Find Your Like Minded Walking Partner with ZNEEX and Special Guest Laura Wellington

Jackie Finneman is a 30-year family counselor turned parenting coach with more than 40,000 hours of working with children and families. She is thrilled to share behavioral strategies, supportive resources, and parenting stories from her own real-life personal and professional experiences. Parenting is a roller coaster, not a merry-go-round. We can deal with and overcome the behavior challenges within our home and set ourselves and our kids up for a successful ride. Has your roller coaster derailed? No problem. Listen in to get you and your family back on track. Hey, welcome back parents. Today I have a special guest with me to talk about all things walking, health and wealth and friendship. Laura J. Wellington is the founder of celebrity lifestyle blog ThreadMB, a media tech entrepreneur. Wellington is also an award-winning children's entertainment creator and author. Critics have called her most recent book, Be Careful What You Wish For, a magnum opus. A TEDx speaker, Wellington's newest adventure is called Zneeks,

Z-N-E-E-X, Zneeks, an app that combines fitness and socializing for users and their dogs in a fun, new way that has partners saying it's the best idea they've heard of in a very long time. A mother of five, Wellington was widowed at 35 years old. She's won the Forbes Enterprise Award, multiple Telly Awards, the Buzz Award, and many more. Well, I'm just really excited to hear about this new app, and I thank you so much, Laura, for being with us today.

Oh my God, it's my pleasure. You know, this is really fun to be able to share about this new app, so I appreciate your having me on. So I know your story about how and why the app was developed and created, but it is a truly real life story. Why don't you just begin by telling us why this app became such a mission and a passion of yours?

Well, it's a silver lining story to begin with. prior to COVID, I was walking with a longtime friend of mine regularly for both health and socializing, as many parents do. But when COVID hit, she and I found ourselves on very different sides of the belief system underlining COVID. She took the position of fear, and she decided that she needed to get vaccinated. And I took the position of not fear and more, you know, strength in a sense of, you know, waiting to see what the outcome is. And so I took the position of not wanting to be vaccinated. And so, but the fear really drove her. And when I hurt our relationship. And I got to a point where I received an email from her, which spelled out in very direct terms that unless I got vaccinated, that she would no longer be walking with me.

And that saddened me because we had been friends for a long time. And to put that pressure on our friendship was really quite sad. So I stopped walking with her. And I thought about it for a little bit. I wanted to continue to walk. And obviously, like many people who took my position, who lost a lot of friendships because of it, I ended up reaching out to the community through a community-wide site that covered about five towns and certainly didn't outer, but sent a note to everyone on this particular site that I was looking for someone to walk with regularly. And lo and behold, their response was staggering. It was staggering. And for a number of reasons, some directly related to COVID and others not directly related to COVID.

Many people during that time moved out of the city into areas that were new for them. So they had a hard time finding new friends. Many people started working from home. So their social circles changed. And in that, you know, they had the time now to walk, but they didn't have really any friends in their area because their social circles were related to work. Many had moved out of, you know, had relocated temporarily because they were taking care of elderly parents during it.

And then others literally ended up just losing friendships because of, you know, the political divide and the divide over the vaccine. So they were looking for new friends. You know, some were just, you know, disabled or whatnot, and they became very self-conscious and didn't know how to reach out to people. There were so many reasons that people responded to me.

It got to the point where I had so many responses that the website said, you have to create your own group and manage it because this is ridiculous. And so I thought about that. And then I thought about it a little bit further because I started thinking, well, if this is happening across our nation, it's got to be happening. You know, if it's happening in my town, it's got to be happening across the nation.

And you're just outside of New York, right? I should say that. Right. Yeah, I'm just outside of New York. And so what I did was I thought a little bit further. I said, well, if it's happening, you know, with regards to friendships and walking, it must be happening with regards to relationships, too.

So I did a test sampling and lo and behold, I found out that there are a tremendous number of unvaccinated people that only want to date unvaccinated people. They chose not to get vaccinated and they don't they don't want to get vaccinated any other way, including while having, you know, unprotected sex, which most relationships, you know, when you're in a relationship, eventually will occur. is saying how true for vaccinated people.

Many did not want to update unvaccinated people because they too were frightened in their own way. And then there was a third group. And that third group was the group that didn't care either way. So what I decided to do is I said, well, this is really, you know, it's very curious.

So I'm like, but there's nothing out there that's going to feed to all of this. So what I did is decided to do was create a solution for everybody. And using vaccine status as a primary driver to establish new friendships comfortably within each group, friendships that didn't cross over into the other groups unless you chose to be part of that third group. So it goes like this.

You sign on to the app, which is Neeks, and you choose between a basic membership and a premium membership. And then you choose your criteria. and um and so if you if you're choose not you know you're unvaccinated only that's the only time you'll ever be able to choose this and now you fall into that category and you can choose whether or not you're meeting other people for friendship or whether you're meeting other people for a relationship you know a love relationship and you you answer all the questions according to that and then the app will only only introduce you to people um of the unvaccinated kind and the Same holds true for vaccinated.

You choose, you know, if you choose only to meet vaccinated people, then that is who you're only going to meet. You're never going to meet an unvaccinated person on the app. And then there's the third group, the group that doesn't care either way. And then you will only meet people of that same thinking.

So you have three groups that never crossed over. And they offer you, each group offers you the ability to make new friendships that you're comfortable with. or, you know, establish new love relationships that you're comfortable with. And then what it does, it works very much like many of the other apps where you swipe left or right.

But what we do instead of just running a regular invitation, you're inviting someone to take a walk with you. And which is a great way to begin any type of friendship or love relationship, you know, is over a walk. What the app also does, though, is it doubles as a fitness app. So it will count steps. It will count calories. It will remind you to hydrate. It totals all of your walks. And once you take another walk, it totals it. It adds to your total. It creates squads for you.

So now, you know, the people that you meet and you agree to be friends with or whatever, they get thrown into your squad and you can talk with them either one-on-one or in a group-like form. Maybe you want to, you know, in this case, maybe you want to set up a group walk. Well, it's going to do that for you. It also reminds you of upcoming walks.

And so you never have to miss a walk. It does a tremendous number of things. And the criteria is very drilled down, although we don't add tons of questions. Because who wants to add, you know, answer a questionnaire that's a million questions long?

It's ridiculous. And then, you know, it will introduce you if you're, you know, someone walks with a dog. It doesn't introduce your other dog walkers. You know, it's based on the size of the dog and whatnot.

So it really does is a helpful app that not only will improve health, which, you know, parents definitely are very, you know, concerned about that, but also introduce you to people where they're comfortable with. and um and how about it it'll introduce you not only to people in your area which people really want to you know make friends in their area because we there's no real in the united states we really don't have um a place to go to make new friends easily and um or you can meet someone from let's say across the nation and you can take a virtual walk which the app allows you to see the other person across the nation if you want to walk let's say in your local park but they're who are walking in their local park, you can do it together through the app while talking and seeing each other and develop those friendships.

So we're really bringing groups together in a way that's very, very, very comfortable for them, that respects the lines, that uses the line to each group's advantage. And it's very, very innovative. So we prohibit the crossing of these groups based on their preferences. and um and so far i mean from the from the samplings that we've used it's you know the demand is very real and um and so why not fill that demand in a way that you know makes each group stronger and more comfortable and ultimately happier because you know in that happiness that's where you know being able to have the peaceful conversations begin when people are happy it's they're much more apt to have more of the peaceful conversations and not feel so threatened.

And, you know, we're at a very, you know, auspicious period of time. And so, you know, social health and physical health are imperative for our nation. There's a huge loneliness epidemic that's been transpiring. You know, obviously, we've had our health epidemics that are happening.

So this sort of helps to circumvent all of it. and make it all right for everybody. This is really incredible. And it is a silver lining.

And it takes out the negative of the politics surrounding COVID. But even just, as you said, people with different abilities, people with other, you know, some people are slow walkers, fast walkers. So people have different, you know, reasons for wanting to go for a walk, and you're going to be able to find the right fit for you based on some of those questions that you answer through the app. And I just really love that you, that you did this, that you, you went, you leaned into it and you said, this could be a really, you know, ugly, hurtful, um, sort of situation for you. But if you're feeling this way, whether you're vaccinated or not, it doesn't have to, it doesn't have to feel divisive. It can be like, let's, you know, I'm, I'm confident in my,

in my health and my beliefs that I don't want to be vaccinated, but it does make you nervous. Then when you meet somebody, if they are very confident in their belief about being vaccinated, your relationship starts off right away with this, you know, kind of animosity or tug of war or, and it's like this just, just, it takes it all out of the equation. And I, and I really love that. It's very ingenious.

Thank you. Well, that was the point because, you know what, I don't think anyone is bad in any of this. And I think what I really had wanted to do was, like, take it, you know, just, like, make it gray, so to speak, you know, and just sort of, like, work with everybody to bettering themselves. You know, and the other thing, you know, just to mention, like with the premium membership, you can donate steps. So you can donate your steps. And at once the steps get tallied to a certain point, then the app makes a direct donation to Tunnel to Towers, which, you know, serves to help veterans and firemen and policemen, not only widows, but also people that have, you know, obviously lost limbs and whatnot that can't walk.

Well, now, if you donate your steps to them and then, you know, we make that donation, then you're helping them live their lives well, too. And everybody gets to contribute, you know, and I think that's where we have to get back to as a nation. We need to really start seeing ourselves as a whole. Maybe we're different.

Maybe we do have certain lines that were drawn, you know, that have been drawn in sin. But that doesn't negate the fact that we're still a country. We're still a nation. And we have to work as a nation.

And it's okay to have those differences. It's okay to have your preferences, but to draw the line so deeply that now we're dividing the country, you know, in such a tragic way, that's not okay. And so we need to change that. And I'm hoping through what we're doing through SNCCS that that helps to change the direction of that.

Yeah, I love it. I think it absolutely does. And I also just admire and appreciate the fact that you're donating to tunnel to towers. That is an amazing cause and make an amazing organization. And I just love that you're giving back, uh, as well. So this is, this is all just really remarkable.

It's encouraging. And, um, I recommend for all those moms out there who are walking right moms and dads, you know, you're, you're, you have some time during the day or your, your evening, and you just need either a break from the kids or from work or whatever's happening. And you can find some companionship and friendship with people that you wouldn't have otherwise met. And you're vetting all these people, right?

So yeah, we're vetting all the people. Yes. Yeah. And so it's just a really, it's a really great way to make new friends, meet new friends and going for a walk.

I say this to parents all the time to take your kid for a walk with your child for a walk. And you will learn a lot more about your kiddo than just sitting down and asking them questions about their day, you know, so same is true with our adult relationships. So this is absolutely brilliant. And I'm, I'm excited to share this with all of my listeners here at No Problem Parenting.

Laura, you also have a blog that you do at ThreadMB. So parents, you can go to ThreadMB.com. Tell us a little bit about that.

Well, I've had that blog. I've been writing that blog for many years since I think it was 2015. And it began as a labor of love to connect with people, but also topics and even celebrities that I really felt strongly about, passionately about. We know how they've contributed to the world, you know, and what they bring to it.

And so I decided, well, you know, I'm going to watch this blog and I'm going to start writing articles. And it's really just been an incredible experience because I write about basically everything. And, of course, it has evolved. And I've interviewed a ton of wonderful people like Andre Bocelli and Toby Mac and the late Olivia Newton-John.

And, you know, so those are some of the vocalists I've spoken to. But, you know, also Seth Goldman, who launched Honesty. And, you know, it's everyone from vocalists to actors, actresses to entrepreneurs. And I have a huge following.

But, you know, I also have a very important following because, you know, people that you see in the news every day are among them. And so I really enjoy the stories that I've told. I, you know, and I choose, I handpick the people for the fact that I really like them and what they're doing. So, yeah, I, you know, I mean, I've spoken to George Winston, Jesse Tyler Ferguson.

I mean, let me go through the King singers, Monty Kinzer from Reader's Digest. I mean, just so many, Usain Bolt. so you know it's been really just incredible and you know I having gone through what I went through losing my husband to cancer at a very early age one of the things that came out of that is I became fearless at living and and I think that gives you a certain sense of freedom you know I didn't let it stop my life I it come it propelled me forward in the sense that there was nothing I could do I couldn't save him but what I did learn is that life can be over in a second and so why not fully live it and so and so I was on a mission and I've taught my kids that you know my kids are all you know doing that in their own way I mean I've got one who's a an orthopedic surgeon and doing his residency, one in medical school, one, you know, working for Mayo Clinic, one who's traveling the globe right now, building houses and donating their time to volunteer programs. And while I probably end up in the Peace Corps and I have a little guy,

so, but it really, it gave me, oh, Patrick Dempsey, that's his name. But it gave me my wings in a whole new way. And that's why ThreatenB was such a passion of mine because I got a chance to speak to so many people because I wasn't afraid of contacting them and actually having that conversation, moving through the scary to get to where I am today with the blog. And then I'll say, and that's true for the app.

That's how I got to this point because I don't live in fear. I use fear to compel me, you know, and I use fear to define, you know, what my next steps are, but I don't sign on to it stopping me. And I will never do that. Yeah, and I love that.

And that's, we're all about that here at No Problem Parenting. It's become the confident leader your kids crave you to be. And oftentimes, when we parent with worry and fear, we really put a wedge in the relationship. You know, our kids need us to, we don't have to know everything.

We don't have to be the experts of everything. We can have, you know, some caution and some fear around something, but it's when we really lean into that and push through that, that our kids see that and, and their confidence increases. So I love that you have so many other things and we don't have time for all of it, but I do want to mention really quick. You did a TEDx presentation that I absolutely love.

I've watched it several times throughout this year since meeting you. It's called what she got that I don't. So I really, I'm going to put a link in the show notes for that as well. Laura, you're, you just, it's like you've lived nine lives.

And then also your book that I happened to be careful what you wish for. I mean, I, I even just saying the title, like I get goosebumps. The book is amazing. And so I'm going to put a link in the show notes for that as well.

Laura, I know we're promoting your sneaks app right now today, but you are a wealth of information. I just admire you, your courage, your drive, your passion, and your mission to make sure that we aren't dividing people in relationships, but we're really uniting as one. And I really admire that. So thank you so much for being on the show today.

Any last parting words for our listeners? You know, if I could ask for one thing that they've learned from this interview, it's, you know, put your efforts to something that's going to elevate our nation, because it's on all of us. And whether it be creating an app or whether it be just having a kind, understanding conversation that you might not have entertained, giving you, you know, the current state that we're in.

just open yourself up to, you know, reuniting this nation because we need it because we all live here. And and I really think at this point, it's all it's definitely all our responsibility and more important than ever. So that's what I hope they take away, you know, whether or not they use the app. And I hope they do. The more important thing is the overriding message that you can make a difference.

but you have to put the effort in the right direction. I love that. I really appreciate that. I love that.

Thank you so much for being with me today. Thank you, Jackie. I really appreciate you having me on. Thank you for tuning in to the No Problem Parenting Podcast.

Join Jackie next time for more tips, tools, and resources that will help you become the confident leader your kids crave you to be. Who do you know that we could support on their parenting journey? Like this podcast, subscribe, share, or leave a review of the show. Your support of the No Problem Parenting podcast pays it forward and helps us help more families.

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