In The Room with Ryan Mundy
Welcome to the last episode of our four-part mini series Movers & Shakers! This week, Madison and Claudia sit down with Ryan Mundy, Founder & CEO of Alkeme Health. You may also recognize Ryan as the Super Bowl-winning safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers. After eight seasons in the NFL and playing across three teams, Ryan “retired” at age 31 and embarked on a self-discovery journey to find his identity outside of football. This led him to spending time both on the investing side at Techlete Ventures and starting his first company SWZLE, a sustainable CPG brand. That year, Ryan and his family faced an unfortunate number of personal health crises, ultimately shedding light on healthcare inequalities that millions of Black Americans must face. From this personal experience came Alkeme Health, a digital health platform that features content from black practitioners and respected experts in wellness, including psychology and mindfulness to tackle the issues that are historically unaddressed by health tech, such as intergenerational trauma, systemic racism, anxiety and microaggressions. The platform is set to launch in January 2022.
This week’s episode of The Room Podcast explores insights and themes such as endurance on and off the field, building an ecosystem of culturally competent care, and healthcare’s future in America. Let’s open the door.
Movers & Shakers is proudly sponsored by our friends at Silicon Valley Bank and Cooley.
Key Theme 1: Endurance on and off the field
With 31 years of his life built around football, Ryan attributed success in the game to his endurance and grit. His position of safety specifically evolved around defending the team which focused on attacking and being aggressive in pursuit of a goal. When life literally knocked you down, Ryan learned to get back up. The stamina and excellence required to play professional football has stayed with Ryan. He highlighted how this mindset is what he brings to everyday life, and now the job of being a founder. Ultimately, the mental and physical reps from football set the foundation for him to carry this endurance off the field.
Key Theme 2: Building an ecosystem of culturally competent care
Alkeme Health grew out of Ryan’s lived experiences and his first-hand observations of where the Black community in America was underserved in healthcare. Ryan opened up about his own mental health journey post football coupled with family loss and illness. These moments highlighted that no one had focused on addressing the healthcare issues facing millions of Black Americans through the lens of cultural competent care. Alkeme Health is a dedicated platform for the Black community, focusing on compelling and culturally relevant content and resources. Their goal is to be the universal health care provider for Black Americans, starting with mental health.
Key Theme 3: Healthcare’s future in America
More broadly, Ryan unpacked how the landscape of healthcare in America is expected to evolve over the next five years. A trend he called out was around in-home and decentralized care practices. Concierge medicine growth could go hand-in-hand with the reality of America being an aging country. This in turn, will create more emphasis on elderly care in the years to come. As an extension of Alkeme’s mission, he predicts there will be increased segmentation around target audiences with specific resources and companies meeting the direct needs of communities. We’re equally excited for a more intentional, accessible, and hopefully streamlined healthcare future.
That’s a wrap on Movers & Shakers! Hear our interview with Ryan Mundy on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Thank you to all of our listeners for checking out this important mini-series where we had the opportunity to sit down with four incredible guests who are shaking up the way it’s always been done.
We will be back in early 2022 with our fifth season of The Room Podcast. Until then, catch up on all our latest episodes, available now on all podcast streaming platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Happy Holidays and a happy new year!
