Femtech At Work

Maaike Steinebach
  • 0.0 (0)
  • Business
  • Updated Semimonthly

Femtech At Work is a new podcast that showcases inspiring femtech founders, corporate champions of women’s health in the workplace, and ecosystem innovators. Starting off in Hong Kong we will travel across Asia and Oceania and the rest of the world to explore the most innovative new women’s health solutions around reproductive health and diseases that disproportionately affect women, talk about the challenges and opportunities of starting a women’s health company and the role of the workplace for impact and change.

  1. From Crippling Anxiety to a 700K Community-Funded App

    2d ago

    From Crippling Anxiety to a 700K Community-Funded App

    On this episode of Femtech At Work, Mary Doube, civil engineer turned competitive strongwoman and co-founder/CEO of Aviiana, shares how being told her crippling perimenopause symptoms were "trauma" pushed her to build the app she couldn't find anywhere else. After VCs passed, Mary and her co-founder turned to their community, raising $700,000 in a crowdfunding round that closed in 48 hours flat. Now backed by a health-tech growth partner, Aviiana is building a women's health innovation platform combining a symptom tracker, a doctor-ready health passport, and a vetted directory of professionals. This is a masterclass in investing in women's healthcare — not from a boardroom, but from a mum of three who nearly didn't make it through her own perimenopause. If you've ever been told you're "fine" while your body says otherwise, you need to hear this. Key Takeaways: Why did one doctor's diagnosis send this founder into a mental health crisis instead of an answer? Find out how a civil engineer with no medical background ended up building a health tech platform used by thousands of women Discover what happened in the 48 hours after this founder asked her community for money instead of investorsWhat did the VCs get wrong when they passed on funding this founder — twice? Use this founder's story to rethink what you assume about your own "unexplained" symptoms Resources: Mary Doube: LinkedIn Aviiana: LinkedIn Aviiana: LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | Aviiana: aviiana.com.au/ Maaike Steinebach: LinkedIn Website Femtech Future: femtechfuture.com Instagram Femtech Future: @femtech_future If this episode made you sit with the memory of a doctor telling you "you're fine" while your body was screaming otherwise, you are not alone, and you are not imagining it — Mary's story is proof that the answers exist even when the system hasn't caught up yet, and if this conversation gave you even a flicker of recognition, do one thing right now: leave a 5-star review on whatever platform you're listening on, because it takes 30 seconds and it's the single most powerful way to help Femtech At Work reach the women who need to hear a story like Mary's, so subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts so you never miss a founder story like this one, and thank you so much for being here. See you next week.

    34 min
  2. Women's Metabolic Health: The CGM Platform Fixing What Healthcare System Ignores

    Jul 2

    Women's Metabolic Health: The CGM Platform Fixing What Healthcare System Ignores

    What happens when one of Australia's leading integrative GPs starts scaling women's metabolic health to thousands? Dr. Michelle Woolhouse, founding medical doctor at Vively and author of The Wonder Within, joins Femtech At Work to answer exactly that. The healthcare system is built for disease management, not for the woman who feels exhausted, hormonally stuck, and told she is fine when she knows something is deeply wrong. Dr. Michelle spent 25 years in integrative medicine, watching this play out, and built something different. Vively combines CGMs, personalized blood testing, and lifestyle coaching, and with 8,500 members and 2,500 active in coaching, holistic data-driven care for women is proving it can scale. If diets have failed you and your doctor has dismissed you, this is the femtech conversation that changes the way you think about your health. Key Takeaways: Why does your body keep fighting back, no matter how clean you eat, how hard you train, or how disciplined you think you areDiscover what the healthcare system you have trusted your whole life was actually built to do and why your long-term health may never have been the real priorityFind out how a pattern millions of women have called a personal weakness their entire lives might finally have a biological, data-driven explanation that changes everythingLearn what a real model of preventative care for women actually looks like and why it looks nothing like what most of us have ever had access to What is the one tool you can start using right now to finally understand what is actually happening inside your own body and why the results might surprise you Resources: Michelle Woolhouse: LinkedIn Vively: LinkedIn Vively: Instagram Vively: vively.com.au/ The Wonder Within by Dr. Michelle Woolhouse : Buy here Maaike Steinebach: LinkedIn Website Femtech Future: https://www.femtechfuture.com Instagram Femtech Future: @femtech_future You just spent time inside a conversation that most women will never find and that matters. Every episode of Femtech At Work exists because founders like Dr. Michelle are doing the work, and because listeners like you keep showing up to hear it. If something in this episode stayed with you — a question it raised, a shift it started, a thought you cannot stop thinking about — turn that into one action right now. Leave a 5-star review on whatever platform you are listening on. It takes 30 seconds, and it is how Femtech At Work keeps finding and amplifying the voices that women across Asia actually need to hear. Subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts so the next conversation reaches you first — and thank you so much for being here. See you next week.

    41 min
  3. Progressive Period Care and the Problem Nobody Was Solving: Mia Klitsas on Innovation in Women's Health through Moxie

    Jun 25

    Progressive Period Care and the Problem Nobody Was Solving: Mia Klitsas on Innovation in Women's Health through Moxie

    It started with a lone tampon rolling around at the bottom of a handbag. That was the moment, Mia Klitsas, the Co-founder of Moxie, Australia's progressive period care brand on a mission to make women feel genuinely seen through products that are functional, beautiful, and built around real needs that have been overlooked for far too long. In this episode, Mia takes us behind twenty-one years of building a brand from the ground up, bootstrapped, battle-tested, and unapologetically focused on women. From cracking major retail at 22 with nothing but cold calls and conviction, to developing Australia's first purpose-built pad for endometriosis, there is a lot in this conversation that goes well beyond period care. If you are building something, selling something, or simply trying to understand what it really takes to create a product women actually need, the answers are in here. Let’s dive in! Key Takeaways: Find out how a tampon rolling around in a handbag sparked a business idea that a 21-year-old turned into a launch in just six months with nothing but guts, cold calls, and a dog-with-a-bone attitude Discover why Moxie calls itself progressive period care and what that actually means when it comes to the way they talk about women's bodies, periods, and pain Learn what Mia personally uncovered when she sat down with 43 people living with endometriosis, and why what she heard completely changed how Moxie thinks about product development Find out what Australia's first purpose-built pad for endometriosis actually does differently Find out why Mia believes the future of women's health innovation isn't just about building products for women and the two words that she thinks should sit at the centre of every founder's process Find out why Mia thinks most people building in women's health are still getting it fundamentally wrong and the uncomfortable truth she's not afraid to say out loud Resources: Mia Klitsas: LinkedIn Moxie: Instagram | TikTok | YouTube Moxie: Website Maaike Steinebach: LinkedIn Website Femtech Future: https://www.femtechfuture.com Instagram Femtech Future: @femtech_future Mia didn't wait for permission to change the conversation around periods, she just started having it. Loudly, honestly, and without apology. And in doing so, she built something that millions of women around the world didn't even know they were waiting for. That's what happens when you stop designing around what's comfortable and start designing around what's real. If this episode resonated with you, share it with a woman in your life who deserves to feel seen in her health. Like it, leave a review, and help us keep amplifying the founders who are quietly and not so quietly changing the face of women's health. See you next week for another episode of Femtech At Work.

    40 min
  4. Maternity Deserts, AI Bias, and the Future of Women's Health Tech with Anoushka Gungadin in Building HeraMed

    Jun 19

    Maternity Deserts, AI Bias, and the Future of Women's Health Tech with Anoushka Gungadin in Building HeraMed

    What if the data collected during your pregnancy could predict and even prevent - a heart attack, a stroke, or dementia decades later? That's not a distant vision. That's exactly what HeraMed is building right now. Anoushka Gungadin's path to CEO of HeraMed is anything but straight from growing up in Mauritius, to a decade in China, to building a leadership practice in Australia. And it's that exact breadth of experience that shapes the way she thinks about women's health. Because in her world, one size has never, and should never, fit all. This is a conversation about technology, equity, and what it truly looks like to build healthcare that's designed around the woman not the other way around. Key Takeaways: Find out how a girl from Mauritius who detoured through China and corporate boardrooms ended up leading one of the most exciting companies in women's health Discover how HeraMed quietly grew from a single device into a full women's health platform and what that journey reveals about where personalized care is actually headed Learn the link your doctor probably never mentioned, what happens in your pregnancy and what it could mean for your heart, your brain, and your body decades down the line Find out why AI is failing women 60% of the time right now and how HeraMed is tackling a bias that most of the health tech world isn't even willing to admit exists Discover what a "maternity desert" really means and why the scale of the problem in the US is what brought an Australian company all the way across the Pacific Learn the one thing that makes or breaks clinician buy-in for health tech innovation and why it has nothing to do with how impressive your technology is Find out what Anoushka thinks is quietly getting in the way of real progress in Australia's femtech space and why she believes the industry's biggest unlock isn't funding, it's each other Discover why being the only ASX-listed femtech company is not the win it sounds like and what it actually tells us about how far women's health investment still has to go Resources: Anoushka Gungadin: LinkedIn HeraMed: LinkedIn HeraMed: hera-med.com Maaike Steinebach: LinkedIn Website Femtech Future: https://www.femtechfuture.com Instagram Femtech Future: @femtech_future Anoushka isn't just building a platform, she's building a future where a woman's health data actually follows her, protects her, and works for her at every stage of life. That vision is rare. And it deserves to be heard. If this episode resonated with you, share it with a woman in your life who deserves better from her healthcare. Like it, leave a review, and help us keep putting these conversations in front of the people who need them most. Thank you, and see you next week for another episode of Femtech At Work.

    33 min
  5. Why Menopause Patches Are Stuck in the Past & How Lorai Health Plans to Change That

    Jun 11

    Why Menopause Patches Are Stuck in the Past & How Lorai Health Plans to Change That

    Millions of women rely on hormone therapy patches to survive menopause, yet Big Pharma has essentially decided that fixing the global patch shortage isn't profitable enough. What happens when the system fails women, and two midlife founders decide to rewrite the rules of healthcare themselves? In this episode, Maaike sits down with Johanna Wicks, co-founder of Lorai Health, to expose the frustrating reality behind the global patch shortage and the regulatory question marks surrounding decades-old formulas. Johanna shares her own harrowing battle with undiagnosed perimenopause and reveals Lorai's ambitious, unconventional two-patch strategy to disrupt the market, navigate the brutal world of female-founder funding, and secure a shocking quarter-million-dollar lifeline. If you are ready for a masterclass in science, fury, and pure resilience, this is an episode you cannot afford to miss. Tune in now to find out exactly how Lorai Health plans to get patches back on the shelves in record time. Key Takeaways: Find out what two years of unexplained symptoms, repeated doctor visits, and a diagnosis that should have come much sooner taught Johanna and how it completely rewrote the path her career would take Discover the uncomfortable truth behind why menopause hormone therapy patches are in chronic global shortage and why the pharmaceutical companies that could solve it keep looking the other wayLearn what Laorai Health's two-patch strategy actually involves and why the timeline for getting a better patch into women's hands is shorter than you might expect Find out why manufacturing a hormone therapy patch is far more complicated than it sounds, and how a surprisingly small number of facilities worldwide are even equipped to do it Learn what Johanna and her co-founder Raisa experienced when they took their vision to venture capital and why the reality of female founders in the funding world is even more sobering than the statistics suggest Find out how a GoFundMe, a Channel Nine news story, and a stranger on the Gold Coast set off a chain of events that resulted in a quarter-million-dollar donation and what it signals about where true support for women's health actually comes from Discover why Australia's sophisticated investor rules may be quietly shutting the very women who believe in Lorai Health out of the opportunity to back it and why Johanna thinks the whole system needs a rethink

    36 min
  6. How CaptureCare is Rewriting the Rules of Menopause Support with Real Empathy

    Jun 4

    How CaptureCare is Rewriting the Rules of Menopause Support with Real Empathy

    What happens when you combine decades of medical sales expertise with a refusal to accept the status quo? You get Amelia Dickinson, the founder of Capture Care. In this beautifully raw conversation, Amelia opens up about the painful turning points that led her here. From navigating three redundancies and systemic harassment to witnessing the silent health struggles women face in midlife. Together, we will explore why medical data is empty without real empathy, how small daily choices (like a single glass of wine) can dictate the boundary between brain fog and clarity, and why she is fiercely dedicated to funding free legal aid for women falling through the cracks. This is more than a business profile; it’s a vital blueprint for women's survival and success in the modern world. Key Takeaways: Find out why a stable career in Big Pharma isn't as secure as it looks, and what specific "accumulation of experiences" forced Amelia to stop playing by the industry's rules?Learn the secret to slashing patient medication drop-off rates from 50% to just 14% using a model that prioritizes human connection over automated alertsUnderstand why monitoring your health through "snapshots" like annual blood tests is failing you, and how continuous data can reveal what’s actually happening to your cortisol and hormones in real-timeDiscover how "Preventative Remote Patient Monitoring" is filling the dangerous gap between your annual doctor appointmentsFind out why women in midlife are 10x more likely to develop autoimmune issues and how real-time data can stop a crisis before it startsLearn the specific "Health Summary" strategy that ensures you are never rushed during a 15-minute GP consult againDiscover why Amelia believes that a normal reaction to an abnormal situation is the most important thing a woman in perimenopause needs to hear Resources: Amelia Dickison: LinkedIn CaptureCare Digitals: LinkedIn CaptureCare Digitals: Instagram CaptureCare Digitals: https://capturecare.com.au/ Maaike Steinebach: LinkedIn Website Femtech Future: https://www.femtechfuture.com Instagram Femtech Future: @femtech_future Amelia’s story reminds us that the most powerful innovations don't come from a lab, they come from a "lived experience" that says enough is enough. From the trenches of medical sales to the boardrooms of Singapore, she is proving that when women are cared for, the entire economy rises. If this episode moved you, don't keep it to yourself. Like, share, and leave a review to help us amplify the voices of founders who are literally saving lives. Your engagement is the fuel that keeps this movement growing. Thank you, and see you next week for another episode of FemTech at Work.

    40 min
  7. Turning Pain into Purpose: BV, Vaginal Health and the Rise of Pinc Wellness with Sarah Galloy

    May 28

    Turning Pain into Purpose: BV, Vaginal Health and the Rise of Pinc Wellness with Sarah Galloy

    Vaginal health is central to a woman’s life, from her first period to her last hot flush – yet it remains one of the most dismissed, misunderstood and under-researched areas of healthcare. In this powerful conversation, we sit down with Sarah Galloy, founder of Pinc Wellness, to unpack the reality behind recurrent BV, UTIs, thrush and the emotional toll of not being believed. If you’ve ever been dismissed by a doctor, struggled with recurring infections, or simply felt you “should know more” about your own body, this episode will leave you informed, validated and ready to join a bigger movement for change. Key Takeaways: Find out how Sarah’s personal battle with recurrent BV, UTIs and thrush pushed her from repeated medical gaslighting to founding Pinc Wellness in the first place Discover what bacterial vaginosis (BV) actually is, how the vaginal microbiome and pH shifts trigger it, and why so many women have it without obvious symptoms Understand how male partners can carry BV-causing bacteria like Gardnerella without symptoms, and why treating only the woman often leads to endless recurrence Learn why antibiotics alone rarely solve recurrent vaginal infections, and how rebuilding a healthy vaginal microbiome with probiotics and acidity support can change everything Find out which Pink Wellness products women are turning to most like vaginal probiotics, gentle washes with boric acid and vulva oils and what specific problems they help address Discover how social media censorship of words like “vagina” and “vulva” shapes what women see and learn online, and why educational femtech content gets punished while pure product posts thrive Find out what Sarah’s new Pink Bloom platform will offer from vaginal microbiome testing to telehealth with gynecologists, naturopaths and sexologists across every life stage Discover what needs to change in healthcare, education and at home so that parents can confidently teach their daughters about vaginal microbiome and intimate wellness from day one Resources: Sarah Galloy: LinkedIn Pinc Wellness: LinkedIn | https://www.instagram.com/pincwellness/ Pinc Wellness: https://pincwellness.com/ Maaike Steinebach LinkedIn Website Femtech Future: https://www.femtechfuture.com Instagram Femtech Future: @femtech_future In a world where vaginal health is still treated as niche, shameful or “too much for the workplace,” conversations like this one are how change begins. Sarah’s journey from gaslighting to founding Pink Wellness and now building Pink Bloom proves that women’s intimate health is not a side topic; it is central to our physical, mental and sexual wellbeing. If this episode resonated with you, don’t keep it to yourself. Share it with a friend who needs to hear she’s not alone. Like this episode, leave a review so more listeners can find these stories, and help us push vaginal health and femtech into the mainstream. See you on our next episode

    28 min
  8. The Startup Story Behind Girls Get Off and Women’s Sexual Empowerment

    May 21

    The Startup Story Behind Girls Get Off and Women’s Sexual Empowerment

    What happens when two female founders decide that women’s pleasure deserves the same love and design as kincare and refuse to let stigma or shadow bans stop them? Today, we have Viv Conway, co‑founder of the sexual wellness brand Girls Get Off, to unpack how a “taboo” idea became a fast‑growing, community‑driven business across New Zealand and Australia. This is a candid, funny, and deeply empowering conversation about sex, leadership, entrepreneurship, and why sexual wellbeing is health, not a guilty secret. Let’s dive in! Key Takeaways: Find out how two founders turned a lockdown idea for a sex toy brand into a fast‑growing sexual wellness business without relying on paid adsDiscover why Girls Get Off’s most devoted customers weren’t the 20‑somethings they first imagined, but time‑poor women juggling kids, careers, and long‑term relationshipsLearn how Viv used organic Instagram content, Sunday Confessions, and community‑driven storytelling to normalize sex toys on people’s feeds Find out how they navigate digital censorship, code words, and shadow bans while still growing a vibrant, engaged online communityFind out what really happens behind the scenes when you try to source sex toys from overseas manufacturers and the expensive mistakes Viv would never repeatDiscover the shocking gap between how terrified most women feel asking for what they want in bed and how enthusiastic most men are to be “given the answers to the test”Learn how stigma shows up in unexpected places—from influencers afraid to work with sexual wellness brands to banks refusing to open accounts and how Girls Get Off turned that into media winsFind out why Viv believes we stand on the shoulders of generations of women who fought for our rights and why it’s an embarrassment not to use that freedom boldly Resources: Viv Conway: LinkedIn Girls Get Off: Facebook Group | Facebook Girls Get Off: Instagram Girls Get Off: https://girlsgetoff.com/ Maaike Steinebach LinkedIn Website Femtech Future: https://www.femtechfuture.com Instagram Femtech Future: @femtech_future This episode is more than a founder story, it’s a lens into how changing the conversation about pleasure can change women’s lives, relationships, and even how we see our own power. Together, we can move sexual wellness out of the shadows and into everyday self‑care. If this conversation made you laugh, think, or feel just a little bit braver about your own pleasure and power, don’t let it stop at your earbuds. Like it and leave a review, so more listeners can discover these powerful stories. See you next week for another episode of FemTech at Work, where we keep amplifying the voices reshaping women’s health and wellbeing.

    35 min
See All (80)

About

Femtech At Work is a new podcast that showcases inspiring femtech founders, corporate champions of women’s health in the workplace, and ecosystem innovators. Starting off in Hong Kong we will travel across Asia and Oceania and the rest of the world to explore the most innovative new women’s health solutions around reproductive health and diseases that disproportionately affect women, talk about the challenges and opportunities of starting a women’s health company and the role of the workplace for impact and change.

Information

  • Creator
    Maaike Steinebach
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    80
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Show Website
    Femtech At Work