When Kelly Twichel was 12 years old, 一天清晨,她被医护人员上楼的声音惊醒. Her mother had suffered a massive stroke. It eventually affected all aspects of her mother’s life, including her mobility: from then on, she relied on a wheelchair.
Twichel被迫快速成长,她和治疗师一起帮助她的母亲康复.
Because of this early experience, 特切尔意识到残疾人及其家人在日常工作和娱乐活动中所面临的挑战,尤其是在户外.
Twichel说:“独立和无障碍对一个人的生计至关重要.
Interest in the outdoors has soared in recent years. In fact, 根据户外行业协会2021年3月委托的一份报告, 2020年,53%的6岁以上美国人参加了户外娱乐活动,这是有记录以来的最高比例. 随着人们对大自然的访问越来越多,人们对户外活动的需求也越来越大.
While the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) 规定公共海滩必须开放,但没有什么具体的指令. And, 即使有标准的无障碍设施,如残疾人停车场和人行道坡道, 对于那些使用轮椅等移动设备的人来说,要登上真正的沙滩是非常困难的. 在加州,海滩是很多人生活的中心, 1 in 4 people report having a disability, and of those people, 10 percent report their disability being mobility related, according to the CDC.
“What they have to do is, a couple of people would be carrying grown adults like a child, 或者,如果有沙滩轮椅的话,他们就得坐上. Most times there aren’t,” says Twichel. “他们甚至不能在这些沙滩椅上推自己——通常需要两个人推.”
Inspired by her love of helping people, Twichel founded Access Trax, 这家公司通过制造便携式设备,让身体残疾的人能够走到户外, foldable pathways for accessibility over outdoor terrain.
Building a Pathway to the Ocean
In 2016, Twichel和她的联合创始人在西部冲浪协会的一次活动中做志愿者,并带来了两个手工制作的垫子原型来测试. These mats had been created as part of a graduate school project, 但在看到他们是如何让坐轮椅的冲浪者独立地进入水中之后, Twichel knew she had to make this business work.
After graduating, she turned to JPMorgan Chase for support. “My co-founder had been banking with Chase personally, so he said, ‘Let's go with the bank that we already know and trust,’” says Twichel.
高级商业顾问彼得·杰克逊(Peter Jackson)与她在当地的一个商业加速器活动上相识后,成为了她的导师. 作为澳博官方网站app企业家业务增长计划的一部分, 特切尔能够利用宝贵的教练机会. 在与大通银行的合作中,她学会了如何打入新市场,以及如何让自己的企业变得可借贷.
“凯利开始寻找在公共和私营部门发展和发展业务的方法,但对于如何获得贷款以及如何利用她的‘为什么’赢得业务并没有很强的工作知识。,” says Jackson. “我为她制定了一个计划,通过关注两个方面的指导来支持她的业务:获得资金和业务发展. She took everything she learned and applied with determination,”
Access Trax现在是世界残疾人冲浪锦标赛的年度赞助商.