My name is Isabelle Lemay and I founded Village & Me, which is an intelligent care coordination platform purposely built to unite unpaid caregivers with their support system, automate workflows and anticipate needs, and dramatically reduce time spent coordinating care.
About me
A few years ago, after being the primary caregiver for four elderly family members, my dad had a heart attack due to the stress and lack of support. It’s important to me that future caregivers like my dad, and so many I’ve interviewed, get the support they need while navigating this phase of life. Vicariously, the care recipient will also benefit from having a caregiver who isn’t burnt out!
I’ve spent 14 years building or working with digital products. Village & Me came from watching my parents burn out caring for my grandparents, and realizing the tools they needed simply didn’t exist. I’m the rare combination of someone who has lived this problem and can actually build the solution. Canada’s aging population has outpaced the system meant to support it, one in four Canadians is now an unpaid caregiver, and the burnout is a national issue. This problem is only getting bigger and so the moment to build is now.
My Purpose
At Village & Me, we work with unpaid family caregivers caring for an elderly family member. Family and friends join a shared “village of care,” setting their real availability and care limitations. When a need arises, the platform matches it to the right person and notifies them directly, removing the friction of phone calls, negotiation, guilt and the back-and-forth calendar checks. The asking disappears, and help arrives without being requested.
What makes Village & Me different
Most caregiving apps are built only around tasks or medical data. When I interviewed caregivers, they already had lists. What they didn’t have was a way to ask for help without it costing them a phone call, a negotiation, and a wave of guilt. So Village & Me removes that friction.
What’s my win!
Shipping the closed beta version of the platform to caregiving families earlier in 2026 was a win. As a solo founder, getting a working, privacy-compliant, AI-enabled platform into real families’ hands is worth celebrating.
What I wish more founders knew about pitching
When I worked with Brenda, I learned that it is important to lead with the human side instead of the features.
The pitch lands so much better once you open with a human problem the audience and judges can relate to.
People commit to a story before they evaluate a solution.
To find out more
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isabelle-lemay-/
- Website: https://www.villageandme.ca/