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AgeTech Collaborative™ startup participant ianacare is on a mission to encourage, empower and equip family caregivers with tools and communities, so no one has to do it alone. Jessica Nam Kim, CEO and co-founder of ianacare, knows from personal experience how difficult caregiving can be. In this post, she offers a deeply personal reflection on caregiving in her own family. 

This post is adapted from a post first featured on LinkedIn. 

Four days after raising our Series A funding for ianacare, my dad was rushed to the ER for emergency surgery. 
 
This led to 4+ months of intense caregiving — IV antibiotics, external drainage bags, and other extensive personal care needs. 
 
The irony of my latest caregiving role was not lost on me. 
 
I am the co-founder and CEO of a solution that is building the full infrastructure of support for family caregivers. We are the front door to navigating all the care in the home through our intelligent tech platform and human navigators. It was born out of my experience caring for my mom who battled pancreatic cancer for years until she passed away in my home. 
 
Yet, here I was again — thrust into caregiving — completely blindsided. 
 
This time around I did not have to choose between my career and caregiving. We raised over $16.1M, tripled our team, locked in Fortune 500 clients, and built out the full solution in less than one year. 
 
But still, despite these wins, came the emotional burden. I still felt the shame, fear, and stigma of openly sharing about my current caregiving situation because of society’s pressure to stay silent. No one fully knew the extent of what happened minutes before a Zoom call or the prep it took to leave the house for a work meeting. 
 
Today, I'm vowing to never hide this part of my life again. 
 
No more fear of being doubted. No more shame of doing the dirty work. No more deflecting of how hard the juggle can be. 
 
I make it work and I've made it work this whole time. 
 
What caregivers like myself don't need is the denial that caregiving exists. What caregivers do need is the permission and space to talk about it, to be vulnerable, and the practical support at work. 
 
Every single one of us is either a current or soon-to-be caregiver. It's time to recognize the reality to see what's hidden. Only then will we ignite visible changes and truly build an inclusive, compassionate culture. I wanted to share my own personal story to normalize what so many of us are going through. 
 
I am a businesswoman, mother, a wife, a friend, a daughter, and a sister. 
 
And I am a caregiver. 

You can learn more about ianacare and its offerings at their website.