We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Srilekha Cherukuvada a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Srilekha, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

In middle school, I moved to Texas, and my mental health took a very big toll because of it. Starting fresh with no friends was hard, and my bubbly self quickly became so much effort to uphold. In that period of time, my family rebuilt and we became closer, but at the same time, I became more aware of the mental health issues that I had been facing my whole life. Anxiety, depression, and a whole host of physical health issues, to name a few. I discovered my passion for the mental health space after writing for several journals, eventually falling upon mental health research. Learning, writing, and reflecting about mental health helped me understand myself on a deeper level. I started Plannr in September 2019, a few months before COVID hit as a way for students to learn and reflect on their own mental health through peer mentorship. We were founded on the notion that we, as peers, can help uplift each other and understand and empathize with each other through these one on one sessions, as my peers had done for me when I was struggling with my mental health. Starting Plannr was more of a journey for me rather than a specific action, and the versatility of the organization as well as the constant malleability and our strong core values of mental health equity, empathy, inclusivity, and transparency has helped us adapt to COVID and make a more tangible impact. This organization has brought me so much love and care; through learning more and more about mental health, I eventually started therapy myself and took larger steps towards healing. I also made friends and connections across the world that I value so much today, and I’m really excited to continue on this journey with these wonderful people who made Plannr what it is today.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m Srilekha, and I go by Sri. Before starting Plannr, I got heavily invested in nonprofit management. I joined the board of Voyagers as the Branding Director, and designed their website as well as all of their branding materials. I worked for several social justice nonprofit magazines, such as Gen Rise Media, of which I was the Co-Managing Editor of. All of these nonprofit experiences motivated me to start my own venture about a topic that I was personally very passionate about- mental health. In addition to nonprofit management, I found a passion with writing, and began freelance writing. I got published in Business Insider, Mashable, as well as a couple of other publications.
More recently, I transitioned into college at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor. As a business major, I primarily participate in business clubs, such as my professional business fraternity, Phi Beta Lambda, and BBA Marketing Club, but I also participate in general school clubs. I work as a Campus Day Leader and Orientation Leader, and am on the Planning Team of the Detroit Partnership. I also am currently on an Education Psychology research project learning more about young girls of color.
Off campus, I work as an Account Manager at Kahani Digital Marketing and previously worked as a Consultant at JUV Consulting.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Since we are Gen Z focused, our best source of new clients has been through Instagram promotions as well as utilizing RoundPier and a mix of other online platforms. We did some email marketing and event marketing, but a large part of our market comes from a social need since there are not enough mental health resources for everyone.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

Motivating a team is difficult, that’s unfortunately just a fact. As a nonprofit, we are unable to pay our volunteers at the moment, which leads to an even lower morale. My best advice to deal with this starts with hiring. When you are hiring, look for people who are very passionate about the issue that you’re fighting for. These people are the ones who will stick with your team for a long time and keep going. After people join, it’s important to continually keep your team engaged through fun bonding activities. This is a mutually beneficial experience; we grow as an organization and they grow as people.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://simplysrilekha.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/the.srilekha
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/srilekhacherukuvada
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/srileeka