Rene Building Up to Bring Insurance and Protection to All Travelers

The human race is traveling at a rate that history has never seen before. Ever since we discovered that flight was possible, people have been moving to and fro faster and at lesser costs. But one thing that travelers don’t always have in mind in emergency preparedness.

Rene, is a company that aims to protect travelers everywhere from unwanted emergencies by providing tailored travel insurance complemented by telemedicine services, wellness programs, and healthcare access in any part of the world. The crown of their service is an artificial intelligence-powered technology that intuitively matches travelers with the right kind of insurance needed, providing adequate coverage. Rene also gives users access to an online medical facility directory, travel advisories, COVID-19 updates, and emergency services. 

Gustavo Lindenberg, CTO of Rene and creator of the algorithm, said, “The travel industry hasn’t seen any significant change in the past decade. I crafted this solution, putting the needs of the traveler first. We take into consideration over 10 different parameters to offer the right type of insurance plan for every trip.”

The Rene model puts a particular focus on business travel. However, with the coronavirus crisis blowing up to massive proportions, the company is expanding its offering to leisure travel, partnering up with luxury travel agencies. With COVID-19 in the mix, travel has become strenuous and risky. Apart from dealing with the risks of accidents, food poisoning, lost baggage, theft, and other previous risks, people now face chances of coronavirus infection, which could potentially drop significant medical expenses on a traveler’s lap. Rene CEO, Atilio Spaccarotella explains, “People are afraid to travel. We want to make sure that they have the right tools to navigate the new norm once they are ready to travel.” 

Currently, the tech startup from Los Angeles, California, is raising capital to scale its operations, expand its coverage, and create new marketing channels. To date, Rene has received funding and support from two large venture capital firms. Quake Capital, a venture funding firm specializing in seed-stage investment, and Nex Cubed, which mostly works on growth acceleration of tech startup companies, have both given support to the company. “We were impressed by what Rene achieved in such a short period, and how its team was able to adapt and thrive during the coronavirus pandemic.” shares Jason Fernandez. The latter currently works as managing partner of Quake Capital.

The team, led by Atilio Spaccarotella, hopes to use further funding to expand marketing efforts toward luxury travel agencies to secure more clientele. Nowadays, people who travel for leisure don’t always have travel insurance as a top of mind priority. Often, many of them pay the ultimate price after meeting unwanted emergencies during travels, which results in thousands of dollars lost in a mishap that could have been reimbursed by travel insurance. With access to more resources, the company hopes to build critical relationships and invest in channels that will help them tap into this new market and increase their client base.

Rene is changing the way people travel by removing risks and sharing key safety information. The company is encouraging travel agents and corporate travel managers to get in touch with them and explore partnership opportunities.

Magdalena’s Daughters Promotes Healing, Hope, and Empowerment Among Young Survivors of Sex Trafficking

Human trafficking, today’s modern form of slavery, continues to impact the lives of millions of people. This hundred billion dollar industry has victimized women, men, and children, and the horrors that come with sex trafficking, forced labor, forced marriage, and more, demand a corresponding comprehensive set of services designed for prevention, rehabilitation, and recovery. 

One of the most integral services in trafficking survivor protection and assistance is the provision of specialized homes. However, in San Bernardino, California, for example, there are no specialized residential placements for female foster youth who are victims or are at-risk of sex trafficking. The result of its 2018 Children’s Network Congregate Care Needs Assessment showed that the county is in dire need of bed availability, along with other specialized services for this population. 

This gap lies at the core of the establishment of Magdalena’s Daughters, a non-profit organization founded in 2018 that aims to provide a solution to the lack of available placements for the youth to live in. Its focus on foster youth who have been removed and placed from one home to another is in recognition of their vulnerability to sexual exploitation and their exposure to other circumstances that may reinforce the trauma that they have had. 

Although Magdalena’s Daughters currently does not have any homes yet, they are working to offer housing opportunities and increasing bed availability for the San Bernardino area in the next couple of years. 

More notably, it seeks to address the different driving forces behind the commercial sexual exploitation of young individuals. Not only will Magdalena’s Daughters offer intensive therapeutic services to facilitate healing and trauma recovery, but it will also promote overall quality of living by encouraging healthy relationships and setting in place a family-oriented environment for its target clientele.

This family set up is particularly essential for the youth as it hopes to deliver a healthy model of how to develop non-toxic connections with others, a skill that will be instrumental as they become adults. Aside from this, a sense of safety will also be nurtured through education centered on safety skills intended to prevent future victimization. In addition, Magdalena’s Daughters also plans to prioritize individual needs during treatment, encourage creativity, teach life skills, and expose foster youth to various careers.

Ashley Hill stands at the helm of this cause-oriented institution. She is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who has worked with foster youth for five years and a state-certified human trafficking advocate, who has provided case management and therapeutic services for foster youth in group homes and foster homes. 

As a former case manager to victims of sex trafficking, she has witnessed firsthand the factors in play that lead the youth to fall into the vicious cycle of sexual exploitation. And not only has Ashley noted for herself the lack of residential setting, but she has also observed a general need for an improvement in the services given to those at-risk. 

Right now, Magdalena’s Daughters is raising funding for a pilot study exploring foster youth in the face of commercial sexual exploitation, and at the same time, is raising more awareness about trafficking in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

With its mission to provide intensive therapeutic residential services, life skills, and education to transform the lives of sexually exploited and at-risk female foster youth, Magdalena’s Daughters is addressing an issue that has not received the amount of attention it deserves globally. And through its programs and services geared toward prevention, rehabilitation, and recovery, it hopes to be a place of healing and hope for survivors.

Learn more about Magdalena’s Daughters by visiting its website and Facebook page.