Using technology to strengthen students’ emotional well-being and, in doing so, improve the school environment. That is, broadly speaking, the premise behind Melania Sanhueza and her partner, Rodrigo, founding Müud in 2023.
The app allows students to track how they feel each day on a scale ranging from “very bad” to “amazing.” This information helps identify early on those who need more support and provides schools with a tool to take timely action. The goal, Melania explains, is “to eliminate the prejudices we often hold. If a student is disruptive, for example, they may be going through an emotional situation that no one has been able to detect, and we need to bring it to light so we can provide the support they need.”
“With Müud, we aim to educate students who are capable of exercising leadership that is more empathetic and attuned to the needs we face as a society in the 21st century,” he adds.
How did Müud get started?
Müud was born out of a very personal story. At the heart of that story is Rodrigo, who is my husband and also the co-founder. During his school years, he was severely bullied, and instead of helping him or understanding what was happening, the school expelled him. In light of that experience, he decided to become a teacher so that no child would ever feel invisible in the classroom again. Then we met—I was working in the field of innovation and educational technology—and we decided that this was not just a problem, but a responsibility. So we created a tool to help students achieve emotional well-being in schools. Thus, Müud was born out of a deep need to make emotions visible and to ensure that no student—whether a boy, a girl, or a young person—feels misunderstood and can find the support they need to achieve emotional well-being.
How does Müud work, and how can it be used in the classroom?
Müud is an emotional well-being app where students can express how they feel every day and explore their emotions in more depth. We often say, “I feel bad,” but there’s a big difference between saying “I feel sad” and “I feel bored”—and both stem from sadness. So if I’m able to recognize that every day in a simple way that’s part of my daily routine, I’ll be able to develop more tools for self-awareness and manage those emotions much more effectively. And if I also have the support of education professionals—my teachers—then I’ll truly be able to receive much more meaningful support for my mental health. This support helps develop skills like self-awareness and self-management—skills that have already been proven to benefit future performance. For example, if I’m able to recognize that I’m feeling angry and take a moment to pause instead of hitting a classmate, I’ll be able to work through that effectively.
What aspects of Chilean society do you think contributed to the creation of this tool, which today helps protect young people?
I think that in Chile we’re used to dealing with diverse realities, and that’s exactly the perspective we bring to our work at Müud. Emotional problems don’t just appear out of nowhere; they build up day by day, and it’s precisely that perspective that led us to say: let’s create a solution not for the ideal school, but for the real school—the one we experience every day in Chile.
How did Müud's introduction to schools go?
We began our pilot program at a school in Osorno. They were facing significant challenges with classroom behavior. We know that schools are often overwhelmed by issues such as violence, students on the autism spectrum, anxiety, depression, and many cases of suicidal ideation. We started working with them, and Müud confirmed that early detection of emotions helps schools prevent risky situations that affect classroom behavior. Following that validation, more schools began adopting the program. In fact, we just completed a study in collaboration with a research center in Norway that confirmed that after just 8 weeks of daily use of Müud, students are able to develop skills such as self-control and emotional regulation much more effectively.
What was the process like when Müud left Chile?
It was a gradual process. We started by working directly with schools to understand their realities and routines, and based on that validation (we now have more than 10,000 students), we’ve been able to grow and expand beyond Chile to countries such as Spain, the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, and even India, where our model has proven much more effective. For a long time, emotions were a topic that was rarely discussed, and today we realize that emotions are not secondary but rather essential for education to be truly meaningful. The fact that this initiative originated in Chile to help bring students’ emotions to the forefront around the world is something that fills us with pride.
In 2020, you were recognized as a Young Leader of the Americas by the U.S. Embassy. What did that recognition mean to you on your journey?
It was an early sign that we were doing things right, that we were on the right track. I’ve always sought to grow in the fields of innovation and educational leadership, and that opened so many doors for me—it gave me new perspectives on how we could expand beyond Chile and connect with other companies and entrepreneurs throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. I earned a master’s degree in Innovation and Design, which was crucial because it broke down all the structures I’d encountered in the field I’d previously worked in—which was more business-oriented. That helped me identify problems and find solutions that were outside the box. And that path led me first to establish a foundation, then an education-focused startup, and finally Müud—to bring this cycle of educational innovation full circle with something that’s truly making an impact on a global scale.
What message would you share with today's girls who also aspire to be leaders?
My message is that we should start by getting to know ourselves. That’s the key to being able to pursue whatever we want later on. And the more we’re able to recognize what we like, what our skills and strengths are, the more we’ll be able to develop them to effectively become who we want to be in the future. I’d tell you to trust your intuition and not be afraid to follow your own path, even if everything isn’t completely clear. Don’t wait for everything to be perfect before moving forward; sometimes you just have to take that first step to do things you never imagined you were capable of achieving.
