RELIK A-Z: Open Your Mind: The Essentials

Although most of us are literate, 54% of adults 16-74 years old read below the equivalent of a sixth grade level. This is shocking because it affects the livelihood of more than 130 million people and prevents them from getting better opportunities. This leads to inequities in generational wealth and an overall sense of not being able to contribute to society in a viable way. Although the unemployment rate is historically low, many people work more than one job and are living paycheck to paycheck. Solving the problem of illiteracy cannot be resolved in a day. It also can't be taught in a dogmatic, staid way as most often happens in academia. At the end of a busy day, most people are trying to find a way to unwind. Googling general information can lead to believing in disinformation because people are prone to get their information from social media sites and podcasts that often veer away from the truth.

RELIK A-Z: Open Your Mind: The Essentials makes learning something new fun. Topics can range anywhere from learning about The Trail of Tears, to getting your mind around algorithms.

 Filled with the element of surprise, you take a word journey that includes text, audio, music & videos, products, a podcast and a community forum called Haven. These elements are things that come naturally to us. Many people appreciate music, watch videos on YouTube, shop on Amazon and engage with each other through social media platforms. When you use the app, you'll be doing what comes naturally: trying to find a way to escape from the madness of everyday life.  Not only will you get smarter, you might also find your life's calling, get help with a problem, be entertained and engage with others who are doing the same. 

"When I was a child, I was obsessed with the Encyclopedia Britannica. Education is being threatened and people have learned to just put up with it. Higher learning is expensive and can lead to many regrets. This is the little app that could. Like any muscle, you work it and get stronger. This is your opportunity to become the Hulk (or She-Hulk) of learning something new." - Regina Byrd Smith, Founder

RELIK A-Z: Open Your Mind: The Essentials can be downloaded from the app store for IOS or Android. You can also view the app on a desktop computer. Create an account and fill out your personal preferences. You can receive a Daily Essential for free or sign up for an annual or monthly subscription for unlimited viewing. A subscription includes a restricted number of downloads and more can be purchased for an additional price. Each word will have an optional short quiz and with each perfect score you receive a token. Tokens can be used to purchase select prizes.

Music and videos can be viewed only with a subscription and will include collaborations with well-known and up-and-coming artists. Some of these videos will be available for purchase and can be downloaded. Others are completely restricted. 

Some of the words in the app have a corresponding product. These products are for sale and can be purchased in-house or from external vendors. Larger purchases can be drop-shipped directly from the manufacturer.

Podcasts are a way to absorb the audio version of the text. Regina will recite a "10 Things to Know" list to give you a primer into a subject. Interviews with subject-matter experts and people with real-world experience will be added within the first six months of the podcast release date.

The community forum Haven is a way to get some answers. By typing in a topic and your zip code, you can find what you need close to home. For example, typing in the word addiction can give you a list of options, but typing in alcoholism narrows the search. 

Functional illiteracy is defined as the inability to read and comprehend relatively short texts or understand basic vocabulary. Illiteracy affects 18% of US adults (approximately 57.4 million people), most commonly impacting black people, Hispanic people, and low-income individuals.

Reading is an invaluable skill that's important to just about every aspect of our daily lives, from communications to the way we work to the food we eat. The ability to read and understand text is something that children typically begin to pick up on beginning around age five or six, but for some, reading doesn't click right away. If kids struggle with reading in their younger years, it increases the odds that they'll do so as adults.

Our customer is a curious, engaged citizen who wants to live in a better world. A person who cares about the planet and wants to understand what they can do to make the world a better place. A person who wants to understand themselves and cares about other people. A person who is open to learning something new about science, technology, mythology and many other topics. This deep felt belief in humanity and what we are capable of is what drives this project.

Today's political climate is fraught with setbacks (a woman's right to bodily autonomy), hatred (gun violence), revisionist history (banning black history) and prejudices (creating roadblocks for the trans community). These are just some examples of what a lack of education can do: it can limit your thinking.

We are finding that social media can cause depression and other mental health issues, affect relationships, self-esteem, create anxiety and a long list of other maladies. RELIK A-Z wants to be a space where you can laugh, sing, memorize, share and become excited about learning something new, or expanding on something you already know.

My mother was a child bride: she was married and pregnant with me at the age of 14. As the eldest of five, I have seen my share of life's ups and downs. Born in the South and raised in the North, I have had a black woman's view of this country that is complicated.

I now take care of two disabled people: my mother is legally blind and my youngest brother suffers from schizophrenia. I have learned to be deeply compassionate. 

I am scared for the human race. No joke. This time we're in is dangerous and if we are not taking the boldest of steps and try to make the impossible possible, we fail.

Barbara Bush made illiteracy one of her primary causes. This really puts things in perspective for me: we've been at this a long time. Many researchers believe illiteracy is an easy problem to solve; we just haven't put the money and resources into making it happen.

I am an artist. I have an MFA in Theatre from UCSD and I believe in the power of performance:

I have taught myself Dall E- 2 and work in the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite to build assets. I hope to invite many people from all walks of life to help me realize this urgently important assignment. I believe this is what I was put on this earth to do. 

I am building content and have several segments to address: text, music & videos, a podcast, products and a community forum called Haven. Although I'm still building, I have accrued some credits in AWS Amplify and have recently started working with a couple of AWS Solutions Architects.

I need to understand who it is I serve. I want to contribute to solving the problem of illiteracy and I need a community of smart, driven, concerned professionals and people with real-world experience to bring this project to fruition. 

I started my project wanting an A to Z categorization of everything  in the world. Right! Google and the Encyclopedia Brittanica have that solved hands down.

I then started thinking about why we are so reluctant to accept others and why we take solace in our respective tribes. 

RELIK A-Z aims to bring people together from all walks of life and is primarily focused on things that affect humans and how we affect other things.

Music is a great leveler and the anchor of the app. Hip-Hop used to take on social issues and injustices. Unfortunately, it has strayed away from what could have been a powerful medium for change.

I want to discover a new form of entertainment that encompasses several musical genres. 

Duolingo has found a way of gamifying learning something new. This increases engagement and the app starts to become a daily habit. By using entertainment as a tool, we can get the user to want  to learn more and start to develop a thirst for knowledge.

Including the element of surprise will keep the user engaged and the app ebullient: a living, breathing daily essential. Collaborators with guests, including artists, scientists, world leaders, etc. will not only add a degree of gravitas, it will also strengthen our resolve and make learning both fact and fiction, fun.

The next year will be spent building the app with collaborators. The immediate impact will be generating word of mouth buzz around the project with help from well-known and admired celebrities, performers, professionals and scholars of every ilk. 

The next few years impact goals will be to have enough of an offering to start acquiring a sizable user base. Because the app has several segments: (text, music & videos, products, a podcast and a community forum called Haven), growth in some segments might be stronger than others. In an ideal world the app would go something like this: You look up the word alcoholism, watch the video, listen to the podcast, shop the products (for example, a nonalcoholic line of beer called Eye of the Hurricane) and look up the word alcoholism in the Haven community for local information (for example, your local AA chapter). The impact we’re striving for is to help you develop a deep understanding of a subject and give you some options  that will help you find answers to immediate questions or concerns that could be life-changing and life-affirming.

The UN Sustainable Development Goals that most align with our solutions are Quality Education and Reduced Inequality.

RELIK A-Z helps you understand that you are never too old to learn. There are certain things we’ve just grown accustomed to: how we dress, what we eat, who we    love and trust and what we do to make ends meet. However, many of us want a better life. One filled with joy and wonder. That’s what we hope the user gets when they explore the app: a new sense of self. A more complete representation of their humanity.

Creating a path for a prosperous future is hard, especially when you come from an impoverished family. Most black and brown people struggle on some level every day: whether it’s not enough money to take care of your kids needs or not enough education to earn that promotion, it’s always there.

If we can take even a small dent out of the issue of illiteracy, many, many, people will be more aligned to have better lives.

when I was in graduate school, my now deceased father who never went beyond a 5th grade education referred to me and my sister as  educated fools. He worked as a machinist, was an alcoholic and died a miserable death at the tender age of 62.

My deceased father would have been in my target population. 

If change is a syllogism, one action leading to another, then the user not only learns a new word: it becomes possible to learn a new you. By reading you become inspired. Then you delve deeper into how a word search might affect you and ultimately you make a commitment for change.

The core technology is to build a search engine as an alternative to Bing or Google. 

When you do a word search, you go on a fantastic journey of enlightenment, entertainment and discovery. 

By using all of your senses: read the text; listen to the music and the podcast; touch the products and feel the community, you start to become more human. More joyful. And more serious about what your purpose is in life.

Diversity, equity and inclusion are what propels this project.

RELIK A-Z Is shamelessly revenue generating. Every word in the app has a corresponding product. This could be something as simple as a t-shirt or figurine to more ambitious items like rain capture bins shaped like frogs. 

Noah Kagan, the founder of AppSumo, would set a single revenue goal each year. He also made sure that everyone in his organization had daily reminders of the goal to reinforce its importance.

Setting S.M.A.R.T. goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound), will be a jumping off place. 

Initially we need to build the app. The first year we build and start marketing a select number of products. From there we will make improvements and add  more as the app grows.

Podcasts can be streamed and there is a n opening for educational podcasts with an encyclopedic point of view.

Subscription service is the nucleus of most apps and RELIK A-Z will charge a nominal monthly fee for usage.

I will need to fundraise and create 18 months of runway to build.

I did YC Startup School a few years ago, and one of the speakers said if you believe in your startup enough, you’ll go to the ends of the world to get funding. I’m prepared to do that.

I have no major solutions. I’ve been in a couple of cohorts (BBA Connect with Amazon and and Goldman Sachs One Million Black Women in Business cohort). I am  in search of answers.