By the end of her tenure as a digital strategist for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, Amber Discko felt drained. The 27-year-old explains that her struggles with anxiety and depression had deepened, and says she found herself trapped in an endless cycle of news and never-ending work that prevented her from remembering to do the bare minimum for herself, like drinking enough water or brushing her teeth at night. It's a position, given this political news cycle, we can all understand. So, to get herself back on track, Amber did what any technology-inclined Millennial would do: She made an app.

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Aloe began as an online tool Amber created to track her self-care progress after the election. Users can "check in" on their self-care habits through a short online quiz, while sending other users encouragement in the form of emoji flowers sent to Aloe's virtual community garden. Discko has expanded the concept into an app that provides gentle reminders for certain self-care necessities (like drinking water regularly, taking medication, and getting to bed on time) while also allowing users to log their emotions and accomplishments each day. To fund the app’s creation, Amber, whose first brainchild was Femsplain (an online community that houses women's personal essays and stories) is working to raise $40,000 on Kickstarter to fund the app's development.

Here, Discko talks to Cosmopolitan.com about creating a safe space for healing, the deeper meaning behind Aloe’s name, and the power of gentle reminders.

Where did the idea of Aloe as both an app and an online community come from?

I realized that I wasn’t taking care of myself how I should be [while working in the Clinton campaign] but that’s a problem that’s existed all my life. Growing up, I was told that doing things for myself was selfish or lazy. Then I moved to New York; I love it here but there’s this mentality that everyone has to constantly be doing something really exciting in order to even be anything. That toxic mentality is causing us to forget to focus on things we actually need. I created Aloe just by listing all of the things that I needed to be working on. I came up with the community garden idea because I grew up gardening and found peace from them. I've always loved the idea of community gardens — everybody coming together and taking care of it to grow crops for themselves — so it fit the theme of [self-care].

It was a tool that I would use not only for my physical health, but my emotional and mental health. The response has been overwhelmingly positive from people who would use it. There has been some backlash [to the project] because there have been a few people who really don't understand why people need to be reminded to take care of themselves. But in order to stop the stigma [surrounding self-care], you have to talk about it.

No app is by any means a replacement for mental health services, but it’s definitely a tool that can be used alongside going to therapy or taking anything that’s prescribed to you.

What’s the story behind the name for Aloe?

I grew up in Wisconsin so I would spend a lot of time on the lighthouse piers in Michigan. I’m very, very pale so I would get burned constantly. My mom would always tell me that I would have to put aloe on everything. It’s so soothing, it has many healing properties, and when you [pluck] an aloe leaf and replant it, it keeps growing. That’s the inspiration I want for self-care. Wellness is such a journey, not a destination. We’re all growing, however fast or slow, and that’s what gives the name its special meaning.

How does the app combat the stigma you grew up with surrounding self-care?

I always thought [self-care] was face masks or bath bombs, but it's much more than that. I think those are parts of self-care, and they shouldn’t be dismissed, but I noticed a lot of my friends saying they’re always forgetting to drink water or forgetting to eat because they’re so stressed out at work. We used to have an area of the Aloe check-in tool where you could say why [self-care] tasks weren’t getting done, and it was overwhelmingly because “I forgot.” It’s just so common. And I think we really do punish ourselves for forgetting, but everyone has so much going on, and the state of the world is overwhelming. We just can’t wait until things are awful to take care of ourselves.

The idea is to get a notification to our phones — which are always on — to help us take moment to think about what we’re not doing for ourselves that we should be. It’s just something to make you present in the moment.

You emphasize on Kickstarter that you want these reminders to be gentle. How do you ensure they don’t seem pushy or shaming?

Language is a huge, huge part of the app and the words we use are selected very carefully. But really, what’s gentle for me might not be for you, so as time goes on, I want people to be able to customize what the [check-in reminder] actually is. The point is not to make people feel guilty — because when we feel guilty, we shut down. You can adjust how many reminders you’re getting throughout the day and if you feel overwhelmed by them, you can reduce them. If you’re someone who doesn’t need reminders, you can disable them all together. Maybe you just want a reflection space. We have a journal that will ask you three questions to reflect on your day and you can use that to gauge where you stand emotionally.

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Amber Discko

The soft design and aesthetic is definitely on purpose. The point is you’re supposed to feel relaxed and comforted throughout your experience using Aloe.

Will the Aloe app maintain the pre-app community element?

We want there to be a community element of support and encouragement within the app. It’ll be something that you can opt into because not everyone really needs or uses that support. You’ll create your account essentially on this “support social network,” and you can send your friends [on the app] encouragement to let them know that you’re thinking about them.

Beyond developing your own self-care routine, what motivates you to create online spaces like Aloe?

I’ve always wanted to create spaces for people who might not have them. I’m a queer woman who came out a few years ago and I’ve only just started navigating those communities. I just love seeing people connect with each other and finding things on the internet that they can point to and be like, “Yeah, this is me.” I’ve learned to listen to what people need, create that thing, and then let them make it into what they want. I think the more you can give people free rein and [empower them], the better [the end product] will be.

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Leanna Commins
I'm Lee, a news writer and a millennial who doesn't like avocado toast — but don't congratulate me yet, because I still spend half of my paycheck on regular toast. @ me. Seriously. I like new friends.