JB: This might be a little touchy-feeling for those not familiar with acupuncture and acupressure. I've been going to an acupuncturist for many years, however, so this makes perfect sense to me. And, it sounds so easy! How long as Uplift been around and how has it been received so far?
TF: Before there were needles, there was acupressure, dating back nearly 5,000 years using your fingers. The Uplift solution was discovered by Charles in 1998 in Australia and over the next 10 years, over 500 Australians used the solution from a folder. In 2014, I met Charles in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he practices and does research with Harvard University. We became friends and he shared the solution with me. After I used it a few times, he asked me to join him in helping travelers around the world. With advances in mobile technology, we built the Uplift mobile app and launched a test version in 2017/18 and an updated version in 2019. Uplift has over 5,000 trips taken by users in the past 18 months. We have some wonderful user testimonials on our website and a 4.6 ranking on the Apple App Store. Nothing makes me happier than when Uplift users share their stories on how we made a difference in their travel or return home experience.
JB: What's your background, Ted? Are you a tech guy? Was this a predictable teaming up with Charles?
TF: When I was 13 years old growing up outside of Boston, my father told us we were going to move, I thought it was to the next town, but it was to Florence, Italy. We spent three years there and it changed our family's life forever. After university, I ended up going into the footwear business and lived again in Florence, but also Seattle, Taiwan, New York, and finally settled back in the Boston area. Over 30 years, we made shoes in 12 different countries with offices in both Asia and Europe and I traveled over two million air miles. I have a lifetime of experience as a business traveler and am also an aviation geek.
After 30 years in shoes, I was looking for a change and working on various projects in technology. When I met Charles and he told me about the Jet Lag solution, I said "Charles, where have you been all my life?" and "Does it really work, really?" The rest is history, as they say.
JB: What a wonderful story: a perfect melding of talent, interests and timing! Charles also has a killer story. Can you share a bit of that with us, too?
TF: As Charles like to say "Need is the mother of invention" and his near tragic accident was a pathway to discovering therapies to help others.
Charles was a PhD in biology and physiology from Boston University. He fell in love with marine biology and had the opportunity to work and live in Australia in the 1980s. When he was 35 years old, he was paralyzed in a diving accident off the coast of Australia. He was fortunate to be airlifted to an off-shore oil rig but even after 10 days in a decompression chamber, he was paralyzed from the waist down.
Charles was sent to a rehab hospital to learn to live in a wheelchair but using incredible willpower and his unique skills, he was able to walk out of the rehab center six months later (although not very well). He needed steel plates on his shoes so he tried every possible therapy from A to Z to walk better and found that Kinesiology (study of movement) combined with acupressure allowed him to walk with a cane and a slight limp. A kinesiology practitioner in Australia used this therapy to get his nerves and muscles communicating again to improve his walking.
Charles went back to work but as an analytical research scientist and chemist, he wanted to understand why and how he was able to walk again. So he left marine biology and began studying everything about kinesiology and acupressure and went on to publish some of the most important books and papers in the field. He developed what would become his LEAP (Life Enhancing Acupressure Protocol) program when treating children in special education in Australia with ADD, ADHD, dyslexia and other learning problems. His results were extraordinary and gained the attention of the Institute of Kinesiology in Germany, and they asked him to teach and lecture there regularly. He began traveling from Melbourne, Australia to Germany to teach and had another problem - Jet Lag. Being Charles, he came up with a solution - Uplift.
Since his near tragic accident, Dr. Charles Krebs has dedicated his life to helping others, and his discoveries from LEAP to Uplift provide natural solutions to global problems. For myself and our team at Uplift, we honor the heroic journey of Dr. Charles Krebs and the opportunity to provide these solutions to tens of millions of people around the world.
JB: How fortuitous and inspiring! On another note entirely, I understand that you have at least one cool hobby. Can you speak about that or anything else that will give our readers a better sense of who you are and what floats your boat.
TF: Besides starting and building businesses as a 30+ year entrepreneur, I very much enjoy the outdoors. I am an avid cyclist, both mountain and road, and compete in at least one sprint triathlon a year. I am also passionate about the mountains for downhill and cross country skiing. Being active and outdoors keeps me fit and healthy to be there for my wonderful family and to do the hard work to build Uplift.
JB: Great! But not so fast. Are you currently in Boston? Where do you do your mountain biking and skiing? And tell me more about Ted the Jock, the Sprint Triathlon, and anything else in that vein.
TF: I live with my family outside of Boston in Dover, Massachusetts, which has lots of conservation land and trails for walking, biking, and skiing. This year, I finished first in my age group in the Dover-Sherborn Triathlon, my home town race. I also completed my 10th Vermont 50 mile mountain bike race which covers 50 miles off road with 9,000 feet of elevation gain. The proceeds benefit Vermont Adaptive Sports, a wonderful organization. Great cross country skiing down the street from us, when we have snow, and downhill favorites include Jay Peak, Vermont; Jackson Hole, Wyoming; and Tuckerman Ravine / Mt. Washington, NH.
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