Welcome to our series “Ask A Founder,” where we tap into the great minds of female entrepreneurs making their big idea a reality. For the past two years, thousands of women have experienced our Selfmade virtual business coaching program, led by Brit + Co founder Brit Morin and sponsored byOffice Depot OfficeMax. Here, we chat with Selfmade alum Amy Li of Dance 4 Healing, an AI-powered telehealth platform that pairs chronic disease patients with a compatible buddy to join in recorded and live music and dance classes.Li, an award-winning behavior and UX expert, talks about her inspiration to help people heal through dance, her own stage IV cancer recovery, and her journey as a social impact founder.
- How would you describe your brand in five words? Creative, fun, supportive, accessible, and advocacy.
- What mood do you want your brand to evoke? Creativity and fun. I want people to experience that childhood joy. I want to bring out that inner child within each of us through music and dance.
- What was your a-ha moment when you decided to start Dance 4 Healing? It was not just an a-ha moment, it was a serendipitous moment. I was attending a Stanford Design conference by BJ Fogg, who is one of the top behavior design experts. I had barely finished my cancer treatment and was still very weak. My initial idea was related to music stress management using a nanobiosensor but in an unobtrusive way. At the Fogg conference, I learned that music calms you down, but dance adds physical benefits in addition to the neural benefit. Dancing reduces the risk of dementia by 76 percent. Fogg noted at the conference that dance is going to be the next big thing in healthcare. That night I get a text from a friend who sent me a Ted Talk entitled “Fighting Cancer with Dance.” And I was like, "Is this a calling or a coincidence?" My friend answered, "Of course, this is a calling."
- What were you doing before you started Dance 4 Healing? I was a senior UX director at a design agency. My first iPhone app, Have2P, is the first crowdsourcing app where users can tap on the restaurant to see if there is a restroom available to the public. It answers questions like, Is it patron only? Does it have a changing table? It was actually featured in the New York Times.
- What's one thing you wish you knew as an entrepreneur? Entrepreneurship really isn’t just building a business, it's a lot about self-growth and being present to that.
- How do you get in the right headspace to start your day? I recently reread Fogg's behavior design book called Tiny Habits. And one of the habits I adopted from the book is to wake up every morning and say, "It's going to be a beautiful day." I do try to do that and my morning exercises to relieve the neuro pain from my nasopharyngeal cancer, which is a rare cancer. It wakes me up and makes me feel more productive.
- How do you stay productive? One book I really appreciate is High Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard. I am adapting the same structure into my day-to-day planning, but I'm not necessarily very good at holding myself accountable every day. Thanks to my leadership training, we now have accountable buddies at Dance 4 Healing. Learning how to be present of your time and how to be accountable for yourself are super important.
- What is your favorite form of self-care? My favorite form is dance.
- What is your favorite desk essential? My phone holder. I have one that goes to the backyard, and the other on my desk.
- How do you balance the practical parts with the creative parts of your business? We do a team-bonding exercise for the first 15 minutes of our team meetings, which could be as fun as changing your name to your favorite cookie, and talking about it, or discussing a book or article. We recently answered the 36 Questions That Lead To Love featured in the NY Times.
- What is the most powerful thing you do in your day? I’ve mastered a technique called deep breathing, where I breathe in and I push my stomach out to relax my whole body.
- What do you do to officially end your workday? Every evening I reflect on what I did well today or what I could have done better, and what I would do differently tomorrow.
- What has receiving the Office Depot OfficeMax scholarship to Selfmade done to help you grow your business? Selfmade helped me be more present to the power of social media. I’m also so grateful for my mentor who helped me prepare my elevator pitch. The women of Selfmade are so supportive.
- How have Office Depot OfficeMax services/products helped you accomplish more in your business? I’m currently looking for more tools and devices to support my virtual working, including a mic and high-quality camera. – I’m hoping Office Depot OfficeMax can help with that!
- What does the word “selfmade” mean to you? I didn't graduate from business school. My dad's a mathematician architect, and my mom's an educator so I don't really have that entrepreneurship family background. But I find that it’s a combination of grit and commitment.
Thank you Amy! Consider yourself a social impact entrepreneur trying to make a difference? Let Office Depot OfficeMax give you the confidence you need with a suite of business services & solutions to help you put your best foot forward. Make a good first impression with business cards & build the business pitch of your dreams with custom presentations. With Office Depot OfficeMax you’ll find the tools to reach your community with confidence.
