Message from the Founders
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We know how lucky we are – love at first sight when we met in high school and still married decades later.
Through all the complications and challenges of work, babies, career changes, multiple moves across the country, somehow a Type A, lifelong entrepreneur, and a ball-busting, Sicilian Irish writer/director managed to stay together all these years – still madly in love in our fifties!
It wasn’t always “rainbows and butterflies.” Hardly. We worked through some brutal ups and downs. Don’t get us wrong. There was lots of love and joy, but also conflict, challenges, arguments, and many moments when we didn’t think we would make it as a couple.
And along the way had four great kids who, we believe, saw a very “real” marriage – two people in love, always trying hard to do their best.
Like any parent at this time, we raised the first generation of kids that grew up holding a computer in their hands. We entered the global communication village together as a family, experiencing accelerated access to information and the age of “instant gratification.”
While everything was advancing, literally at light speed with the internet and social media, we couldn’t help but notice that the technology of health care remained stagnant. As patients with signs of aging creeping in, we started asking more questions. Why in this age of information were there so many evident shortcomings with physical and mental healthcare options? Why were so many of our friends casually joking about the lack of sex in their relationships? Why were so many couples divorcing after their kids left for college? Why weren’t counseling, coaching, and therapy more easily accessible and more widely used? (We likely would not have made it as a couple if not for counseling.)
Specifically for women, they experience so many changes throughout their lives; first periods, childbearing, aging, menopause, etc. The challenges for women have been there since the dawn of time. Yet, historically, women have been expected to “deal with it.” Why do women have to put up with low libidos, waning interest, energy, or urinary dribble after sneezing? Why are so many women’s needs untreated, with little to no help from their overwhelmed primary care doctor.
The internet has connected us all but, at the same time, created isolation and barriers to true intimacy and authentic relationships. With that, we questioned why our conversations about sexual health and intimate relationships still happening behind closed doors on the stainless-steel exam table?
Further, we knew first-hand the importance of therapy and guidance for couples but, why was it that so many people who need it don’t get it? Was it lack of access? Was it a partner saying, “I’m not doing that!”? Was there a better way to have open, honest dialogue on all fronts?
From all these questions, Rise was born. As founders, we wanted to help shape, influence, and engage intimacy for today’s couples and individuals looking for deeper fulfillment in their lives. More than that, we are creating unfettered access to information, therapy, and treatment!
As we launch Rise nationally, I warmly recall one of my early meetings with a top academic and physician in the field of urology and sexual wellness. After explaining our philosophy and business plan of providing improved physical and mental sexual health and increased intimacy for all men and women, he stood up from his desk, raised his arms in a V, and said, “Thank god! Finally, someone is getting how to approach this pillar of health”!
