EmPOWERED to Serve Business Accelerator: 2022

EmPOWERED to Serve Mid-South Business Accelerator 2022 awardee

National

Twelve social and health tech entrepreneurs received six weeks of training and presented their business stories for a chance at AHA grant funding to support their efforts in addressing health inequities in their communities. Watch the National finale event
photo grid of 2022 AHA National Business Accelerator finalists

1ST PLACE - $50,000 grant / FAN FAVORITE - $5,000 grant
Kanisha Ffriend | HeirBloom Co.

2ND PLACE - $25,000 grant
Jinga Oglesby-Brihm | Empower Healthcare

Alumni Spotlight
Kanisha Ffriend | My Bump Team
(formerly HeirBloom Co.)

Kanisha Ffriend is the lead doula and founder of My Bump Team (formerly HeirBloom), a digital platform connecting health care professionals with expectant and postnatal mothers to improve birth experiences and reduce maternal mortality rates. A graduate of Syracuse University with a master's in science education and a certified licensed doula, Kanisha developed her vocation from volunteer work with teen mothers-to-be through her sorority, Sigma Gamma Rho. Nationally, she’s been recognized for melding Eastern and Western wellness practices about birth. She’s a student at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Institute of Health Professions, pursuing a dual women's health and adult gerontology nurse practitioner degree.

Bay Area

EmPOWERED to Serve Bay Area Business Accelerator 2022 finale event

1ST PLACE - $35,000 grant
Tero-Pekka Alastalo | CardioSignal

2ND PLACE - $20,000 grant / FAN FAVORITE - $5,000 grant
Leigh Monistere | Cultivating Literacy

1ST PLACE - $25,000 grant
Noe Foster | HealthTechApps, Inc.

2ND PLACE - $10,000 grant
Colby Takeda | Pear Suite

FAN FAVORITE - $5,000 grant
Erin Ah Sue | Eldercare Education for High School Students

Mid-South

West Tennessee, including Greater Memphis/Shelby County, North Mississippi, and rural Eastern Arkansas
EmPOWERED to Serve Mid-South Business Accelerator 2022 finale event

1ST PLACE - $25,000 grant / FAN FAVORITE - $5,000 grant
Austin Avery III | The Original Project Team Foundation, Inc.

2ND PLACE - $15,000 grant
Nikki Wallace | Sisters Innovating Science

3RD PLACE - $10,000 grant
Sarah Rhoads | University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Nursing

Minnesota

EmPOWERED to Serve 2022 Minnesota Business Accelerator finalists at the finale

1ST PLACE - $15,000 grant
Kelly V. Tolbert-Robinson, RN | Messianic Care PLLC

2ND PLACE - $10,000 grant
Michael Chaney | Project Sweetie Pie

FAN FAVORITE - $2,500 grant
Jolly Nanda | Altheia Predictive Health