs andtry to get involved.
And then the other thing I would suggestis do a lot of research.
Learn how to be able to take advice
(29:43):
pivot if necessary, ask questions of yourtarget audience.
I mean, it requires you to beintellectually curious, from no end.
Right.
You need to always and forever beintellectually curious when you're
starting a business so that you can getthe right product market fit.
(30:05):
That's a point.
That's a good point.
Were there any lessons that you learnedearly on?
early in your journey and entrepreneurshipjourney that you wish you had known
earlier?
That very same thing.
I wish that had set up.
Well, although I really wasn't thinkingabout it while I was still at Abbott, I
was perfectly happy with the role that Ihad, you know, and I was still pissed off
(30:28):
about where the country was going, but itwasn't like it didn't happen.
The timing didn't happen where I got sofocused on it that I decided,
dog it, I'm making a change type of athing.
Right.
So had I known I would have done thatbecause that is really helpful.
(30:50):
Okay.
That's really very helpful.
But actually I feel like I did everythingthe way I was supposed to also trademarks.
It's a great thing that I was thinkingabout trademarks quite some time ago.
So raving where democracy lives and whatyou raving about.
I've trademarked it.
you know,
Get your UEI numbers so that you can getinvolved with the grants that they have.
(31:15):
Like really look into the resources thateach state that you live in have.
And if you're fortunate, if you're livingin a state that's run by particular
governors that care about industry becausethey'll have a lot of programs.
Yeah, no, that's true.
That's true.
That's awesome.
Well, I want to thank you so much forsharing your founder story with my
(31:39):
audience or with our audience.
But obviously before we go, you got totell the listeners, you know, more
information about RaveVenn.
How can they find it?
Like when, when do you expect to launch itfully?
Cause you're working with beta testersright now.
Just give us a little bit more informationabout how to find RaveVenn, when to look
forward to show up on the app store orwherever.
(31:59):
Right, right.
So I anticipate RaveVenn will be outaround
Mid -september.
Okay.
Mid -september because like I said, itonly takes the developer 30 days to turn
around the app because I'm only deliveringthe first three to four pages initially
(32:20):
just so that it's out there and useful forthis election.
So that's where I anticipate aboutSeptember 15th
Where you can find me, I'm on socialmedia.
am under RaveVenn, you spell RaveVenn, R-A -V -E -V -E -N -N.
(32:41):
So I'm on Facebook, I'm on Instagram, I'mon TikTok, I'm on Twitter, I am on
Discord.
am, I've, you know.
You literally on all of them.
Absolutely, that's where my audience is.
And I just need a little bit of their timeto say hello.
Don't forget to focus on your life.
(33:04):
You know what, that's an important piecebecause, you know, we get so focused on
work and, you know, just logistics andeven just the work of living, know,
errands and grocery shopping.
Like we just forget to think about the bigpicture from time to time.
So that's a good point.
That is a very good point.
Well, we just need to take just a fewminutes a day just to stay abreast of
(33:26):
what's going on.
in your area, even areas that aren't yourarea, but just what's going on in our
democracy because it is literallycratering.
I cannot believe what the Supreme Courtjust did.
I really can't.
I was floored.
Which time?
my God.
Just...
It's many cases.
(33:49):
It's really disheartening.
And so that's exactly why, you know...
Here I am showing up right on time to getthe people involved.
You know what I mean?
Because the only way we can stop this isto vote.
Vote ourselves out of it.
That's the only way.
So yes, that's how you can find me in allof my social medias.
And what's, I'm on WhatsApp.
(34:11):
I mean, what's another one?
I mean, I think you've literally namedthem all at this point in time.
I wasn't taking, I wasn't checking off onthe list, but I can't think of one that
you didn't name so far.
You gotta find those young folks.
They always like to find, Signal, yougotta find.
You're on Clubhouse too?
I'm like, they don't even have Clubhouseanymore.
(34:35):
yes, also you can find me and also onLinkedIn.
Because, you know, I knew a bunch ofpeople from my previous industry.
you know, there's RaveVenn on LinkedIn aswell.
So that's where people can find me.
I've also just started a
I will give you the link for that, forthis video.
And if people want to help, this is a freeapp.
(34:57):
People need to know that.
This is not a money grab.
This is about information, education, andlet's band together.
Because there is no community that issolely together focused on our democracy.
There's no platform for it.
There's nothing like that at all.
You know what I mean?
There's so many disparate, differentplatforms, you
(35:19):
that they have, but nothing that hasanything to do with social media, which is
how people tend to get their information.
Right, right.
No, that's true.
That's absolutely true.
So for the listeners, we will, you know,I'll send out show notes after the episode
and I'll include the links for theGoFundMe.
I'll include the links for the website aswell as all of the, I don't know if I'm
(35:39):
going get every social media.
I'll put what your, are you consistently,do you have the same consistent handle
across all social media?
Is it just RaveVenn?
I will, you know what?
At most of them, I was able to spellRaveVenn the right way under all of them.
So I was really happy about that.
I think on Twitter I wrote RaveVenn 47.
I don't know which one is actually theright one.
Is it just RaveVenn at the top or is it atRaveVenn 47?
(36:02):
But either one, if you find the wordRaveVenn spelling it R -V -E -V -E -N -N,
you'll find me.
Okay, awesome, awesome.
Well, thank you again, Bridgette.
And to my listeners, I want to say thankyou for listening and we hope that you
discover some valuable information that isgoing to benefit you either from a
democracy standpoint or from if you're onyour tech journey or your business
(36:24):
journey, if you're trying to do a techstartup, hopefully we've given you some
nuggets of information that you can usegoing forward.
Or at the very least, we've justentertained you just a little bit.
Now you know just a little bit more.
If you want to get those show notes that Imentioned, you can subscribe to our
newsletter.
at subscribe .imperfectgenius .com.
If you want to have any questions or youwant to join the conversation, can leave
(36:45):
us a voicemail at 404 -425 -9862.
Or you can, by the way, you can also sendus a text.
I'm used to saying send us a voicemail.
You can also send us a text.
Some people don't want to hear their voiceon on, you know, on the internet.
So you can leave us a text and I'll readthe, I'll read the question to the best of
my ability.
My listeners know I'm dyslexic.
So like I will read your questions to thebest of my ability.
(37:06):
You can follow us on social media at AskImperfect Genius.
And until next time, this is RachelFoster.
I'm reminding you that while your journeymay not be flawless, it can be phenomenal.
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