Founders story

On 11th July 2024, my life shifted in ways I could never have imagined. I became a survivor of a random gender-based violence attack, minutes after helping a teenage girl who had been beaten and raped just one street over. Despite being on a main road, surrounded by people, no one intervened when I was harassed and physically attacked. The boy who attacked me was no older than 19.

I had seen the statistics before: 97% of women aged 18–24 have experienced sexual harassment, and 96% of those never report it. I reported it. And still… little came of it.

In the months that followed, I battled panic attacks, mild agoraphobia, and an overwhelming anger. I was furious - not only because I was physically and emotionally scarred, but because another girl was too. The news was full of women being murdered, men being disenfranchised, and hatred spilling across both sides. And I saw the trickle-down effect of this adult hate and shame reaching children.

 I started observing everything, at work, on my commute, at the pub with friends, even in nightclubs. I noticed the sweeping generalisations from men and women alike. I thought about the boys, painted as future rapists, abusers, or failures before they even understood the world. I thought about the girls, labelled as weak or victims, conditioned to expect danger from men. This cycle, repeated across generations, was building a society where fear, mistrust, and pain became normal.

I spent sleepless nights worrying about the next generation, until one day, I thought of Dawn Intelligence.

As a child, I was never athletic or extroverted. I preferred sitting quietly, reading, and learning. My mum encouraged my curiosity and put me in coding classes. By the age of 10, I had learned HTML; by 11, I was fluent in Python and Javascript. At 23, I had over half my life dedicated to coding. Initially, I thought about hiring someone to build Dawn for me, but then I tapped into my self-belief. I realised that if I wanted to create a tool that could make a difference, I was the one who had to do it.

 Dawn Intelligence was born from anger, fear, and frustration, but also from hope. Hope that we can protect the next generation. Hope that we can spot danger before it becomes tragedy. Hope that data, insight, and understanding can create safer communities.

 This is why I built Dawn Intelligence, not just to track statistics, but to give power, knowledge, and protection to the people who need it most.