Name: Ashley Edwards
Company: MindRight
Position: Founder and CEO
Website: https://www.mindright.io/
About Ashley Edwards
MindRight was built for people who need mental health support but don’t see themselves reflected in, or can’t access, traditional therapy. We match members with MindRight Partners from their own communities, everyday people who provide culturally affirming emotional support via text message, making care affordable, accessible, and human.
I founded MindRight because my life experiences showed me the power of communities to care for each other. After graduating from Yale, I moved back to New Jersey and lived in Newark while working in the local education system.
I saw intergenerational trauma up close and how limited culturally responsive mental health support was. At the same time, I witnessed how, when formal support was out of reach, informal networks stepped in. Coaches, teachers, grandparents, and other trusted community members became the emotional backbone of their neighborhoods.
I carried this insight to Stanford, where I enrolled in a joint MBA and MA in Education program and began the research that became MindRight Health. We partnered with schools to train community members to deliver mental health support to underserved youth, especially Black and Brown communities facing disproportionate barriers to care. As demand grew and school budgets remained unpredictable, I expanded MindRight into a for-profit model to scale sustainably, serve all ages, and protect the mission. At the heart of it all is a simple belief: our communities can heal ourselves.
One defining challenge I overcame was fundraising as a mission-driven company led by a Black woman founder. In a landscape where Black women receive a fraction of venture capital, culturally grounded mental health solutions are often treated as niche. Investors questioned market size, willingness to pay, and whether MindRight fit traditional healthcare categories.
I heard no repeatedly but did not shrink from the mission to make it more comfortable. I strengthened the proof, sharpened our data, clarified the model, and positioned MindRight to partner with institutions and health plans that can scale access. That persistence led to a milestone I am proud of: becoming the first Black woman in New Jersey to raise more than $1 million in venture capital. Breaking through that barrier unlocked growth and validated equity-centered mental health innovation at scale.
MindRight has helped shift the mental health conversation by proving culturally grounded support can be trusted, effective, and scalable. To date, MindRight has facilitated over two million text messages, delivering personalized, compassionate support at a fraction of the cost of traditional therapy. Our longest-standing members have remained engaged for more than six years, reflecting rare trust and retention.
Nearly 90% of our users are Black women, a level of representation uncommon in digital mental health. Partners like The Loveland Foundation work with MindRight, offering free support to Black women, expanding access while honoring cultural context and lived experience.
My leadership has been recognised across tech and health innovation, including Forbes 30 Under 30 and being named a Top 50 Digital Health Luminary, helping open doors for more diverse founders and models of care that reflect how people actually live.
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