Research has found that empathy levels have declined by 40% in college students since the year 2000 (Konrath, O’Brian & Hsing, 2011). Based on the sexual assault numbers from the top 29 Northeast college campuses from 2008-2013 (Rocheleau, 2014), sexual assaults have increased as shown - suggesting a correlation between lack of empathy and aggression.

As a social-mission certified B-corp, we don’t want to just put a bandaid on the problem. In addition to the jewelry, we are committed to getting to the root causes of these attacks. That’s why for every Athena device purchased, we are investing a percentage of proceeds into non-profits that are teaching young boys and young girls about empathy and healthy relationships. Programs like these have been shown to reduce violence in adulthood.

To make that a reality, we've partnered with The One Love Foundation. Ten percent of proceeds from this campaign will go towards raising awareness about the warning signs of abuse and helping end relationship violence.

In addition, we've teamed up with Women Against Abuse (WAA) to provide in-kind devices to women in need with our "Give the Gift of Safety" and "One for One" perks. WAA is one of the foremost domestic violence advocate and service providers in the country. This non-profit agency provides safe havens, transitional housing, aftercare services, and education to women experiencing intimate partner violence. Their mission, which aligns harmoniously with ROAR's, is to end violence through advocacy and community education.

Our company started when Yasmine spent six months solo-trekking across South America where she met many women (both locals and travelers) who had been victims of assault. Just one week after she returned to Philadelphia, a woman was out feeding her parking meter when she was grabbed from behind, dragged into an alley, severely beaten, and brutally raped. It was at that moment that Yasmine and co-founder Anthony made a commitment to leverage their skills, resources, and energy to make a difference. And it was at that moment ROAR for Good was born.

The stats are horrifying. One in four women on a college campus will be sexually assaulted. One in five women has been a victim of rape or attempted rape. This is unacceptable, and ROAR is focused on developing solutions to help make a difference. We want to redefine the status quo - and believe that it’s possible.

ROAR is founded by serial entrepreneurs who have successfully built and sold companies in the past. ROAR for Good is not just the company name, it embodies our team’s passion.

Yasmine Mustafa, Co-founder & CEO
Yasmine Mustafa is a tech entrepreneur, community leader, and advisor for several companies in Philadelphia. She founded her first startup, an affiliate marketing company helping writers monetize their content, after graduating from Temple University. She sold it to a prominent content marketing firm in late 2011. Yasmine also started the Philadelphia chapter of Girl Develop It, a non-profit focused on providing affordable and accessible programs to women who want to learn software and web development. In addition, she’s a board member for Coded by Kids, a non-profit that helps inner city youth learn how to code.

Anthony Gold, Co-founder & COO/CTO
Anthony Gold is a serial entrepreneur, investor, author, and board member for several companies - both for-profit and nonprofit. He and Yasmine met eight years ago and have since jointly contributed to the development of several organizations focused on empowering women and championing the underserved. In a past life, Anthony led hardware and software engineering for Unisys Corp. Anthony was recognized as one of the top business leaders in open source business and has eight patents around mission-critical hardware and software design. He architected a supercomputer that was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records for hosting the largest number of concurrent gamers.

The rest of the team includes Charlotte Wells, our business development executive, Joe Crabtree, our electrical engineer, Mahmoud Mustafa, our product development manager, and Hunter Vargas, our social media coordinator. We also have several additional resources helping with all aspects of the business including mobile app development.

The unfortunate truth is that everyone knows someone who has been a victim of assault. Athena has been designed as a smart, stylish accessory that instantly calls for help and can't be used to harm the person wearing it. And we're not simply focused on selling products, we're dedicated to digging into the root causes of violence. Your support will enable us to complete our production activities - as well as to help diminish attacks against women. 

Our goal is to raise $40,000 in 33 days. With these funds, we will:

• Move forward with the printed circuit board (PCB) development and manufacturing
• Finalize mobile app development
• Design additional colors & styles for the jewelry 

User Research: We began with numerous focus groups, market surveys, and interviews with self-defense experts to get a sense for what works, what doesn’t work, and what has the potential to truly move the needle with regard to safe methods for reducing assaults.

Jewelry Design: We designed several iterations of jewelry styles that were small in size and lightweight. In addition, we're configuring the device to be modular so you can swap out the face with additional colors and styles in the future. We tested those designs with many women, iterated on feedback, and developed our Athena line of jewelry.

Hardware Prototyping: In parallel with our jewelry design, we developed a printed circuit board containing the logic needed to emit a loud alarm and connect with a mobile phone for alerting loved ones with the wearer’s location. We’re using a Bluetooth low-energy chipset for our communication stack to maximize battery life, as well as pairing & beaconing to achieve our desired functionality.

Software Development: We wrote all the firmware for the circuit board and developed a version of the mobile application that allows users to enter their emergency contacts and configure their alert messages (for both alarm mode and silent mode). And we currently have functional prototypes that, when activated, sound an alarm and send text messages to emergency contacts.

Feature Additions: We designed the jewelry to be modular so that as we come out with new designs and colors, the face of Athena can be snapped out and replaced with the new designs - allowing for maximum customization to meet the most particular fashionista. These include casual, sporty, and luxury styles.

Accolades: We’ve been honored to receive several awards along the way as we built the team and developed the idea into a business.

It’s unfortunate that devices like this are required, but our goal is to help reduce assaults against women through wearable technology and education. 

The Athena line of jewelry is our first product. We plan to introduce additional designs and styles to appeal to different lifestyles. Also, as technology evolves, more things can be done in even smaller space. For example, embedding the technology directly into clothing, footwear, phone cases, and so forth enables even greater flexibility. 

As a company, we have this one metric that we use to measure success: the number of lives we touch. Thus, we will continue developing solutions to reduce assaults and ideally begin to transform society.

We have been working for more than a year developing ROAR and getting it ready for production. We know what the next steps are for manufacturing and fulfillment and have great partners ready to start. However, we know that before mass production begins, we may encounter some problems. We have plans to mitigate the risks and have enlisted great advisors that will also help.

We need to create the tooling to manufacture different parts of the product. This process is complex and requires time and money. Complications could potentially emerge and delay the manufacturing schedule. To tackle this risk, we've selected partners that can work closely with us through the whole process.

When we have the first few production samples produced we will need to ensure they meet our quality standards. We have factored in several months for this process, which may involve iterative edits and improvements until we’re happy with what we’re sending you. However, if these take longer than anticipated, we’ll let you know why - along with a revised timeline.

We will undoubtedly have surprises on our journey, but we trust that we have the team to overcome all challenges, as we’ve done so far. Our goal is to make the best possible product for you and deliver it on time.

Thank you for your support - this couldn't happen without you! We hope you join us as we revolutionize safety and empower women everywhere.