Our Story

We started with a question our own family couldn't answer

Good & Well didn't begin in a research lab or a boardroom. It began at a kitchen table — with two parents trying to figure out why doing everything right still felt like it wasn't enough.

How It Started

The tension every modern family knows

Incorporated Good and Well Company, 501(c)(3)
South Carolina · April 2024

You want to show up fully at work — because your family depends on it. You want to raise kids who are kind, grounded, and ready for the world. You want to take care of your health, your marriage, your home. You want to be present.

But today's workforce demands more hours, more energy, and more of your attention than any generation before — and it pulls directly from the people who need you most. At the same time, community is shrinking. The village it takes to raise a family is harder to find than ever. Neighbors don't know each other. Extended family lives across the country. Parents are doing it alone in ways their grandparents never had to.

That was our reality. Angela was building strategic frameworks for Fortune 500 brands while trying to be the mom, wife, and person she wanted to be. Marc was working in corporate finance while pursuing his calling in ministry. They were doing everything right on paper. But the family was stretched — and no system, no program, no organization was measuring the thing that actually mattered: whether the family, as a unit, was well.

A generation ago, our grandmothers didn't call it "family wellness." They just lived it. They had something we've lost — not more money or more time, but more connection, more presence, and more of each other.

"I want all of ya'sss to be well."
— Marc's grandmother, and the reason this work exists
What We Built

From a family question to a national framework

She didn't have the pressures of modern life. But she had the answer. That question — what does it actually take for a family to be well? — became the foundation for everything Good & Well does today.

We started with our own experience. Then we looked at the data. What we found confirmed what we felt: every system that serves families measures one dimension — income, health, housing, education — but no framework measures the whole family. The places families actually break down are the places nobody's looking: belonging, purpose, shared rituals, emotional availability.

So we built one. The Good & Well Index measures family health across five dimensions. We partnered with Stephanie McGuire, whose experience in state-level public health research gave us the quantitative rigor to make the framework defensible. And we committed to a model that doesn't just study families — it builds programs from what we learn.

Research. Data tools. Practical programs. Three pillars, one mission: make families healthier, and in doing so, strengthen the communities around them.

Vision
A world where family health is measured holistically, supported systematically, and strengthened from the ground up — one community at a time.

Healthier families are the smallest functioning unit of a healthy society. When families are well, communities, cities, and states get stronger.

Approach
Research informs our tools. Tools inform our programs. Programs improve families. We never theorize without testing, and we never publish without building something families can actually use.
The Team

Built by people who live this work

We're not studying family health from a distance. We're building solutions from inside the experience — as parents, as partners, as people who've felt the gap firsthand.

Photo
coming soon
Angela Porow
Co-Founder & Executive Director

Angela spent 20+ years building strategic frameworks for some of the world's most recognized brands — from PepsiCo to Interstate Batteries — leading teams in marketing strategy, UX research, and organizational design. She's held leadership roles across agencies and in-house, most recently as Chief Strategy Officer at ACE Creatives where she builds brand systems, creative review processes, and go-to-market strategies for enterprise clients.

But the framework that mattered most was the one she couldn't find for her own family. Balancing career ambitions with raising her son Sammie, supporting her husband Marc's ministry work, and trying to build a life that actually felt whole — Angela experienced the tension that millions of working parents know intimately. Everything looked right on paper. But the family was stretched in places no system was measuring.

That gap is what Good & Well was built to close. Angela brings the same strategic rigor she's applied to brands and organizations to the question of family health — combining data, design thinking, and real-world testing into a framework that doesn't just diagnose problems, but builds practical solutions.

Strategy Brand Systems UX Research Program Design
Photo
coming soon
Marc Porow
Co-Founder & Chief Financial Officer

Marc brings a rare combination to Good & Well: the financial discipline of a corporate finance professional and the pastoral heart of a trained minister. With a Master of Divinity and years of experience in corporate finance, he operates at the intersection of faith, family, and fiscal responsibility — a combination that shapes everything about how Good & Well manages resources, serves families, and measures impact.

As CFO, Marc oversees the organization's financial health, grant budgeting, and sustainability planning. But his contribution runs deeper than the numbers. Marc's conviction that strong families are built on purpose, presence, and practical wisdom is woven into Good & Well's DNA. His grandmother's words — "I want all of ya'sss to be well" — aren't just the organization's origin story. They're his daily standard.

Marc and Angela's partnership is the proof of concept. They've navigated career transitions, financial rebuilding, and the daily work of raising a family on purpose — and turned that lived experience into a framework others can follow.

Finance Ministry Grant Budgeting Faith + Family
What Drives Us

The principles behind the work

🔬
Data First
We don't assume — we measure. Every program starts with evidence.
🏠
Whole Family
We serve the family as a unit, not individuals in isolation.
🔨
Build, Don't Just Study
Research that sits on a shelf helps no one. We build from what we learn.
🌱
Community Up
Stronger families build stronger towns, cities, and states. The ripple starts at home.

Healthier families build stronger communities.