Philadelphia native Ariella Furman moved to Pittsburgh two years ago and was at a loss: The booming LGBT environment she experienced in her hometown was missing in her new home. So Furman, a 2008 Temple University graduate, fixed it. She recently launched a dating and social-networking app for LGBT women called Wing Ma’am. “I wanted to make friends but couldn’t find a sense of the community for LGBT women,” she said of Wing Ma’am’s impetus. “I loved the Stimulus parties and I wanted something like that in Pittsburgh.” Furman started women’s event Impulse, which grew to have a subscription base of 4,000 people within a year. Furman typically sees up to 550 women at her events and learned of their stories and struggles, which ultimately motivated her to pursue more for the community. “I started to learn more about the audience and what hurdles they were facing. Even though there was an event for the community, I began to see the success of apps like Grindr and learn about the different technologies out there. I felt that I could cure that isolation not just in Pittsburgh but nationally.” Furman started Wing Ma’am eight months ago and will launch the official app in November. She said getting it off the ground has been tough; Furman invested her savings to create the app but found herself spending more than she wanted to in order to perfect the app. Alphalab, which helps leading technology companies launch quickly and successfully, accepted Furman and her team into a 20-week program. The team was granted $25,000 in investment capital, office space, mentorship and educational sessions to develop Wing Ma’am. The volunteer team consists of Furman as CEO and founder, Dana Custer as director of operations, Laura Kingsbury as social-media manager and Ellie Gordon as intern. Furman said the app caters to LGBT women and transgender individuals from all over the country, ages 18-59. The app includes 13 options for sexual and gender identities and allows users to make their identities anonymous if they want. Before the official launch, interested individuals can register on Wing Ma’am’s website for future alerts on the launch. So far, the app has 3,000 people signed up, which Furman hopes will turn into 10,000 by the time the app launches. Wing Ma’am is an all-in-one app for women to network, make friends, date or and create and look up events in their area. Furman said the name for the app came from a catch phrase her best friend used. “She would go out to the bars and ask us to come along as her wing ma’am,” she explained. Furman said supporters can get involved in the development and publicity of the app to ensure quality service for all areas of the country. “On our site, we have signups to make sure that by the time the app launches, that there are 10,000-20,000 people using the app at once in every city. We want to already have a couple-thousand viewers on it, otherwise it wouldn’t be good,” she said. Wing Ma’am is supported by Phoenix Lesbians, Lez Do It, Pittsburgh Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, Cash in Country, Indy Women’s Social Group, North County LGBTQ Resources Center, GLCC Pittsburgh, MyPride.me, Lesbian Lounge, Ambush Buffalo, Philly Bar Scene Gayborhood, WinterPride and The Seattle Lesbian. Furman said the app is more than a dating experience and she hopes it creates an inclusive community for all LGBT women. “I think our biggest goal is to be a social guidebook for LGBT women and their social life so that they could easily manage it and learn about what is going on in their city and feel like they are connected,” she said. “There is strength in numbers. One of the reasons I felt isolated in Pittsburgh was because I couldn’t find people like me. It is a safe outlet no matter how you identify.” For more information, visit www.wingmaam.com or visit their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/wingmaamapp.