S02E05 - A different approach to SEL: CEO and Co-Founder of Robin | Sonny Thadani

In this episode of Build Momentum, we are joined by Sonny Thadani. He is a dedicated dad of 3 and has a passion for education and mental health.

Sonny has worked with Sandy Hook Promise, an organization dedicated to improving the lives and mental health of students across the U.S. at his new company, Robin, Sonny is determined to solve the mental health challenges in education, having witnessed their impact first hand.

Some Questions I Ask:

• What drew you to start Robin, and what is your personal story about mental health and wellness? (1:53)
• How did Robin come to be? (4:34)
• Is Robin another digital curriculum provider? If not, how is it different? (8:17)
• What are some ways Robin has already made an impact? (14:23)
• What additional advice do you have for growing a small company? (18:33)

 This Episode, You Will Learn:

• Sonny’s personal story (2:06)
• How Robin came to be (4:40)
• What Robin provides (8:35)
• Robin’s media promotion and impact (14:44)
• Advice for growing a small company (18:55)

Quotes:

“I don't think a lot of people have people they can openly talk to—especially quote-unquote adults—when you're a child.”

“I actually think that was one of my strengths as a co-founder in this business. I asked very basic questions because I didn't know how it was taught. I always believe in the voice of the customer. … Find out as kids, as teachers, as parents, what's going on?”

“My eldest is a first-grader, and I want her to learn everything that I learned about history and math and science. But what are those other things that we should be teaching our kids as parents and as educators?”

“Psychologists told us early on that in order to make this effective, we have to have the adults in our kids’ lives, teachers or parents, be part of it.”

“Part of what Robin does—and will do more and more in the future—is [focus on] the mental health and the wellbeing of a parent or a teacher or counselor also.”

“Take feedback to heart, but don't let it ruin your day. You’ve got to experiment, you’ve got to try, you’ve got to get feedback early. And you have to trust your instincts and trust the customer. The customer, I would say, is not always right. But they always have good ideas.”

Connect with Sonny Thadani:
Robin's Website
Robin's Instagram
Robin’s Twitter
Robin’s LinkedIn

Stay in touch with Sarah Williamson:
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SWPR GROUP Website
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Stay in touch with Chad Bolser:
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About "The Secret to Transformational Leadership," which Sarah co-authored with Dr. Quintin Shepherd:
Transformational Leadership Secret website
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Transcript

Sarah Williamson: 0:02

Hello and welcome to build momentum where we help education organizations blow past their competitors with strategies that make an impact. We think beyond traditional press releases and generic communication tactics, and seek out big, bold ideas to create meaningful results for our clients. I'm your host, Sarah Williamson. And I've spent more than 15 years in public relations for the education sector, where our team has learned what works and what doesn't when it comes to PR from launching groundbreaking new industry awards to landing sought after panels at the most prestigious shows. We absolutely love this stuff. But the best part is, we have an opportunity to interview some of the smartest people we know who share their knowledge and strategies for success right here on the show. If you enjoy what you hear, we would so appreciate if you please take a moment just drop us a review on whatever platform you listen. And if you want to learn more about us, visit SWPR-group.com. Thanks so much for tuning in. Today. Let's dive into the show. And on today's episode, we're fortunate enough to have Sonny Thadani with us. Sonny is a dedicated dad of three first and foremost I love that. And his passion for education and mental health came after working with Sandy Hook Promise, an organization dedicated to improving the lives and mental well being of students across the US. Having witnessed the impacts of mental health firsthand, Sonny became determined to solve this challenge through his new company, Robin. Sonny, welcome. It's so great to have you on the show today.

Sonny Thadani: 1:42

Awesome. Sara, thank you so much for having me.

Sarah Williamson: 1:49

Yeah, well, I got it from your website. So that makes sense. So first of all, Sonny, I'd love for you to share a little bit more of your personal story, in terms of what drew you to Robin, and you touched on in your bio, a personal story about health and wellness. I don't know if you're open to sharing that with us today.

Sonny Thadani: 2:06

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, like in life, there's a couple things and paths and choices you make to get you to where you want to go or where you might be going or thinking about it. And I think for years, I've been extremely fortunate I'm really excited. And thank you for that great introduction, which is frankly, spot on. born and raised in North Jersey, my parents came to this country from India in the 1970s. And you know, I just remember growing up, they gave me a lot of flexibility and a lot of autonomy. And, you know, I just remember growing up and kids, you know, had curfews and they got grounded. My parents were pretty flexible. And because of their flexibility, and I think trust, I came home at a reasonable hour, right? My friends had a curfew, and then I came home and they allowed me to explore different things. And, you know, unlike maybe some other parents, parents were focused on academics for sure. They wanted me to do my homework and get good grades. But they also especially my mother, she wanted me to try new things and explore new things. She was an entrepreneur, she came to this country and we My brother was I was born and my brother was born. She stayed home for a couple years. But she's tried different side hustles and she's famous for quoting me that she apparently started the first Groupon of Indian community restaurants and stores in Parsippany, New Jersey, she had anybody. It was her main Sonali savings, and she would sell these components around town. So she's always had that spirit. And that's been passed on to me, whether it's, you know, a driveway lemonade stand, or trying to hustle and sell different things in high school and college, I was lucky enough that my parents, you know, pay for my education. But that was it. Right? I had to figure out things on my own. And I think part of that mentality, I thought about starting my own thing and doing something a bit different. I was never truly inspired by saying, I'm going to go be a doctor or a lawyer or I'm going to go get, you know, multiple degrees. I think it's awesome and wonderful. And maybe I'll push my kids in that direction. Who knows, but I wasn't pushed there. And I was fortunate enough to find the right set of people, partners, mentors, friends in my life that were sounding boards. And this whole concept of Robin and coaching was really born in decades ago, because I had coaches in my life. And they weren't labeled coaches back then. But they were friends. They were an uncle, a grandfather, people that I can talk to. I don't think a lot of people have people, they can openly talk to interest, especially quote unquote, adults when you're a child.

Sarah Williamson: 4:34

Yeah, absolutely. Well, tell me about the inception of Robin and how that came to be. Do you mind starting with that?

Sonny Thadani: 4:40

Yeah, absolutely. So as you mentioned, I started this company with some of my best friends in the whole world. And as we exited that opportunity, as you mentioned, I was working with the Sandy Hook Promise organization and I learned a lot about that organization. And you know, a lot of people know what happened in Sandy Hook that day with those tragic events and I got to know Mark one of the fathers who lost his son that day. And I was so inspired about how he thought about the future and how we want to help other parents. And I slowly realize they're not talking about gun advocacy or gun control. Yes, there are some policies and shifts that they're looking at. But they're really talking about mental health and mental well being. And we did this fundraiser in New York City, prior to COVID in February, and a lot of people didn't realize that. And a lot of people don't realize the amazing work that they do with schools specifically. And not only because they were born from a school, but school is where it all begins, right? All of our kids, if those are fortunate enough to have kids out there, you send your kids to school, and you give them trust and liberty and opportunity to learn. And I thought to myself, as the world changes, right, what are we teaching my kids my eldest is a first grader, and I want her to learn everything that I learned about history, and math and science. But what are those other things that we should be teaching our kids as parents and as educators? And I thought in the last couple of years, Sarah, I'm 41 now, I've learned about who I am, and how to be more self aware how to make better decisions, how to be mindful how to build these skill sets around resiliency. And if I went through something, how to combat that. And I said to myself, wait a minute, why did I learn this when I was 12, alongside math, and history, and everything else? So I started thinking about this idea of teaching our kids and listen, social emotional learning skills has been out there for decades. But if you think about the last decade, what the kids have gone through school shootings and social media mean, our biggest problem are challenges in high school or middle school. I remember fire drills and we had to leave or a weird gym class or getting picked last. I think the kids today have to deal with a lot more. And all of them aren't necessarily building

Sarah Williamson: 6:54

I know these skill sets. Because partly, we're not all teaching it to them. And I was talking to a friend of mine about this. And he said, Sonny, this is really interesting. You got to meet my good friend and college buddy, Scott Farber. And he said, Scott's, you know, kind of your age married you guys, you know, entrepreneurs, both good people who want to change the world. He's been working in education and mental health for two decades, he's probably going to give you some great feedback. And that's all it was, was, hey, learn from this guy, Scott. So last July, we met on the West Side Highway, right during, you know, middle of COVID, New York City. And it felt like we were the only two people on the West Side Highway in New York City. We had a couple iced coffees, and I started telling him about this idea. And he said, sonny, you're not going to believe this. But I've been thinking about this concept for seven years now. And he always brought like a crumpled piece of paper with just some notes on it to say, coaching the whole child better formed brains, like he had all these thoughts. He said, This is it. And it was one of these moments where hopefully, we'll remember in a decade that accompany a friendship and a partnership was all born that day. And it was just an idea, helping kids with their mental health by providing them with mentors, coaches, content, and out of that. Robin was one. I love that story is so serendipitous, so Okay, some might say, Oh, well, that's nice, Sonny, but there's so many SEL companies that just popped up over the past year. I mean, a ton of them. However, I know Robin is a little bit different. Are you just another digital curriculum provider? How is Robin different?

Sonny Thadani: 10:20

Yeah, it's a really good thought. Because I have noticed a lot of companies are popping up and there's gonna be a lot. And that to me, signals to me, there's a market opportunity. And it's scary, because that means there's a real need for a lot of this stuff out there. Yeah, one thing Scott and I discussed early on. And I mentioned this, and I think it's important. I didn't come from a background of education. The last time I had education was 2002, when I graduated from Syracuse, so it's been a while since I've been in a classroom or around them. But I actually think that's one of my strengths as a co founder in this business, because I asked very basic questions, because I don't know how it's taught. So I always believe the voice of the customer. So if you're going to find out as kids, as teachers, as parents, what's going on? So we did a series of focus groups early. And we were fortunate to get a bunch of kids. I mean, it was the middle of COVID kids were online or zoom, doing different things. So through just relationships we had and some good luck. We got a bunch of teachers, parents, and students all separate. And we started asking the questions and talking to them about what's working in schools, what isn't working in schools, and the students had, as you might imagine, these were mostly high school students at the time we were doing focus groups with they were pretty specific in their answers. And one thing that came out is that they said a lot of our schools a lot of what they're teaching when it comes to mental health, mental well being or social emotional learning is very reactive. God forbid, there's a incident of bullying incident fighting incident. I mean, God forbid a school shooting, they would bring a speaker, a coach, a therapist, a psychologist, and they would talk, and there'd be two weeks of office hours, go talk to this person if you need someone to talk to. And a lot of students didn't talk to that person, because it was kind of thrown at them. Like, here you go, if you have a truck, that they're having issues, go talk to this person. And at the end of two or three weeks, that person wouldn't be there. And it'd be back to normal back to their everyday school day. So there was no continuity or consistency in what a lot of schools were offering. The second thing that we heard, and this was also from parents and teachers, as well as students. I mean, we all love technology, and our phones and podcasts and all these amazing tools. But if you're thinking about social emotional learning, and EQ and mental health, it can only be solved by technology. Technology has to be a big part of it, because it's a big part of our lives today. But you need human connection. I remember one of our founding coaches and advisors Dr. Ned Halliwell, he talks about connection in his many, many books that he's written. And I'm thinking myself, how do you have social emotional learning and connection without actually connecting with people not only an app or a website. So early on, we said, Wait a minute, let's actually get other people to talk to kids, experts in their field. People that have talked about this for decades or years, people that are authentic, that are approachable, that are relatable again, all feedback early on. So one of our first coaching sessions happened to be a friend of mine introduced me to this guy named George Mumford, I did not know who George was at the time. And it turned out George is an unbelievable person. He's also pretty well known for being Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson's mindfulness coach and more mindfulness guru, he was brought in by Phil Jackson. I'm a big sports guy in the 80s and 90s, when the bulls were beating the Knicks that was my favorite team, every year, and George worked with these athletes. And I met George and he had these really fascinating stories about Michael and Kobe. But even more than that, he talked a lot to me, as well to students about how anybody can put themselves in that mindset, exactly like Michael and Kobe and all these athletes. And he told the story once and I'll never forget it because it was so inspiring. He was group of about 6162 Kids, I remember the numbers specifically because I was so excited about how many kids would join us. After sharing a story or two, he said, What made Michael and Kobe very different, and could work make any of you guys different is their ability to always be in the moment. And he let he stopped. He paused and he let that sit for a second. And he said, I know people are checking their phones, Instagram text, tick tock. But if everybody can lock in and be with me for this moment for two more minutes, it is something that will change the course of your life. And he talked about a lot of athletes, and specifically those two athletes would always be in the moment, whatever they did. And so he teaches mindfulness and he teaches mindfulness in the way that it's not only about breathing or meditation, that is absolutely part of it. But it's being aware. It's being mindful. It's maybe taking a walk and being alone with your thoughts. It's slew of different things. And no, it didn't blow my mind. But it blew these kids. Yeah. And they said, Wow, George coach Mumford, I have a question and kids were interacting, and he was talking. And I just, I was writing this down in my notes. I said, we're onto something. How be this guy just got a group of 1617 year old kids talking about mindfulness over zoom. I mean, think, yeah, for a minute, that was mind boggling. And we kept doing another one. And another one, we tried different coaches, different kids, different Cohab, girls, boys, athletes, non athletes. And it all worked. And we said to ourselves, wait a minute, we are on to something about connecting sparking conversation, so that the students have to George shares a story or defines mindfulness. He actually lets the students bring up the next question or bring up bring up the next thought. And I don't think a lot of students get that often. And that's to do with sparking that conversation and making it okay to talk about things like mindfulness and resiliency in their own mental well being.

Sarah Williamson: 16:07

That's amazing. I couldn't agree more. I think what you're doing is so powerful, and it seems like it's resonating. It sounds like you haven't even done much promotion on your end. This is a show about PR. So I wanted to get to kind of some of the ways you've already been able to make an impact. I know you're recently on the today's show. Amazing.

Sonny Thadani: 16:28

We were really lucky and they were doing this segment, interviewing a bunch of kids on why mental health days matter at schools. And again, when I was growing up if you had a cold or fever, you could call out and but you have to it's an absence right and you're only allowed certain amount of absences. So a lot of students in different cities and states and this one segment was about a high school, I believe in your neck of the woods in Oregon, Portland area, where she said, Wait a minute, if I hurt my knee, or if I have a fever, I stay out. But if mentally I'm just not there today, or something happened to me, can I take an absence? Right? That was the part of the segment. And they got in touch with us through just a friendship and a relationship. And they said, Do you have anybody who can speak from a scientific point of view, a psychologist, right, and one of our coaches, Jacobson, she's also a mother of four, a professor at Iona. She teaches about mindfulness. And she was on the segment talking about why this is important, not just from a mom or psychologist, but why our kids need this and why it should be part of the school year. So again, we got to, quote unquote, 15 seconds of fame. Yeah, one of the reasons Sarah, and I think we do need to start leveraging public relations a bit more and marketing in a broad way, because it's starting to work. And yes, we have an amazing team, we have an amazing product. But the driver, here are kids. The reason this is working, and hopefully other companies are going to find a ton of success here, right? Because there's a mission behind what we're trying to do. Kids, high school kids, teenagers, Gen Z, they're demanding it, they're demanding it from their parents, they're demanding from their schools, their friends, and from social media, they're putting it out there. And I think that's what has allowed us to see some early success, coupled with, Hey, we're allowing this conversation to happen. We're making it fun VR products. So it's not just George coming on, or coach, great. There are lesson plans, there are activities. So there has to be some, you know, a scope and sequence to what we do some evidence to prove to end to measure how students are rolling through our platform. But it also has to be engaging, right, we have this thing called a 30 day challenge. So a coach comes in, you talk about a topic, and then it's done. And right, we heard earlier, students don't want a one and done they want consistency. So we had this one page instance where kids logged on. And maybe it's mindfulness or resiliency or being self aware. But they get to post every day about what made them more mindful or more resilient. You write in your online journal, your high five each other, you create a think of it as positive social media for the day, you get points. And there's a winner. And everybody kids included, likes a little bit of competition, whether it's feel or on mindfulness. So I think after grading, some sort of gamified version of what you do, yeah, a lot more lessons and activities are built like teachers, right. They're built up by guidance counselors, so there's a science to what we're trying to do. But you can make that fun, you can make it engaging. And if you do that, you're going to see a little bit of success. And schools are looking for something right now more than ever, right? COVID has put blank glass on mental health, not just for students, but the adults in their lives, right, that includes parents and teachers. And I think someone, a psychologist told us earlier that in order to make this effective, you have to have the adults in our kids lives, teachers or parents be part of it, right. So part of what Robin does, and will do more and more in the future is, hey, the mental health and the well being of a parent or a teacher or guidance counselor is also important, right? So we can coach them, and we can work with them and come up with activities and challenges for the adults as well to be on the same page to align themselves with the students.

Sarah Williamson: 20:18

I love that. I think that's so helpful. That's great advice. A lot of people listening to this show aren't kind of similar positions. They're trying to grow their companies, some are small, and they would love to hear from you. Any additional advice you might have about where they should start about galvanizing these efforts and, and sharing it with the world. I think you guys just some nailed that.

Sonny Thadani: 20:39

Yeah. Well, I think part of it, too, is young companies. And I've been lucky enough to do this in a very different field. Now my second time, you got to start, right, you got to try. And you know, people say you can't be afraid to fail. That's absolutely true. But you got to put yourself out there and you got to experiment early. Right? I didn't know that a zoom with a coach, talk about this would be a success. I actually was a little worried in the beginning. Okay. Are there cameras on? Or do they really care? Are they going to ask any questions? So my early advice is, a lot of founders, you have instincts, right? You started a company and idea that nonprofit or for profit for a reason. Trust your instincts, and then learn from the customer based on feedback. And don't be afraid to ask for feedback. The worst thing that can happen is they don't give you any so you're at the same place you started and take all feedback with a little bit of an assault too, right? Especially when working with kids. Kids are brutally honest, and they're tough sometimes. So yeah, take it to heart but don't let it ruin your day and your day because again, there are things that you probably know, and you're thinking about as young company leaders, but you got to experiment you got to try, you got to get feedback early. And you got to trust your instincts and trust the customer, the customer, I would say they're always right. But they always have good ideas. They always had ideas that could be part of, you know, for us, almost everything that we put out there today has been because of feedback, positive or negative from a student, teacher or parent.

Sarah Williamson: 22:14

That's amazing. I also would add, just as you are exploring and failing as you go, because that's going to be part of it. It's a matter of how you respond to those challenges and get back up. And

Sonny Thadani: 22:25

that's part of what we're teaching. How do you build resiliency? And don't get me wrong? When a school says no, or something is good? It still hurts? And it doesn't get easier? Or at least for me, when I hear no, it still does not get easier. But I've heard no enough to get fasted at this point in my career. And I certainly, you know, as my own parenting journey starts and as you mentioned earlier, three young kids, it's tough. And I don't think I've done it. All right, I think far from it. And I'm learning from that. And that has helped me as an entrepreneur, quite frankly, like, your kids make it tough, because those are the highest stakes out there. Right. There's nothing bigger than your own kids or your own family. Right. And I think, you know, entrepreneurs who are also parents, there's a spark or something special that they have, I think,

Sarah Williamson: 23:10

I agree. This is my favorite expression lately. Every day is a journey. So true, but I feel like I could talk to you all day. I have so many more questions, but I'm gonna have to have you back on. Where can our listeners learn more about you? And Robin?

Sonny Thadani: 23:27

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I mean, our website, we'd love for people to go check us out at www.my-robin.com, Instagram and Twitter at robin_stories. And as he said, as a young company, we've had some early success. Well, now let's get that megaphone out. And let's leverage marketing, PR, social media advertising, other areas, because a lot of schools are taking our call, right? Not many schools or organizations. Parents associations don't want to talk about mental health for their students mental health for themselves. It is a topic that we're all talking about. The question is, how do we get there faster and broader increase that top of the funnel, everybody is never going to buy your product. There's no company in the world. I mean, maybe Apple, everybody's bought them for a while. But there are not many companies that have this instant success, right? You got to try new things, you got to build a large funnel of customers. And there are a lot of schools, there are a lot of kids out there that need this. We started in our backyard in New York and New Jersey, because that's where we are. But we're working with schools across the country right now. And we want to continue doing that and getting the word out more and more. So I love what you're doing. I love your idea, Sarah, about doing podcasts. I'm quite inspired and motivated right now. I'm going to do a little research on Alright, let's say that setting aside. you will be my first guest!

Sarah Williamson: 24:48

Yes. Oh, yup! Okay, well, we'll be in touch. We'll check in with you on that for sure. But thank you again, I look forward to hearing how Robin unfolds. I think you have great things yet to come.

Sonny Thadani: 25:02

Thanks, Sarah, I will let you know. And again, thank you so much for having me. Have a great day.

Sarah Williamson: 25:07

You too. Thanks so much for tuning in today. If you enjoyed the show, if you wouldn't mind leaving a review, we'd be so grateful. This helps other listeners find and learn about our show. And please reach out if you're interested in learning more about how we can elevate the leaders of your organization with our PR services if you'd like you can even shoot me a direct email at Sarah sarah@swpr-group.com. I look forward to hearing from you and we will see you next time.