Golden Connections, an AI-powered health and wellness digital platform designed to address the needs of older adults and their caregivers, has won a $30,000 first prize in the 2024 Mayo Business Plan Competition.
Lauren Cunningham '24, Emma Root'25and Sangam Shivaprasad '24 has developed a digital platform that acts as a bridge between adult caregivers and older family members.
According to the researchers, an estimated 65 million elderly caregivers are working adults, just like their parents. Ms. Cunningham tells the story of Sandra (her grandmother, affectionately called Grammy), who lives far away from her family but needs help with daily tasks such as remembering her appointments. It was given to me. Much of that work falls on her mother, she says.
“We see parents helping their We wanted to make it easy for parents,” said Cunningham, a marketing major. Caregivers report poor sleep, chronic stress, and reduced productivity due to caregiving responsibilities.
Golden Connections is a user-friendly digital platform with an AI assistant named Grace that helps seniors with daily tasks and reminders through customized check-in calls and provides health and wellness insights based on audio biomarker analysis. We provide
“Last summer, I learned about audio biomarkers during my internship at Johnson & Johnson,” said Root, a chemistry major. “They are using these biomarkers in clinical trials for early detection of Alzheimer's disease, so we wanted to incorporate it into our platform so people can use it in their daily lives. ”
Speech and language biomarkers such as speech rate, pitch, volume, vibration, and other speech characteristics can indicate whether a person is experiencing cognitive changes.
Sivaprasad, a biology major, has been interested in medicine since childhood, but has recently become interested in business. “Thanks to the Mayo Business Plan Competition, I knew this was something I wanted to pursue in the future,” she said. “It opened a lot of doors and taught me how to make connections.”
This year, 25 teams participated in the challenge and spent much of the school year working on their projects. Three teams advanced to the finals on March 27 at Mayo Concert Hall, with each team given a 30-minute presentation and time to answer questions from a five-person alumni panel. .
A total of $60,000 in prize money was awarded. His plan for a trendy, affordable thrift store that would serve TCNJ students and the surrounding community won runner-up and $20,000 for team 2nd Chance. The third-place team, Girls Got Your Back, won $10,000 for their plan to design a location-based app that fosters mutual support among women in the community in times of need.
The Mayo Business Plan Competition was established in 2011 through the generous efforts of Professor Emeritus of Finance Herbert B. “Buddy” Mayo. Through his TCNJ Foundation, Mayo has established an endowment to support New Jersey's most powerful athletic competition.
2nd place ($20,000): 2nd Chance by Kaylee Faith Cortezano '25public health; Alex Fabiano '24Interdisciplinary Business. Dylan Romanski '24, finance. The team promoted a thrift store aimed at providing TCNJ students with economical and environmentally responsible shopping options, including high-quality new and used clothing, furniture, and school supplies.
3rd place ($10,000): Girls Got Your Back by Olivia Chiarella '25Communication Studies. Victoria DaSilva '25finance. Tatiana Soka '25marketing; and Madilyn Slifer '24, marketing. The team supports women who are faced with “minor emergencies” in their daily lives, such as studying in the library and needing a charger for their phone or laptop right away. We have a vision to build an empowering digital girlfriend community.
— Emily W. Dodd '03
