Meet Teressa Gehrke | Founder & CEO of PopCykol

We had the good fortune of connecting with Teressa Gehrke and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Teressa, what role has risk played in your life or career?
I think about risk in terms of how likely will the outcome of the risk be to my success as a person, company, or level of contentment and joy. I’m not afraid of risk. I’m actually a very thoughtful and logical person. So, I weigh the pros and cons of the risk and the actions I have to take.
The risks I took in my life have been significant. During college, I took an arts and humanities course that included a trip to Europe. I could have been scared, but the risk of contentment and joy, and of learning, outweighed the risk of not going. I have so many fond memories of being with friends and turning 21 in Germany.
Another risk was travelling and living abroad in Haiti during graduate school and doing my research in Genetic Anthropology. I was so nervous to be there on my own and experience life in an impoverished country, but again, the benefits of living, learning and growing spiritually, emotionally, and academically exceeded the risk of not going. I loved my time there. I still meet up with friends when they visit Colorado. My life was so transformed from that experience. It was very much worth the risk.
In 2021, I took another risk, this time on me and my idea for PopCykol. PopCykol (pronounced ‘popsicle’) is my company that brings cyber security awareness and education to kids. My little idea is beginning to flourish now. I’m excited to be able to share PopCykol and our new online school “PopCykool” with the world and help kids and families become more secure online.
Everyday we use technology, we take a risk. We risk our personal data by sharing what we post online, where we go, who we are with, and what we purchase. People need to understand that everything we post and share can be used against us by a bad hacker, so we should be more careful and consider what is necessary to share.
Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
PopCykol (pronounced ‘popsicle’) stands for Protecting Our Precious Curious Kids Online, a cyber security awareness and education company for kids. Our mission is to transform people into informed, secure ambassadors of a digital world resulting in positive interactions online. What does that mean? Every time you interact with others online, it should be a positive experience for you and other users. You should share that positive energy with others by sharing how to be safe and secure online. It’s like a domino effect.
PopCykol is unique in that it strives to bring all the senses to the learning of cyber security. We strive to be inclusive. You will hear and see the lesson, but you can also sing it. You can engage through interactive challenges and quizzes and the lesson is gamified. Gamifying the curriculum and our teachings positively reinforces the lesson, therein bringing the consistency needed to learn about cyber security or whatever topic is being taught, whether it’s about phishing, password strength, or cyberbullying.
One of the aspects of PopCykol I’m proud of is being able to serve underprivileged communities, which includes the impoverished and minorities. We have a great non-profit that we’re collaborating with and bringing cyber security awareness to an often overlooked population. We’re doing good work.
Like with any new venture or risk, there are always challenges. I think the biggest challenge in being a startup is gaining financial support. I’m one person trying to make a difference. I have a great team too, but I’m the one who has to step up and bring PopCykol to the forefront of people’s attention. I love that people love and support my idea. The tangible support of fundraising actually serves directly to creating the content we need to help kids stay safe online.
Additionally, marketing is a struggle because, again, I’m one person trying to make a difference. I’m really trying to break through the noise of social media and people’s attention spans. I try to send as many personalized messages to my followers and subscribers, but it is hard and it’s very time consuming to do that. I know I need help, even though I want to build those relationships with actual people. There will be a point in time when that’s no longer feasible and I know it’s coming soon, so I need to brainstorm how to do that the best I can.
Along the way, I’ve learned that my kid is really, really smart. He challenges me to think of new ways to bring cyber security into our home and way of life. Parenting is hard. It’s even harder when you’re trying to keep kids safe from predators, cyber bullies, and threat actors. My parents didn’t have to worry about that when I was growing up. Now, it’s in the forefront of my mind.
One thing I’d like people to know about PopCykol is that we are here for you. In fact, you don’t even have to be a kid to get something helpful and useful from PopCykol or our online curriculum, “PopCykool”. Adults can easily consume our information because it’s short, simple, and accurate. We stay focused on the 5W’s. Who? What? When? Where? Why? And, we include, How? Just the other day, I was speaking to a neighbor about our next Twitter Space event about “Netiquette”, which is online etiquette (essentially how you act and behave online) and the term was something he was unfamiliar with so he learned something new! We’re here for you!
The other great thing is how well-branded we are. If you go to our site or social media, age-appropriate content is color-coded, so if you want to learn something really easy, look for the lime-colored posts. Those are for our littles, age 4-9. I couldn’t do it without the help of my great designer/animator. I brought her over to PopCykol after she worked on my award-winning kid’s music video.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’m hoping that a friend of mine, who I knew from Haiti, comes to visit me for my birthday. He’s a phenomenal dancer. I’d take him to the hot spots here in Denver for salsa or some blues dancing. He’s also vegan, so I’d go explore some vegan/vegetarian restaurants with him. Now that Meow Wolf is here, we would drop by for an exciting experience and I’d definitely take him hiking at Red Rocks. Maybe we could dance on stage together. That would be a blast.
Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I need to give a big shoutout to my team, but especially my graphic illustrator, designer, and animator, Kemi. I could not do all that I want to do with PopCykol without a great collaborator. She helps me brainstorm and brand with consistency. She brings a fun and enthusiastic energy, that when we’re on a roll our creativity literally bursts out of the seams. Sometimes a 1-hour team call can last 3 because we’re so in sync and the flow of creativity is really a flood. It’s incredible.
Website: https://www.popcykol.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/popcykol/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/popcykol
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/popcykol
Youtube: https://bit.ly/PopCykol
Other: https://www.popcykool.com/