ALEXIS McDONALD, 18

Founder of HerHelp

marie claire: Tell us about how your experiences at school led you to launch the HerHelp app last year. Alexis McDonald: I grew up in a small town [Bunbury, Western Australia] and struggled with bullying and self-esteem issues during school. I felt like I didn’t belong and spent a lot of time sitting by myself. When I moved schools in Year 11, I realised I wasn’t the only one feeling isolated and lost. The truth is: no-one goes through high school unharmed. When I started working on HerHelp in my last year of school, I wanted to create a safe space for young girls to go to talk, connect and ask awkward questions.

mc: How did you actually go about developing your own app?

AM: I’m not very tech-savvy at all, so the first thing that I did was google

“How to make an app” and watch a bunch of YouTube tutorials. After a few months, I created a very basic app without coding. In the past year, we’ve grown to have 3500 users. When I started, I said if I could help one girl who was struggling, that’s all that mattered. Now I get so many messages from girls thanking me.

mc: What is the biggest issue facing young women in the world right now? AM: From experience, I think body image and self-confidence issues are huge. We all post the best photo of ourselves [on social media]. Girls see that, look in the mirror and think, “Wow I don’t look like that.” But the girl in the photo doesn’t look like that!

mc: What’s next for HerHelp?

AM: I’ve designed a new version of HerHelp and want to hire an app developer to bring it to life and give all these users what they deserve. I’d love to include more features like meditation, mindfulness, yoga tutorials and healthy recipes. This is just the beginning.