Ty Wenzel and Jenna Walter are the innovative duo behind DreamyKid, the top meditation app that’s used by over 200,000 families and schools globally. It’s an idea that was conceived in East Hampton and is on its way to tech paradise, Silicon Valley, in 2020.
But what makes the app so special? It’s specially designed for children. DreamyKid’s goal is to teach children how to better handle their thoughts, emotions, and actions through meditation. Wenzel explained the concept further.
How’d you come up with the concept?
There were a few years when my son was transitioning from Springs School to East Hampton High School where there were numerous child deaths due to suicide. It triggered a lot of things from my past, after having dealt with clinical depression, a time where meditation pretty much saved me. I’m a very tech-heavy, full-stack designer, so I developed DreamyKid in 2016
I asked Jenna, who is very experienced with kids and yoga/meditation, to join me. She came on as our COO and for outreach because we offer DreamyKid to schools for free. She’s the true heart of DreamyKid now and she is an inspiring mother to three amazing kids.
As the original meditation app for kids, what’s ahead?
We were invited and accepted to exhibit at Google-sponsored StartUp Grind in Silicon Valley in February. It’s so exciting to be able to speak with other founders and innovators and to see if we will align with venture capitalists and investors. I’m especially excited to attend the fireside chats with some of the biggest names in tech.
It’s our end-goal to see meditation implemented in all schools in the nation. The science is there. There are countless stories and videos that show how it has helped in schools. At this point, it’s about scaling DreamyKid to a much bigger audience. An early investor is helping us launch our marketing push next month. We’re ready for angel investors at this point as the product has been downloaded over 200,000 times with zero marketing.
In July, you launched version two of the app. What was the change?
The big update was adding the subscription model to DreamyKid. This makes it more profitable so we can move forward, but it also makes it easier to get promo-codes to schools who want to implement DreamyKid into their curriculum. I’ve also received requests from veterans coming back from war zones and active service. An adult DreamyKid is definitely in our future.
Is child meditation mainstream?
Since 2012, it’s gone up 500 percent. Kids do better when competing sports when they meditate, behavior is markedly better, attendance goes up, grades go up, they get respite if there is drama in their lives, they change their self-speak to more positive tones. There are so many reasons why to meditate just five minutes a day — it’s all you need.
What does your app offer?
We offer meditations for eating healthy, better sleep, ADHD and anxiety, and more. Yahoo and Mashable have put us in their top apps for kids, so we are definitely seeing attention being put on children’s mental health. Our complete list of categories is available at www.dreamykid.com. I know meditation saved my life in the ‘90s. I know it works. There really is no stopping us now.
Follow DreamyKid at the handle, @dreamykidapp. Download the app for iPhone at https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dreamykid-meditation-app/id1430696683.
nicole@indyeastend.com
@NikkiOnTheDaily
