Katie Manning, 24
- Hometown: Woodstown, New Jersey
- Residence: Seattle (She relocated to be with family on the East Coast due to Covid-19. She's moving to Boston in September while working remotely for Microsoft.)
- Company/project name: Beyond Believed
- Founded: I incorporated my business in July 2020 as a social purpose corporation, but the idea and research have been in the works for over two years.
What does your company/project do? Beyond Believed is a resource finder and digital healing companion that assists sexual assault and abuse survivors with their individualized emotional and legal needs. We provide survivors the resources to heal, in their own way, at their own pace, with over 100 legal solutions, wellness tips and resources for survivors all in one place.
How did you come up with the idea? With my experience as a fellow survivor, I struggled to find resources to meet my varied needs while searching for answers to explore my rights and assist with my healing journey. After speaking to other survivors, I realized my experience was unfortunately not uncommon. I wanted to leverage my skills and passion as a designer to build a better solution that would help ease access and put an end to hours of frustrating search. Through my pain and frustration, I want to help others who have gone through what no one should have to go through.
What advice do you have for young entrepreneurs? Start your own business because you're passionate about solving problems. You don't need to know what you're going to do. You just need to be passionate about it. If you're passionate, you'll be able to keep going even through the challenging parts. Stay passionate, believe in yourself, and know that "overnight" success is typically years in the making.
Other interests? I'm an enthusiastic designer and self-titled "futurist enthusiast" interested in exploring new solutions to make the world a better place. I started watching sci-fi films and TV shows at a questionably young age that has indirectly (and in many ways very directly) influenced my interest in emerging technology from autonomous vehicles, virtual reality to the digital future of health care.
