Daddy's Digest
Daddy’s Digest

We’re live in a time where the dynamics of parenting has vastly changed. Our thoughts and lifestyles have progressed and with that have also come a new set of challenges. Gone are the days when only the mother had to stay home and take care of the kids. The new generation of parents, especially fathers and fathers to be, have challenged the outdated notions of masculinity. That being said, when you look around, there are all these places and websites that talk about stuff from a mothers perspective. So, what about something for fathers? Well, Daddy’s Digest is here to fill that void. The belief that real men don’t ask for help is outdated and Daddy’s Digest is here to prove just that.

The Founders

Meshach Thomas (L) & Vickram Agarwal (R)
Meshach Thomas (L) & Vickram Agarwal (R)

When Vickram Agarwal was confronted with questions on his journey to fatherhood, he realised that there was an absence of available avenues to help answer them. In a space that was dominated by products, information and support created exclusively for women, he couldn’t find anything that could help him become a better family man. That’s when he decided to reach out to an old friend from high school, Meshach Thomas. The fact that they were in different life stages helped them see the link between existing social cognition and the lack of positive reinforcements for men. Using their combined years of experience in the digital space, they decided to build Daddy’s Digest, which launched in April 2018.

What is Daddy’s Digest?

The website and video channel not only focuses on all things related to fatherhood and family, it also explores current affairs, popular culture, human dynamics and asks the world some tough questions. They create and curate daily in-depth features, personal stories from fathers and even expert advice from around the world. This website aims at aiding the changing dynamics of society and the shifting paradigm of families. The goal is to create a valuable and thought-provoking experience for the audience that will lead to greater knowledge and better decision making.

A Quick Little Q&A

We got in touch with the founders and decided to ask them a few questions because we were curious about Daddy’s Digest. Here’s what they had to say!

What has the growth and response been for Daddy’s Digest?

We started working on it back in September of 2017 and officially launched in April 2018! Our growth has been unprecedented since then. From convincing industry leading experts to write for us and even getting to work with people that want to share their stories, the growing participation has been amazing. Even the creativity and variety of the storytelling has been fascinating. A few days ago, we helped launch a music video. It was an individual’s expression of this challenging childhood and he wanted to use Daddy’s Digest as the platform to tell his story. We also launched our online series, Dads In Focus on June 7th. In less than 24 hours, it went global and shortly after, a crowd motivated fundraiser was initiated to help the subject of our first episode. Within 60 days of launch, we’ve had over 170,000 followers on Facebook.

What would you consider as the major reason for the success of something like this?

Parenting is dominated by content created for mothers and the men’s space is dominated by lifestyle content. These industries are defined by trends of the past. Our success comes from recognizing that things have changed and our desire for nonconformity to these unwritten rules. We see Daddy’s Digest doing to parenting, what Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies did to the financial markets. Disrupted them and made people realize that things are changing and there are better, more efficient ways of living life.

Does Daddy’s Digest have a special area of expertise or a prime focus?

We took a strategic decision in order to give our consumers a balanced and well-rounded experience. Sure, some areas perform better than others, but to exclusively focus on what works and drop what doesn’t will take away from who we are. People’s needs in the family space evolve on a daily basis! On some days they may want facts, on other days they may want to know that they aren’t facing certain challenges alone and sometimes, they may need expert advice. We give them many ways to learn, grow and share.

Lastly, what has been a major takeaway for you’ll after being a part of Daddy’s Digest?

There is a common belief that men are reserved or shy when it comes to talking about their emotional needs and also issues related to mental health, family and parenting. What we realised over the many months of planning and research and even since our official launch, is that context is key. When you create the relevant space with the right intentions, it gives people the opportunity to open up and talk about the things that matter. That’s what we are trying to do here. Daddy’s Digest isn’t just creating content, it is creating context.

We’re glad that there is a website that is actually dedicated to starting an important conversation. It’s not just for fathers, we think it’s something that could be beneficial for all men in general. Don’t forget to check them out at www.daddysdigest.com!

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