Caroline is the founder and CEO of TopRecsTM, a new and innovative mobile application connecting parents with their trusted network of friends to exchange recommendations for all things that touch family life.
During the Summer of 2014, I was unexpectedly downsized from my corporate marketing job, where’d I’d been responsible for the global rollout of a travel management app. I had to redefine and reinvent myself. I knew it was time to find a new way to channel my passions for my family, travel, and technology to help other busy, caring parents like me.
As a mother to three active kids, I was regularly in conversations with friends and family seeking or sharing recommendations for doctors, dentists, kids’ activities (which as we all know change as they grow), daycares, schools, restaurants, you name it!
I realized that recommendations from people we personally know and trust matter much more to us, and our personal networks are the source of these trusted recommendations. I have tried, as I imagine we all have, the solutions out there and found that they were biased, unreliable, and short lived. I then spent a lot of time doing market research and became aware of the concerns regarding the reliability and trustworthiness of these review sites where unverified profiles exist, and occasionally proliferate, and where economics sometimes bias search results.
I enlisted some local developers through my network to help me build TopRecs. We have created a platform designed to collect, aggregate, and organize recommendations that are useful and meaningful for parents. And without getting too technical, the app leverages industry standard best practices to properly safeguard and protect users’ data. TopRecs is the only app designed to help parents exchange recommendations with their trusted friends.
With our first release of TopRecs, parents are able to share and find recommendations for just about anything around them. We’ve organized recommendations into categories that include activities, doctors, faith, restaurants, schools, sports, and travel, just to name a few. We plan to continue expanding the categories in TopRecs.
I hope and expect that TopRecs will be able to contribute to the Tarrant County community in a number of different ways. First, we hope that the app establishes itself as not only a unique and powerful platform where parents exchange recommendations, learnings and insights, but that it helps make our great corner of the world feel more accessible, maybe giving us more of a “small-town” feel by creating a sense of community.
Second, we believe that TopRecs can be extremely helpful for families who move or relocate to Tarrant County. Imagine having recommendations for service providers in the palm of your hand from trusted friends and their friends after uprooting your family to move to a completely new town. Wouldn’t it be magical? It would allow families to more quickly acclimate and adjust to their new surroundings.
Finally, we have very big dreams and plans for TopRecs in the future. While we are not currently monetizing the app, since we are initially focused on usability and user adoption, we hope that this will change one day. When we do generate revenues, we plan to allocate a part of those revenues to local community-based family-focused organizations, such as the Keller Community Storehouse, where our family volunteers today.
There is a better and easier way for parents to share and exchange recommendations with their friends and their friend’s friends. So many parents are turning to social media, search engines, buy/sell/trade sites, email, or text messages to solicit recommendations. TopRecs gives us a superpower of knowing what our trusted friends recommend. Whether you are looking for a change in kids’ activities, or are new to the DFW area, by using TopRecs parents have meaningful and helpful information at their fingertips when they need it.
Even when you’re traveling and off on a family adventure, you still have access to your trusted friends’ recommendations whether sightseeing in NYC, or heading to West Coast beaches. TopRecs simplifies how we exchange recommendations with our trusted circles about all things that touch our family life.
Caroline and her family have called Keller home for more than years. Caroline is the proud mother of three wonderful kids: a 15-year-old son, a 13-year-old daughter, and a seven-year-old son. Her family is always on the go and very active with their church, fine arts, sports, and volunteering. The McGinn’s enjoy traveling to far-flung destinations and love experiencing new adventures with family and friends whenever possible. Caroline was born in France, raised in South Florida, speaks three languages and has an MBA from FIU. After moving to Tarrant County in 1997 with American Airlines, she later worked at Sabre in Southlake, where she also held various marketing positions.
I really wanted to love this app. However, its a bit sluggish and forced. I am a mother to 5 children, 6mo to 16yrs, who (due to a promotion) recently moved to a new area and was looking for a tool to help me better navigate the needs of our family while looking for a community that was welcoming and supportive. What I found was, since I had moved across country, there wasnt anyone in my FB friends who lived anywhere near our new home. Since the FB signup is a requirement, I was severely limited on how I could use this app.