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Syracuse University alumna Darleen Santore’s life changed unexpectedly when she was 25 years old.

During her time as an occupational therapist at Gaylord Hospital, she had a stroke that left her with a blood clot in her brain. As a result, doctors said that she could die any day.

“It was like, if this clot dislodges I could die, and I’m thinking, ‘then I need to go live life even more and I’m not going to live in fear. I want to go and help people,’” she said.

Santore received treatment for the clot and eventually recovered with the help of a mentor at the hospital, who taught her to regain her strength and what it means to live life to the fullest. It’s a lesson she now teaches to others through her mental coach career as “Coach Dar.”

The mental coach is now an officer for Kindli, social media app that launched Nov. 13 and aims to promote kindness. The app has reached over 10,000 downloads since it launched, she said. Its founders include former-star football player Tim Tebow, Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings and World Wrestling Entertainment star Titus O’ Neil.

As the app’s chief kindness officer, Santore monitors the well-being of all workers and ensures each member is using their talents to fulfill the needs of the team. In addition to her role at Kindli, Santore is also a master class instructor.

“Everyone can feel like a hero when they’re sharing kindness,” Santore said. “It gives people a sense of purpose. Right now, when people are feeling isolated and lonely, if you focus on how you could help someone else or what you could post to uplift someone, that gives you purpose.”

I have never been more excited to announce something SO BIG in my life! IMAGINE THE WORLD BEING A KINDER PLACE, IMAGINE A SOCIAL PLATFORM that PROMOTES SOCIAL UNITY, imagine a place where there is NO HATE SPEECH or BULLYING, imagine a place that inspires ONE BILLION ACTS OF KINDNESS AND DONATES ONE BILLION DOLLARS TO CHARITY, imagine a place that inspires and promotes all of us to BE KINDER AND SERVE MORE, imagine a place that has “influencers” who influence POSITIVITY AND KINDNESS, imagine a social platform where EVERYDAY HEREOS ARE HIGHLIGHTED and THE PAY IT FORWARD MOVEMENT HAS A PLACE TO LIVE EVERYDAY… WELL IMAGINE NO MORE, IT’S HERE and it’s called KINDLI and you can go an download it NOW in the apple App Store or on Google play ( link in profile)
I’ve been working 7 years on the Pay It Forward Movement for our country uniting us globally with people all over the world and met with the Founder of Kindli, Martin Diamond, who had been working on building this platform for the past two years from the tech side of it and over the past 7 months we have been working together along with Tim Tebow on building out an amazing team to bring this to the world and this week it launched. ( I’m so excited :laughing:)
It’s been incredible, something I am so honored to be part of and partner with as their Chief Kindness Officer. And we have an amazing TEAM to who has worked so hard with us all to help bring this to life with the goal of creating social change and unity and leave the world better than we found it. ( by doing ONE BILLION ACTS of KINDNESS and DONATING ONE BILLION DOLLARS TO CHARITIES.
So TODAY I encourage you to go and see what it is all about and share with your friends and family as we look to make Social a better place and space, one that UNITES and LIFTS OTHERS UP.
There is so much more I want to share and share who else is joining us ( like TITUS O’NEIL ) to spread the message but for now, go take a look and be inspired.
JOIN US for this MOVEMENT to MAKE SOCIAL BETTER AND THE WORLD A KINDER PLACE which will HELP THE WELLBEING of many! Love, Coach Dar #kindli #socialchange #bethechange #kindnessmatters

A photo posted by thecoachdar

Santore always knew she wanted to dedicate her career to helping people, and she knew she wanted to become an occupational therapist at 16 years old after seeing therapists help her grandfather recover from a stroke. Witnessing the therapists’ work inspired Santore to eventually gain a bachelor’s degree in occupational therapy from SU in 1997.

Her time at SU prepared her for the field, especially her first job working in a hospital, because she was able to do in-depth studies of occupational therapy and use the cadaver labs.

“The community, the connection, and the education prepared me for everything that I had done in my life,” she said. “I’m so glad I chose there.”

The same year she graduated, Santore started her career in occupational therapy at Gaylord Hospital in Wallingford, Connecticut, working with patients who had traumatic brain injuries. She had the stroke in 2000, and after recovering from it, Santore left Gaylord and tried new jobs, including president of a health care company and chief operating officer of a record label.

In 2012, Santore took on the self-branded name “Coach Dar” and began to work with business owners and athletes as a mental coach and motivational speaker.

In August 2017, Santore spoke at the Indiana Fever’s Inspiring Women Night before their game against the New York Liberty. Since 2012, she has worked with business owners and athletes as a mental coach to improve internal culture and build confidence. Courtesy of Emily Litt

Now, her days are never the same. One day, she could be working with the CEO of a company, while another she could be working as the Phoenix Suns’ mental conditioning coach, she said. Overall, her work aims to improve the internal culture within companies and build confidence for athletes in national football, basketball, baseball and hockey leagues.

Terri Mazaheri, a friend of Santore’s and founder of the medical spa Inside Out Aesthetics, said Santore has served as a mentor for her and her team of employees. The world needs more people like Santore, who dedicates her time to making people feel proud of their accomplishments and guides them to do their best, she said.

“She doesn’t see the bad and faults in people, she sees potential,” Mazaheri said in a text message. “She is also such an amazing role model for my daughter and young women out there to know, if you work hard and you live with good intention and purpose, anything is possible.”

Martin Diamond, the CEO and founder of Kindli, has worked with Santore on the app for the past nine months. When he was developing Kindli, he needed someone to lead the team and fill a unique role, such as chief kindness officer. When he met Santore, he immediately knew she was the perfect fit, he said in an email.

WWE star O’Neil is also excited to continue working with Santore at Kindli, he said.

Santore has also served since 2015 as the United States ambassador for the Global Pay It Forward Day initiative, a day celebrated in over 80 countries that encourages people to do random acts of kindness.

For Santore, the most fulfilling thing about her career is seeing her clients get back on their feet and find what truly makes them happy. She sees her work as a large Pay It Forward Day initiative that encourages her clients to help people in the same way she has helped them. The app Kindli is special to her because it provides a social media platform for that initiative, she said.

“There’s just so many ways you could just share kindness,” she said. “And now you have a platform that you put it on.”

Published on December 24, 2020 at 10:07 am

Contact Abby: akweiss@syr.edu | @abbyweiss_21