Happy Not Perfect
1134. Poppy Jamie
Poppy Jamie, from London, is the founder of ‘Happy Not Perfect’, an app and online community dedicated to helping people improve their wellbeing.
In her career as a television presenter, Poppy received hundreds of messages from viewers opening up about their stress and anxiety. So in 2015 she founded ‘Happy Not Perfect’, an online forum to empower and help people manage their wellbeing. In collaboration with a team made up by scientists, coaches, CBT therapists, breathing specialists and designers, the app was designed to give users the tools to improving their wellbeing through quick and easy steps, such as an interactive workout including 400 meditation and breathing exercises. Since January Poppy has teamed up with ‘Edmodo’, a global education network, to support the mental health of over 100 million teachers, students and parents in 194 countries.
Poppy received her award at the Downing Street reception to mark International Women’s Day, where she met the Prime Minister.
In a personal letter to Poppy, Prime Minister Theresa May said:
“Through ‘Happy Not Perfect’ you have created an innovative community to help people understand and manage their wellbeing. You should feel very proud of opening up conversations about this important issue and I wish you the best in your continued work.”
Poppy said:
“I’m so honoured to receive this award! Setting up any sort of business is challenging and requires a lot of work and sacrifice, but knowing the ‘Happy Not Perfect’ app is helping so many people feel happier, less stressed, even sleeping better, makes all the long hours worth it. Our emotional health has been a topic unaddressed for so long and finally we are starting to talk about how our mind is like any other muscle in the body, something that needs daily care and attention. Happiness is not a gift given to us, but a skill we all have to work on daily, so to create tools like the ‘Happy Not Perfect’ app to help us all do this has been an amazing journey and I hope we can continue to keep helping. This award and the recognition really means so much to me and the entire ‘Happy Not Perfect’ team who have built this from our tech development team, designers and mental health experts. A huge thank you from all of us.”