Martina Marrali

I think what really drives us is that both me and my co-founder Liza have dealt with hormonal issues, and that's what spurred us to start this company. We wanted to find a solution to our problems, a problem that is very big in our lives and there is no solution out there. We realize that many other women are having those same issues or different ones. What is great about me and Liza is that we bring different backgrounds in sciences and different types of experience. She has more academic experience as an engineer with a PhD, while I have been in the industry and know how things work there. I've worked as a scientist for so long in biomedical sciences, always been in the medical field. And now I've combined my business knowledge with science, which I think is going to be central for success.

The best advice I received was that I can do anything that I set my mind to. When you're a scientist, you're kind of in your own world, and you only know that. You don't think that you can build your own company, you don't think that you can understand financials. You think, you know, this is not my training, this is what I need to do. So I guess the biggest learning was the fact that I can do it, and I can do anything that I set my mind to. I can take my scientific background and use that for business.

I would say keep pushing forward, keep remembering that you have the same amount or more skills than anybody else in the company, and you have the right to learn, and you have the right to be a leader as much as anybody else, and to speak up. Speak up when something is wrong, or you don't agree with it. Always speak up, no matter who you're speaking to, even if it's the CEO of the company. If you have an opinion, you lay it out in a nice and educated way. Everyone should always speak up and don't be afraid of doing that, because I think, as women, we always question ourselves, should I say this thing? Should I not say this thing? Maybe I should just stay quiet. And I think that that is one of the things that pushes you forward, is when people realize, like, okay, this person speaks up, this person has a mind, and this person wants to grow and wants to grow in this field. You get more recognized, but you also, obviously, will get much more criticism because you are a woman speaking up. But you can do anything that you put your mind to. When you're already in that environment, and you see it's mostly male-dominated, and you're going to be treated differently, and if you want to be a leader, you're going to get much more coming your way.

I would say being truthful is very important to me. There's a lot of people out there, especially a lot of founders and people in companies that kind of mislead outsiders, or they make news bigger than what they are. One thing that I'm always careful about is being truthful, both to people inside our company and the people outside, so that is a cornerstone for me. Personally speaking, one of the biggest values for me is family. I have family both here in the US and in Italy, and spending time with family is crucial. For the company specifically, it's the value of going forward with women's health and advancing women's health through what we are doing, and helping and having conversations with people about this. We're not trying to make money, actually. At the beginning of a company, there is no money to be made. We are trying, really, to push forward with advancing women's health and speaking to women and to doctors, to people that actually know how much there needs to be done in this space. Our mission and value is helping women, helping people with their health and understanding their bodies more.