“Stick With People Who Bring You Up” With David Markovich and Zach Schleien, Founders of 18percent.org

“Julie was recommended to 18percent by the Crisis Text Line and she said “would anyone be willing to talk to me before my boyfriend comes in an hour? If not I think I’m going to kill myself”. Instantly our Slackbot came in picking up those words “kill myself” and it said here’s the Crisis Text Line #, here’s the suicide hotline number, here are the international numbers, and if you want to contact our moderators type !mods. She then typed !mods and all of the moderators were alerted in the community. 10 people jumped in — 2 days later she posted a photo of herself with this huge smile on her face — and said thank you.”

I had the pleasure of interviewing Community experts David Markovich and Zach Schleien. When David is not building communities he consults for a several companies including fortune 500. Aside from Zach’s day job at Johnson & Johnson he runs the mental health online community 18percent.org (not affilated with J&J). Zach is an author of Hacking The Internship Process, and runs the website My Tiny Wins, a social network to share your accomplishments.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! What is your “backstory”?

My close family friend was diagnosed with bi-polar and schizoaffective disorder at the age of 19. He resisted medication. One day he went for a walk and never came home. 3 months later they find his body near a river. He was 22 years old. In his honor, I raised $9,500 for National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) towards the NAMI Basics program. The program supports 350 parents of children with mental illness. In 2 ½ weeks I hit my goal. Once completed, I reached out to my closest friend David expressing that I wanted to do more in the area of mental health. We teamed up and built 18percent. A online peer to peer support community that is 100% free, hosted on Slack.

Can you tell me about the most interesting projects you are working on now?

The community is called 18percent since 18% of Americans at any given moment have mental illness. We have a variety of channels ranging from anxiety, depression, bi-polar, veterans, gaming, music etc. The channels allow members to seek support and help others! To date we have 550 members with 22,000 messages sent. 18percent is a partner of the Crisis Text Line and was recently featured in NowThis. 18percent aspires to be the largest online community for people struggling with mental illness with a long-term mission to end the stigma of mental illness.

So how exactly does your organization help people?

People offer one another support, share stories on how they dealt with their illness and provide feedback. Empathy is what 18percent is all about!

Can you tell me a story about a person that you helped?

This one girl Julie was recommended to 18percent by the Crisis Text Line and she said “would anyone be willing to talk to me before my boyfriend comes in an hour? If not I think I’m going to kill myself”. Instantly our Slackbot came in picking up those words “kill myself” and it said here’s the Crisis Text Line #, here’s the suicide hotline number, here are the international numbers, and if you want to contact our moderators type !mods. She then typed !mods and all of the moderators were alerted in the community. 10 people jumped in — started sending Giphy’s and cute cat videos. And 2 days later she posted a photo of herself with this huge smile on her face — and said thank you.

This obviously is not easy work. What drives you?

Saving lives; allowing people to feel fulfilled by enabling them to help others; ending the stigma around mental illness.

Are there three things the community/society/politicians can do help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?

People with mental illness need to be treated differently. Instead of throwing them in prisons they need mental health treatment. Caregivers need additional training. Companies need additional training to support employees with mental illness.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are?

My parents who have been instrumental in my success. They have always been there for me. Willing to listen when I had challenges and would do everything in their power for me to be the best man I can be.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. (Please share a story or example for each.)

1. Things are not easy. I have had previous companies that have failed. In the moment it sucks, but each time it has been a learning experience.
2. Work on yourself constantly. I constantly try to grow and catch my “blind spots”. I have taken leadership training to continue to grow as a person.
3. Friends come and go. I have very different friends now than I did when I was younger. Friends come and go. Sometimes you can’t force a friendship as you grow and your interests change.
4. Stick with people who bring you up. I am most fulfilled when I hang out with friends who challenge me and allow me to be myself. David is the best business partner because we share similar values and learn from one another constantly.
5. Travel. I have traveled all over the world — Australia, India, throughout Europe and it has made me a better person who appreciates different cultures and I understand people better because of it.

Some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might see just see this. :-)

Tim Ferriss. Tim has inspired me along the way. He is vulnerable, authentic and relatable.