We recently connected with Jay DeMerit and have shared our conversation below.

Jay , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, let’s start with a hypothetical – what would you change about the educational system?

Moving forward we need more digital learning products that focus on the holistic intelligence of the user. We are specializing in all subjects way too early and because of external validation & poor social media products, we are becoming more inauthentic to our truths, therefore creating a greater stress and anxiety. Which in the end, leads our mental health to be poor.

The product we have been building at RISExSHINE helps to tackle this problem.

Jay , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I was so fortunate to play professional soccer for over 11 years, and Captain teams in both the English Premier League (Watford FC) & MLS (Vancouver Whitecaps) Also representing the USA at the World Cup in 2010 was the ultimate honor.

I also was a late bloomer in the game, not turning pro until 23, moving to the UK with nothing but a backpack and a pair of cleats and starting in the 9th division making 50$ a game. But I also had a degree in Industrial Design and played others sports most of life, as well as having other jobs outside of sport.

All of those holistic soft skills lead me to leadership roles very early on in my career, earning the captaincy at both Watford Fc as well as the Vancouver Whitecaps of MLS.

Post career, Those leadership opportunities allowed me to focus on development programs for the next generation. What’s started as a GenZ (15-25 yr olds) Leadership program, RISEXSHINE has extended to an empowerment app, with gamified learning and interactive content with celebrities & brands, and landing Electronic Arts (EA) as our founding partner. We are due to launch later in 2024.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Well, I’d say that as athletes one of our greatest adversities in our sport is injuries and just before the World Cup in 2010 I had a serious infection through a scratch on my cornea, and I had to get a full corneal transplant six months before the World Cup, and so keeping in that timeline order to be healthy I had to get a full transplant surgery sit in the dark for over a month and then eventually play my way into the team with a stitch in my eye as well as having to go through a lot of other pain and and other adversities to get back to fitness and to the level I needed to play in the World Cup but I was able to do that and then play every minute of the 2010 World Cup get to mark, some of the best players in the world, such as Wayne Rooney, and our USMNT won our group for the first time., and having the unique experience to be at the pinnacle of my profession I think the biggest thing, though were those moments in the dark when you have nothing but your thoughts and pain, and I think that’s where real resilience is called upon and I think being in those moments and having to go through a lot of those those things personally, allows your mental health to be stronger in the end, especially if you if you think of these things as silver linings, or things that have helped you create a better path for yourself. Resilience can be our greatest teacher.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I think now coming out of the professional game, my mission is changed to the development side of life and I don’t just mean in sports I mean in in in development of the human I think with my unique experience, both having a design mind and in training and in the arts, but also having a good career and learning a lot about the professional side of the game it is it’s important for me to can. I give that unique experience back in so I think learning and developing programs now, as is really what the mission isn’t it, and not having them just be based on sports that you know, adding a holistic experience ways to interact with unique individuals from different fields, all all with a professional mindset, and really focusing on the mental training of life and mental performance really combining all those things into one program and are soon to be built a digital product then you can create a way that we can have universal learning. We learn from lots of different people , but it’s also a reflection of of the users getting a unique experience so they can develop in a way that uniquely fit to their skills and character. So the main mission of RISExSHINE is to create a product where everybody wins.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.risexshine.com
• Instagram: @d6merit
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jay-demerit-430413117?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
• Twitter: @d6merit