Creating a Digital Heirloom | Business with Purpose Podcast EP 243: Ashley Kenny, Heirloom
My guest this week is Ashley Kenny, the CEO and founder of Heirloom, a startup company founded in 2020 that allows you to send video cards to friends and loved ones. As a journalist, she spent 15 years traveling the world and making groundbreaking documentaries. She lives in Washington D.C. with her husband and two children.
4:06 – Ashley 101
- She fell in love with long-form documentary making and worked for National Geographic and other outlets.
- Now she is the CEO and founder of Heirloom, which she launched with her brother.
9:09 – Tapping into her passion
- Ashley is a storyteller who has worked in different mediums. She loves asking questions and investigating.
17:12 – A need for community and connection
- Ashley called her grandma last spring and noticed she seemed down and not like her usual happy self. She was in lockdown during Covid and missing her family.
- She mailed her grandmother a video of her children to cheer her up, and she wanted to do the same for other people, especially seniors who don't have access to computers or phones.
- Ashley's brother helped her with the technology.
29:03 – Different kinds of videos people send
- People have sent many different kinds of videos – graduations, birth announcements, ultrasounds, gender reveals, birthday tributes
36:52 – A powerful message
- Send videos to people who have impacted your life, and let them know how much you care.
- It could be a really powerful opportunity to send a message to somebody in your life that has really had an impact on you, and maybe you haven't really told them.
38:12 – Get to know you
- First thing she does when she gets home from a long trip? She gets a cup of fresh water from her tap.
- Favorite food? Fried rice
FEATURED QUOTES
"I've always been super curious about people's backgrounds, about what makes somebody who they are, about where they're from." – Ashley
"I was a huge snoop growing up as a child … I had to see everything." – Ashley
"This is a way to connect people when they can't be together." – Ashley
"We're hoping this is an heirloom, a keepsake, something people will hold onto for years to come." – Ashley
