The Story Behind Alkeme Health

As a lifelong athlete, once Ryan transitioned from being a decorated NFL player to full-time father, husband and entrepreneur, things started to change. After walking away from the NFL, Ryan battled anxiety trying to figure the next phase of his life out and bouts of depression due to no longer doing what he did for the previous 24 years.

Simultaneously, chronic disease and illness started to show up frequently in his family. Everything from strokes, heart attacks, Alzheimer’s, amputations from Type 2 Diabetes complications and more.

Reflecting on his personal experience and that of his family, he noticed that there weren’t any health platforms that focused on the trajectory of Black health. The Black community is the most influential globally but also at an outsized risk for major diseases and illnesses. Facing disparities across the spectrum - Ryan believed that the most appropriate starting point to become the universal healthcare provider for the Black community had to be rooted in mental health.

“Alkeme is a platform that’s aggregating the best practitioners across different modalities. I think that’s one part of the sauce. That approach, I think, will continue to make us special and separate us from the others in the mental health space. The other part is that since we are particularly focused on the Black community, we will be able to go deeper and further than the majority of mental health platforms who are serving the general population.”

Alkeme Health offers Labs (therapy modules), Waves (guided meditations) and Live Labs (live therapist discussions) with a principal focus on Black culture. Alkeme strives to meet individuals where they are and encourages them to go deeper.

Whether you are a mental health advocate or on the fence about pursuing this personal journey, Alkeme can assist along the way.

“Twenty years from now I want to look back and say ‘Alkeme was the catalyst to making a significant impact on the trajectory of Black Health’” says Mundy. “I want to really start to measure that stuff and have a quantifiable impact on the community from our products, goods and services. That’s where we want to head. And along the way empowering our community to be the best and highest version of themselves.”

Currently, there are platforms that offer various forms of healing for the community, but Alkeme is here to take it deeper. Alkeme not only helps users address their issues, but also lends a hand to take the steps to conquer fears, address hurts, and create emotional well-being.

“We’re offering efficacious and accessible products” says Mundy. “We take ideas and conversations and turn them into actionable steps and things you can do to be proactive about and engage with your mental health.”

2020 was an unprecedented year that peeled back a lot of feelings we had potentially been suppressing or didn’t even know presented internal issues. But now that we are aware of these things, it is our duty to correct and address them. Alkeme is here to make that process a tad bit easier.

Take a second and look back. What are some things you have become numb to? Was it microaggressions at work? The acknowledgement that a lot of our hurt is generationally rooted? Or just simply not being able to feel completely free? It is time we had the support and resources to dig into these topics and find our answers.

By choosing uniquely Black topics and producing actionable steps, Alkeme Labs serve as digestible and informative videos to help the community heal. Headed by experts Dr. Mariel Buqué, Thérèse Kempf and Giorgio Châtelain. Each Lab focuses on generational trauma, finding your freedom and being Black in the workplace, respectively.

“We’re Black today, Black tomorrow. Black forever. And underneath that there’s a lot of different ways in which people show up as Black,” says Mundy. “I’m not here to segment or to say you are too Black or not Black enough. If you identify as Black, our aim is to have a space for you within the platform.”

The Black community knows what the Black community needs the most. Most of our lives are filled with trying to fit into our environment rather than our environment fitting with us. Oftentimes we live by the codeswitch, even in environments that are meant to help us. That stops with Alkeme. Here, it is all about the authentic you.

So together, let's answer the tough questions, dig deep into our thoughts, and break down our defenses. Let’s take the steps to expose and nurture our mind, body and soul.

Together, let’s make Alkeme.