In October of 2022, our CEO Jessica Daylover was deep in the muck of parenting two complex needs children inside the nuclear family, with very little village support. Her online platform, Remodeled Love, had become a place where she spoke honestly about her struggles with motherhood, her critiques of the nuclear family, and her deep desire for community. One day, during a particularly difficult week, she posted about this idea for an app she had that would help folks find chosen family and that proverbial village. She called it "Nuclear Fusion" as a creative allusion to the way the app would bond nuclear families together. She had no idea at the time how profound of a name it actually was. What would make this app different, she said, was that it wouldn't just help folks find people to build villages with, it would also help them build and sustain those relationships by teaching emotional intelligence, communication, and relationship-building skills, featuring diverse coaches and educators from across the world. She emphasized that this wisdom of communal living was not new, and promised that the app would uplift BIPOC folks, and remind everyone that this is how all humans lived before the fission brought on by capitalism, colonialism, and white supremacy.
That post quickly went viral, and folks were in the comments saying, you must build this. Assuming she could never build an app, Jessica started using her platform to post "classified ads" for her followers. A post would say something like, "Queer single mom in Albuquerque in search of village", and folks started connecting! To this day there are successful Fusions that have taken place from those early posts.
Out of curiosity, Jessica googled "how to build an app", and found a company whose business model is building apps for folks who have great ideas. Jessica paid $600 of her own money to go through the initial round, which included some branding and UI/UX concepts. They estimated the next round (the UI/UX design phase) would cost about $15,000.
That post quickly went viral, and folks were in the comments saying, you must build this. Assuming she could never build an app, Jessica started using her platform to post "classified ads" for her followers. A post would say something like, "Queer single mom in Albuquerque in search of village", and folks started connecting! To this day there are successful Fusions that have taken place from those early posts.
Out of curiosity, Jessica googled "how to build an app", and found a company whose business model is building apps for folks who have great ideas. Jessica paid $600 of her own money to go through the initial round, which included some branding and UI/UX concepts. They estimated the next round (the UI/UX design phase) would cost about $15,000.
Jessica and Holly on a Nuclear Fusion App
retreat in the Bay, 2023
Then, in December of that year, Jessica got an email from a follower saying that due to a tarot reading she just had, she felt called to reach out to see if Jessica was in need of a virtual assistant. She mentioned being able to help with the growth of Remodeled Love, and that she could help launch a Kickstarter for the Nuclear Fusion App, should Jessica choose to move forward with that idea. Jessica immediately wrote back, "You had me at tarot reading", and gave her the role of "Director of Executive Function" of Remodeled Love; this is how Holly Marr came into this dream.
Holly quickly got to work building the Kickstarter, but Jessica was in a lot of resistance, due to fear and imposter syndrome. She was actively avoiding launching, when in April of 2023, she got super sick with double ear infections that burst both ear drums. In writhing pain and doped up on NyQuil, Jessica heard a voice say, "I took your hearing because you weren't listening to me." Knowing her assistant would not find this weird at all, Jessica texted Holly what she heard, and then added, "It's time to launch the Kickstarter."
It took a few more months to get everything ready (Kickstarter campaigns are incredible in depth if you want them to be successful!), and in June they launched a campaign for Nuclear Fusion App, with a goal of raising $15,000 for phase 2 of the build.
To Jessica and Holly's extreme shock and gratitude (actually Holly says she wasn't that shocked), the campaign reached its goal before the 60 day deadline, and in the end raised $17,402!
Holly quickly got to work building the Kickstarter, but Jessica was in a lot of resistance, due to fear and imposter syndrome. She was actively avoiding launching, when in April of 2023, she got super sick with double ear infections that burst both ear drums. In writhing pain and doped up on NyQuil, Jessica heard a voice say, "I took your hearing because you weren't listening to me." Knowing her assistant would not find this weird at all, Jessica texted Holly what she heard, and then added, "It's time to launch the Kickstarter."
It took a few more months to get everything ready (Kickstarter campaigns are incredible in depth if you want them to be successful!), and in June they launched a campaign for Nuclear Fusion App, with a goal of raising $15,000 for phase 2 of the build.
To Jessica and Holly's extreme shock and gratitude (actually Holly says she wasn't that shocked), the campaign reached its goal before the 60 day deadline, and in the end raised $17,402!
Jessica and Holly’s first plan of action was to hire a software consultant to vet the app company she had been working with. She was getting a weird vibe that they were not the best for the project, but she had absolutely no idea what she was doing. She put out a call on her platform that she was looking for someone, and that’s when she found M.I.T. grad, Rishikesh Tirumalai, whom she lovingly calls her App Daddy. During his interview, Jessica asked, "Why do you want to work on this project?" to which Rishi replied, "Well, first of all, I fucks with your mission. Secondly, I only want to work for powerful women".
The synergy between Rishi, Holly, and Jessica was out of this world. Rishi immediately got to work vetting the company, and their report back to Jessica was conclusive with 2 major recommendations: 1) dump this company, and 2) don’t find another app building company, instead, build your own team; Rishi says that the second recommendation came completely from a place of intuition. (And that’s exactly the type of person Jessica loves to work with…)
The synergy between Rishi, Holly, and Jessica was out of this world. Rishi immediately got to work vetting the company, and their report back to Jessica was conclusive with 2 major recommendations: 1) dump this company, and 2) don’t find another app building company, instead, build your own team; Rishi says that the second recommendation came completely from a place of intuition. (And that’s exactly the type of person Jessica loves to work with…)
A few months later Jessica was spending some time in the mountains of Tahoe with her best friend and former business partner, Christopher Daniels. Chris, who has spent their entire adult life in the non-profit and education field, had recently left their job as Executive Director of a local non-profit, where they had been ED for 8 years. Jessica, also intuitively, knew they were meant to be a part of this project. She waited for a perfect moment to share the vision. Chris immediately jumped on board, sharing that their life path up until that moment, everything from their years in the non-profit sector to their current successful career as a life coach, suddenly made a lot of sense.
Chris came on as COO and quickly started bringing their organizational brilliance to the team, with a special focus in the development of the thing that really sets this app apart–the educational courses designed to help folks sustain the relationships and villages they'll be building.
Together this magical team of 4 set out looking for the perfect UI/UX designer. This process took longer than the others, and yet, looking back, was still so effortless. They interviewed some amazing folks but just weren’t able to find the right person.
They decided to take a break from their search. A couple months later they got a DM from someone on Nuclear Fusion App’s instagram. It was someone replying to their post from months ago asking if they had missed the chance to apply for this job. Jessica took one look at their profile and resumé and thought, Holy s#it, I think we found them.
Chris came on as COO and quickly started bringing their organizational brilliance to the team, with a special focus in the development of the thing that really sets this app apart–the educational courses designed to help folks sustain the relationships and villages they'll be building.
Together this magical team of 4 set out looking for the perfect UI/UX designer. This process took longer than the others, and yet, looking back, was still so effortless. They interviewed some amazing folks but just weren’t able to find the right person.
They decided to take a break from their search. A couple months later they got a DM from someone on Nuclear Fusion App’s instagram. It was someone replying to their post from months ago asking if they had missed the chance to apply for this job. Jessica took one look at their profile and resumé and thought, Holy s#it, I think we found them.
Enter: Pia Malika. (There really seems to be a magical force behind this project.)
The chemistry between the team of 5 is something a tenacious professional can only dream of. It’s a team entirely made up of queer and neurodivergent individuals who share the same values around dismantling systems of oppression, fighting for social justice, building community, and redefining family. Everyone was excited to create an organization without hierarchy, and an app that truly lived the values it preached.
With the money they had left, Pia began the process of taking the team through something they call “Vision Jams”. We have most of these sessions recorded and hope to release them some day because they capture not just the magic of the creative process of this team, but also the love that exists between all the team members.
Slowly Pia began wireframing what is to become Nuclear Fusion App. The process is long, tedious, and expensive. As they neared the end of the journey, and began volunteering their time since there was not enough fundraising money left, the team reached the point we knew was coming. With the UI/UX design almost done, how do we raise the money for Phase 3: The Coding Phase?
Really wanting to stay away from venture capital money, and being advised by many mentors that angel investors or crowdfunding, or, somehow earning the money themselves was indeed the best idea, the team took a short hiatus.
During that hiatus Jessica was a guest on a very popular parenting podcast on slate.com. During the podcast she plugged the app, and a few weeks later a listener reached out asking if they needed any volunteers. This guy is a talented software developer who believes in the vision and wanted to help bring our Beta baby to life. During one of his onboarding meetings he said something that changed everything, “We need to get a product in the world asap so y’all can raise the money you need to code Beta.”
And that’s when the Nuclear Fusion Network was born.
The Nuclear Fusion App team has spent the last 5 months tirelessly working to build the Nuclear Fusion Network. And it’s all been done voluntarily, since the Kickstarter money was used for Phase 2. The team did this because they believe in the project; they can see its potential when they close their eyes; they can feel its cultural importance, especially at this time in history, in their souls.
The chemistry between the team of 5 is something a tenacious professional can only dream of. It’s a team entirely made up of queer and neurodivergent individuals who share the same values around dismantling systems of oppression, fighting for social justice, building community, and redefining family. Everyone was excited to create an organization without hierarchy, and an app that truly lived the values it preached.
With the money they had left, Pia began the process of taking the team through something they call “Vision Jams”. We have most of these sessions recorded and hope to release them some day because they capture not just the magic of the creative process of this team, but also the love that exists between all the team members.
Slowly Pia began wireframing what is to become Nuclear Fusion App. The process is long, tedious, and expensive. As they neared the end of the journey, and began volunteering their time since there was not enough fundraising money left, the team reached the point we knew was coming. With the UI/UX design almost done, how do we raise the money for Phase 3: The Coding Phase?
Really wanting to stay away from venture capital money, and being advised by many mentors that angel investors or crowdfunding, or, somehow earning the money themselves was indeed the best idea, the team took a short hiatus.
During that hiatus Jessica was a guest on a very popular parenting podcast on slate.com. During the podcast she plugged the app, and a few weeks later a listener reached out asking if they needed any volunteers. This guy is a talented software developer who believes in the vision and wanted to help bring our Beta baby to life. During one of his onboarding meetings he said something that changed everything, “We need to get a product in the world asap so y’all can raise the money you need to code Beta.”
And that’s when the Nuclear Fusion Network was born.
The Nuclear Fusion App team has spent the last 5 months tirelessly working to build the Nuclear Fusion Network. And it’s all been done voluntarily, since the Kickstarter money was used for Phase 2. The team did this because they believe in the project; they can see its potential when they close their eyes; they can feel its cultural importance, especially at this time in history, in their souls.
Nuclear Fusion Network is officially the Alpha version of Nuclear Fusion App. Though it doesn’t give the app team quite as much control as Beta will, it’s pretty freaking amazing.
The best part of this Alpha epiphany is that it lets us study our ecosystem's nuances while integrating user market demands in real-time. This isn't just an idea but a key function in designing and developing our Beta app. Thanks to folks like you, now, we can co-create a better user experience earlier than we could have ever imagined.
On the Nuclear Fusion Network, we believe in the power of community and connection. For those searching for a village of like-minded individuals or families, our network offers a platform to come together, support each other, do some generational healing, and create lasting relationships.
Whether you are looking to form a modern village, mutual aid network, platonic bond, or a chosen family, we provide a space where individuals with shared core values can meet and grow together.
We also offer emotional intelligence, communication, and relationship building courses and workshops from a diverse panel of experts across the globe, in addition to live events and community calls—all meant to stoke the fire of Fusion.
This is not just a club to become a member of; it's a movement, a blueprint, and a dream greater than the sum of its parts. By joining our Network you are becoming an integral part of this global project. When you sign up to become a member, you become a Fusionist—someone who believes in our mission and vision and wants to be a part of its success.
Join us on 9/23 at Nuclear Fusion Network and begin building a supportive community where you can find the village you've been seeking.
LET THE FUSION BEGIN!
The best part of this Alpha epiphany is that it lets us study our ecosystem's nuances while integrating user market demands in real-time. This isn't just an idea but a key function in designing and developing our Beta app. Thanks to folks like you, now, we can co-create a better user experience earlier than we could have ever imagined.
On the Nuclear Fusion Network, we believe in the power of community and connection. For those searching for a village of like-minded individuals or families, our network offers a platform to come together, support each other, do some generational healing, and create lasting relationships.
Whether you are looking to form a modern village, mutual aid network, platonic bond, or a chosen family, we provide a space where individuals with shared core values can meet and grow together.
We also offer emotional intelligence, communication, and relationship building courses and workshops from a diverse panel of experts across the globe, in addition to live events and community calls—all meant to stoke the fire of Fusion.
This is not just a club to become a member of; it's a movement, a blueprint, and a dream greater than the sum of its parts. By joining our Network you are becoming an integral part of this global project. When you sign up to become a member, you become a Fusionist—someone who believes in our mission and vision and wants to be a part of its success.
Join us on 9/23 at Nuclear Fusion Network and begin building a supportive community where you can find the village you've been seeking.
LET THE FUSION BEGIN!