okino - Cohort I Founder Spotlight

Who is Mara?

Mara James is a Master's student at LIS: The London Interdisciplinary School, where she's studying Interdisciplinary Problems and Methods — which is, it turns out, exactly the right background for the problem she's trying to solve.

Before her Master's, Mara studied Contour Fashion at De Montfort University, graduating with a first. She's worked in design, content creation, and social media — building a practical understanding of audiences, aesthetics, and what makes people pay attention. Mara is not a typical tech founder. That's precisely the point.

Why is Mara building it?

The problem Mara is working on is loneliness — and this isn't academic for her. Moving to new cities, finding herself in new environments, Mara has felt it firsthand. That personal connection to the problem is what makes okino more than just a business idea.

She noticed something specific: the loneliness isn't from a lack of people. It's from a lack of the right people. Creators build audiences of thousands who share values, goals, and interests. Those followers are, in theory, highly compatible with each other. In practice, they never meet.

What did Mara build?

okino is a done-for-you events service that turns online audiences into real-world communities. Creators don't need to plan, organise, or run anything — okino handles the logistics. The output is small, curated events built around shared activity, designed to turn passive followers into people who actually know each other.

She also threw herself fully into the programme — supporting the wider cohort, contributing to marketing, and becoming one of the most invested founders in the room. Before pitch day she won the People's Choice Award at a Canopy Community demo night — her first time pitching in front of a live audience.

Where is Mara taking it?

On 27th May at Revolut HQ, Mara pitched okino and walked away with £8,500 from Simon Squibb. He committed to helping with the first event, and gave her the money so she could work on this full time after the completion of her Master’s.

That's not a standard cheque. That's a co-sign from someone with the network and reach to make the first event a statement.

The community is already there. okino is just finally letting it find itself.