Meet Gates Millennium Scholar x Entrepreneur: Cecilia Corral, GMS 2008 Facebook Twitter Email Print Meet Cecilia Corral, Gates Millennium Scholar, Class of 2008 CareMessage Cecilia Corral is the Co-Founder and VP of Product at CareMessage. Driven by her experiences growing up in a low-income immigrant household, Cecilia takes a patient-centered approach to product development with a relentless focus on user research. Outside of her work at CareMessage, she is an advocate for Diversity and Inclusion in the tech industry through collecting and publishing data on Latina Tech Founders. Cecilia was on the 2019 Forbes 30 under 30 list for Healthcare and graduated with a B.S. in Product Design Engineering from Stanford University. GMS: Tell us about CareMessage?Cecilia: CareMessage is a patient engagement platform for undeserved populations. We work with over 6 million undeserved patients in over 40 states.Mission: Leverage technology to help safety-net organizations fulfill the essential needs of undeserved populations. Vision: A world where all people regardless of income or background achieve equitable health outcomes.GMS: What inspired you to create CareMessage?Cecilia: After graduating from undergrad I thought I wanted to make an impact in the world through education. I started a Master’s/PhD program in Mechanical Engineering. However, during my first year my dad who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer a few years before passed away and it made me reevaluate what I was doing with my life. I took the summer to help my co-founder do user research and product development. I fell in love with healthcare and ended up dropping out to join the team full time. Working on this opened up my eyes to a lot of the experiences I had growing up and allowed to give back to my community in a way that helps make healthcare more accessible.GMS: Please tell us (related to your business) how the Gates Millennium Scholarship Program directly or indirectly had a part in your path to being an entrepreneur:Cecilia: The Gates Family has been a part of my organization from the beginning. One of our first product managers and user researchers were gates scholars. Over time, my relationships with other Gates Scholars that have moved into healthcare have been key to help us keep jointly working on fighting for healthcare access for undeserved communities.GMS: What advice would you give to other Gates Millennium Scholars who have aspirations to become an entrepreneur?Cecilia: The best thing you can once you have an idea is get started! Try to test your ideas with minimum investment and iterate over time. There’s never going to be a perfect time or a perfect company to start, you just have to do it and learn along the way.To connect with CareMessage, visit their Facebook and LinkedIn Pages, and follow them on Instagram and Twitter. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Post navigation Previous Previous post: Meet Gates Millennium Scholar x Entrepreneur: James Li, GMS 2009Next Next post: Meet Gates Millennium Scholar x Entrepreneur: Leandra de Labastida, GMS 2005
Meet Gates Millennium Scholar x Entrepreneur: Cecilia Corral, GMS 2008 Facebook Twitter Email Print Meet Cecilia Corral, Gates Millennium Scholar, Class of 2008 CareMessage Cecilia Corral is the Co-Founder and VP of Product at CareMessage. Driven by her experiences growing up in a low-income immigrant household, Cecilia takes a patient-centered approach to product development with a relentless focus on user research. Outside of her work at CareMessage, she is an advocate for Diversity and Inclusion in the tech industry through collecting and publishing data on Latina Tech Founders. Cecilia was on the 2019 Forbes 30 under 30 list for Healthcare and graduated with a B.S. in Product Design Engineering from Stanford University. GMS: Tell us about CareMessage?Cecilia: CareMessage is a patient engagement platform for undeserved populations. We work with over 6 million undeserved patients in over 40 states.Mission: Leverage technology to help safety-net organizations fulfill the essential needs of undeserved populations. Vision: A world where all people regardless of income or background achieve equitable health outcomes.GMS: What inspired you to create CareMessage?Cecilia: After graduating from undergrad I thought I wanted to make an impact in the world through education. I started a Master’s/PhD program in Mechanical Engineering. However, during my first year my dad who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer a few years before passed away and it made me reevaluate what I was doing with my life. I took the summer to help my co-founder do user research and product development. I fell in love with healthcare and ended up dropping out to join the team full time. Working on this opened up my eyes to a lot of the experiences I had growing up and allowed to give back to my community in a way that helps make healthcare more accessible.GMS: Please tell us (related to your business) how the Gates Millennium Scholarship Program directly or indirectly had a part in your path to being an entrepreneur:Cecilia: The Gates Family has been a part of my organization from the beginning. One of our first product managers and user researchers were gates scholars. Over time, my relationships with other Gates Scholars that have moved into healthcare have been key to help us keep jointly working on fighting for healthcare access for undeserved communities.GMS: What advice would you give to other Gates Millennium Scholars who have aspirations to become an entrepreneur?Cecilia: The best thing you can once you have an idea is get started! Try to test your ideas with minimum investment and iterate over time. There’s never going to be a perfect time or a perfect company to start, you just have to do it and learn along the way.To connect with CareMessage, visit their Facebook and LinkedIn Pages, and follow them on Instagram and Twitter. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.