(MENAFNEditorial)
iCrowdNewswire - Feb 9, 2017
Puppy Mama Social Media Web AppLike us, you love your dog. With the Puppy Mama Web App, together we will create a more pup-friendly world!
About this project
Hello! My name is Theresa, and I am the founder of Puppy Mama. I created Puppy Mama because I realized that there were vast numbers of women who (like me) loved their dogs with a passion and wanted to take their best friends wherever they go.
But sometimes that just isn't easy to do. In the U.S. only 8% of workplaces and less than 2% of restaurants are pet-friendly.
Together we can change this!
Watch this short message about our mission.
Puppy Mama leverages technology to help us connect with one another. Our web application will make it easy to find cute spots and schedule puppy play dates, "yappy hours" and brunches with your Puppy Mama friends. If you love your local pet-friendly neighborhood cafe, you can give it a review and a 5-Paw rating so other Puppy Mamas will know to bring their pups. We also plan to make it easy to message, share photos, and stories of how your best friend has brought joy to your life.
With your help, our community will encourage more businesses to open their doors to our furry best friends so we can bring them wherever we go!
Fun & Stylish Rewards For Supporting Us On Kickstarter!
Order Cute Puppy Shirts and Bandana!
Order Cute Puppy Mama Tank Tops (or) T-Shirts!
Order Cute Puppy Mama Sweatshirts and Hoodie!
Order Puppy Mama Tote Bag
Theresa's Bio:
About Theresa Piasta
Before founding Puppy Mama, Inc., Theresa Piasta was a Vice President at JPMorgan, spending six total years in the Investment Bank and Sales & Trading businesses at two Wall Street banks.
Prior to that she served as an Army Captain in a Field Artillery Brigade. During her 14-month Iraq deployment in 2008, Theresa led a large team to defend thousands of soldiers and contractors residing on Forward Operating Base (FOB) Delta near the Iranian border. She was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for her service.
Theresa attended the Stanford Graduate School of Business Ignite program in 2016 and received a B.A. in Economics from Wellesley College in 2006. She also studied military science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a ROTC scholarship recipient and was a collegiate soccer player for two seasons during her time at Wellesley College.
Puppy Mama's Global Reach:
When Theresa shared her PTSD-recover story (see below) and started the Puppy Mama community, hundreds of women around the world have come forward to share their own stories of how their dogs have helped them with anxiety, depression and the challenges of everyday life.
During the last four months, Puppy Mama has shared 250 stories of women around the world spanning six continents and have attracted over 10,000 followers across all of our social media accounts and we've gained traction with influencers in entertainment, lifestyle, fashion and technology.
We're Growing!
And Something Incredible Happened Along the Way…
When was the last time you visited an online community that did not include a single negative comment?Women from Singapore to Berlin cultivated a safe online space dedicated to lifting each other up! Puppy Mama is 100% "pawsitive". Our community is a truly rare online space where women nurture and inspire one another. Meet our pre-launch community:www.instagram.com/puppy.mama
How Your Kickstarter Funds Will Help Us Grow…
How Your Funding Will Help Us Grow
Why Puppy Mama, Inc?
Military service has always been a big part of my family. My grandfather fought in the Battle of the Bulge in WWII, my father is a retired Colonel in the U.S. Army, and two of my brothers are Army veterans as well. After 9/11, I joined Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) and started active duty after graduating from Wellesley College.
Four years of active duty in the Army and 14 months in Iraq did a lot of damage to my health and well-being. I left the military and immediately transitioned to a stressful Wall Street sales and trading job in the aftermath of the financial crisis, which frankly compounded the issue. Those who know me would agree that I wasn't the same. I struggled with severe abdominal pain, relentless and debilitating migraines, physiological issues, depression, anger, and struggled to find a new purpose in my life.
Seeking escape from the ‘concrete jungle' stress of New York City, my husband and I moved to a serene neighborhood of San Francisco in 2014. This was the first step in my health journey but there was a long road ahead of me.
My ‘fight or flight' response was on a hair trigger and my adrenal gland would pump cortisol into my body without much provocation. Occasionally, but far too frequently I'm afraid to admit, I broke down and my family and my husband helped put me back together.
After countless appointments, different doctors, medications and treatments, chronic stress seemed to be the only consistent diagnosis. After almost ten years of trying my best to hide my 'weakness, San Francisco Kaiser Permanente's Intensive Chronic Pain Management Program encouraged me to finally accept that I had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Acceptance was a therapy that I had yet to try. As I look back, my healing journey truly began once I acknowledged my illness and listened to my doctors' requests to make my health my first priority. I left my job and immediately started to plan how I could try to calm down my nervous system.
After speaking with a close mentor of mine in the finance industry regarding my departure from JPMorgan, he was thrilled to hear that I was taking time to heal and told me, 'sometimes you need a catalyst event to push you to achieve your fullest potential…and you definitely have to focus on health. You have to take care of you so that you can be the best ‘you' for others. I was beyond touched.
Throughout my healing journey, I have reflected on his thoughtful and kind words of wisdom often. He was absolutely right. This healing journey transformed not only my health, but my entire life. I found my passion in helping others deal with similar invisible suffering. In turn, I became healthier and stronger for myself and as an advocate for them.
My hope is that by sharing my story and my struggle to find a cure, I will help instill strength and courage for those who are also struggling to recover from PTSD — you are not alone. In fact, according to the non-profit organization Stop Soldier Suicide, 'every day 20+ Veterans and 1 Active Duty Soldier take their own lives. Burdened with the stigma associated with mental health issues and the military ‘shame' surrounding PTSD, they instead turn to suicide as their only option to relieve suffering. The statistics for women veterans are even worse. In June 2015, the LA Times reported government research that highlighted, 'female military veterans commit suicide at nearly six times the rate of other women.
Summer 2015 is when I met an angel who helped me survive the most painful year of my life. Waffles, a 13-pound ball of furry puppy happiness, has been there every moment to help me get through significant suffering and sadness. She comforted me when I needed it most, and never failed to put a smile on my face. Her love is contagious — she spreads laughter and happiness to anyone she meets. She reminds me every day to embrace life and search for love and joy.
Throughout the past year raising Waffles, I discovered that I wasn't alone in this love that I felt for her — that there were other women that were as passionate about their dogs as I was, who wanted to include their dogs in their daily lives. I've also learned that canine therapy is very helpful for many illnesses — not just PTSD.
In Spring 2016, I was thrilled to be accepted into the Stanford Ignite program for entrepreneurs and it afforded me the opportunity to build out my initial concept and develop it with the incredible business school faculty at Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Puppy Mama, Inc. was born.
Risks and challenges
We are building a robust web application using the latest technology.
Project Risks and Strategies to Overcome Them:
As a bootstrapped start-up, we have not been able to afford a top engineer in the Bay Area to lead our engineering and development team. To build our web app cost effectively, we hired a talented near shore contractor team to build our web app.
As a business-rating social media platform, we also need to encourage users to upload business information, photos, and experiences. In order to achieve this, we have gathered women in the puppy mama community, as well as staff to help us build the information that will be hosted on our platform. This takes time. Therefore, we are focusing on California first. With your help, we can develop our information database in other cities in the U.S., and around the world.
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