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Parenting in a Tech World
Juliette Blake on Building Moxies: A Safer Social Space for Tween Girls
00:50:23
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- [00:00]
A
Today, we are thrilled to welcome Juliet Blake, founder and CEO of Moxies, a safe by design social platform built exclusively for tween girls ages 8 to 12. Juliette is a second time founder who's been building for girls since she was 16 years old when she launched Ms. O Friends as a hobby to help her younger sister navigate middle school. That platform grew to become the number three girls website globally ranked just behind Teen Vogue and Seventeen. After receiving investment from Procter and Gamble, she went on to create Hyperlinked, one of the first girl series funded by YouTube Originals and hosted on Disney. Now, as a millennial mom of three, Juliet has launched Moxies to address what she sees as one of the biggest challenges facing this generation, giving girls a healthier, safer entry point into digital life. Today we'll be diving into why she built Moxy's, how the platform is different from traditional social media, and what it means to be a mom building for the next generation. Juliet, welcome.
- [01:14]
B
Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here. And I also love that we're matching.
- [01:19]
A
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. 100% yeah. Hot pink is my jam. Yes, yes, yes, yes. So let's start at the beginning. You started Ms. O and friends when you were just 16 to help your sister through middle school. So tell us that story and how did it become a real business?
- [01:39]
B
Yeah. So started off as a total hobby. I doodled these girls that I called cool girls. My mom is an artist by trade, and she took those drawings that I did, combined them with drawings my sister had done and created these characters. And like I mentioned for years, it was really just a hobby for us to kind of like play around. We'd create, like, oh. Things that we like to do. And I, my sister and I are five years apart. And so I was 13, I was thick in the middle of middle school dealing with, like, all those super fun middle school things that are basically the same still, just, like different vehicles for them. And my sister was 8, and we had a birthday party for her where we made these, like, big misso characters for all of her friends. And, like, it was part of. It was like the party favor. And what was really interesting about this birthday party is her friends went like crazy for them. Like, oh, my gosh, I love these girls so much. But it was also the first time that I started seeing some of the stuff that was happening with my friends and I happening with my sister and her friends. So they were like, really clicking off at the birthday party and leaving each other out. They were talking about their boyfriends. They were talking about how they didn't want to eat birthday cake because they didn't want to get fat. And like I said, these girls were just turning 8. And as the older sister, I was like, what is going on? This is insane to see this happening with my baby sister. So that's really kind of where it all began, where it went from like hobby to something else. And it basically went to my parents. And I was like, I want to do something for Olivia and her friends and I want to help them through middle school. Hence the name Ms. O. My sister's nickname was and still is Ms. O. It became a family business. As I mentioned, my mom with like her incredible artist graphic design background. My dad had been in marketing. We created a family business around it and officially launched the company when I was 16. And yeah, it was, it was a pretty crazy, wild, exciting ride.
- [03:49]
A
I have a younger sister as well, Jackie. Shout out Jackie. She's four years younger than I am. So I, I get it. Like, wanting to protect and build up baby sister. Like, I get it. So Ms. O and friends grew to become one of the top girls websites globally and eventually led to hyperlinked on YouTube originals. So how did that happen?
- [04:16]
B
Yeah, that's like still one of my proudest accomplishments and just like one of the coolest experiences I've ever had to, like a creator and executive producer of a series.
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A
Yes.
- [04:27]
B
So we really wanted to. There was so much power behind the story that I just shared. Right. Being like a young girl wanting to do something, trying to figure out how to do it and make a change. And so we wanted to create something that really showcased that, but also showcase girls in non traditional roles focused on positive female friendships, what those actually look like. Entrepreneurship, squashing gender stereotypes. And how the hyperlinked series also had a really large focus in STEM and computer science. And so that was a really intentional component as well. Because when you. I mean, I can go into stats all about, you know, women and computer science and all of this.
- [05:13]
A
Please.
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B
Yeah, but typically, like, when we actually partnered with. Let me backtrack. Because I think one of the most important kind of pieces of the series was that we went in with creating it with a ton of thought and intention. We weren't like, oh, we just want to create like another silly show for girls to watch, which is great. We were like, okay, what type of impact can we have? We know that content can have real impact. Right. We see so much of the negative impact that it has. But what about the positive. And so we, in working with YouTube Originals and their team, we put together this incredible advisory board. So it was Kimberly Bryant, who at the time was the CEO of Black Girls Code. We had Geena Davis and Madeline Denono of the Gina Davis Institute on Gender and Media. That's where I was about to go into a lot of the stats because they do a lot of research where they are really showcasing how women and girls are portrayed in media. They do a lot around computer science and basically how they are very inaccurately or stereotypically portrayed. It's basically like you're not even a doctor, you're a nurse in many cases. And so we also worked with Rosalind Weissman, who wrote the book Queen Bees and Wannabes, which was then turned into Mean Girls. So like, there was a ton of real like brain power and thought in terms of how we wanted the series to drive impact, while of course being like fun and girls wanting to watch it. And. And one of the things that was really, really cool about the show is there was a study done after it launched that basically showed that girls who watch just the first episode, so that was literally only 22 minutes of content, were 11% more likely to pursue a career in computer science than girls who didn't. And so when you think about like, okay, 22 minutes, that is it of content, what types of positive outcomes that can have. I mean, that is so much of what I'm taking in now, like in terms of building moxies. But it was also like, it was such a cool experience creating that show. The impact was really powerful and it was based off of my founding story and the characters names are Juliet. The sister was Olivia, like the mom was Hermine. So it was a really great, crazy, wild thing to see that come to life.
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A
I love that. And you know, as I'm learning about how my brain is going to be changing as I'm approaching perimenopause, menopause, et cetera, learning about the foundations of when I was around 11 to 13 and how my brain was literally wired to prioritize people pleasing over my interests, be it science, math, books, and then how once you start to lose estrogen, you start to give less Fs, which empowers
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B
you in a lot of ways.
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A
It's just, it's so fascinating what happens to girls around the middle school time. Fascinating in a heartbreaking way. And that's why I'm just grateful that you are leading the charge when it comes to safer spaces, empowering spaces, content for the sake of empowerment. Not for the sake of tearing down or addictive algorithms. So fast forward to today. You're a millennial mom of three. 3. What are their ages?
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C
Oh.
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B
Oh, my gosh.
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A
That's amazing.
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B
One second. Patrick's day. And the leprechaun made some mischief downstairs.
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A
They do that. Take your time.
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C
He ate the cookie.
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B
No way.
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C
We didn't catch him. But, but, but he sprinkled the. The, The. The. The sugar on. On the counter and. And on the counter, kitchen. And on the table. No way.
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B
I can't even believe it. All right, let's go downstairs. So you can go. You can go. Stay.
- [09:24]
A
Oh, my gosh.
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B
She's the cutest little hands. Talk about being a mom of three and having your own company and not having a lock on your door.
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A
So the story of my life, right? Like, I mean, doing the work from home, mom from home.
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B
Yeah. Thing.
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A
It's a lot. So how. You know, it's one thing when you're living it as an adolescent, Teenage young adult, you're working to protect your sister. You're working with these visionary women in the fields of STEM and entertainment. But as a mom, how has that experience shaped your approach to building Moxies?
- [10:03]
B
Yeah, I mean, it's interesting because I have been building for Tween girls for so long, like, since I was 16, even before that. So it's interesting because I've always been in the space, and for so long, I was building as the, like, older sister. I was building, like, oh, I'm really close to this demo. So, like, I know what's going on. Right. I know what's happening. And then as I got older, I still. I was like, I still feel like a tween, even though I wasn't. And then I kind of got to this point, especially, like, with Moxies, where it felt so far away from my own children still, and it felt like, oh, I'm building for, like, 8 to 12 year olds. the time when I, like, really started ideating on Moxies, my oldest was four, so I was like, oh, it still feels like so far away. And what I quickly realized is it was actually not. And it has completely shaped every decision that I make in terms of how we're building the product, because I only want to build something that I will gladly let my own children use. And so as, like, every single decision. And I can talk, too, about how we then even, like, benchmark those against research. The first is, like, the mom check on my side. I'm like, would I want my daughter doing that would I want her seeing that. And I'm thinking about it for the youngest users. And so it is like completely, completely like informs everything that I do. And at the same time, as I said, I always felt like it was farther away. And then when my oldest entered kindergarten last year, I was like, oh, whoa, this like moxie's is coming up way faster than I even anticipated it to be.
- [11:53]
A
It happens. It happens like that. You know, everybody says once you become a parent, it's like time just hits fast forward in an incomprehensible way. And I was really feeling that when my son was like a newborn and then a toddler and the first five years. But I'm feeling it even more now. He's 17 and it's still just like, wow, how did we get here? And you know, as you were talking, I'm thinking off camera is our amazing producer, Mike Elwood. And he's got three girls. And I'm just so glad that he's a part of our mission and I think there'll be a lot of takeaways even just for him on this episode. Shout out Mike. On your website, you highlight a really sobering statistic. 60% of teen girls experience persistent feelings of sadness, hopelessness. You know, we just did an annual report and we'll share our data from that as well, across over seven and a half million children. From your perspective, what's driving this crisis and why are girls being impacted so disproportionately?
- [13:06]
B
Yeah, yeah, that was actually from like a CDC study that was done a few years ago. And it is interesting and you kind of touched on it like a little bit in the beginning, but I can really speak to. I mean, there's like, you know, general studies too around like loneliness and the feeling of not belonging. I think the saddles, sadness, sadness and hopelessness is one that like, you're just like, it makes you just feel really sad and hopeless. Right. When you hear that stat, you're like, that is so sad. And like, what do I do about that? I think when it comes or not, I think when it comes to girls, why are they so disproportionately negatively affected? We obviously know that media, social media plays a role in this. It is not just like the one key driver. And there are certain demos that can be kind of more at risk. Right. In certain types of girls that could be more at risk. But I think from when we're looking at it from a much larger. Let's zoom out. There are reasons why this happens to girls at These ages more than boys. And like it is that people pleasing thing that you were literally just talking about like as you are now, like recognizing back to when you were a tween, increased heightened self awareness. It's all about identity formation at this point.
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A
Subconsciousness, the constant.
- [14:32]
B
Also peer feedback, which is like driving that sense of belonging to. There's social hierarchy awareness, friendship awareness. This is like all of these things that actually developmentally happen earlier for girls than they do for boys. And, and so when you then look at the technology that has risen in tandem with that, where they're literally like using those loops to get people to come back, like there's popular popularity metrics, there's focus content, there's viral comparison loops, there's the endless scrolls. Like, of course that is going to heighten those, all of those like key developmental milestones and insecurities because girls in those environments are constantly evaluating themselves against others. And I think that is one of the driving forces for when we see research like that. It's that constant comparison. And developmentally what is happening for girls at that age.
- [15:32]
A
And to be honest, it's not just girls, it's women. It's grown women. It's me. You know, I have to be careful about how much time I spend on Instagram in particular because I don't look like that. I don't look like the people in my feet, nor will I ever.
- [15:48]
B
But I think that's like the, the, the like what, like drives the point home even more. Like you as a grown woman. Grown woman who like has like accomplished so much in her life, both from a career perspective, from a personal perspective, still feels this way. I'm the same. I have to set limits. Especially when I've been postpartum, when I'm on my, like when I'm about to get my period, it's like, oh, okay, like get me off of here. And I, I think that it's one of those things that you kind of like just don't realize until you like realize it. And when you think about it, for young girls who really have no idea what is really happening to their bodies and their brains and the chemistry that exists inside of them and they're feeling certain ways, it is going to compound that in, even, in ways that can be. Even like, can feel even bigger than
- [16:45]
A
like, they are big feelings are an a hole. Sometimes they just are. And that's a whole nother episode. But we've been talking about this. But in case there's anything else to cover, I want to deeper dive into the fact that you say that most platforms weren't built for girls. What do you mean by that? What happens when girls use platforms that weren't designed with them in mind?
- [17:15]
B
Yeah, I mean I think you can generalize it even more and say most platforms weren't built for kids. And you know, they go back, the majority of big tech platforms that we are so familiar with, they are based off of the attention economy. So like what does that mean? They have to monetize off of attention. So then what does that mean they have to monetize off of harmful, dangerous and addictive features? Because that is what keeps people coming back. We literally just talked about how that makes us feel as adults. And then like you, you think about how that affects children. And so when I look at the larger tech ecosystem, that is like the business model, that is how they are monetizing. That is how they, you know, they have this fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders to like maximize profit. It has nothing to do with the actual outcomes of the users that themselves. And so what really, you know, I am, what we're building at Moxies is a new way to build ethical tech for youth that is not prioritizing this attention economy and these addictive behavior loops and this toxic content that is like keeping people coming back and like feeding those cycles. It's like okay, like let's take a step back and like what is actually the most important thing and it is our children's mental health and, and their well being and how can we build something that prioritizes that? Like what does that look like? So that's really what we're doing at Moxies because that is not the typical method. 80% of kids apps have these addictive design features within them. 80% and 40 another stat. Like 49% of kids have addictive, like they have addictive feature. Sorry like addictive behavior use in using these other apps. And then when you look at like the stats after that that increases the like the likelihood of two to three times of you know, mental health issues that they're going to be dealing with. So like you can see how those features really can lead to these like again these loops that we keep getting in. Oh and by the way, 99 of 8 to 12 year olds, 99% of 8 to 12 year olds in the US are on some type of gaming platform. That could be anything. 99, anything, anything from you know like the bigger platforms that you're familiar with like a Roblox, a Fortnite, a Minecraft to any type of like video game, like a Nintendo or anything like that, to any type of ed tech game that they're playing in school they are so familiar with. So like math games, reading games, whatever it might be. Of course, everything in between. But this is such a familiar behavior and action for these kids to take when 80% of them have these addicting design features.
- [20:18]
A
Yeah, 100%. And it's not just affecting girls, it's affecting boys too. You know, we've found staggering increases in the rates at which children, boys and girls, tweens and teens are struggling with disordered eating and body image issues. So this is a, the data is there. You can no longer say, well we don't know if there's a, you know, causal relationship. There is a causal relationship. So anyway, we have talked at length about the dangers, the problems. But let's talk about Moxies. What is it? What is it first of all?
- [21:01]
B
Yeah, so Moxies is an app and we like to call it like a gamified social app. It's for 8 to 12 year old girls that is prioritizing well being and healthy digital habits. So we have taken a really fun gamified approach to how girls are using a digital platform for the very first time. Because I think the other thing like we know all these stats but there is also again this like, which I learned very much as a parent, there is the reality that like digital is part of our kids lives and how can we best set them up for success? And what does that like early experience look like that helps to build those healthy habits from the very beginning. So it's almost like moxies like this like early intervention for like healthy digital habits.
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A
So how's it, how's it different from Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, etc.
- [21:56]
B
Yeah, yeah. So we have something called like a safe by design foundation which means like we're looking at, we're prioritizing like user safety, their privacy as well as then like well being from the store. So like there's high privacy, like default settings, there's content safeguards, parental tools, but then there's also those protections against those addictive behaviors. So we built a lot in by default to how the platform is actually built. It's not like a toggle, you have to go deep down in and figure out how to turn on. And then you're like wait, I thought I did it and I didn't. It's not like an added design feature. Well after harm has been proven it is like from the Very beginning. Have collaborated with a ton of experts in youth development, education, technology to really look at how can we design something from the very beginning that is still like fun and joyful and girls want to be on there, but that's also giving parents like that peace of mind in terms of okay. I know she's going to be okay on this and actually this is going to help build her digital literacy in more ways than I know how to even do as a parent.
- [23:13]
A
So I'm pulling up Moxies now. Just this. As a marketing and design nerd, I love what people choose to upload to the app stores is like their screens. Right. It's a whole world of decisions there. And so Moxie's is labeled as safe social play for girls age 9 plus a new kind of platform built for tween girls to connect safely, express themselves and have fun. Safe by design. ChatPlay. Create your look, your mood, your moxie. Customize your moxie so you can like create your own character. I would have had so much fun with. I might still have fun with it. Connect and trusted groups. Chat with your friends. Private group chat chats. Now, I guess on that note, I mean, I just said I might still have fun with it. How do you keep creepy adults from talking with girls?
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B
Yeah. So the way that Moxies works is there's no public profiles, there's no public search, there's no way to like add people. You are joining with unique group codes of groups that you're already a part of in real life. Because what we have found so much from parents is they're. Especially when it comes to the chat functionality. Right. That was like a big pain point that we were really co, like solving with parents of like, how do we solve this for both, like what your daughter wants and like what your issues are as a parent when it comes to other chat. And so what we kept hearing over and over from parents is like, no, I don't want my daughter in like that WhatsApp chat or that iMessage chat or I don't want her on that platform.
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A
So toxic.
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B
Like I. Exactly. I don't want her on there, but I also don't want her to miss out on these key social moments. What do I do? Right. And so for us with the chat, the way that it is designed is you're joining with your girl scout troop, you're joining with your sports team, you're joining with the girls in your grade, you're joining with your neighbors, your summer camp friends. Like, you're joining with These community groups that you already have, that you want to talk to outside of those like activities that you have. And so like you can't find anybody, you can't search anybody, you just get added to the group of those people. You can be in multiple different groups. But from a safety perspective that's kind of like the first part. The next part too is just like what's built into the chat itself. So like again, by default, like what does it by default look like? When we're looking at safe by design, they're not getting constant notifications every time there's a new chat. Instead they're like learning how to build like healthy boundaries with chat. Which also means chat shuts off for everybody at 8pm and it doesn't turn back on until 7:30 the next day.
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A
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
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B
So like, so like these things and it literally says like it's time, time to wind down, like it's time to take a break. So it's like how do you start building these healthy habits early? How do we not have this in our hand all the time? It's like we need to learn how to build boundaries early with it. The other thing too in the group chat is we have a lot of proprietary filters around toxicity. So not just looking for bad language, but actually also leveraging this as a learning moment. So for example, if a girl in the group chat goes to send something so nice and kind, ew, you're so gross, or ew, I hate you or whatever other fun things it actually doesn't send. And instead a little message, an exclamation point pops up and it lets the user know that this was not a kind message, it goes against our policies and we give her the in real time chance to edit, send it or delete it. And, and if he chooses to send it, it will still get blocked. So we're building out a lot of these learning moments. There is a lot that they don't know. There's stuff that they do know, right? There's people that are intentional about harmful things. There's some things that like I didn't think that was gonna be mean. And then they learn that it actually was mean. So that's how we built the chat to be different. They're also not uploading videos and photos of themselves. Instead they're using their moxies. And so it's a way for safety because we know that girls like to create that creative self expression, but they're not using videos and photos instead of like, instead they are able to create and edit multiple different moxies, to showcase different moods and vibes and personalities. We're doing a lot of really cool things with those and kind of these next builds. Yeah. So like that is like the chat was actually something that like, we really wanted to co create with parents to understand because parents, like, I also, like, I don't want to have to go in there and monitor her chat all the time. Like, think about like the mental load that we already have as parents. And also these parents who are trying to do the most and want to make sure their child is safe. But then it's just like, oh, gosh, I'm trying, but like, I can't even keep up with it. It's. How can we take some of that pressure off from the parents? Because it honestly, like, I look at it as the responsibility of the tech companies that are building for these kids. It is part of our responsibility to make sure that we are driving for safety and well being on these platforms if we want children using the them.
- [28:53]
A
I could not agree more, obviously. So it sounds like you have really thought through and implemented a safe design in terms of keeping children private, protected from predators, addressing the bullying that can creep up sometimes without them even knowing that they're bullying. What about when girls might be expressing any thoughts of suicide or mental health issues or using profanity not at somebody. But are there other sort of filters and flags for that as well?
- [29:34]
B
Yeah, we have a ton. Those are all baseline flags and filters that we have. So it's like looking at everything that's, I guess everything that you and I would be like, this should be an obvious. Which again, it's not always the case. Right. Which I have to constantly remind myself about. All of those very obvious things is already implemented in there, actually. Users can't even share external links because what parents are also telling us is they're like, oh, well, my daughter's not allowed on TikTok, but someone will send a video, like a YouTube shorts link or another link for her to watch the TikTok and then she's exposed to something or all of those different types of things. So. So yes, all of like the basic. And then we have all of these added toxicity filters that are very much specifically for this demo. And yeah, we look at Moxies as like it's autonomy but with safeguards. And that really is what is missing in so many of these other platforms. There's no safeguards. Like I compare like big tech to like dropping your child off in the middle of Times Square. Right. Moxie's like dropping your child daughter off at her best friend's house and you can be like, okay, you know what, like this is gonna be okay. And that's really what we're like. She's gonna have also even more fun at her best friend's house than in the middle of Times Square by herself. Right. So like bringing in that like fun, joyful experience variants for girls too, of course is a top priority.
- [31:07]
A
So great. You've collaborated with experts in user experience and interface, also youth, tech, psychology, clinical research to build moxies. What have those partnerships taught you about what kids need from technology?
- [31:21]
B
Yeah, I mean it reinforces, reinforces a few things. One, that it's not going away. Technology is not going away, it's only evolving. And it is something that even if you as a parent are not allowing your child to have at home in school settings, unless you are homeschooling your child and have full control over what they are doing, they are going to be exposed to it. Plus like your policies are only as strong as your child's friend's weakest. Right? Your weakest. The weakest. And so, you know, it has taught me a lot of the fact that parents and children, parents are really trying to navigate this, right? They're really struggling with it. It's a huge struggle for parents. And at the same time there's kind of two things that are happening with kids. They want it and like they are asking for it. However, there is this shift that girls, especially the girls, like we've been working with hundreds of girls all across the country who many of them have had access to all of the other platforms, right? They have been on everything and they are exhausted by some of those features. They are exhausted by the constant messages from strangers. They know how, within seconds how to like what they need to do on Roblox, for example, to block Predator messages and report them like it's wild. Like I'll be sitting with these eight year old girls and they like tell me what they have to do and they're like exhausted and drained by it. But what we're also seeing is it does allow for connectivity, it does allow for development, it does allow for positive outcomes to happen Again, if we can build with real thought and intention and I mean we're even seeing a ton of this within the platform itself. Our metric, like our North Star metric is well being. It's not time spent, it's not how many times are they coming back. It's like not all those like retention, like consumer social Product things. It is well being. And so we have been measuring the efficacy of Moxies. Like how are we actually, are we driving towards well being outcomes by these girls having Moxies as their screen time? What is that driving towards? And we had a team of PhD researchers that have been working with us and we're seeing 79% of our users have more positive well being outcomes after playing on Moxies, which includes improvements in mood, confidence and self regulation. So like three core things. As we think about building healthy, confident, digitally literate, like young women in this next generation, we're already showing that like with what we're doing at Moxy's can do that and even more. Oh, and by the way, like they're still spending between a quarter and a half of their total allotted screen time on Moxie's. So like they're choosing to still come back. And that's where like we're seeing these big shifts with kids of they know what's bad. And of course kids are going to like want to do bad things. However, they also are exhausted by it. And like there is this like very large shift that's happening, which I'm excited to see.
- [34:45]
A
I'm reading this book right now. Let me called if it'll pull up. Okay, Keep talking. Conversations with Our Kids when they Want Us Least but Need Us Most by Jen Shoemaker Davidson. She's actually gonna be on our podcast coming up. But so I was just on the plane, right, and I was reading and there was this amazing analogy and I hope I don't butcher it, but it's essentially like, you know, you get on a carnival ride if you're brave enough and like there's a bar that comes down and you push up on the bar just to make sure it's actually. Yeah, that's what our kids are doing when they push back, when they're testing boundaries, they're actually trying to make sure that they're safe. She says it a lot more eloquently than I do, which is why you should buy her book and not take my quote. But like, man, that really stuck with me. I'm like, oh man, that makes so much sense. One thing that is so important to my success in life has been building my confidence, which I lost, you know, around the ages of 11 to 13. It's very important for young women to build their confidence and I love that Moxie has these Moxy quests that are literally confidence building challenges that connect digital moments to real world growth. Tell us anything that you would like to about these.
- [36:20]
B
Yeah, I love the, I love the quests and girls love them too, which is even better. So we have right now the quests that we've launched focus on five categories. So they focus on digital literacy, they focus on confidence and self esteem, they focus on social emotional development, skill building, and then things that are just for fun. And every time users play a quest, they are learning something. They're having fun also while doing it. And then they're unlocking some cool new item for their moxie. In some cases too, we are working with very aligned brands to bring in like physical product as well. And that's actually like a really interesting opportunity to do a lot of reframing. Right. So like, especially when we think about the interest that girls have. So for example, tweens love beauty. They love skincare.
- [37:13]
A
Yes, they do.
- [37:15]
B
And like, I'm not trying to get them to not like beauty and skincare. However, do they need 10 steps? No. Do they need to be using products that are actually bad for their skin? No. Right. And so it's like taking this like skincare moment of things that they love. And how do we reframe it around a self love moment? How do we reframe it around a mindfulness moment? How do we reframe it around education for like, oh, what products should you actually use for your skin? What do you actually need? Let's talk about pimple patches. Like actually things that we know that they are interested in but that give them the tools to learn. And what we have found over and over and over again, which I love the most, is that the girls are actually what we are seeing on Moxies is that they are actually most engaged with content around something that is truly skill building, something that they're like actually learning. It's not just like the cute fashion and beauty polls. Like those are not their favorite. And like, which I was so pleasantly like, just like, like I was so happy to see those results. I was like, well I was expecting those to like always outperform and then these other ones would be like, how do we get those to be better? But that's not the case actually. Financial literacy has been one of our most popular themes for quests. So we've been building out a lot of like awesome financial literacy partnerships. So much financial literacy education just continuing to give these girls more and more and more. And so the quests are like a really awesome opportunity to make screen time more meaningful because we know kids have screen time. How can we actually take whatever screen time they have and make it more meaningful, like from something they're either learning, that's making them feel good about themselves, that's helping them deal with conflict, that's helping them deal with friendship, that's helping them deal with kindness, whatever it might be. Oh, and also answering like a fun squishmallow quest. Like, like it's all of the things. And yeah, so those are the quests.
- [39:20]
A
I love it. I love it. So are you comfortable sharing publicly your children's ages?
- [39:25]
B
Yeah, so I have, my oldest is seven. I have an almost six year old and then a four and a half year old. Wow.
- [39:36]
A
Okay, so as both a founder and.
- [39:40]
B
Yeah.
- [39:41]
A
And a mom. So how do you approach tech boundaries and screen time with your own kids?
- [39:48]
B
Yeah, so it's interesting. I have like fairly strict tech rules and as I said, I am only creating a product that I am comfortable letting my own children use. Um, and even when I think about our tech rules in the home, our rules are like, okay, you need to be in a public place. Right. You need to be in the kitchen with mommy. Or like, you can't have this in your bedroom. My. I know that the product I've built with Moxies, I'm comfortable if my girls are in their room, like using it because I know that it's safe. However, our tech rules are still public places. Right. Because I'm teaching larger tech also outside of just the Safe Moxies ecosystem, because there are many other things. Right. That are not that are not that. So we have actually been like, we're not a tech free home at all. I think technology is important. I think building a healthy relationship with it is important. I don't want it to be this like forbidden apple. I don't want it to be the prize. I don't want it to be what you like. That's all you're asking for, especially as my kids have gotten older. So like kindergarten was, as I mentioned before, this like really eye opening, like turnkey moment where I was like, oh, well, like, you know, we don't, we don't have. I. We're not using iPads at home. We use them when we travel, when we fly. And you heard the ages of my kids. So we didn't fly for a while. So they really weren't. We're not getting on a plane again. We didn't get on a plane for two years. So, you know, we were, I was very like, thoughtful about my approach to it. But also I want to introduce this to my children in a healthy way. And in kindergarten My daughter came home and was like, mommy, like, can I play Fortnite? And I was like, wait, what? Like, where are you hearing about for fortnight? Just, well, Lucas plays it. And I'm like, okay, well, like, and then it's like, well, Lucas has an older brother, right? So like, it's all of these things that as a parent with your oldest, you're not necessarily. Oh, again, I'm so far away from it. And I literally realized at that moment, I was like, oh, you know what? This is a great teaching opportunity. Let's talk about it. Okay, you know what? I was like, Fortnite's actually like a little bit too old for you, but, like, let's figure out some things that are not right. So that's how I approach tech at home. I love Common Sense Media. I use it for everything in terms of like, vetting anything TV related, anything app related. But my girls are on Moxies right now. That's the only app that they're really using, especially using on their own. And I love seeing what they come to me with from. From it and how they, like, talk to me about things from it. So it's like pretty wild to even see in my own house how it is helping that education for them and even better. So we had. And I love this example. It's like, very true. And like, it's actually informing how we're thinking a lot about, like the next features and like, parental controls we have on Knoxies. So my girls are in the other room. They were playing on Moxies. I was actually upstairs here working and they were like, it was like a Sunday morning and they were like downstairs, like on Moxies. And I like went to go check something in the moderation. I was like, I want to see like, if something like how things have been coming up. And they had. They had stopped playing Moxie. So they were like outside playing or whatever at this point. And I went and I saw like, my daughter's username was like flagged in moderation like multiple times. And I was like, okay, like, let's go see. See what she was posting or trying to post. And she was. So another feature we have on Moxies is we have Jiffy's on Moxies. They also go through moderation. So, like, if you're to like. Because that's also like just a fun thing for girl. Fun thing for kids, however they go through moderation. Anyways, she had been searching. Smoochie, smoochie, Kiss Mommy and daddy kissing Taylor Swift Travis Kelce kissing, like all of these kisses, GIFs, like, it was just about kissing. So I was like, okay, she's clearly looking for like some like she's, you know, she's just curious and Moxie's caught it. The gifs didn't get posted right. It was this like. And I was looked at as like, this is a really great opportunity for me as a parent to be like, hey, like, I just want to talk about like why you're searching that, what you were curious about. Like, it opened up that like, form of communication. And if she was searching that on Google, if she was searching that on YouTube, imagine a different story.
- [44:29]
A
Right.
- [44:30]
B
It would have been a totally different story. And this is like, was coming from like, you know, being obsessed with like the new Life of a Showgirl album and obsessed with Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce and like wanting and knowing that they're getting married and like wanting to see a picture of them kissing. Right. So it opens up like the way that I approach tech in our house. Very long winded answer is like that open conversation around it and like just talking to them about things. Even when I'm using it, why I'm using it, how I'm using it. So it's not like, oh, mommy's always on her phone that we have times where I'm. It is a way. And a lot of it comes down to that. Modeling.
- [45:14]
A
I love that. Yeah. More and more intentional conversations about why we're using technology, how we're using tech. Letting them know that you're a safe place that you can come to talk about anything, whether it's Travis and Taylor or something weird or, you know, scary they may have encountered. I'm so curious, what's. What's next for Moxies and how can our audience support you?
- [45:44]
B
Yeah, well, we're building out a ton of new features right now. So this product that we launched with, we really wanted to learn from the girls and the parents that we were on it. We wanted to understand what they were liking, what they wanted to see more of. Also look at the well being component and actually anytime we release a new feature, we now benchmark it off of that 80%. So we're not just driving towards like what's like the least harm we can do. It's like, no, what's the maximum, maximum impact we can make. And we had just released like a few new features and so we just did some new research to understand where those benchmarks and actually like the stats are like so incredible but like 80, like if I'm taking averages of all of them, we're seeing like 80% improvements or in kindness and confidence. So like the kindness was a new metric that we started tracking that 98% of 98% said that moxies make someone to be kind to themselves and others. Oh good gosh. And so like, and we're hearing from parents as well. Like then like parental testimonies of like my daughter has. She's like, my parents will even be like, we usually don't allow screen time during the week, but my daughter finished her homework, she had her after school, she had her dinner and she asked to go on Moxies because it makes her, her feel good and it helps her wind down for the night. So now she's allowed to go on like for 20 minutes before she starts her bedtime routine. And I was like, oh my God. So that's the type of feedback we wanted to learn from parents and girls to understand. We know that the Moxie Avatar builder is the most popular feature they love, they love the creative self expression. So when we're rolling out new features, we're doing a ton with that. Like there was going to be a lot of really exciting things there for continued creative self expression that is keeping her safe online as well as thinking about those different parental features. Right. So things that we've learned from parents of what they're looking for, of what they want to see. So we're in a new, we're in this next phase of rolling out new features and really like getting ready to grow and scale and showcasing how well being can be just as successful as any of those like network effects that we see from other platforms. And like in terms of supporting, you know, if there's anyone that still wants to join like as part of like our early beta, we do have a few spots left. Otherwise like it's, it'll be wait list to then get on once we launch like the, the V2 of moxies which will be coming in likely June the of. Of this year.
- [48:21]
A
Okay, that was going to be my next 10 questions is like, okay, a lot of parents are going to hear this episode and they're going to want to go download Moxies. Can they do that? Can their daughters get on or do they have to wait for an invite from a specific friend code, etc.
- [48:41]
B
Yeah, so they can go to join moxies.com and they, they can request a group code. If you also download it from the app Store, you'll see in your registration process it'll Say, like, enter your group code. If you don't have one, there's also a button there to request one. And so, like, that's how you join. You then have that group code. And you're, you know, we also have parents who are like, you know what? My daughter's not ready for the chat yet. But, like, I want her to be able to create, create, and I want her to play the quest. And so you don't share that group code yet. And then they'll be like, oh, she's actually learned a lot on Moxies and she's ready. So now we're going to share the group code. So it's really cool to see how different parents are utilizing it for their daughters, how girls are using it. But, yeah, you can request group codes either from the website or after you download the app.
- [49:32]
A
Amazing. After speaking with you, Juliet, today and learning more about it, feel like Moxie's is. Is one of the good ones. So thank you for building something that actually helps this next generation instead of hurts it.
- [49:45]
B
Thank you. And I love everything that you are obviously doing. There's so much alignment. So I love just being able to connect and talk with people who are actually leveraging how we can use this tool for good, because that's what we need more of.
- [49:58]
A
Well, Juliet Blake, join Moxies.com amazing inspirational entrepreneur and mom. I can't wait to watch watch your success. And thank you so much for joining us.
- [50:11]
B
Thank you for having me. I loved.