Recognizing The Structural Gaps In Caregiving: An Interview with The Holding Co On Design In The Care Economy

 An Interview with Sue-Jean Sung from The Holding Co.

Welcome to another special edition of the Simon Cares newsletter! In this edition, Daniel Brown, CEO and Founder of Simon, spoke with Sue-Jean Sung, Senior Program and Strategy Lead at The Holding Co. 

Daniel Brown (DB): Today I’m speaking with Sue-Jean Sung from The Holding Co. Before we jump into The Holding Co and your work, I wanted to ask about timing. It seems that so many people have jumped into care work and innovations recently. Could you tell me why you think that is?

Sue-Jean Sung (SJS): Thanks Danny!

I think that COVID-19 pulled back the curtain on something that was already broken. The pandemic didn't create the care crisis we currently find ourselves in; it made it impossible to ignore. Suddenly, everyone was scrambling: Who watches the kids when schools close? Who cares for aging parents when you can't visit facilities? How do you work when all your support systems collapse at once?

To be frank, the crisis was already there. The cost of raising children and providing them with quality education has become astronomically expensive. Elder care in our individualistic society is financially unfeasible for most families. What's different now is that the universal struggle has become visible. Collective recognition has finally created the momentum necessary for real change.

DB: Absolutely. That fits with our timeline at Simon as well: COVID really did expose a lot for families just like mine. Continuing on that, in your experience, how is care functioning across American families right now? What does it look like day-to-day and on a societal level?

SJS: Care is functioning in a haphazard way. Families are doing the best they can with what they have and hoping it works. It's exhausting and unsustainable.

At the societal level, there's limited concerted effort to support families. People are piecing together temporary solution after temporary solution. Every issue gets treated separately and in silos, when in reality, one person is often juggling all these needs simultaneously: caring for aging parents, raising children, managing their own health, and trying to maintain a career. In America, we lack built-in norms and infrastructure around intergenerational care. We're left to figure it out alone.

DB: That is something that I’m sure many people can relate to.  So tell us a bit about yourself, and how you got into this work?

SJS: Well – As you kindly mentioned on my behalf, my name is Sue-Jean, and I'm a Senior Program and Strategy Lead at The Holding Co. The Holding Co is a design agency focused on the care economy, specifically the unpaid care work that holds our society together (think caring for kids, caring for the aging, those with illnesses, and more). In my role, I partner directly with organizations to help them define multi-year strategies and design programs that align with their missions to create real impact, among other things.

Before this, I worked at IDEO, a design firm where I focused on criminal justice and legal design. When I started expanding into care work, I remember feeling like I was leaving behind an area of expertise I'd worked hard to build. But a mentor helped me see something crucial: every broken system in the United States is strangely interconnected. When we improve the care economy, we see better outcomes in criminal justice, education, health… everything. That initial realization helped change how I understood this work.

DB: Yeah I had a similar transition and realization coming from international development and community organizing to care. It’s all so connected. I’m wondering though, in your opinion, what are some of the beautiful or positive aspects of care in the US right now, and some of the difficult aspects or pitfalls?

SJS: People genuinely want to care for one another. We don't want others to suffer alone. We don't want children to go without attention and love. We want the best possible care for our loved ones. Increasingly, people are shedding light on care issues by talking openly about the struggles, sharing their stories, and building community around these challenges.

That said, the stories you hear are filled with struggle, including but not limited to financial strain, emotional exhaustion, and systemic barriers. Solutions often don't address the core problem, and the system is so fragmented and disparate that it's hard to know where to even begin an overhaul.

DB: So then what does the future of care look like, from a family member perspective, from someone being cared for, from an employer perspective? Or maybe, what should that future look like?

SJS: The future of care is interconnected and relational. The system has to acknowledge that a family member, someone being cared for, and an employer could all be the same person at different points in their day (or even in the same moment).

The future of care is also communal. We need more person-to-person contact, more people turning to each other for help and support. There's so much wisdom that people have gained through lived experience, knowledge that gets shared through storytelling and community rather than formal systems.

That's why The Holding Co. is building products like The Sandwich Club: to create a modern way to share and access information on caregiving. It's about recognizing that no one needs to start from scratch, most of us are doing some form of caregiving, and we can all be learning from each other.

DB: Tell us about some success The Holding Co has had in improving the care economy.

SJS: The Holding Co. works with startups, nonprofits, corporations, and governments on products, brands, strategies, and experiences to revolutionize how we care for our kids and elders and manage family life.

One example of a meaningful partnership we’ve had for many years now is with Washington, the first state in the US to create an affordable way to access long term care regardless of economic status (a crucial policy innovation given that 7 of 10 of us will need long term care at some point in our lives). Working Washingtonians contribute a small percentage of their income into a shared fund, earning them access to the benefit when they need long term care.

The Holding Co. was honored to support the WA Cares Fund team to establish a brand that would feel authentic and inviting to a wide range of Washingtonians and integrate it into what we called the “experience blueprint,” a strategy for ensuring that this historic legislation hit the ground in a way that dispelled misinformation, invited people in, and ensured enduring success.

Now that the site has launched, we have been continuing to partner with the WA Cares Fund team to ensure that every aspect of the user experience is as finely tuned as possible… from when people first learn about WA Cares to when they access benefits for the first time, and all the potential steps in between.

DB: Working in this field myself, I know it isn’t easy. So what makes it a difficult arena to work in?

SJS: One of the biggest challenges is that "caregiver" isn't a title most people readily identify with, even though everyone has care experiences. You might be caring for aging parents, raising children, or supporting a partner with a chronic illness, but you don't necessarily think of yourself as a caregiver. You're just doing what needs to be done.

So not only does the systemic work need to happen, but we also need to help people see themselves in this conversation. The market needs to be something people feel they can relate to and recognize as their story.

DB: Really interesting. And you’re right I wouldn’t have thought about the caregiver title that way. Is there a personal story that has touched you, that reminds why you do this work? Could you share it with us?

SJS: For me, it's deeply personal in a forward-looking way. I think about the world I want my parents to age within: a world where they have dignity, support, and community as they grow older. I think about the world I want the new generations to grow up in: one where care isn't a burden that breaks families, but a shared responsibility that strengthens communities. That future doesn't exist yet, but it's what keeps me doing this work.

DB: 100% agree. Thank you so much Sue-Jean and big thank you to The Holding Co for sitting down with us. 

Readers are always welcome to respond with questions, comments, feedback, or stories to share. At Simon, we are always open to learning alongside our community.

The Holding Co design products, brands, and experiences revolutionizing how we care for our kids and elders and manage family life. They partner with the organizations that are working to give families the time, space, and joy they deserve, from fast growing start-ups to multinationals and government agencies to nonprofits.

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