Randy Garrett still remembers the exact minute his life changed.
It was late-night Atlanta, last call, the kind of moment that usually ends with a plastic cup and a short story you tell your friends once. Instead, it turned into a marriage that has lasted 33 years.
“I walked into Fat Tuesday, the slushy bar. I walked in at 01:56, last call, and we met,” Garrett said of meeting his wife. “And we started having a conversation that we’re still having today.”
That line, that conversation, keeps coming up with Garrett. Talk early, talk often, talk before things get worse.
It’s also the through-line behind WeChangedIt, the startup he now leads as co-founder and CEO. The company, which operates a set of apps built around peer support and mental wellness, is aiming at a problem Garrett describes as both personal and widespread: people going through real pain, often in silence, while the world keeps moving.
The turning point for Garrett happened when his mother-in-law’s dementia progressed. “I watched it happen,” he said. “And we had no community. That’s the loneliest thing in the world.”
That experience, along with a hard year that followed, shaped how he heard the next call that came in.
A friend and future co-founder, Joel Day, reached out. Day’s son had been diagnosed with autism, his marriage was falling apart, and he needed help. Garrett listened, and then met the broader founding group, including Candace Chisholm, a veteran in mental health who started the earlier version of the project after watching her own family go through a crisis.
“She started HeChangedIt, because her granddaughter had cancer,” Garrett said. “Everybody wanted to help her. While her husband, Mike, was struggling. Nobody paid him any attention.”
Garrett’s pitch to the team was simple: if the goal was safe space, then it had to include everyone.
The company now positions itself as a family of platforms, WeChangedIt, HeChangedIt, SheChangedIt, and TheyChangedIt, designed to support people through peer conversation, tools, and paths to professional help.
Garrett’s critique of traditional social platforms is blunt: their systems can keep you stuck in the same emotional loop.
“If you’re going through a breakup, you’re gonna get breakup messages for the next two weeks,” he said. “What we wanted to create was an off ramp from social media,” Garrett said. “We want you to be able to literally take a break. You don’t have to be here every day. Just be here when you need it.”
Now, WeChangedIt is building what Garrett calls a connected “portal,” designed to move a person from peer conversation to real support fast, including links to partner resources.
The company has already inked deals with various partners including Action Black, a global gym brand. Garrett also described inbound interest from a Houston nonprofit with a large community, and a model that lets the company grow revenue while also committing to give back.
Miami plays a role in this story, too.
“Miami saved me,” Garrett said, describing pandemic-era New York, locked doors, and social rules that made normal life feel impossible. A friend encouraged him to head south. “And I literally stayed in the Marriott Biscayne Bay for three months.” Garrett also co-founded Miami startup OppZo, which provides working capital for government contractors.
Now, he wants WeChangedIt to be rooted in Miami’s startup scene. He also wants it to be honest about the founder experience that people post about less often.
“If you don’t have a cofounder, it is a lonely game,” he said. “And how many fantastic ideas and dreams never get built. Because they don’t have the support.”
That’s the tension sitting under everything Garrett described: the modern world has more ways to connect than ever, and yet more people feel alone. The solution he’s building is meant to be a door you can open when you’re not okay, and a set of people and tools that help you get steady enough to step back into real life.
“We want to open that digital door so you could be in a safe space, so you can share what’s going on with you,” Garrett said. “And really build back your confidence to hopefully go back into not a virtual community, but your community.”
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I am a Miami-based technology researcher and writer with a passion for sharing stories about the South Florida tech ecosystem. I particularly enjoy learning about GovTech startups, cutting-edge applications of artificial intelligence, and innovators that leverage technology to transform society for the better. Always open for pitches via Twitter @rileywk or www.RileyKaminer.com.
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