A Woman in Transition: How I Found my Purpose

For our third Women's History Month special podcast, Brenda McCabe speaks with Martha Gamboa; CEO and Founder of Frendii. Martha shares how a personal journey of health and wellness led to building Frendii- a technology startup developing a solution for women over 50 to build community and facilitate frequent social and human connections.

You can find out more about Martha and Frendii at:

https://frendii.com

linkedin.com/in/martha-gamboa

 

Transcript:

00:04
Welcome back to the Founder's Sandbox. I am Brenda McCabe. I own and operate a consulting firm, Next Act Advisors, where I have a very simple mission.

00:32
I want to assist entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs in building scalable, well-governed, and resilient businesses. The Founder's Sandbox podcast, which you're listening to today, is an additional channel to feature founders, business owners, corporate directors, and professional service providers who like me want to use the power of the private enterprise, be it small,

01:02
medium or large to create change for a better world. Through storytelling with a guest on topics that cover resilience, purpose-driven enterprises and sustainable growth, my goal is to provide a fun sandbox environment where we can equip one startup founder at a time to build a better world through great corporate governance.

01:28
Today, I'm absolutely delighted to have as my guest, Martha Gamboa. Welcome, Martha.

01:37
Hi, Brenda. Thank you so much for having me. I was delighted that you wanted to join me in the sandbox this month of March. March is an important month as it's Women History Month, and I'm featuring quite a few women leaders in the founder sandbox. So thank you for joining me. You're founder and CEO of Frendi. You're a second time founder and first generation Latina entrepreneur.

02:08
You spent over 20 plus years in corporate America working for Fortune 500 companies like Allstate and AIG. You're passionate and very driven and you care deeply about real, in-person, social and human connection. And with your company, Frendi, you are on a path to make that possible. In the community of women over 50, in...

02:37
and around our country. So Martha and I today are going to talk about her personal story that led her to found Friendi during the pandemic. A woman in transition, how I found purpose and community. So again, thank you for joining me. You founded Friendi during the pandemic, but it wasn't your first entrepreneurial experience. Your story is one of resilience.

03:07
And I think because I have among my listeners, many, many entrepreneurs, they're gonna appreciate your own story of building a solution around a pain point of our modern society, loneliness in women over 50 years of age. Many founders are lonely too. So stay tuned for this up and coming podcast in which Martha speaks about Frendi. So.

03:36
You and I met through the business association of the Thai SoCal, which is the Indus Entrepreneurs SoCal chapter. And it was in an event in which an angel fund, the Thai SoCal Women's Fund for Women-owned Companies was being launched. And you came to that event because you are starting your journey on raising, seeking outside investment for friendly.

04:06
that it's timely to actually talk about one of the social ills that you're trying to address, and that is loneliness. And you often in our early conversations, Martha, talked about frequent social connection. And I got curious, and I thought, what is friendly about, right? You know, what is the social club? What is this? What is Martha working on? And you often quoted a Harvard study.

04:36
that scientists began tracking the health of 268 Harvard sophomores starting back in 1938. You and I weren't even around then. So this is during the depression. And they started a longitudinal study that would reveal clues to leading healthy and happy lives. And your business, Frendi, has kind of, through the technology platform, addressed

05:06
one of the illnesses of our society is a society and working for better health outcomes, how to facilitate social connections. So how did you come up with the idea of a prescription free, affordable way to make friends and with your business, Frendi? Where did it all begin, Martha? Well, the idea for Frendi,

05:35
goes back to my experience working as a personal trainer. After leaving corporate America, I decided to pursue a new career in health and wellness. And I wanted to be a health coach. In order to be a health coach, I needed to become a personal trainer or a group instructor. And I said, okay, so I started to become a personal trainer.

06:04
And my, you know, I, first I did some research, you know, is the fitness industry growing? Is it something that, where I can make a living? And my research showed that women over 40 and baby boomers were investing in their health. So I decided to work the target market that I was going to work with as a personal trainer was going to be women.

06:34
And my research also showed that we impose barriers. You know, we don't want to go to the gym because we're gonna sweat or perhaps because we don't know how to use equipment. So there's a lot of barriers that we impose on ourselves. So therefore we don't exercise and as much as we know we should. So I decided to make my personal training journey.

07:01
which I call my business Yaya Fitness. Yaya means woman or grandma in Greek. And even though I'm Hispanic, I chose that as the name, but I decided to make it mobile and go to women to remove that barrier. So during my journey as a trainer, someone hired me to walk with them. A female hired me to walk with her. And because the doctor,

07:30
did not clear her for exercise for various reasons that we won't go into. But she asked me, if I pay you, will you walk with me? And I was very surprised. And it turns out that I was already in the area. I was already working with a client twice a week in that area. She was only five minutes away. So I said, sure, if you can meet me during this time, on these two days, I can stop by and walk for 30 minutes.

07:59
Well, that led to three days a week. But then pretty soon we were walking four days a week and for an hour. And we did that for about six months. It was during my interaction with her, because my approach with the clients that I work with is very client centered. It's all about you. I'm not gonna go in there and tell you about my dog and my problems. It's about you. And I listened.

08:25
And she shared with me her life story, her career as a teacher, her divorce, her battle with cancer, the life of her two grown children. And I realized that we have a need to connect, that we have a need to share, that we want to feel like we matter, and we do, and we do. But life gets in the way. And so.

08:52
That is, you know, it was that experience with this client that inspired the idea for friendly. I went back and started to read and research about, you know, are we not spending enough time with others, you know, and why are we not spending enough time with others as friends or family and, and he just, I decided that this was a solution.

09:16
or this is something that I wanted to go ahead and work on. And so the idea for Friendly came about. At first I called it Go Do Social, Go Do Social, because it's about being out and being social. And then that name, I received a lot of feedback. It was not resonating well. So I went back to the drawing board and rebranded it as Friendly. And you know, the,

09:44
Frequent and regular walks with that client is something that you've also brought into the business model of Friendly. There are regular events that people look forward to. We're going to get into that a bit later in this podcast. But I wanted to go back to your initial research ideas. How have you addressed Friendly at scale?

10:14
And how is the business replicable? We're gonna talk a little bit about the actual, the app itself and the events that you have curated. So how have you addressed that? How's Friendly gonna be scalable? Walk us through that. That's a great question, Brenda, because as it is, I have attended, I am at every event that we schedule right now, because I wanna make sure that

10:42
every member who becomes a friendly member, that they feel welcome, that they feel that this is a safe space for them, a safe group where they can come in, remove their anxiety, because women share with me that they feel anxious when they're going to one of the meetings for the first time, what if I'm not accepted or what if I don't get along with other women? So I wanna make sure that they feel safe, I wanna make sure that they feel welcome and that this is a space for them.

11:12
And so obviously I'm only one person. And so I thought, okay, what, how can I make sure that I replicate this experience in different local communities? And I've come up with the idea of having community coordinators so that we can go ahead and have the same events, for example, in Irvine or in Long Beach, just as events that we have here in the San Diego Valley.

11:43
By having a community coordinator who welcomes the members, who is the face of Frendi at every event, that is my vision for scaling Frendi. And some of the core events that happen every month and are available on the scheduling, on the app itself are around food. Yes, yes. We have a monthly breakfast and it's always the same Wednesday at the same time.

12:13
And we have a dinner and it's always the same Friday at the same time. And I chose that to be the main events. Each month. And obviously we schedule a lot of events like museum outings and walks and, um, but those two events are very, very important because we are social beings and we bond, you know, and we use as, you know, as a society, we use food.

12:42
to build community. And matter of fact, there's another story that we haven't talked about and it was actually done by Oxford University that talks specifically about that, about the fact that food builds community and research shows that when we spend time eating with others, when we share meals with others, we feel happier about ourselves and more confident. And we, so.

13:10
the and it's obviously in a study from the UK right so it just makes sense you know to have those two main events be the core events at each chapter the breakfast and the dinner. You know Martha thanks I always like to bring my guest's experience back to the Founder Sandbox and

13:35
inevitably while raising money and while building your business, you've clearly looked at how large is the addressable market. Can you walk my listeners through the addressable market for Frendi? Well, you know, one of the first studies that I came across was the Cigna study from 2018. It's the loneliness study. And it talks about the fact that

14:04
one in three women, age 45 and older, report feeling lonely and isolated. So obviously friendlies for women over 50. So that inspired me to go in and look at the census data and just see, okay, so one in three women, age 45 and older, feel lonely. How many, what is the size of this group that report feeling lonely and isolated? So I decided to just focus specifically on women over 50.

14:33
And it turns out that there are 59 million women aged 50 and older living in the United States. So that gives you a sense as to the fact that this is a real issue that needs to be addressed because loneliness and isolation was deemed the health crisis of our time before COVID. And obviously COVID brought it to the forefront.

15:03
we realized that we are not spending enough time face to face interacting with others. So I decided to build friendlies specifically for women over 50 because I am of that age and I know other women in that age group that because you know as they're going through different transitions in life our social networks change you know you go from work to retirement

15:33
and you may be retired but your friends may still be working. So now you may not have someone to go out there and do the, they may not have the freedom that you have to go out there and enjoy things. Or you may be married and you are now divorced. Sometimes you lose friends, you know, as a result of that. So I wanted to go ahead and create a solution of a...

16:02
social club for women over 50 where they can feel you know what it's okay to say I need friends it's okay to join this group because I need friends because there's a stigma around that I think that many of us don't talk about the fact that we want to connect or we don't have the friends that we would like to have in our circle or the friends that we need but we don't want to we don't talk about that we don't say it out loud

16:32
And I wanted Frendi to be that one safe space where you can go and feel completely comfortable because you're there, because you want to make friends. And how do people find Frendi when they're doing a search? Well, many of the women that I've sat down and talked to, they found us on Facebook.

17:01
I actually decided to run ads on Facebook to promote friendly, because a lot of our demographic are heavy Facebook users. And, and I make sure that I sat down with the women who reached out and asked them, you know, how did you find us? You know, what was it that you were looking for? And they're very, very nice. And they're like, well, I was just typing in, you know, women, social groups, women, friends, and you came up.

17:32
I was very happy that Frendi came up. Either very effective SEO or you had the key to the one of the solutions for loneliness in today's society. And I want to bring it back to the study by the Harvard study of adult development. The punchline is, you know, the number of social connections is the single most relevant.

18:00
factor influencing one's quality of life. And friend is poised to be that one of those social connection that multiplies the number of friendships, right? Of women over 50. So what's the typical size of your of your groups, your clubs and and how many do you want to be opening in the next 18 to 24 months?

18:25
We would like to open at least nine chapters in the Los Angeles area Los Angeles county area and.

18:34
An ideal size would be maybe 20 to 30 members. However, even though a chapter can have 20 to 30 members, keep in mind that not all the members attend every single event because with friendly you pick and choose an event. You may have the availability to go to the breakfast or you may have the availability to go to dinner. So what I've seen is that having small groups, you know, 10 or 11 at a dinner

19:02
It really facilitates for conversation and really engaging. I'm not to say that we cannot have a dinner with 25 people or 25 women, but it definitely lends itself for a more intimate setting where you can actually have a conversation with a lady to your right or in front of you or to the left. And I feel like you're missing out way down at the end of the table over there. Right, right. So. And what are some of the most popular events?

19:30
because you've been at this for over a year now. So what actually the breakfast, the breakfast and the dinners. And again, we go back to sharing meals. Right. So those are the events that are the most well attended. And in the ladies also tell me that they enjoy that that they look forward to the breakfast or the dinners. Excellent. So March is women history month, as I mentioned, kicking off the podcast.

20:00
For those women who are listening in from the audience, would you like to share with them your aha moments in finding your purpose in founding Frendi way back when? That's a very, very deep question because I found my purpose when I didn't realize that I was looking for purpose.

20:29
I, when I realized that when I was still an employee at corporate, I was still working in corporate America, I was doing a health assessment. Okay. You know, a lot of corporations when you're doing your open enrollment and you're selecting your benefits, like your medical insurance and dental, they do health assessments. They ask you a bunch of questions, you know, about your lifestyle. Do you smoke? Do you eat vegetables? Do you exercise? Do you have a lot of stress in your life?

20:59
And after I answer all those questions, my results were all red. I was a walking, I referred to it as a walking time bomb. Because of my age, because of my gender, because of my ethnicity and my lifestyle, at that time I was in sales, highly stressful. And obviously I was not exercising or eating enough greens. I was predisposed to heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and premature death. So talk about a not.

21:28
Oh, we shouldn't laugh. No, no, you know, no. And for me, it was it was a very.

21:37
It was a moment for me to pause and I'm thinking, wow, there's only two things that I can do here that are within my control. Eating better and exercising. So I joined a running club. It just so happened that here in my community, right here, down this two miles from me, they were opening a running shoe store and they had a running academy. And I

22:05
I mean, Googled up the, Googled the name of the store and found that they had a director for the Running Academy, reached out to Bob and he said, come and join us. We get together three days a week and we run and we train for a race. And you don't have to join, but just come and check it out. So I went and you know, they would meet Mondays at 6 p.m., Wednesdays at 6 p.m. and Saturdays at 7.30. Now mine, now I used to run in high school.

22:34
But that was a long time ago. And I was afraid. I was like, oh my goodness, I'm gonna go run. And I showed up at 6 p.m. and it was a group of men and women, different ages, and very welcoming. And we just started running. Yeah, of course, it was interval. You were doing intervals to train for a race, right? So you run for a minute.

23:03
You walk for two minutes, you run for a minute. And, uh, I decided I would go ahead and stick with the club. I joined the club. So I trained to run my first 5k in South Pasadena. And after that, Bob said, okay, Martha, are you going to join us? We're going to train for a 10 K. I'm like, that's double the mileage. And I decided to sign up and I trained for my first 10 K.

23:34
And after that we completed that, trained for my first half marathon.

23:42
After I completed that, I transferred my first Los Angeles Marathon. Now, that was the moment that I realized that I was changing. I love the feel of the community. I love showing up to run with the group because, but again, just like we do when you go to these friendly events and you see the members over and over again, you build bond, you trust, and you become friends.

24:12
that happens when you're running or I'm sure I'm sure with any other activity that you you partake on a regular basis. And I love how I was feeling I love how strong I was feeling I love how happy I was feeling. And that was my moment I decided, I want to help women, you know, I just women feel like I do.

24:42
I wanted to share that feeling with other women and community and it goes back to community. And social connection. Wow. And you do have a love of books, right? And you've mentioned quite a few during the podcast today and they will be available in the podcast show notes. So I'll be getting those authors and names of books.

25:11
But I particularly like one that had a little girl. You found it in a bookstore down in San Clemente. And again, you find the things that speak to you when you need them most, but you don't know that you're looking for them. So I was in San Clemente, in what I think is this little shop, and there was a book. It's a small little book with illustrations that looks like a child would have created them.

25:41
It is a little girl with a pink dress, black hair.

25:48
And the title of the book is You Went Out on a Limb, The Limb Broke, and You Learned You Could Fly. Beautiful. So that also inspired me because many times we're afraid of failing and that keeps us from trying new ventures, going out for promotions or doing different things.

26:16
And to me, what that meant that, you know, but even if you fail, if you fall off, if the branch breaks and you fall off.

26:26
you are going to discover that you are stronger than you think and you're going to be able to fly. And so for me, I decided that this is that, that's the message that I took from that. And so I decided not to be afraid. It is a failure, it's a great opportunity to learn. And you created a second entrepreneur opportunity with Frendi.

26:52
and shared with my listeners, a woman in transition, how you found purpose and community. So I like to allow my guests to provide some contact details and how can my listeners find more information about Frendy and about you, Martha? Well, you can find me on LinkedIn, Martha Gamboa, it's look slash Frendy, but you can also log into the website

27:21
www.friendly.com and it is spelled F-R-E-N-D-I-I. So a little bit different. And there's two I's for a reason, because it takes more than one I to be friends. I love it, friendly.com. And a final round of questions. I'm gonna bring it back to the founder sandbox. I like to ask my guests about the meaning of the

27:50
following three words, resilience, sustainability, and purpose. So what does resilience mean to you, Martha?

28:01
To me, resilience means being able to adapt to the stressors that come to us, that we're faced with. Could be a loss. It could be a loss of employment. It could be a divorce. Life is going to happen in many, in many different ways. And when you least expect it, and just being able to find the support that you need at that time, and not be afraid to ask for help.

28:30
not to be afraid to be vulnerable and build strength from that. To me that is resilience, we have to find strength and we've got to be able to get up and keep going. I love it. What does purpose-driven enterprise mean to you?

28:52
Purpose-driven means that you care more than just about profits, that you're addressing a bigger issue. So, for example, friend is addressing lack of social connection.

29:09
It's important to, profits are important, but I think the impact that you have in a society is also very important. Great. What about sustainable growth, Martha? What's that mean to you?

29:26
To me, it means that we care about the footprint that we live on the earth. Try not to impact negatively the space that we're in. If you're, you know, Trendy is not an environmental enterprise, but to me, that's what it means. Just be mindful of the impact that you're making around you.

29:57
Thank you. I wanna thank you. Oh, there's one more question. And so final question. Did you have fun in the sandbox today? Oh my goodness. All right. Well, I want to thank you again, Martha, for joining me here in Founder's Sandbox and sharing your story, not only your personal story of resilience, but also the creation of Frendi.

30:25
and addressing a huge pain point in our society today that has only become larger, which is loneliness. And Frendi is all about creating a platform for women over 50 to create social connections. And thank you to my listeners. You can access this podcast on any of your platforms

30:55
Apple Podcasts, Spotify and others. Signing off today, see you next week. Thank you.