When Yael Cohen Braun’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, she made a shirt for her mom that said “Fuck Cancer.” The mantra turned into a movement when Cohen Braun started Fuck Cancer, her nonprofit dedicated to early detection, prevention and garnering support for people affected by cancer, in 2009. After the birth of her son — Cohen Braun is married to the talent manager and entrepreneur Scott Samuel “Scooter” Braun — she launched her judgment-free digital media property Motherlucker. Now the mother of two with a baby on the way is onto her newest act.
Bumble, the popular dating and networking app with more than 40 million users, today announced that Cohen Braun has joined the team as a senior advisor and that they have acquired the assets of Motherlucker. It has been a busy time for Bumble, which Forbes values at $1B, and it’s founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd. Bumble recently launched a fund to invest in other female-founded startups, posted a “Find Them On Bumble” campaign throughout New York City, they are reportedly considering going public and they are pursuing a countersuit against Tinder’s parent company Match Group.
As a senior advisor at the less than four-year-old company, Cohen Braun will work directly with the senior executive team on the growth of Bumble Date, Bumble BFF and Bumble Bizz as well as focusing on brand partnerships, business growth and scale and other general advisory services, according to Bumble. I spoke with Cohen Braun about her career path, advice and why she is excited to join the Bumble team.
You started FCancer after your mom was diagnosed with cancer and you are a mom. How did those experiences inspire you to start FCancer and Motherlucker? What was your career path?
I started FCancer when my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was looking for a place to get involved in the cancer realm, and I noticed a gap in the market. No one was targeting the youth and the digitally-minded directly. Many organizations were asking for money instead of time or action and focused on research, not early detection and prevention. There is a lot out there on research and fixing your body, but there were not enough resources for your heart, mind, soul, relationships and everything else that gets affected by cancer. I started FCancer to fill those needs.
Motherlucker came about organically. There was never any intention in starting another company. At the time, I was writing for myself, journaling about the process of motherhood and occasionally hearing stories from friends. It became apparent from talking about my miscarriage and talking to other women about theirs that there wasn’t really an open and honest forum for parents that was judgment-free. There was so much glitter-washed Pinterest sh** and a judgmental “this is my way or the highway” outlook on parenting. The reality is that every kid is different, every family is different and there isn’t one right way to do anything when it comes to parenting. So we created a community that was non-judgmental, open, honest and allowed others to share what they did, why it worked and how it might work for you.
What has been the biggest challenge and, on the flip side, the biggest reward of starting FCancer and Motherlucker?
The biggest challenges for me are time and emotional bandwidth. Both FCancer and Motherlucker are emotionally charged spaces and they are both super, super personal to me. That being said, I get triggered in places and ways that I wouldn’t expect or know – it’s encompassing. You don’t go home and your day is done, it’s with you.
The biggest reward is providing support and building a community by sharing some of the hardest and best days of your life with people that are going through the same things.
What are your responsibilities as the co-founder and board chair of FCancer, founder of Motherlucker and now a senior advisor at Bumble?
I serve as co-founder and board chair at FCancer, so a lot of it’s high-level strategy and programming with the team. For Motherlucker, we have an unbelievable group of women who contribute and share their thoughts and experience so it is more of a logistical component. I haven’t written for Motherlucker in a while since we have such beautiful and well-rounded voices doing the talking for us.
As a senior advisor at Bumble, I will provide strategic counsel across a range of business priorities, including community building and brand partnerships — two areas of expertise from my work with FCancer and Motherlucker. I will support wherever and whenever they need it. Bumble is an unbelievable company and brand with so much potential to connect with users. They are not only participating in so many spaces, but they are also innovating new forms of relationship-building spaces.
It is very exciting to get into areas I haven’t worked in before or in a long time. I am thrilled to create meaningful change, working closely with [Wolfe Herd] and the leadership team.
What are some of your goals for your first year working at Bumble?
My experience with community building, content creation and mobilizing movements has given me a unique perspective on how startups live and breathe — knowledge that I am excited to utilize now in Bumble’s rapid phase of growth. I’m eager to roll up my sleeves and help the company fulfill their needs and achieve their goals. I want to be the most helpful and valuable advisor that I can.
Bumble acquired Motherlucker’s assets. What was that process like, and what led you to make that decision?
It’s always hard to think about moving away from something you’ve built brick by brick, with your love, sweat and tears. But I also knew that this was a big opportunity to work with a great company that I believe in and help them grow in ways I think the world needs. With that said, I had to strategically consider the best way to merge my ideas and skill-set. The asset sale was the perfect way to cherish the hard work that built Motherlucker while internalizing those learnings for the Bumble team.
What led me to make the decision? I believe in Bumble, in what they are doing and what they are going to do, and I want to be a part of it and help shape it.
What’s the biggest lesson you learned at work? How did you learn it?
My biggest lesson was to ask for help, so often we think we have to do it ourselves in order to be successful, or that someone is going to steal our idea or that asking for help is a weakness. I think collaboration is at the core of greatness and creativity. Working together, asking for help when you need it and giving help where you can makes not only everyone’s work better, but it also makes the working environment a lot better. Learning to create environments based on collaboration rather than competition is one of the most important lessons I’ve learned.
What is one thing that you wish you had known when you were starting out your career?
What you say “no” to is more important than what you say “yes” to. When you start getting momentum in your career it is really exciting and you just want to say “yes” to everything along the way, but ultimately that can distract you from your end goal and what you should be building. Learning to say “no” is just as important, if not more important, than saying “yes.”
What is your business advice for other young professional women?
Drink your Kool-Aid and find your tribe. You have to believe in what you are doing. If you don’t believe in it why should anybody else? Find your tribe. Find the group of men and women who support you and vise versa so you can bounce ideas back and forth. Find people with complementary skill sets and complementary beliefs so that they are making you better and stronger and you’re not just nodding and smiling along the way.
