EO Wonder Podcast: Digital Innovation in Mental Health

On the latest episode of the EO Wonder Podcast, host Kalika Yap (EO Los Angeles) spent time with Dr. Valerie Karno, a multi-hyphenate professor, tech entrepreneur, and the co-founder of Ambience Search, the first-ever mood-based search engine. Valerie has spent decades studying how people interact with digital culture: In the years since the pandemic, she has observed a mounting mental-health crisis. “There has already been a steady decline in mental health, an increase in anxiety, and an increase in depression,” she told Kalika. “After COVID, it just exploded.”

Ambience Search is her response: a tool designed to meet people where they already spend their time, the digital world, and help them feel grounded. “What you do is you look for how you want to feel, and you tailor your search towards how you want to feel, and you receive search results which help put you into a different mood,” she explained. “So, you can become more relaxed, you can become more confident, you can feel more stable.”

“Healing is the name of the game. For those people who have the ability to help others, it is time to rise up and do that.”

- Dr. Valerie Karno

What can other entrepreneurs learn from Valerie’s path to creating a first-of-its kind product?

Identify a Need, Not a Business

Valerie began not by dreaming up a business idea, but by identifying a pain point she saw every day among her students and colleagues. By tuning into the emotional and psychological strain around her, she saw a need technological innovation could address. Her commitment to creating a more “humane” digital environment became the foundation of Ambience Search.

“Universities have become more and more unable to satisfy the needs of students who need to see their counselors,” she said. “They cannot hire enough people for the need. … Professors, and really everyone at the university, started to find themselves being psychologists for our students, which, of course, we are not trained for.”

In a world of constant digital noise, Valerie is adamant about the need for embracing practices that help people feel empowered to take control of their emotions, which she built into the product. “That mere act of agency of ‘I am going to shift things for myself now’ is huge,” she said. “Especially in the midst of digital culture, because in digital culture, we often feel a lack of agency.”

Share Your Ideas

Valerie’s advice for aspiring innovators is simple but powerful: Do not keep your ideas to yourself. “Do not be afraid to talk about your idea… there might be the one person who says, ‘Wow, let’s do that together,'" she said.  

Valerie’s journey to creating Ambience Search is a reminder that entrepreneurs can find the best ideas by considering the wellbeing of their community. As she and her team work to expand Ambience Search, she hopes the tool will empower people to feel more present, grounded, and capable.

“Healing is the name of the game,” she said. “For those people who have the ability to help others, it is time to rise up and do that.”

Listen to the full EO Wonder interview with Dr. Valerie Karno on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.