Name: Kate Doerksen
Company: Sage Haven
Position: Co-Founder and CEO
Website: https://sagehavenforkids.com
About Kate Doerksen
Kate Doerksen started Sage Haven in 2023 alongside her sister Anne Pizzuti after witnessing the devastating effects of cyberbullying on a teenage family member. As both a parent and longtime technology founder, she saw what she believed was a gap in how digital communication tools were designed for children. Kids were entering group chats and messaging platforms earlier than ever, yet few products were intentionally built for their developmental stage. Rather than focusing only on restricting access to social media, she set out to create a safer foundation for how children communicate from the start.
Launching Sage Haven came with significant challenges. Building an AI driven product focused on child safety required balancing innovation with responsibility. The technology needed to proactively block harmful messages, links, and images before they were sent, while still preserving a natural and positive experience for kids. Earning trust from parents was another critical hurdle. Families are understandably cautious about both artificial intelligence and digital monitoring tools. The team prioritised transparency, thoughtful design, and interoperability with platforms such as iMessage and Google Messages so families could add protection without isolating their children socially.
As a female founder in the AI space, Kate also navigated the realities of fundraising and scaling in a sector still largely dominated by male led companies. Drawing on her background as a Division I athlete and prior founder, she approached these challenges with resilience and a long term mindset. Earlier in her career, she founded Ditto, an augmented reality and AI eyewear platform that grew to serve more than 70 million users and was acquired by 1 800 Contacts in 2021.
That experience provided both technical insight and operational discipline that she brought to Sage Haven.
Sage Haven is part of a growing movement toward prevention first design in digital safety. While many platforms rely primarily on identifying and moderating harmful content after it appears, Sage Haven focuses on blocking harmful content before it reaches a child and gently encouraging kinder communication in real time. Kate advocates for using artificial intelligence as a protective layer that supports families rather than simply driving engagement.
By focusing specifically on children ages 8 to 12, Kate is helping bring greater attention to the early messaging years as an important window for shaping digital habits and emotional development. Her work contributes to ongoing conversations around responsible AI, child centered product design, and how technology companies can better support families in the digital age.
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