Meet Carolyn Baron

We were lucky to catch up with Carolyn Baron recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Carolyn, thank you for being such a positive, uplifting person. We’ve noticed that so many of the successful folks we’ve had the good fortune of connecting with have high levels of optimism and so we’d love to hear about your optimism and where you think it comes from.

In large part, good body chemistry, I think! I’m lucky to have never experienced depression or other mood disorders. But having been witness to friends and family who have grappled with it, I’ll readily admit it gives me an undeserved advantage when it comes to my positive outlook.

That acknowledged, I suppose my optimism is further fueled by two gut-level beliefs – first, that in general, people want to do well by others. And second, that change is a powerful option in most circumstances.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I’m the Founder of Igbo, a mobile application for parents of teen and pre-teens that connects parents in REAL TIME to other parents based on the shared geo-location of our kids.

I built the tool to solve a problem I was experiencing. See, nowadays, kids use social media to make and connect with friends online. The more friends they collect, the more popular they appear. And as they get older and more independent and begin to leave the house unaccompanied by parents, kids use the geo sourcing tools inside social media applications to locate friends, which can include people they don’t know well or at all. This invites a host of dangers that teens can’t anticipate and parents can’t prevent.

On a personal note, the summer our teenage daughter’s friends started driving brought an unexpected challenge. Suddenly “new friends” from different school districts and neighborhoods began showing up to pick her up — friends she had made through social media. Since I didn’t know the kids, I insisted that my daughter retrieve the phone numbers of the parents. That way I had SOME connection to SOMEONE in case of an emergency. It wasn’t an easy task but I soon discovered that other parents were experiencing the same sense of disconnect from their kids’ social circles. Many were grateful for my diligence, as it highlighted a shared concern in navigating this new dynamic.

The importance of parental connection became even clearer when one evening my daughter went to a gathering at a “friend-of-a-friend’s” house. It started as a small gathering with just a handful of kids (and the parents at home; I know because spoke with them!) However, within a short time, the gathering spiraled out of control, turning into a massive party with hundreds of uninvited kids. Using social media geo-sourcing, kids located the party and began arriving in droves. The scene quickly devolved: motorcycles zipped down the street, girls were stranded without rides, kids of all ages were hiding in the bushes, many were carrying alcohol and countless others were already drunk. The parents were completely overwhelmed and terrified of potential accidents or legal liability.

As I looked further into this phenomenon, I realized this wasn’t an isolated event. Parents from across the country shared similar stories. One told me about a party where two uninvited guests from another school district overdosed at the host’s home, leaving everyone horrified. Through my research, I uncovered many incidents involving violence, sexual assault, property damage and even murder — all stemming from out of control gatherings and unmanaged social media connections. It was both eye-opening and deeply alarming.

Something had to be done to address the imbalance in communication created by social media. It seemed CRAZY to me that our kids had the power and tools to meet up with kids we didn’t know. So I developed Igbo Real Time Child Safety.

I believe it’s important that parents are familiar with our kids’ friends and have a way to reach their parents if necessary or desired. For safety, for camaraderie, for assistance. Igbo is designed to make it extremely simple for parents to connect, even as our kids are on the move and friend groups and/or plans change.

Unlike other family safety tools like Life360 or Find My, Igbo identifies if there are other kids (Igbo account holders) in the immediate location of your teen and provides access to the parents of those kids via direct message capabilities. Unlike other geo-sourcing applications like Snapmap, Igbo ONLY flags the location of another child account if he/she is within 50 feet of YOUR child. Parents cannot see the location of kids that are not immediately with their own. And since safety is the core function of Igbo, child identities are always anonymous.

To this end, Igbo serves as a modern day “White Pages” or “411” that is built around our kids’ relationships. There is no other way to reach people if you don’t have their telephone number. Further, Igbo’s proprietary geo-location tool can provide parents the assurance that their kids are staying close to their friends at large events such as concerts, sporting events, fairs, vacations, etc. The system recognizes if the kids have been separated, giving parents the timely opportunity to check in and make sure all is well.

So whether it’s new friends or boyfriends, travel sports teams or other activities and events outside your school network, Igbo connects parents in real time and gives them the assurance they need to let kids socialize in the digital driven world. We want to let our kids make and manage new relationships. We need them to practice good decision making. We have to let them go out in the world. But today’s world is vastly different than the one we grew up in, making it more important than ever for parents to stay connected and involved.

At Igbo, we want to hep parents work together to keep ALL our kids safer. The social media companies are not incentivized to assist us. So we want to take charge. They say, it takes a village to care for our kids. At Igbo, we are challenging parents to BE THE VILLAGE IT TAKES. Through Igbo’s mapping feature we will connect parents and build “villages” of support. As the village grows, we have plans to expand our service offerings to help parents in many other ways and services. But it all begins here.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

For the past 28 years, my day job has been as a Realtor. In that role, I’ve spent countless hours with families, which has given me a crash course in human emotions. I’ve held the hands of people as they sold the home where they raised their children, bought a home to start their own family, or navigated life transitions brought on by divorce or loss. It’s a lot, but it’s real. When I work with clients, I’m not just helping them buy or sell property – I’m helping them move forward toward their goals or resolve a significant challenge. Together, we’re making their lives better, and that’ incredibly rewarding for me.

Similarly, I felt compelled to build Igbo because the problem it addresses is just as real. The emotions surrounding it are raw and important. Parenting is hard, and raising teenagers in today’s digital age is especially challenging. Much like my work in real estate, I saw a problem that needed to be tackled and I went after it. While it’s still early days for Igbo, and its success isn’t guaranteed, I’m driven by the belief that I’m working on something meaningful – something that has the potential to help people solve a genuine problem.

Skill wise, both of these roles demand a similar set of skills: tenacity, interpersonal skills, presentation abilities, drive and diligence. Neither real estate or startups come with guarantees of success. That’s why belief is just as essential — You gotta believe in what you are doing!

As for advice, I encourage early entrepreneurs to share their vision openly. Talk about your dream with as many people as possible, take feedback and use every opportunity to present your ideas — because presenting is a skill that definitely gets better with practice! Even if one endeavor doesn’t succeed, the connections you build and the way you show up in pursuit of your dream will position you for success in the next chapter.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

Igbo’s greatest challenge is gaining critical mass quickly. We are a community app, so it requires large groups of people on the app it to make it work best.

We began marketing the app just before Christmas. Since it is brand new, our strategy focuses on enrolling groups of families whose children already participate in shared activities such as sports teams, athletic training facilities or church groups. The goal is for parents to experience the app’s location features firsthand and envision how it could enhance their lives as the user base grows to include families they don’t know yet. By seeing the app’s potential, we aim to encourage them to share it with others.

We are also working to identify a brand ambassador to help drive rapid exposure and growth. This individual will have experience and credibility in the child safety or parenting space.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.igbohome.com
• Instagram: @igbohome