Meet Our Co-Founders
Joy Roberts
Co-founder
Julie Widman
Co-founder
When kids learn friendship, they learn it for life.
Hi! We are Joy Roberts and Julie Widman, co-founders of Friendzy. In the process of raising our own children we saw a crisis unfolding. In 2012, 50% of us began packing around smartphones which has created the most technologically connected and most socially disconnected generation that has ever existed.
As parents we have watched our kids lose their ability to navigate face-to-face friendships. Without strong social connections, loneliness has become an epidemic followed by rising levels of anxiety, depression, self-harm and harm of others.
We got curious on how we could equip a generation of kids to be really good friends. As we began to explore “how,” we realized this social deficiency is well researched with a plethora of data pointing to the necessity of our education system incorporating social and emotional character development into classrooms.
From this place of great need Friendzy, pre-k through high school social and emotional character development program, was birthed. It has been developed out of a desire to proactively make a difference in equipping a generation of kids with relationship skills that will benefit them for a lifetime and at the same time build strong communities.
Join us for a live demo where we look forward to sharing more about our comprehensive and robust program, and answering any questions you may have. We’re so glad you’re here!
VISION
We want to teach a generation of kids how to be really good friends. We are the most technologically connected and most socially disconnected generation that has ever existed, so we teach and empower kids to have healthy relationships and build strong communities.
MISSION
Friendzy’s mission is to develop a program that teaches social and emotional learning skills to teachers and students. We exist to support and serve schools and organizations that are investing in equipping students with the social and emotional skills needed to have strong social connections for success in school and life.
