From One-on-One to One Million: How a Trauma Therapist Became a Tech Founder Fighting the Housing Crisis

TUP EP 116

Nomination: [: 00:00:00

Welcome

Aransas Savas: to the [: 00:00:30

someone who has herself. From a trauma therapist working one-on-one with clients to a tech founder [00:01:00] tackling one of our most pressing social issues, the affordable housing crisis. Emily's journey began on the front lines, helping chronically mentally ill New Yorkers transition from the streets and to stable housing, which led.[00:01:15]

hat might have terrified her [: 00:01:30

It's a company that's already raising capital, signing customers, [00:01:45] and generating actual revenue, all while getting families into safe, affordable homes faster. So today Emily's gonna share her story of releasing old narratives about who she thought she could be, the daily rituals that help [00:02:00] her build courage, capital, and how a photo of her daughters keeps her brave even when conversation about transformation.

interest of courage. Emily, [: 00:02:15

I'm in. My

y agencies. During COVID, he [: 00:02:45

He also on the [00:03:15] side started building access, which is the AI.

A around what?[: 00:03:30

When he decided he wanted to go to market, we were sitting down talking about it, and it was just him at the time. He didn't have any other people that he had been building [00:03:45] it with and he had technologists helping him, but no one really with really the people skills or the experience in the market actually, that I had had as a social worker.

nd of looked at me like. So, [: 00:04:00

It was like this. And so from that moment on, I've just [00:04:45] been going full force.

ibility and our readiness to [: 00:05:00

There is something I know that this guy doesn't know that he needs, and so I'm gonna show up with my expertise and use that as a [00:05:15] stepping stone to gain more confidence and more credibility in other areas. Yep.

Emily Levin: Yes.

rase, the slow enrollment of [: 00:05:30

What does that phrase mean for. I

ted to feel like a spectator [: 00:05:45

I was just on the sidelines, but I wanted to build something like a [00:06:15] lot of them were. I started to get a lot of women in my practice that were mid to senior career who were working in banking and working in startups, going to business school, and there was some envy. [00:06:30] And I always like to think of envy as a really helpful emotion in that kind of give us direction around what.

olling in new experience for [: 00:06:45

Aransas Savas: Mm, yeah. I talk about this show doing exactly that for me and for our [00:07:00] audience. And so the goal here is really that if you listen to enough of these stories, you will have so much evidence that you can do big, scary, brave things, that it becomes impossible to say no to your own [00:07:15] calling.

rs, their uncertainties. And [: 00:07:30

Limited economic access is super relevant to the experience of the product you're developing, but that's not all you're doing. [00:08:00] You're running the business.

it. I mean, I really love it [: 00:08:15

I mean, with a startup so much, at least in my experience, is the story that [00:08:30] compelling.

any in the early stages. And [: 00:08:45

Aransas Savas: big, I'll say like, that number's big.

Right, right. Or that one's smaller, right? It's all very relative. It's

mily Levin: how are we gonna [: 00:09:15

Aransas Savas: to be able to say that actually this thing that we already do really well. Is incredibly valuable and like the success is entirely dependent on that. I think it's a really [00:09:30] validating and reassuring idea for those of us who are bravely waiting into something new.

The the things we're not good at necessarily aren't even the most important things.

hings we know we're good at, [: 00:09:45

And it's definitely fascinating moving from a. That was really female centered. It's like moving from that kind of world into like [00:10:15] a very white male world. Mm-hmm. Was a little jarring and actually quite shocking to hear that. I think this statistic is like 1.4% of female run startups get [00:10:30] funded. Like that's just insane.

Like how, and I

Aransas Savas: think only something like 16% of founders or even women,

ly tell there's just a bias. [: 00:10:45

Aransas Savas: men certainly aren't gonna change that

Emily Levin: they're given the money. Why would they?

Yeah. Yeah,

Aransas Savas: yeah. It on [: 00:11:00

So what are some of the qualities. That you're noticing have helped you enter these conversations in this [00:11:30] very white, male dominated world with confidence. And I'm not even worried about the credibility piece because I think as women we put too much emphasis on that, but about your own feelings of confidence and readiness to have the conversation.

Emily Levin: Oh boy. [: 00:11:45

I was an architect, I was a therapist. I had so many. I didn't know what I was doing. It was like all made up, but I loved it and it was this magical world. Some point in [00:12:30] adolescence that kind of stopped because we enter into a different kind of pure world. And honestly, sometimes I will sort of bring that time back where I'm like, you know what?

just gonna play that. I'm a.[: 00:12:45

Maybe it won't be pretend anymore, like it isn't actually pretend. So that's been something that I actually have found really useful and exciting. So I think that's a big one. [00:13:00] Community I've worked really hard to find other founders, just participated in the Robinhood Foundation, has a accelerator for impact founders.

th program where we all work [: 00:13:15

Aransas Savas: mm-hmm.

million investment and [: 00:13:45

Aransas Savas: huge, you're like, they have it all figured out.

men founders who just shared [: 00:14:00

And these are people who have founded huge companies that have been really successful and.[00:14:15]

Screaming into your pillow. I, you gotta pull on everything possibly at any given moment to kind of just going.

ed about was future casting, [: 00:14:30

And I love this idea of, of sort of envisioning your [00:14:45] future self. And it's no different than what I do when I envision myself crossing the finish line of a marathon. Yep. Yep. I start to cultivate belief that then inspires action. Anything we do that takes [00:15:00] a lot of energy and investment, physically, mentally, financially, I.

ors, it's okay. Take a step, [: 00:15:15

Emily Levin: The interesting thing about my dad is that my dad has always been very risk averse and had a legal career for [00:15:45] 45, 50 years. Like same practice, the same kind of law. Yet when he's talking to me, especially as an 82-year-old who's retired, and you know, he's raised his kids. He has [00:16:00] his retirement like side a lot scary things.

sks I'm taking and a certain [: 00:16:15

And I feel like I. I try to do that with my kids too. In fact, my daughter will be interning for us this summer. She's 13. Not sure what she's gonna be doing, but she's gonna be our intern. [00:17:00] And because I keep saying to myself like, God, this is taking up so much of my time. How can I multitask? Right? Because I'm a woman.

ltitask my. That's parenting [: 00:17:15

I don't know. So I'm trying to actually replicate what my father is.

d's a little less aware, but [: 00:17:45

Do you wanna hear it? And she'll just say it like, with all the numbers [00:18:00] I'm.

e'll get something from that [: 00:18:15

Aransas Savas: Wow. What an incredible story and experience for her. Yeah. And for you.

make her business cards and [: 00:18:30

I don't know. We'll find things like she knows how to use the computer in I, for me, she can go on and figure out ways to advertise our company, [00:18:45] find figure.

Aransas Savas: Yeah. What a beautiful thing to be able to say to both of you too. We don't have to know all the answers. Yeah. We'll figure it out.

Emily Levin: Yeah.

n general influence your own [: 00:19:00

Emily Levin: I mean, I think it goes both ways, right? Like a part of me is like, okay, my husband and I are taking this big risk. We're building this company [00:19:15] to what expense does that for our children? Who like, could we be saving more money or, but the way that I counter that is sort of by saying they're watching us as a couple live out our dreams.[00:19:30]

ake more money and save that [: 00:19:45

Aransas Savas: So much richer. I think about that all the [00:20:00] time that I'm not earning as much now. Mm-hmm. As I did in my corporate career. I'm not getting annual merit increases. Right. And I'm getting incredible growth in [00:20:15] so many other ways. Yeah. And so I just started telling myself that like this year's bonus is, yep.

e naming these things in the [: 00:20:30

But for me, it really does help to. Give them the same names I used to give them.

Emily Levin: Yep. I love that.

Aransas Savas: Oh, look what I, look where I gotta raise this year.

, but [: 00:21:00

Right. It happening. I [00:21:15] mean, being in the startup world. It's unbelievable how fast AI is moving in.

. Yeah. For people who might [: 00:21:30

Emily Levin: Yeah.

Aransas Savas: Bring your daughter on please to give us the pitch.

Okay.

affordable housing process, [: 00:21:45

She had good credit, good, but [00:22:00] because of the broken system, she had to take paper applications to all of the different housing facilities to apply.

Fact.[: 00:22:15

She had to go in person. She wasn't allowed to like do a virtual walkthrough or all the things that exist in market rate units that you can do does not exist for affordable housing. And so [00:22:30] eventually, I mean, we were trying and trying and she had to maintain her job. She had to maintain like the three children.

for affordable housing. Only [: 00:22:45

Music: because

any different aspects of the [: 00:23:00

I mean, Ezra Kle has been talking a lot about this idea of sort of deregulating housing so that we can just get housing built and get people moved in. So because of these broken [00:23:15] systems, property managers who manage these properties, it takes 80 hours to lease up one unit.

Aransas Savas: Unreal.

million per building in tax [: 00:23:30

So property managers are hemorrhaging money. The these that are managing, you know, affordable units and people aren't getting housed. [00:23:45] So there's a real problem. And most of the property management systems that exist in the market are not built for affordable housing. They don't deal with the layers of complexity with compliance.

s very, very complex system. [: 00:24:00

There's [00:24:30] many, many different things that go.

ets people housed faster. We [: 00:24:45

Half of those people are no longer eligible. Some of them aren't even alive. Some of them have moved out of the country,

sas Savas: and I'm sure they [: 00:25:15

Emily Levin: Yeah, I mean, it's absurd. They'll send a letter in the mail. To the address [00:25:30]

Aransas Savas: because people who are looking for a house have super stable residences in general. Right? Totally, totally makes sense.

or's fault, there just isn't [: 00:25:45

The statistics say that like 95% of people living in poverty have cell phones. So people will say to us. These people don't have technology, like how are you gonna [00:26:00] use technology? That's not actually the facts. People have cell phones. There's all kinds of subsidies to get a cell. So we send emails or texts to people through our.[00:26:15]

Every month saying, are you still interested in this unit? Have you moved? Has your income changed? Please let us know if you want us to remove you from the wait list. Seems intuitive, right?

Music: Mm-hmm.

st stay in touch with people [: 00:26:30

Aransas Savas: I love it. I love it. [00:26:45] Yeah. So I know your next brave step in this is to close your seed round and to scale nationally. Yeah. And then capture your lessons for other founders. What do you most [00:27:00] want that book to say to someone who's sitting where you were a year ago

Emily Levin: to start and.

You don't have to sacrifice [: 00:27:15

Mm-hmm. And you don't have to sacrifice one for the other. And so I [00:27:45] wanna see more female founders in the impact space who are also raising capital and paying themselves. And I think all of those things

u say then to the person who [: 00:28:00

Emily Levin: Yeah, that's me. There's people who can teach you things. If you are passionate about something, the numbers come. They do, they [00:28:15] come together, right? You can hire somebody to do numbers, hire somebody, and in so. I think just start, learn, grow, see what [00:28:30] happens, and just live on

Aransas Savas: the edge to know that that's what we're doing.

o a beautiful crystal ocean, [: 00:28:45

Emily Levin: That's such a sweet offering. Tell our story to everybody. Go to our website. Tell investors to check us out. Our website is.

sas Savas: And who would you [: 00:29:15

Emily Levin: So I would like to nominate my friend Holly Diamond, who is a fellow founder who is incredible. I won't tell her story because I want her to tell her [00:29:30] story, but she is an immigrant. Who has done amazing, amazing things and has so many incredible stories.

Every time she talks, I cry. You'll be blown away.

Aransas Savas: I can't wait to meet her.

Emily Levin: Yeah.

ansas Savas: Yeah. I'm blown [: 00:29:45

It's like you've just compounded my interest, Emily, and I wish you so much continued success. Thank you.

Emily Levin: Thank you. I can't wait

n in the journey. Thank you. [: 00:30:15

Head over to Spotify, apple Podcast, or. Wherever you get your podcast and like, follow and rate our show, it'll really help us connect with more uplifters and it'll ensure [00:30:45] you never miss one of these beautiful stories.

ing perplex. No, you find it [: 00:31:00

Toss a star for be around best love for relish in a new prime land, a tree in springtime dance. With that all hindsight, bring the sun to twilight. [00:31:15] Lift you up. Whoa. Lift you up.

Lift you up. Whoa, [: 00:31:30

Lift you up.

Lift you.

Lift you [: 00:31:45

Lift you up.

Beautiful. I cried. Isn't [: 00:32:00

Nomination: Mommy, stop crying. You're disturbing the peace.