The Plurvy Life Family has a commitment to ending bullying and the work goes beyond conversation. The work is also centered around amplifying stories that center healing and self-worth. That’s why Cynthia Arscott’s journey resonates so deeply. After experiencing bullying as a child and carrying that anxiety into adulthood, it was through therapy and intentional self-care that she found the tools to heal and ultimately inspiring the creation of Goldminds, a platform designed to help children build emotional resilience, feel seen, and develop the coping skills she once needed herself.
Who Is Cynthia Arscott
Cynthia Arscott is CEO and Founder of Goldminds, a mindfulness-infused sleep story app for kids 0-10 that turns bedtime into a calming ritual. Goldminds uses imaginative audio adventures woven with evidence-based mindfulness techniques to help kids wind down, manage transitions and build emotional resilience. Arscott is redefining what it means to build and lead in a crowded, high-pressure category by putting trust, creativity and customer voice at the center of growth
Bullying is often a deeply personal experience. How did your own encounters with bullying inspire the creation of Goldminds and shape the mission behind the brand?
When I was in grade school, I went through a couple of experiences where I was excluded by friends and I was deeply hurt by it. It shook my confidence in a big way and I kept wondering what was wrong with me! That experience created a lot of anxiety that I ended up carrying into adulthood without even realizing it. It wasn’t until I went to therapy that I connected the dots and understood that what I was feeling as an adult actually started back then. That’s when I discovered meditation and mindfulness, and it genuinely changed everything for me and my anxious thoughts.
I finally had tools to manage my emotions and understand my thoughts and I kept thinking, I wish I had these as a kid. It would have helped me process everything so much better and understand that I wasn’t alone. That’s really where Goldminds came from. I wanted to give kids these tools from an early age, in a way that was actually kid-friendly, like through stories. That’s really the mission, to set kids up (my own included!) with the emotional tools I wish I had when I was a little girl. Instead of letting that childhood anxiety define me, it became my mission and my drive to keep going.
Goldminds addresses an important but often overlooked need. What gap did you see in the market that convinced you this product needed to exist?
In my mid twenties, I noticed there were so many meditation apps and wellness products for adults, but almost nothing that actually spoke to kids in a way they would use in their everyday lives. I wanted to get mindfulness and self-regulation tools into kids hands, but through something that was already a natural part of their routine. Kids also learn best through storytelling, and that is really where the idea for the Goldminds stories began. It had to be something they would actually want to engage with, not just something parents hoped they would use!
Fast forward to having my own children and I saw firsthand just how hard it is for kids to slow down and actually fall asleep. And that’s when the product clicked into place. Bedtime stories woven with mindful lessons and gentle relaxation techniques became the most natural way to get these tools into kids’ hands every single night.
Launching a product rooted in emotional wellness requires vulnerability. How did you find the courage to share your story publicly while building the brand?
Honestly, the anxiety I felt as an adult was so intense I couldn’t ignore it. I knew there had to be other adults out there who had the same kind of experience in childhood, and I wanted to find a way to stop the cycle. These kinds of experiences happen to kids every single day and I wanted to support them. The mission became so much bigger than me and I couldn’t keep it to myself.
Then, a few years later, becoming a mother added a whole new layer of vulnerability. My kids never slept the way the internet said they should, and honestly that was very humbling. I knew I wasn’t the only mom in the trenches at bedtime, exhausted and just trying to figure it out. I didn’t ever want another kid to feel the way I felt growing up, and I didn’t want my own kids to struggle either. That was always bigger than any fear of being vulnerable.
The marketplace is crowded with wellness products. How do you confidently position Goldminds while maintaining its unique and authentic focus?
There are a lot of options out there, especially in the kids sleep and wellness space. What sets Goldminds apart is that it is designed to live inside the bedtime routine every single night. It is not just a bedtime story, it is a deeply immersive experience that helps kids unwind and decompress while actually learning real skills like mindfulness, breathwork, and emotional regulation. Bedtime is one of the most impactful moments of a child’s entire day, and that is exactly where Goldminds lives. There are obviously lots of bedtime story options out there, but ours weave in deep breathing, mindfulness tools and valuable lessons that help kids decompress at the end of the day and fall asleep easier.
Entrepreneurship often requires resilience. Were there moments in your journey where self doubt resurfaced, and how did you move through them?
Self-doubt creeped up often when I was getting started, but my mission was always louder! Goldminds actually started as a school mindfulness program, then the pandemic hit and everything shifted to virtual, and eventually we pivoted into an app. That whole evolution happened over about five years and there were so many moments where I thought, am I even doing this right? Does anyone actually want this? But I had this burning desire inside of me to get these tools to kids no matter what. I didn’t want to fail my younger self and I didn’t want to fail my kids. And I just kept believing that if I kept going I would find the right way to make it land. With every pivot, my confidence grew and I learned to trust myself deeply.
As a founder, how do you personally practice confidence and self assurance when navigating business decisions, partnerships, and growth?
My confidence and self-assurance grew over time as I’d make decisions, fail or succeed, and keep going either way. If something feels like a good decision or a good partnership, I go for it. Not every decision I have made has been the right one, but I pivot and I learn. I have proven to myself enough times now that I can fix things if they go sideways, so I am not afraid of making mistakes anymore. Trusting myself and moving forward is always better than staying stuck and not moving at all. I have built up enough evidence of my own resilience that I just trust myself now.
Looking ahead, how do you hope Goldminds will reshape conversations around bullying, self worth, and mental wellness for the next generation?
I hope Goldminds becomes a support not just for kids but for parents too. I want it to open the door to conversations that maybe felt too hard to start before. Parents are doing the absolute best they can, and I want this to be a tool that helps them connect with their kids, that makes their kids feel safe enough to share what they are going through and what they are feeling. Something I want is emotional literacy to be a normal part of every home. I want kids to feel completely supported by their parents, their peers, and their teachers. All of it should be normalized, open, and real. Every single kid deserves that!
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