Emily Levy’s Mighty Well is steeped in tikkun olam

Nearly a decade ago, when Emily Levy was 19 years old, she had an urgent meeting with her doctor. She had just been diagnosed with a severe case of Lyme disease.

Growing up in Rhode Island and Boston, Levy couldn’t remember a tick bite, but she had endured a range of symptoms since middle school. After seeing many doctors, she was relieved to finally pinpoint a cause. In fact, Levy had an extreme form of neurodegenerative Lyme disease, and she needed immediate treatment.

To combat the bacterial infection, Levy would have to wear a peripherally inserted central catheter, or “PICC line.” The complex device would attach to her arm and inject life-saving antibiotics directly into her bloodstream.

Lifesaving, yes, but unsightly. The doctor suggested she cover it up.

With what, Levy asked.

Find a tube sock, advised the physician, in all seriousness. Cut off the end and pull it over your arm.

For six months, that’s what Levy did. She walked around the campus of Babson College, in Wellesley, Massachusetts, trying not to think about her sock-covered bicep.

“It’s a very business-focused school. Most days I was wearing a pencil skirt and a blazer,” Levy recalled. “But I also had a sock on my arm. It was quite the juxtaposition: I’m supposed to be growing into young adulthood, yet here’s a blatant symbol that there’s a medical challenge in my life.”

What happened next has been well-documented in the media, especially in health and business news: Levy turned her dilemma into a class project. She talked to her father, the famed surfboard-maker David Levy, who suggested cutting up a rash-guard shirt and fashioning her own arm cover.

Building on that idea, Levy teamed up with two college friends, Maria del Mar Gomez and Yousef Al-Humaidhi, to develop better apparel. She commissioned her cousin, Bristol-based Caitlin Allen, to design the garment. She participated in an accelerator program called MassChallenge, and she hustled for investors.

The result: Mighty Well, a company founded in 2016. Based in Cranston, Mighty Well sells arm coverings that look and behave like fashionable sportswear. The company’s PICC-line covers come in attractive hues and are made from antimicrobial and moisture-wicking fabric.

Levy’s business has grown exponentially in the past six years, expanding its catalog to bags, organizers, masks and, most recently, a waterproof cover for bathing.

“It gives you more dignity,” says Levy, “not only in the way you look, but helping to preserve the dignity of the medical device that the patient had to get implanted.”

Levy, who lives in Providence, is only 28 years old, and she has already garnered widespread respect as an entrepreneur. Outlets like Forbes and CBS News have reported on Levy’s medical history and business acumen. Many journalists have also nodded to her parents: David Levy, a respected surfer and surfboard-maker in Narragansett, and Terry Allen Lanza, who helped open the Boston offices of Giorgio Armani in the 1990s and worked in corporate advertising.

“I really do credit both of my parents,” Levy says. “My mom, [for] helping me to understand the corporate world, and my dad [for] saying, ‘Follow your heart, soul, passion and build something for yourself.’ ”

But there is another side to Levy – a profound spirituality, largely shaped by her Jewish heritage.

Judaism was an unlikely passion for Levy. Her father didn’t practice, despite having grown up in a conservative synagogue, and her mother’s family was Irish-Catholic. She might never have given her religious ancestry much thought, but her paternal aunt, Arlene Seltzer, introduced the young Levy to Jewish holidays and traditions.

“My Dad always said the ocean was his religion,” she recalls. “I’m definitely very connected spiritually to the ocean. But I personally was very curious about my family’s cultural and religious background in a way that he’s not.”

After high school, Levy signed up for the Birthright program.

“I was honestly just looking for a free trip to Israel,” says Levy. “But then when I went, I literally felt my ancestors when we were there. I believe that all people who can track their lineage to the Jewish people should have that opportunity to go and experience the Holy Land for themselves. It’s especially important for young people to go, because it really was that transformative for me.”

One day, on the edge of Jerusalem’s old city, Levy and her peers were told to close their eyes. When she opened them again, Levy was staring at the Western Wall, a first glimpse that sent shockwaves through her.

“Oh my God, this is what my ancestors for 2,000 years haven’t been able to do,” she remembers thinking. “And how blessed am I to be able to fulfill that mission that they prayed and prayed for?”

When she started at Babson, Levy joined Hillel and served on the chapter’s executive board for three years. She helped bring Israeli speakers to campus.

“That was amazing for me, because I got to meet other Jewish people from around the world,” she says. “I learned that we’re actually a civilization, not just a religion.”

Levy later worked for the Zionist youth movement Young Judaea and did recruiting for Birthright, sending four friends to Israel. One of those friends decided to remain permanently, and signed up to join the Israel Defense Forces.

In many ways, Israel was a major influence on Levy’s business aspirations. In the summer of 2014, she flew to Haifa as part of the Onward Israel program, interning for an app developer. Here Levy was exposed to her first startup incubator, and she learned the ropes for establishing a company and raising money.

Her efforts were stymied, however, when three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and murdered in Gush Etzion, a now-infamous incident that triggered nationwide violence. As headlines intensified, Levy’s parents urged her to come home. Her movements were soon restricted, and American colleagues started leaving the program early. When an Israeli friend was hurt in the conflict, Levy decided to return home – but she continued to work for the app developer remotely for eight months, a decision that proved inspiring.

“Seeing the startup continue to work,” she says, “while their friends and loved ones were being called up to serve – it was like, if they can grow a company literally during an [armed] conflict, there’s no reason that I can’t help other people from my dorm room within my own community. That internship was really a catalyst for my own belief in myself.”

Levy had always intended to start a business, but she never imagined starting so early. Like most of her pursuits, Mighty Well is deeply personal, interwoven with both her diagnosis and her desire to help people. She even married her business partner, Yousef Al-Humaidhi.

Mighty Well has developed virtual education for people new to Lyme disease, and the company’s advisory board boasts numerous medical professionals. Levy has become a spokesperson for the Lyme community, advocating for fast and accurate testing.

“I think entrepreneurship, in the capitalistic society that we live in, is one of the only ways that you can make systematic societal change,” she says. “But at the same time, I think my generation especially is not interested in just working for a paycheck. There has to be a purpose and a mission behind what we do.”

“I really relate to tikkun olam – to heal the world,” she continues. “I feel like, through healing the world, I’ve healed myself. Even if it’s in a small segment, I feel like you can always do good and give back.”

ROBERT ISENBERG (risenberg@jewishallianceri.org) is the multimedia producer for the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island and a writer for Jewish Rhode Island.