Meet Alex Rothera | Co-Founder & CEO

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alex Rothera and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alex, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Alex Rothera:
I couldn’t not start this business. 14 years ago I lost a close friend and mentor, as a freshman in college, I was away from home. I had never experience anything like it before, I was feeling lost and isolated and honestly “mental health” wasn’t a known topic of conversation like it is today. So in reality I didn’t have mental health options I needed.

Cut to 2020, when unfortunately much of the world faced their first mental health need or crisis head-on. This was when the Covid pandemic amplified (the already existing) mental health crisis. At this time we now know that 55%+ of millennials¹ had increases in anxiety, depression, and burnout. Therapists couldn’t keep up with the new demand seeing an 891% increase in distress calls². And overall we heard millennials calling for new mental health options moving forward³.

All of this was a sign that it was time for me to create a new mental health option: at home art-therapy & creative hobbies. Palette Well-being is an app bringing expressive therapies, such as Art Therapy, to the digital age. We offer creative exercises to help individuals feel better and reduce stress, all informed by validated therapies, practices, and professionals.

1. CDC, reports on anxiety or depression symptoms during COVID-19
2. According to a major national suicide hotline (SAMHSA).
3. 73% of millennials said they’re looking for new options – CDC, reports on anxiety or depression symptoms during COVID-19

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Jessica Santana | Co-Founder

– When Alex told me he wanted to start an art therapy company, I was super excited. Well, at first I was like, “what is art therapy??”. Then we talked about how helpful and effective it can be for people to rest and relax and/or help people get to the deeper corners of their minds, I said, “How can I help?!”.

– At this point in time, I was a few months free from a super stressful healthcare startup in SF, working through the tail-end of my burnout. I had tried it all: meditation, yoga, walks, manifestation, etc. and I realized that I was at my most relaxed when I was creating and letting my mind go elsewhere into the piece I was making. But I still had a hard time starting a new piece (that blank-page fear) or “allowing” myself to sit down and create just for me – especially since it wasn’t considered “productive”. But the more we researched art therapy and spoke to other people who were also dealing with burnout, we found that time and time again, they turned to creating as a way to relax – whether that be paint-by-numbers, doodling, sketching, or for me – woodworking. But through our user research interviews we also found a big problem for most people wanting to create – where do you start??

– From there Palette Well-Being was born! We wanted to provide a starting point, inspiration, thought-provoking and meaningful prompts for people wanting to create. We wanted to make it as easy and as fun or as meaningful as possible, with the lowest starting lift. So through Palette, we provide fun prompts, reflection prompts, longer-form courses and soon-to-come video-guided lessons to help anyone (and we mean anyone – artsy or not) use creativity to find that relaxing, higher state of being *flow*.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Things to do:

– Horseride through Saguaro National Park
– Figure drawing at Tucson Draws!
– Desert Musuem
– Biosphere 2

Eats:
– Sonoran dog anywhere
– Bubbes Bagels
– Calle Tepa Burritos
– La Frida

Drinks:
– Hop Shop
– Scented Leaf

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My shoutout will forever go to my parents. My dad recently retired as a career art teacher and all around creative person still thriving with his artistic practice. And my mom, who had both the intelligence and empathy I strive for in life. She had super powers in emotionally reading you from a distance and knew exactly the words I or even strangers needed to hear at the perfect time. She could help a cashier to open up and turn their day around for the better, in the time it took to ring up a few grocery items. Both my parents showed me how important it is to connect with others and have empathy for everyone.

Website: https://palette-wellbeing.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/palette_wellbeing/