One conversation at a time for a better tomorrow
We've innovated the HeyKiddo family of solutions from our own experiences as psychologists, parents, and professionals.
After years of research - funded in part by a National Science Foundation grant - we learned that parents need ways to find the right words to evoke powerful conversations with their kiddos. Big feelings can be addressed with the right questions asked by people kids trust the most. HeyKiddo™ provides quick, easy-to-implement ideas that work well in the car, classroom or around the dinner table. That's how HeyKiddo™ was born and why we know it works-- we've seen it first-hand!
The idea behind our products is simple: We want to empower parents, caretakers and educators with tools to help kids discover their potential and feel better, one week at a time. Word-by-word, activity-by-activity, we've seen the building blocks of what happens when families and classrooms invest in resilience, empathy, and the power of storytelling.
HeyKiddo™ gives parents and caregivers the tools they need to help develop fundamental social-emotional skills. In less than 15 minutes each day, our solutions create a positive, lifelong impact. Use evidence-based strategies to open up communication and model behaviors you would like to build in your child.
We believe in the power of a shared mission
With a combined 100+ years of experience, our team has world-recognized psychologists, educators, child specialists, and designers who all believe that families and caregivers need the right tools to solve our globe's largest problem: Kids need better support.
Each HeyKiddo™ team member is a leader in their sector. Together, we're changing not only the face of social-emotional health, but we're committed to creating a future filled with resilient, compassionate children. Featured on NPR, The New York Times, Fox News, and Entrepreneur Magazine, we are sought-after leaders and speakers in our field. Get to know our team below...
Strategic Advisors
Amrish Macedo
Amrish Macedo is an entrepreneur and former turn around executive. Equipped with computer science and business degrees, Amrish started his career with software companies, selling predictive modeling solutions to enterprise clients. He has managed up to 250 people and has run IT delivery as well as operations delivery in organizations. He has experience in health, pharmaceuticals, finance and energy. His recent areas of interest have included IoT and machine learning and his primary focus is on helping companies find product-market fit.
Sushma Rajagopalan
Sushma is a global leader who is extremely skilled in scaling companies and passionate about entrepreneurship & innovation. She is a Partner with Rittenhouse Ventures Fund III in Philadelphia. Rittenhouse Ventures is an investor in emerging growth software companies focused in HealthTech, PharmaTech, FinTech, HRTech and general B2B SaaS. Her framework for success rests on designing and executing strategies that result in rapid scale up, building an innovation ecosystem, driving a high-performance culture, staying ahead of technology trends and globalization through effective partnerships. Her management style can be described as strategic, entrepreneurial and inclusive. She leads with 4Cs - Clarity of thought, Courage of Conviction, Charisma to carry the team and True to Character always! Sushma was the CEO of ITC infotech, a global technology solutions company that is a wholly owned subsidiary of a $10B+ leading consumer product goods company ITC in India. She has more than 25 years of experience as a Chief Strategy Officer, and CEO/President of technology companies in the US and India including LiquidHub (Wayne, PA), Larsen & Toubro (Edison & Mumbai) Igate ( Pittsburgh), Citibank (Mumbai, India) and CMC (Mumbai, now a TCS company). Sushma has an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University, specializing in entrepreneurship & strategy, in addition to a Master's degree in Personnel Management & Industrial Relations from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India. She was the Chair of IT Services @ the National Association of Software Services Companies (Nasscom). She also serves on the boards of several technology companies in New Jersey, Philadelphia, India & California. She actively mentors companies and women entrepreneurs and CEOs in the US & India as a member of Harvard's mentorship program, PACT & 1Crowd. She is on the board of Jenkins Arboretum & Gardens in Devon, Pennsylvania and WISH Foundation, USA.
Russ Starke
Russ Starke is CEO of Think Company, a service design and digital experience design and development firm based in Philadelphia. He's been a professional designer for almost 25 years, working with corporate and nonprofit clients as an award-winning digital strategist, experience designer, information architect, instructional designer, business analyst, and project manager. Originally from Long Island NY, Russ holds an M.S. from Bloomsburg University in Instructional Technology, a B.S. in Telecommunications from Kutztown University, and was an adjunct graduate faculty member and course designer for Philadelphia University's Digital Design and Instructional Technology programs from 1999-2010. In addition to his work at Think Company, Russ serves on the board of LEADERSHIP Philadelphia (Class of 2015), the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, Pennsylvania Small Business Development Centers, and on the Hospitality & Corporate Council for Broad Street Ministry, an organization dedicated to tackling homelessness and hunger in an innovative way by bringing public and private sectors together. He is also a founding partner of the Philadelphia chapter of Social Venture Partners, a trust-based philanthropy community building powerful relationships to alleviate intergenerational poverty.
Amrish Macedo
Amrish Macedo is an entrepreneur and former turn around executive. Equipped with computer science and business degrees, Amrish started his career with software companies, selling predictive modeling solutions to enterprise clients. He has managed up to 250 people and has run IT delivery as well as operations delivery in organizations. He has experience in health, pharmaceuticals, finance and energy. His recent areas of interest have included IoT and machine learning and his primary focus is on helping companies find product-market fit.
Sushma Rajagopalan
Sushma is a global leader who is extremely skilled in scaling companies and passionate about entrepreneurship & innovation. She is a Partner with Rittenhouse Ventures Fund III in Philadelphia. Rittenhouse Ventures is an investor in emerging growth software companies focused in HealthTech, PharmaTech, FinTech, HRTech and general B2B SaaS. Her framework for success rests on designing and executing strategies that result in rapid scale up, building an innovation ecosystem, driving a high-performance culture, staying ahead of technology trends and globalization through effective partnerships. Her management style can be described as strategic, entrepreneurial and inclusive. She leads with 4Cs - Clarity of thought, Courage of Conviction, Charisma to carry the team and True to Character always! Sushma was the CEO of ITC infotech, a global technology solutions company that is a wholly owned subsidiary of a $10B+ leading consumer product goods company ITC in India. She has more than 25 years of experience as a Chief Strategy Officer, and CEO/President of technology companies in the US and India including LiquidHub (Wayne, PA), Larsen & Toubro (Edison & Mumbai) Igate ( Pittsburgh), Citibank (Mumbai, India) and CMC (Mumbai, now a TCS company). Sushma has an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University, specializing in entrepreneurship & strategy, in addition to a Master's degree in Personnel Management & Industrial Relations from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India. She was the Chair of IT Services @ the National Association of Software Services Companies (Nasscom). She also serves on the boards of several technology companies in New Jersey, Philadelphia, India & California. She actively mentors companies and women entrepreneurs and CEOs in the US & India as a member of Harvard's mentorship program, PACT & 1Crowd. She is on the board of Jenkins Arboretum & Gardens in Devon, Pennsylvania and WISH Foundation, USA.
Russ Starke
Russ Starke is CEO of Think Company, a service design and digital experience design and development firm based in Philadelphia. He's been a professional designer for almost 25 years, working with corporate and nonprofit clients as an award-winning digital strategist, experience designer, information architect, instructional designer, business analyst, and project manager. Originally from Long Island NY, Russ holds an M.S. from Bloomsburg University in Instructional Technology, a B.S. in Telecommunications from Kutztown University, and was an adjunct graduate faculty member and course designer for Philadelphia University's Digital Design and Instructional Technology programs from 1999-2010. In addition to his work at Think Company, Russ serves on the board of LEADERSHIP Philadelphia (Class of 2015), the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, Pennsylvania Small Business Development Centers, and on the Hospitality & Corporate Council for Broad Street Ministry, an organization dedicated to tackling homelessness and hunger in an innovative way by bringing public and private sectors together. He is also a founding partner of the Philadelphia chapter of Social Venture Partners, a trust-based philanthropy community building powerful relationships to alleviate intergenerational poverty.
Mel Baiada
Mel is a managing partner at BaseCamp Ventures, an early stage venture fund and co-founder of Huddy Health. Mel founded Bluestone, Inc. in 1989 to provide technology expertise to Fortune 1000 companies and government organizations. Under his direction, Bluestone rapidly grew, earning its inclusion in the Inc. 500 list of the fastest growing, privately held companies in the U.S. for three straight years, from 1994 to 1996. The software arm underwent a successful IPO in 1999, and was acquired by Hewlett-Packard in 2000.
Amy Manning, MA
Amy holds master's degrees in cognitive psychology from Yale University and in elementary education from the University of New Haven. She has been a classroom teacher in Connecticut public school systems since 2004. She is passionate about teaching kiddos the skills that they need, both academic and social, to be successful in their futures. She loves to create a classroom environment in which her students feel safe to respectfully challenge her, themselves, and each other. Amy is an advisor to HeyKiddo consulting with the team to ensure the content is applicable, inclusive and impactful.
Marcy Diamondstein, MBA
Marcy is a dynamic, high energy, results driven Sales Executive. She is recognized for developing strategy as well as defining processes and structure to improve business practices, boost productivity and increase revenue and profitability. Marcy leads and inspires teams undergoing internal company change and culture shifts. She is known for being collaborative, innovative, and unwavering in her pursuit of excellence. Marcy comes to HeyKiddo with a breadth of experience. She has helped a Fortune 100 company reshape its go-to-market strategy, created strategic and tactical initiatives to improve process and profitability, and has led a privately held organization through unprecedented growth the last few years. She earned her MBA from the University of Maryland.
Mel Baiada
Mel is a managing partner at BaseCamp Ventures, an early stage venture fund and co-founder of Huddy Health. Mel founded Bluestone, Inc. in 1989 to provide technology expertise to Fortune 1000 companies and government organizations. Under his direction, Bluestone rapidly grew, earning its inclusion in the Inc. 500 list of the fastest growing, privately held companies in the U.S. for three straight years, from 1994 to 1996. The software arm underwent a successful IPO in 1999, and was acquired by Hewlett-Packard in 2000.
Amy Manning, MA
Amy holds master's degrees in cognitive psychology from Yale University and in elementary education from the University of New Haven. She has been a classroom teacher in Connecticut public school systems since 2004. She is passionate about teaching kiddos the skills that they need, both academic and social, to be successful in their futures. She loves to create a classroom environment in which her students feel safe to respectfully challenge her, themselves, and each other. Amy is an advisor to HeyKiddo consulting with the team to ensure the content is applicable, inclusive and impactful.
Marcy Diamondstein, MBA
Marcy is a dynamic, high energy, results driven Sales Executive. She is recognized for developing strategy as well as defining processes and structure to improve business practices, boost productivity and increase revenue and profitability. Marcy leads and inspires teams undergoing internal company change and culture shifts. She is known for being collaborative, innovative, and unwavering in her pursuit of excellence. Marcy comes to HeyKiddo with a breadth of experience. She has helped a Fortune 100 company reshape its go-to-market strategy, created strategic and tactical initiatives to improve process and profitability, and has led a privately held organization through unprecedented growth the last few years. She earned her MBA from the University of Maryland.