At 14, Kathleen Repoli knew she wanted to help people heal. She volunteered in hospitals and entered nursing school, but after two years and an impactful experience with a woman dying of breast cancer, Repoli stayed in the health care industry, as an accountant.
“I really wanted to understand the ecosystem around how we deliver health care,” she said.
After a career on the business side of health care, Repoli wanted to get back to her passion and, in August, began SimplaFYI, which offers acupuncture, massage therapy and meditation, among other services, for well-being and chronic-disease management.
Thanks to the Social Enterprise Greenhouse Accelerator program, which helps establish “do well, do good” ventures, finding a market and building interest within the community and local health care industry for the North Kingstown business was the easy part, she said.
The biggest impact the accelerator program has had for her was “meeting new contacts … willing to carve out time … provide feedback and introduce me to others who have an interest in SimplaFYI,” she said. •
