It started with one mother looking for another.

In 2021, our founder, Kalie, was new to Orange County and looking for other mothers raising Black children. There wasn't an established community waiting for her with open arms, so she created one, literally. She joined Facebook groups, searched through existing communities, found mothers who seemed to be looking for the same thing, and reached out personally.

One mom at a time.

Those individual conversations became introductions. Introductions became gatherings. Gatherings became friendships. And slowly, what began as one mother's search for community became OC Black Moms, eventually growing into a network of more than 1,200 families across Orange County.

For five years, Kalie and the mothers who joined her built far more than a Facebook group. They organized events, shared resources, created programs, developed local leadership, supported Black-owned businesses and organizations, and built relationships that moved from the internet into real life. As the community grew, it became increasingly clear that Facebook had helped these mothers find one another, but it wasn't built for everything they were becoming together.

So Kalie began imagining what it would look like if mothers didn't have to build community on rented digital space.

That question became Held & Rooted.

Today, Held & Rooted is a nonprofit technology platform designed around lessons learned from five years of building community in the real world. Mothers can find one another, discover local events and trusted resources, and participate in community designed to move beyond a screen.

There was no algorithm that built this community. It was built mother by mother, conversation by conversation, invitation by invitation.

The community came first.

The technology finally caught up.