Meet the Founders Behind Aksha
Our Journey to Aksha
Between the two of us, we've been journaling for over 30 years combined. We've experienced firsthand how powerful structured reflection can be for understanding ourselves and navigating life's challenges. Yet when we looked around, we realized something was missing.
There was no dominant journaling product focused on preventive mental wellness care—something engaging, stigma-free, affordable, and grounded in helping people understand their true selves. We saw an opportunity to bridge the gap between scientific understanding of mental health and accessible, everyday tools for self-discovery.
Our different but complementary backgrounds came together around one core insight: recovery is really about discovery. This became the foundation for everything we're building.
Laura: The Science Behind Self-Understanding
Laura has always been fascinated by the fundamental questions: What shapes our thoughts? Who are we really? Why do we act the way we do? This curiosity led her to pursue an M.Sc. in Neuroscience, where she dove deep into understanding the brain's role in human behavior and emotion.
Her professional work at CHDR on NeuroCart—a platform used in clinical trials to measure mood, cognition, and emotional changes—gave her unique insights into how we can scientifically track and understand mental states. But it was her personal practice of journaling since childhood that showed her how powerful self-reflection could be as a daily tool for mental wellness.
Laura brings the scientific rigor needed to ensure Aksha's approach is grounded in evidence-based practices, while never losing sight of the deeply personal nature of the journaling experience.
Laura's Expertise
- M.Sc. in Neuroscience with focus on cognition and emotion
- Clinical trial experience with NeuroCart platform at CHDR
- Decades of personal journaling practice
Laura
Co-Founder
"Understanding the brain gave me the 'why' behind journaling's effectiveness, but practicing it daily showed me the 'how' of real transformation."
Vin
Co-Founder
"Seeing how depression affects entire families taught me that prevention isn't just personal—it's essential for everyone we love."
Vin: From Personal Pain to Purpose
Vin's journey into mental health advocacy began with witnessing how depression and anxiety devastated not just individuals in his family and friend circles, but everyone around them. The ripple effects of mental health struggles became impossible to ignore.
This personal experience sparked an obsession with understanding mental health from every angle. Vin immersed himself in research, attending conferences like ECNP, speaking with psychologists, and reading countless clinical papers. His background in cybersecurity and software engineering gave him a unique perspective on how technology could be part of the solution.
But it was one particular study that changed everything. Vin discovered research showing that people who overcame depression often described their journey as "a process of discovery rather than recovery." This insight became the cornerstone of Aksha's philosophy: that understanding ourselves deeply is often the path to healing.
Vin's Mission
- Technology expertise in cybersecurity and software engineering
- Deep research into mental health studies and clinical evidence
- Personal understanding of mental health's family-wide impact
Where Science Meets Heart
When Laura and Vin came together, they realized they had complementary pieces of the same puzzle. Laura brought the scientific understanding of how journaling affects the brain and emotions, while Vin contributed deep insights into mental health challenges and the technology expertise to build scalable solutions.
Both had experienced the transformative power of journaling in their own lives, but they could see that traditional journaling tools weren't designed with mental wellness as the primary focus. They weren't guided by evidence-based approaches, and they often left people feeling lost about where to start or how to make their practice more meaningful.
Together, they envisioned something different: an AI-powered journaling companion that could provide the structure and guidance people need while preserving the deeply personal nature of self-reflection. The result is Aksha—a tool that makes the proven benefits of journaling accessible to everyone.
Our Vision: Prevention Through Self-Discovery
We believe mental wellness care shouldn't start only when someone is in crisis. Our vision is to make preventive mental wellness accessible, engaging, and stigma-free through the power of structured self-reflection.
Aksha represents our commitment to creating a tool that combines the therapeutic benefits of journaling with AI guidance, helping people understand themselves better and build emotional resilience before personal challenges become overwhelming.
Preventive Care
Building emotional resilience and self-awareness before crisis points, making mental wellness a daily practice.
Accessible & Stigma-Free
Making mental wellness tools approachable for everyone, removing barriers to self-care and emotional growth.
Guided Self-Discovery
Empowering users to understand their authentic selves through evidence-based, AI-guided reflection.