Co-Founding a Fitness Movement and Philanthropic Initiative
Shimmy: Inspiring movement and philanthropic giving through fun-sized fitness challenges.
Shimmy was not your typical fitness app – it was an advent calendar of "fun-size" workout videos designed to inject joy and movement into the holiday season and beyond. Rooted in behavioral science, Shimmy's challenges featured seven-minute "fun-size" workouts, which lowered the friction of starting a new exercise routine and kept users engaged with variety. From Bollywood cardio to 80's aerobics, breathwork, and yoga, Shimmy offered a diverse array of workouts. For every workout completed, Shimmy donated $1 to philanthropic causes, encouraging daily workout habit formation and movement.
My role
I co-founded Shimmy along with my innovative partner Kaitlyn Krieger. My role was to help define the idea, set design principles, and create a beautiful, engaging user experience. From designing the mobile app to casting talent, designing the stage and wardrobe, and filming 31 workout videos, I played a hands-on role in every aspect of the product design and development process.
Our design goal was not only to create a functional fitness app but to craft a truly immersive and beautifully designed experience. Every detail, from the stage design to the wardrobe selection, was thoughtfully considered to ensure a fun, engaging, and inclusive experience. The seamless integration of these elements, combined with the meticulously crafted app interface, resulted in an exceptionally designed experience that resonated with our Shimmy users.
In just 90 days, we launched Shimmy and successfully inspired thousands of users to move & give back to causes they cared about.
Impact
Shimmy has become a catalyst for positive change. During the months of December 2022 and January 2023, Shimmy proudly donated $300,000 to organizations such as the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Essie Justice Group, Razom for Ukraine, and more, supporting their invaluable work. Additionally, the app's success in December, with thousands of users collectively completing over 100,000 minutes of workouts, underscores its positive impact on fostering a community committed to movement and philanthropy. Our social sharing component encouraged users to share the move of the day, leading to countless fun videos like these, contributing to Shimmy's mission of spreading joy, movement, and philanthropy.
On November 30, 2023, Shimmy said a joyful goodbye. Shimmy was a nonprofit built by passionate volunteers and mission-aligned consultants. Despite engaging thousands and raising significant charity funds in December and January, it wasn’t quite enough for us to become a sustainable initiative funded by multiple philanthropic partners. Since last year, our team’s lives have taken new directions – professionally, personally, and philanthropically – making it tricky to re-release Shimmy. We thank everyone who joined us and hope everyone continues celebrating the joy of movement. 💃🧘🏽♀️🕺 @lets_shimmy
BTS 🪩🕺🧘🏽♀️
