Cooper is putting a modern spin on parenting support groups.
The digital membership-based platform, which officially launches Tuesday starting at $49, was founded by Gabby Slome and Ariel Boorstin who met through a mom group in New York City. While the group connected the two, they felt there was still something lacking in terms of parental support, noting that post-birth, people are often left on their own.
“We had the same experience where we really enjoyed meeting one another but came away from that without any meaningful knowledge from a parenting perspective and also feeling a little bit alienated from the other women that were in the group,” said Boorstin, also the platform’s chief marketing officer. “We were the only two that were going back to work and so we carried some guilt around that and it was tough to really connect with the other people. We went back to our respective careers and still felt ill equipped for the parenting part of our lives.”
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The two were seeking affordable access to expert advice and a space to connect with other parents similar to them. Cooper’s social component also addresses the need for community in the midst of the loneliness epidemic.
“We felt like it was a ripe opportunity to really solve for some of these things that we had experienced ourselves and knew that other people were experiencing as well and felt like we could add a level of rigor and intention behind parenting support and connection,” Boorstin said.
This ultimately led the duo to start Cooper, which offers 24/7 support, one-on-one sessions, virtual events, a space to connect with other parents and child development expert-led conversations on an array of topics based on age and background, including feeding, sleep patterns, bullying and more. Boorstin and Slome intentionally opted for a virtual platform, as child development experts can be difficult to find outside of major cities.
Upon joining the platform, a parent will go through an onboarding process where they will share psychographic and demographic information about their child[ren] and family. Afterward, they will be put into “coop” groups with 12 similar parents. Members may also opt to join several groups based on their needs.
Through crowdsourcing and research, Cooper will continue to offer new groups around specific topics. For example, the platform will be rolling out groups for parents with children who are neurodiverse, starting with those who have ADHD. While the platform currently provides support for parents who have children ranging from newborns to 10-year-olds, the team plans to expand its offerings to include those up to 18 years old.
“In this new world where we generally don’t live close to our families and our larger communities, we want to help be a support not only from the expert side, [but] also from the community side for parents,” said Slome, also Cooper’s chief executive officer. “We want parenting support to be the norm not the exception.”