After years of preparation and development, two UNC alumna’s teenage education app now has over 15,000 downloads.
Liz Chen, who now serves as an assistant professor in the Department of Health Behavior and design-thinking lead for Innovate Carolina, said she and doctoral student Cristina Leos founded the app while graduate students at Gillings School of Global Public Health.
The app, “Real Talk: Stories by Teens,” is meant to give teenagers a platform to share real stories about sensitive subjects — such as relationships, puberty and bullying — with the goal of creating an inclusive learning environment.
“Real Talk is a place where teenagers can be open and honest with no judgement,” Leos said. "Teens are finding a sense of community in being able to read about the experiences of others, know that they are not alone and also contributing their own stories as a way to help other people understand that they are not alone either.”
Laos said that about 70 percent of teens who have used the app reported they have learned something new, and about 75 percent reported that the stories they read are helpful.
“Technology has made us more aware of social issues as it makes the information so much easier to obtain and talk about,” Diana Nava, a first-year majoring in political science, said. “It is legitimately at our fingertips.”
Chen said that as a part of the app's future development, they plan to grow the scope of the app, including its accessibility for Android users and non-English speakers.
“We are going to keep responding to the content needs of our users as they grow with us,” Chen said. “Users are indicating and asking for ways to build skills. We potentially want to build features into the app that will build communication skills in particular.”
Chen and Leos initially met as doctoral fellows at Gillings, where they shared the same interests in behavioral health topics and outcomes. Chen graduated in May and Leos is set to finish this winter.
