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Osvaldo Montelongo
Co-founder & CEO
Osvaldo Montelongo grew up in a tight-knit Mexican family. When his father, Abraham, got Alzheimer’s disease, Osvaldo became his caregiver. Eventually, Abraham moved to a skilled nursing facility. “Within the first couple months, his mental and social health declined,” Osvaldo recalls. “The activities staff tried their best, but no one spoke Spanish.” Osvaldo noticed that when he played mariachi music for his father, his dementia eased a bit. It created a connection. “I had an aha! moment,” Osvaldo says. “How could we use technology to bring culturally appropriate and engaging activities to Black and Brown older adults in nursing homes?” With a background in marketing to Latinx audiences, Osvaldo teamed up in 2016 with CMO Tornu Ngwayah and CTO Bob Lee III. They founded ConnectCareHero, a Senior Living Engagement Software company powered by AI.
The trio launched their platform in 2019, providing a diverse range of curated music, arts, and comedy content to a few Chicago-area facilities. Google Workspace provides a secure way to share content with customers, who access it via Chromebooks. They built their own content marketplace to source and stream content, such as Red Hat Society events, with Google Workspace providing a secure way to share content with customers. A 2022 Google for Startups Latino Founders Fund award provided support at a crucial time, Osvaldo says: “We were gaining more customers but trying to figure out how to grow our product. Being backed by Google increased our options for working with more partners.” Now, with eight employees, ConnectCareHero has expanded into new markets, such as Florida, and averages 30-percent MoM growth. “Our customers are recommending us to other facilities,” says Osvaldo, who plans to add more states soon. “Our platform helps them enhance their team's abilities and keep older adults engaged.” Though Abraham passed in 2018, his spirit lives on through his son, who says, “I know I’m doing the right work–creating more smiles.”