Creating a Digital Heirloom | Business with Purpose Podcast EP 243: Ashley Kenny, Heirloom

My guest this week is Ashley Kenny, the CEO and founder of Heirloom, a startup company founded in 2020 that allows you to send video cards to friends and loved ones. As a journalist, she spent 15 years traveling the world and making groundbreaking documentaries. She lives in Washington D.C. with her husband and two children.

4:06 – Ashley 101

• She fell in love with long-form documentary making and worked for National Geographic and other outlets.
• Now she is the CEO and founder of Heirloom, which she launched with her brother.

9:09 – Tapping into her passion

• Ashley is a storyteller who has worked in different mediums. She loves asking questions and investigating.

17:12 – A need for community and connection

• Ashley called her grandma last spring and noticed she seemed down and not like her usual happy self. She was in lockdown during Covid and missing her family.
• She mailed her grandmother a video of her children to cheer her up, and she wanted to do the same for other people, especially seniors who don’t have access to computers or phones.
• Ashley’s brother helped her with the technology.

29:03 – Different kinds of videos people send

• People have sent many different kinds of videos – graduations, birth announcements, ultrasounds, gender reveals, birthday tributes

36:52 – A powerful message

• Send videos to people who have impacted your life, and let them know how much you care.
• It could be a really powerful opportunity to send a message to somebody in your life that has really had an impact on you, and maybe you haven’t really told them.

38:12 – Get to know you

• First thing she does when she gets home from a long trip? She gets a cup of fresh water from her tap.
• Favorite food? Fried rice

FEATURED QUOTES

“I’ve always been super curious about people’s backgrounds, about what makes somebody who they are, about where they’re from.” – Ashley

“I was a huge snoop growing up as a child … I had to see everything.” – Ashley

“This is a way to connect people when they can’t be together.” – Ashley

“We’re hoping this is an heirloom, a keepsake, something people will hold onto for years to come.” – Ashley

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