SCORE Mentor Helps ‘Cinema Therapy’ Entrepreneur Ask for the Sale

Mark Steenbarger always had a love of the arts but pursuing a career in computer science seemed more practical. Still, he landed roles in plays and started his own improv group.

As Steenbarger says, he was “coding by day, performing by night.”

Several years ago, his wife, who, at the time, had recently obtained a degree in human services, opened his eyes to the horror of human trafficking.

“Could performing arts work for this?” Steenbarger wondered. “I just want to help helpers.”

The “helpers” Steenbarger hopes to help through his social enterprise, Point of View Story, are the therapists and case managers from agencies throughout the U.S. who work with human trafficking survivors.

Dubbed “cinema therapy,” the 10 short films that Steenbarger has created with Impact Producer Emily Taylor-Ginger, a private practice clinical clinician, are being used to increase awareness, deepen trauma processing, and mitigate re-exploitation for survivors of commercial sexual exploitation and human trafficking.

“These girls have had repetitive assaults, which is complex trauma,” Steenbarger said. “I’ve learned that there is a gap there. I created materials and resources to help this particular population.”

Steenbarger – who walked away from his coding job after 29 years in June – recorded his first psychotherapeutic film in 2019. Since leaving his full-time job several months ago, Steenbarger has raised $129,000 to help cover expenses of his startup enterprise.

Agencies can access the films and view them with patients as part of an annual membership model. To date, Point of View Story has 10 to 15 active members, with others participating on a trial basis. Steenbarger has set his sights on being fully solvent by 2025. To reach that benchmark, he needs to onboard a total of 60 members.

“There are 252 agencies in the pipeline,” he said, adding that he has members in Arkansas, Alabama California, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Nevada, Texas, and Virginia. He recently began creating subtitles in Spanish and Indonesian and Romanian.

SCORE Indianapolis mentor Tom Adkins, a “sales and marketing guy” who retired from Roche Diagnostics, is coaching Steenbarger on how to ramp up his business. An integral part is “closing the deal.”

“He is so passionate about it,” Adkins said of Steenbarger. “He’s coming at it with a unique solution to really help the service providers, the counselors. The tool works.”

Together, they talk through Steenbarger’s sales calls, review his sales deck, and help him “be more efficient in the selling process.”

For Steenbarger, his mentor has given him the confidence he needed to keep pushing forward.

“Tom’s been invaluable for me,” Steenbarger said, adding that his mentor’s support demonstrates that he’s moving in the right direction. “He’s seen a lot. He’s been through a lot. I can trust that what we’re doing is good.”

SCORE mentors provide no-cost mentoring services throughout the life of a business.

About SCORE

Since 1964, SCORE has helped 11 million entrepreneurs start or grow a business. SCORE's 10,000 volunteers provide free mentoring, workshops, and educational services to 1,500+ communities nationwide. With more than 70 members throughout the Indianapolis area, SCORE Indianapolis provides nearly 3,000 mentoring services annually to local small business owners through one-on-one counseling and small business workshops. For more information about starting or operating a small business, or finding a mentor, visit SCORE Indianapolis at www.score.org/indianapolis.