22. Community Support for Pregnancy and Infertility Trauma

Today’s discussion is with Monica Rutkowski Grippo, the founder and CEO of Rhea, a community supporting women through pregnancy loss & infertility (in beta). And our vision is bigger: a single, trusted resource for women's health needs. Monica nevers wants any woman to walk alone after pregnancy loss or infertility struggles so the Rhea community was born out of her own personal circumstances where the community she needed and wanted didn’t exist. So she’s creating it. At Rhea, their mission is to empower women to step into their reproductive power.

You can find Rhea Community @ https://www.linkedin.com/company/rheacommunity

 

Episode Transcript

(00:13):
All right.
Hello, health heads.
Welcome and thank you for checking into this dose of the healthcare uprising.
I'm your producer in the back, Jeremy Carr here with your host in the front row, HeatherPierce.
So why don't you tell them what's on the agenda for today, Heather?
So in continuing our very deep discussions on women's health, where you're again touchingon another part of the women's health universe.

(00:39):
Today's discussion is with Monica Rupia.
She is the founder and CEO of Raya, which is a community supporting women throughpregnancy loss and infertility, which is currently in beta.
Their vision is bigger, a single trusted resource for women's health needs.
Monica never wants any woman to walk alone after pregnancy loss or infertility struggles.

(01:01):
So the Raya community was born out of her own personal circumstances where the communityshe needed and wanted didn't exist.
So she's creating it.
Um, at Raya, their mission is to empower women to step into their reproductive power.
And Monica also comes from a marketing background.
So fellow marketing nerd like me.
And, so she is definitely lending her, uh, talents and her skills, um, to, uh you know,promoting Raya and building this community.

(01:29):
So she has some, I think she has some really, unique skillsets there to help actually dothis.
So I'm super excited for it.
Cool.
Yeah.
The community building side, it's kind of overlooked in the.
healthcare space, think a lot.
that this should be a cool conversation on a topic we don't get to cover too much.
without further ado, here is our conversation with Monica from Raya.

(01:57):
Hi and welcome to Healthcare Uprising Podcast.
have Monica Grippo with Rhea with us today.
Welcome to the show.
Thank you.
I'm so happy to be here with you both.
Great.
So we're going to just dive right in like we always do.
um is a new venture for you.
um And although you've been in the marketing world, I think, for a while too.

(02:21):
So we are kindred spirits, you and I.
Tell us about what inspired you to build this organization and really like what's thegoal?
What are you intending to do?
Yeah, absolutely.
So, Rhea is a digital community and it is built to support women through infertility,pregnancy loss, and all of the emotional challenges that come along with this journey.

(02:48):
uh It was really uh born out of my own lived experience, a lot of rage, a lot of grief,over what has been about seven years, and I am still.
on this journey.
So I'm honestly building this community for all the women that need the support, but Ineed it too.

(03:12):
So in a lot of ways, I'm building what I never had throughout this entire process.
Yeah, we hear that a lot.
seems that many of the founders that come on our show are creating these products orprograms or organizations that are serving a need that they had and could not fulfill.

(03:35):
So I love that.
Yeah, it's so common because you need to have a successful company, right?
There has to be a market for a solution for some sort of problem.
And especially in women's health that has been very, uh for many, many years, decades,underfunded, under researched, we're living these experiences.

(03:58):
And I think women are taking their knowledge and their experience in the world, whetherthat's operations, tech.
you know, marketing and thinking about how do I build something and apply my skill sets,something that's going to benefit, that's very much needed and will benefit a lot of
people.
Yeah, for sure.

(04:18):
And that is also a, I would say pretty common theme, right Jeremy, that this underfundedwomen's health, because we meet quite a few people in the women's health, that FEMTECH
space.
Yeah, not just underfunded, but under researched.
No one's paid attention to it before.
It's a new thing for people to be paying attention to these things.
Which is kind of crazy, right?
When you think about it, because you know.

(04:38):
I didn't realize how bad it was.
I knew there was a disparity there, but I really didn't know how bad it was until westarted this podcast.
Yeah.
So we're grateful for you.
And what you're doing, and I think a lot of people um will be as well because uminfertility and pregnancy loss is pretty common.
So you obviously had a personal experience with that, which we can get into as we go.

(05:03):
But first I would actually like to know what, did you have a tech background?
Cause you said, you know, bringing your skills to the table.
What skills did you have to begin with, or did you just start from scratch with yourpersonal experience?
Yeah, so no technical background.
My background is in marketing and PR in the food and restaurant industry.
uh But I've worked with a lot of startups.

(05:24):
So I have not built something from zero.
So this is, you know, totally, it is different.
It's a lot different to go from nothing to one, you know, to something.
um But yeah, it's really using my lived experience and then more of my comms and marketingbackground.
I did join a tech accelerator.

(05:44):
about a year ago that really kind of pushed me to do this because I knew I needed thataccountability.
And what I also needed was the confidence to build essentially a tech product empowered bytech with no technical background.
So the accelerator that I joined was founded by a woman, Nomiki Patrola, and her missionis all about helping women get from idea to launch to scale.

(06:14):
in the tech space.
future episode.
Yeah.
Incredible leads to another.
I was honestly expecting you to say you had some kind of background that made it naturalfor you to get into that, but you didn't.
You were like, I'm just going to make this happen.
Yeah.
And the majority of women in this accelerator are, do not have technical backgrounds.

(06:38):
is specific specifically built for them to give them the tools.
And honestly that, confidence and that empowerment of like, you don't need a technicalbackground, especially in today's day and age with AI and so many off the shelf platforms,
like you can get something together to get it off the ground and prove out your model.

(06:58):
prove that there is product market fit before you even think about getting any sort offunding or backing.
Yeah.
And I always say to, you know, being a fellow marketer, um, if you ever, to like run yourcompany, one of the best people to run a company is a chief marketing officer and somebody
with a marketing background.
And it's not always the first person you think of.

(07:20):
think, operations, but marketing touches everything.
So I see where this like totally makes sense.
And with your skillset and your talent and everything, plus, you know, I liked, I likedto, to cheer on my, a fellow mark marketeer.
Yeah, and it's cool that there's a tool out there that can help you build that technicalside without having to go through the process of learning it all yourself.

(07:42):
Right.
Right.
Because that could take years.
Yeah, it doesn't.
Oh, sorry, go ahead.
I was gonna say it, like it doesn't have to anymore.
It does not take years.
I'm actually going to join this hackathon that is being hosted through this accelerator,but on a platform called Lovable, they're the fastest growing no code AI tool.

(08:06):
based out of the UK and like, I just can't wait to build something from nothing knowing nocode.
And I'm just like so jazzed.
oh
Yeah, I just would love to say to anyone listening, like if you have an idea that you wantto see out there, but think like, but I'm not a technical person or I don't know how to

(08:28):
use AI, like you can do it.
If I can do you can do it.
That's awesome.
Yeah, that's really cool.
So let's dig into kind of the specifics, right?
And also we need you to share with us what the meaning behind RAYA is as well, becausewe're sure it's something really interesting.

(08:50):
Well, Rhea was a Greek goddess of motherhood and fertility.
And also what I found kind of beautiful is representing peace and calm, which honestly aretwo things that are pretty much completely missing from our healthcare system, especially
when you're going through something like infertility and pregnancy loss.

(09:14):
So.
I also think the name is beautiful.
It's really short and memorable, which from my branding, marketing background, I love.
I love something that people can kind of easily remember and pronounce.
Yeah.
So tell us a little bit more in detail about what you're going to be doing with this.
And I think too, you're, fairly new, right into the building of this organization, right?

(09:38):
So not, not too far down the road.
Yeah, absolutely.
So very fresh, launched at the end of March.
So we are just a little over a month in.
There's 70 members who have joined.
ah And like I said, it's a digital community.
So it is a space for people to land and find others that are in similar places throughouttheir journey.

(10:05):
if you're someone who is just trying to conceive and still in that
phase and struggling versus someone maybe who's going through IVF, multiple rounds, orjust experienced a loss.
The idea is that within the community, you can easily find people on a similar path as youand connect with them.
um So it's a platform that is based on chat messages.

(10:28):
You can direct message people if you want to talk to them.
There's threads on different topics, things like that.
And then we have already hosted two workshops.
One was a sacred rage circle, which was incredible and I'm happy to share more.
And also a mindful grieving uh workshop for those who have experienced pregnancy loss.

(10:52):
And we also have two more lined up with a naturopath who specializes in fertility and aregistered nurse with grain fertility to help people kind of.
ask any questions that they have about IVF and IUI and going through the process andfinancing it.
So what I'm really trying to do is create this ecosystem where people who are goingthrough the same similar experiences have somewhere to land so that they know they are not

(11:17):
alone.
There are people that are on similar paths as you.
And then secondly, bringing on experts who can be resources and there's a
We're building out this essentially marketplace database of companies, providers, founderswho have products that serve this community, and then bringing in this expert information

(11:46):
and workshops.
And the first two, the feedback has been incredible.
They were very intimate, about six, seven people joined Per.
And what I heard overwhelming is...
overwhelmingly was just thank you for creating this space to just feel the anger that Ihave of going through everything of the dismissals, the unanswered questions, the

(12:15):
emotional toll that it takes to go through an infertility or pregnancy loss.
And same with grief.
We as a culture are very much, and from like,
company standpoint, all the things in fertility, we're like, we want to fix things.
Like we want to get over it and get onto the next.
But in reality, we need to sit and honor our grief.

(12:39):
It's so, so important.
And so we started with kind of these very emotional spaces that, you know, save spaces tohold the emotions and then moving on to more workshops that will get a little bit more,
you know, medical and scientific too.
And are the workshops virtual?
Because you've got probably maybe even a global community, maybe not yet, but at least USbased.

(13:05):
Yes.
So mostly US based.
There's a couple outside of Europe.
yeah, my vision is to build this to a place where there uh are enough people that we canstart having more in-person events and workshops and things like that.
But for now, it is all virtual.
And I want to just point out too, and I'm pretty open about like my personal experienceson the show.

(13:32):
So if we're meeting with somebody like you, um, and we cover so much stuff in women'shealth.
like, you know, I'm 48.
So like I've gone through like a lot of things in this lifetime and infertility is one ofthem.
And so I'd like to share that too, because I think it just, it, it, it just, it's common.
Right.
And it's more, and I had nobody to talk to when I went through that.

(13:54):
And I ultimately was able to have two children, but it wasn't easy.
Um, and it w I felt very alone.
And when I was going through it and these kinds of resources just didn't exist in 2009,2007, five in that area when I was trying for my first, um, who was 16.

(14:15):
So I have a 16 year old, um,
Actually funny, I drove past his hospital there that he was born in yesterday and I tookhis picture of it.
I was like, Hey, here's, here's the picture of, he thought it was actually pretty cool.
It was down.
was down in Phoenix, but, yeah.
And infertility it's, it's such a common thing.
It was a painful experience for me to go through.

(14:35):
Um, and I remember when everyone was getting pregnant around me and I would cry.
And so they would just, they kept saying, they would tell Jake, my husband, and they'dsay, don't tell her.
That sucked.
Yeah.
Yeah, so I'm happy you're doing this.
And you said, you know, this is born out of your own personal experiences.

(14:59):
Are you like willing to share a little bit more about that and kind of like what you wentthrough?
And I think it resonates when we can share our stories.
Yeah, well, thank you so much, Heather, for sharing that.
First of all, you're so right that it's common.
And I think people are finally starting to be very vocal about it.

(15:21):
so women are starting to storytell.
And that's shattering the shame around it.
And that's what's exciting to really see.
Yeah, so my journey started about eight years ago.
I had a first trimester miscarriage and I had really terrible support from my OB.

(15:43):
My OB would not confirm that it was a miscarriage, but I was like, but like, if it is, wecan't do anything.
And she's like, well, we can come and do blood work to just see if your, know, hormonelevels are growing.
And I was like, well, I'm not going to come in to get like pricked for, you know, if it'shappening, it's happening.
Like we can't stop it from happening.

(16:05):
So that was my decision, but nowhere in that conversation, I think my OB felt like,because it was still early, she could not confirm anything, even though the size of the
pregnancy was not growing.
I went through my miscarriage at home, and it was the most physically traumatizing thingto this day, because I did not know what to expect.

(16:30):
My husband and I were looking at each other like,
How much blood is too much blood?
Trying to call the on-call doctor.
know, throwing up and being like, what, like, is this normal?
Like, what am I in for?
And, you know, the fact that I had no preparation for what was going to, like, physicallyhappen to me, like, messed with me mentally and emotionally.

(16:54):
So that was my first experience.
And then about a year later, I...
was pregnant again and almost a year to the day I ended up having an ectopic pregnancy.
And what that is is that the embryo starts to develop in your fallopian tube.
So there really is no way to save that pregnancy.

(17:16):
And I honestly feel that the fact that two of my close friends had ectopic pregnancies andtold me about it, even though it is very uncommon,
I think that might have saved my life because I am not a person to go to the ER or likethe doctor if something's wrong.
If this had been my first and I had never heard of anyone having an ectopic pregnancy, Imight've just like waited it out.

(17:43):
But it becomes life threatening because as the embryo grows, it ruptures your fallopiantube so you have internal bleeding.
So on my birthday, I was at a...
24 hour clinic getting a medication to essentially have an abortion.
It stops the cells from multiplying.
Was at home, stayed home, told my boss.

(18:04):
I was pretty transparent because I had a new job at the time.
was like, and this is what I'm going through.
um And I ended up having to go to the ER and have an emergency surgery to remove thepregnancy because the tube started rupturing.
So that was scenario.
That was pregnancy number two.

(18:25):
for two, more than two years after that, I tried everything under the sun to avoid IVF.
I could get pregnant, but had two losses.
So was like, I can do this and did elimination diet, found I had Hashimoto's, which is anautoimmune condition that impacts the thyroid.

(18:45):
I was just going say that's a thyroid issue, huh?
And again, pretty common among women and we could probably do a whole not I mean, I'm nota doctor so I uh person but like auto
I've had some thyroid stuff, so yeah, get it.
um And so, yeah, I went through this whole like trying to get pregnant naturally and thenhad to really heavily grieve the fact that it's probably not gonna happen.

(19:12):
And we were kind of like at our last, know, tries of trying to do it without assistanceand then ended up going the IVF route, which thankfully we ended up having a daughter.
um Our daughter's almost three.
Congrats.
That's amazing.
is our little miracle.
em And you know, we still, um we have embryos, we had a really successful first round ofIVF, which honestly was, I was just so thankful because many people go through rounds and

(19:46):
rounds and it is emotionally, financially, physically, just such a toll.
you know, we do have embryos left.
We tried, we did another transfer
last year and I had a second trimester miscarriage in September.
And honestly, at that time, was still, I was in the throes of figuring out do I launchthis community?

(20:12):
And after that experience, I was like, fuck yes, I'm launching.
I'm like, I have to do this.
it and they will come.
You've been through it a few times now then.
Yeah, I mean.
And the thing, and honestly, it was more just rage more than anything.
I could not get a procedure to essentially remove the pregnancy at my hospital because ofreligious affiliation.

(20:40):
And so in the midst of this like emotionally devastating time, I was scrambling to get thecare that I needed.
And I was like, what world am I living in?
And so,
While Rhea is not going to provide that medical care, what I'm trying to do is A, givewomen a place to land and make sure that they know going into some of these situations

(21:08):
that there are other options and they need to be thinking about the care and preparingthemselves um for these situations in a way.
um There was a member in our community who was
going through a miscarriage and her body was not naturally getting rid of it.
So she was trying to avoid a DNC and wanted to get medication and her hospital would notgive her one of the medications.

(21:37):
It is a common abortion medication.
so it, you know, I messaged her and I'm like, have you reached out to Planned Parenthood?
I had
Like I went to a clinic who actually got me to a hospital who I was able to get theprocedure at.

(21:58):
you just kind of, again, you just have to advocate for yourself.
But when there are these challenging times, I just want to decrease the amount of time andthe hoops that women have to jump through to get where they need to be.
Yeah, I'm you brought this up actually, because with the overturn of Roe, it's puttingwomen in really precarious positions.

(22:23):
And I had what I hadn't considered actually was the hospital religious affiliation.
Like if it's a Catholic hospital, I'm assuming um that would be my assumption anyway, thatthat's an issue whether Roe versus Wade even like existed.
Right.
Like that's just a religious thing.

(22:44):
But it's like a, my gosh, sorry.
I'm going to like go down a tangent here.
Um, I just get so pissed off about this stuff.
I honestly do.
I'm so passionate about women getting the care that they need.
It comes back to your last personal experience.
Or I'm sorry, it was the middle.
You had a lot going on there.
Um, the one, the baby's not grown in the right place.

(23:07):
It's not going to happen.
You're not going to be able to carry this baby to term it.
And if you try, you're going to die.
And now that most places, as far as I know, I mean, we're in Arizona.
Odds are they're not going to help you here anymore.
They're going to let you die.
Like, what, what do you do about that?
That is a great question.

(23:32):
There are women traveling to different states to get care.
That is what many have had to resort to.
The clinic that I ended up going to in LA, just kind of like in between because theyultimately couldn't give me the procedure because I was too far along.
I was talking to them and they're like, you are still lucky that you are in California.

(23:57):
Yeah, yeah.
If you were in Texas, you'd be screwed.
Right.
They'll be like, sorry, you don't matter to us.
That's what I hear.
Right.
That's the message that you get is that they don't care about you.
because as long as they're hearing a heartbeat, which that is what state I was in when Ihad that topic, a lot of the times doctors, like kind of the line is, do we still hear a

(24:27):
heartbeat?
And it's still a, you know, it's still uh a baby.
So we can't take the right intervention, even if that intervention means the
saving the life of the mother.
mean, that is, that's not right.
It makes no sense.
They're trying to protect a baby that isn't going to be able to make it to term at theexpense of the mother's life.

(24:51):
There's no logic there.
There really isn't.
ah maddening.
Like if you want to argue against voluntary abortion, I'm still not going to agree withyou, but I get it.
Like trying to keep people from getting necessary medical attention to keep them alive.
It's never going to

(25:12):
float with me.
It's never gonna bonkers.
abortion is healthcare.
It is.
Absolutely.
what is it?
Like 98 plus percent of abortions are done because of medical necessity.
Yeah.
Like, there's not a lot of people just going out and going, I'm just going to get anabortion.
Right.
I mean, it happens, but it's so rare compared to the total.

(25:34):
That's what the message is from the other side though.
Yeah.
Like they really make, they message it like anyone who's getting an abortion is doing itjust cause they want to.
Nobody wants to go through that procedure.
Yeah.
Like nobody wants to do that.
Yeah.
Even the people who do do it voluntarily, which is a very small percentage, it's stilllike they're going to suffer major trauma from that emotionally, mentally, maybe even

(26:00):
physically.
But it's still not something they really want to do.
Absolutely.
the I mean, we could go down, you know, a whole wormhole here, but the implications offorcing women to have children who are not prepared to means they're more likely to live

(26:23):
in poverty, they're more likely to have many issues when it comes to caring for theirfamily and their health.
And so it's just a waterfall effect.
So in
In no world do I support restrictions to reproductive care.

(26:43):
Yeah, yeah, totally.
We are with you 100%.
Yeah, this is stuff we need to talk about.
Um, so not to go down that rabbit hole too far because I will.
And so we'll, I'll talk all day.
Yeah, we'll just keep going.
Um, you want to talk about rage.
Yeah.
can we talk about rage?
Actually that is, I want to, I want to hear about this rage workshop because like whodoesn't need a rage workshop, but like, especially in this kind of situation.

(27:11):
So maybe you can share a little about.
that because that's part of what you're offering with Raya.
m
Yeah, and you're so spot on.
um There's a lot of reasons to rage.
There's a lot of injustice in the world.
There's a lot happening.
And the truth is, that rage is sacred.

(27:35):
It is an emotion that needs to be honored because when it is, it tells us a lot.
There's a lot of wisdom.
There's a lot of power.
um mean, Raya would...
not be here if I wasn't enraged with um so many things along the way, right?
In my experience that I'm like, this needs to be better.

(27:56):
um So our first uh event was a Sacred Rage Circle hosted by Ruby Shang.
She is an intuitive guide.
um She's incredible.
She truly has a gift.
And what it was was an intimate group via Zoom.

(28:16):
And we just talked about it and we held space for it, right?
So we took time to ask ourselves, like, when was the first time we actually felt anger?
Like, what happened?
Where did we feel it in our body?
So we started to get like deep into just like, you know, childhood anger and, and where dowe, when does it come up for us now?

(28:40):
And what is it trying to tell us?
And so it's just, a lot of it is just
holding the space to like feel it and ask those questions.
um And then by the end of the, and we shared, know, people really were forthcoming aroundlike what came up for them, where do they feel it in their body?

(29:01):
um And then we let it out and it wasn't like primal screaming.
It was a lot of like, do what you need to do with your body, like dance, like we playedmusic and we just like honored it.
And I think it is,
Part of the reason why I love concerts, like I love going to live music because like Ineed to dance and I just like need to let my body like release like everything that it

(29:25):
holds on to.
ah And so I think it was just, you know, just creating that space and letting people takethe time in their day, maybe the first time in their lives to just talk to, you know,
themselves, like go inward to feel it.

(29:45):
So yeah, it was a really special moment for us.
Yeah.
I love that.
Talk about that live music element back in episode six with art pharmacy.
Yeah.
Jeremy and I are big fans of live music.
we are, uh, I've been to literally thousands of concerts in my life.
can't even keep track of all the bands I've seen.
Same.
I don't even remember.
Sometimes I'll come across an old ticket, you know, when they actually used to give outtickets and I'll be like, Oh, I didn't even realize I saw that band.

(30:10):
We're going to a concert on Sunday.
Yeah.
I'm sorry.
Yo, let Tango at the Orpheum.
That's one you can dance out some rage.
Yeah, absolutely.
100%.
It's fun.
I'm actually part of a group here in Flagstaff, actually on the board.
It's called the She-Wolf Project and we howl.
That's our thing.

(30:31):
It's funny when you said it's not primal scream therapy, because I was going tospecifically ask if it was because I'm a big fan of primal scream therapy.
Just going out in the woods.
it works so well.
You go out to mill and nowhere and literally just scream as loud as you can.
build it up and just feel so good.
Like I can't even tell you how good it feels.
I'm sure that feels good.

(30:51):
did say, you know, if you, asked people to bring pillows if they wanted to scream it outat least, I mean, probably in their homes and maybe somewhere at work.
mean, whatever you need, right, to like get that release out.
It's like, it's so important.

(31:12):
Yeah.
That's, mean, it, yeah, that we all need to scream a little bit or howl.
I like the howl.
Yeah, we howl.
Well, that's pretty good.
She wolves.
So we howl.
In, in groups, like all the time, it's amazing at all of our events, we howl at least likethree or four times as a group.
Yeah.
And when you do it as a group, it's even better.

(31:33):
Yeah, it really is.
Like you get that, that communal energy going with it.
You get it.
Yeah.
And speaking of communal energy and.
you're building a community for uh women dealing with infertility and so good at thesegue.
are so good at the segues em and pregnancy loss.
I know sometimes I just have to pat myself on the back.

(31:56):
But one thing I want to talk about because it seems again, maybe it's cause we're talkingabout it more just like everything and social media has like given a platform for people
to use, you know, their voices, but
Do you think from your perspective and like the research that you've done, um, and just,you know, being kind of in it, right?

(32:16):
Is, is there an increase?
Is there really legitimately an increase in infertility and pregnancy loss, maybeinfertility more so than pregnancy loss?
And, and like, we're talking about it more like, is, is there a correlation there or is itjust, you know, legitimately really increasing from your, yeah, you know,
I mean, from my from the research and the numbers infertility is increasing.

(32:41):
part of part of it is there have been things that are more frequently diagnosed now thatjust were ignored for a long time or often ignored.
um But there's a lot of things that are contributing to it that have been talked about,again, by doctors, researchers.

(33:02):
But our world has just become more toxic and stressful.
And we're having kids later too, right?
So that definitely affects just your ability, like your natural ability to get pregnantlater in life, like is impacted as you age.

(33:22):
there's a lot of, it's like a cocktail of reasons that are kind of all impactinginfertility rates.
Let's not forget the dropping sperm counts.
Right.
We covered that in a recent podcast uh with hair fertility, is addressing, well, it'sbasically at home sperm testing, we did talk about the rising infertility rates among men.

(33:52):
Yes, that's such an important point.
I've also had conversations with them, so excited to see potential partnership therebecause a lot of the time the default is like, what's wrong with the woman?
what's wrong with me?
like, and a lot of the times, 50 % of the time, if there is a fertility issue, it is themale factor.

(34:16):
And because it's becoming more at the forefront,
But sometimes that testing isn't done till way down the road and you uncover somethingthat could have been addressed earlier on.
I was on my husband about the drinking and the diet.

(34:38):
was like, listen, buddy, this isn't just me.
We all need to clean up our act a little bit to give ourselves the best chance here.
Yeah.
Cause it is what people do.
They, know, the woman is the one who has the baby.
So they, everybody just kind of puts it on the woman that, well, if you can't have a baby,it's because of you.
Yeah.
I mean, like you just said, half the time it's guy.

(35:00):
Right.
So keep that in mind too.
Until immaculate conception is actually a real thing.
This is a two way street.
I mean, the Y chromosome is evolving out and eventually we
It does look like humans will be kind of an asexual species, but you know, give us a fewmillion years on that.
That's a different topic.

(35:20):
Excuse me.
I'm tangenting.
I am glad though.
That's so cool that you're already connecting with hair fertility, which doesn't surpriseme either.
And Jeremy, with all the people that we bring on the uprising is there's so many directconnections.
We're always like, we need to, I think we even joked last time.
It was natural cycles and hair fatality need to get, have a baby.

(35:44):
Yeah, like they should really sell a package together.
Right.
Like all of you are so intertwined, like addressing one piece of this, the kind ofbroader, right?
Broader issue around, um, you know, making, making babies.
Yeah, just fertility in general.
Or choosing when you want to have a family, right?

(36:07):
Yeah, absolutely.
And, you know, my bigger, broader vision and actually what I went into the acceleratedthinking about was how do we create this one stop shop to support women throughout their
entire reproductive journey?
Because there's a ton of amazing innovation, but it's really fragmented.

(36:27):
So you're still going down the, you know, the Reddits and the Googles and AI and whatever.
And
Ultimately, my goal is to try to support women more emotionally going through this, butdecrease that time of getting the support that they need.
I want my daughter to know about her body fully.

(36:52):
Like when she gets her period, like she knows what's happening with her body and hercycle.
It's not when she's trying to have a baby that she's learning about that.
So there's just so much room for improvement.
Yeah, yeah, there's this big, beautiful universe out there filled with people like you andthese great organizations that are coming together.

(37:13):
It's like putting a puzzle together.
Yeah.
And I love seeing that.
I love seeing the puzzle come together.
Yeah, it's happening.
There's a lot of amazing momentum in this space.
um I'm seeing more of that like, hey, we need to collaborate and help each other becausethe rising tide lifts all boats kind of.

(37:36):
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's, um, you know, it's, it's, don't think it's even like an optional thing at thispoint.
This stuff has to be done.
Right.
Yeah.
And especially with the political climate, were just talking about, know, the systemdidn't want to take care of you to begin with.

(37:57):
Now it's against you.
Like before it just didn't care.
There's that's kind of how people felt like the system just didn't really care.
Now it's actively working against you.
And really the only thing you can do about that in a country like this is build acommunity of people that can come together and in a single voice say, you know, we're

(38:17):
here, man, we need this and you need to get out of the way.
Jeremy for president.
That was a great, that was a great, make you wear shoes for that job.
That'd be a better speech writer than politician.
This is probably true.
don't know.
Maybe Flagstaff city council.
might be able to pull out.
Yeah.
Just because it's Flagstaff.

(38:42):
love it, I need to visit you guys.
Yeah.
So actually, another thing I want to make sure that we touch on today too, know,infertility, obviously rising issues.
um As we're having children later, the toxic environments that are that are, you know,impacting our actual bodies, right, that are changing how fertile or infertile we are.

(39:09):
um And recently, um
it to bring it back to some of the politics here, because we just.
not avoidable.
It's conversation.
just kind of happens.
But, um, recently there has been some talk or ideas being, um, thrown out from the Trumpadministration regarding how do we incentivize women to have more children because the

(39:34):
rate of childbirth is going down.
Infertility clearly playing a role in, in this, right.
And the fact that we are waiting later.
And that is also, we're waiting later for a lot of different reasons.
One, I mean, I think is that women want their careers, right?
And so you're going to push it off.
That was definitely part of my reasoning, but then the cost of living, right?
um Housing, college, like we can't afford it, right?

(39:56):
Like you're not going to bring children into the world if you can't afford it, right?
And so there's this like idea of like, we'll do this $5,000.
uh
payment essentially.
And I'm like, dude, 5,000 is not going to force anyone to have a kid.
You realize all of the bigger issues.
So I want to cost over a million dollars to raise a kid.

(40:18):
They're like, how about five grand?
Yeah.
Like, come on, man, let's maybe address some of the bigger issues.
So I want to, I want to talk to you about this.
Like, I want to hear what you think.
I want to hear your perspective.
You're like, so in this space.
I think I heard it best and I think it was a Washington Post article.
I don't know if it was an op-ed.
I'll have to look it up.

(40:39):
But the writer was like, it's a fart in the wind.
Like that is literally what $5,000 is in this journey.
Yeah, I mean, it's on average around 300,000 plus to raise a child from.
you know, to 18 and that doesn't include college and everything.

(41:00):
like financially, it's just a blip.
But there are major policy initiatives that have been championed for years and years, likeuniversal childcare, like national paid maternity leave.

(41:22):
How about real change?
So I would, mean, I will just, there's so many things, right, that we need to fix, butlike, these are two policies that countries all over the world have because it is just,
it's the foundation.
It's like fundamental to supporting society and parents, women who are perpetuatinghumanity.

(41:49):
So it is embarrassing.
It is,
Honestly disgusting that the world's richest country does not have paid maternity leave.
It's, I mean, it's just, if that is not the biggest indicator of our, you know, greedcomplex and like funneling money to the wrong thing, um I don't know what is.

(42:18):
It's really shame, it's shameful.
It is.
And don't forget that before they offered you five grand to have a kid, repealed the childtax credit, which would actually have given you more than that.
It's mind blowing how stupid our country is right now.
It really is mind blowing.

(42:39):
There's no logic to it at all.
Yeah, that's a great way to put it is like, what's the strategy here?
Like, you know, it's performative at best and truly harmful at worst when you want tothrow a $5,000 incentive out there.

(43:00):
It's just.
It's insulting.
It is.
It is.
It really is to everyone involved.
That was the first word that came to my mind when I heard that.
was like, are you shitting me?
It makes you want to slap someone in the face.
Yeah.
Like you wish you could just slap them.
the good primal screen like oh that feeling I think when I read it first for the firsttime in a headline I was like

(43:28):
Really?
uh
I just scream.
Are we in the upside down?
Yes, we are.
um Yeah, it's it is kind of bonkers.
And I and I use that word a lot or in health care and the issues that we face um inliterally the most richest country in the world.
And like, why are we still having these issues?

(43:50):
Like, it's just it.
Ah, like it.
I don't get it.
And, you know, to your point, you know, you were saying about, um you know, not even.
the cost of living in like, you know, cost of education, but like the pay, the, the paidmaternity leave, um, the headstart, right?
Like there's another one, like we're going to cut headstart.

(44:11):
Like that's the reason that people can actually work is because they can take theirchildren there and they're fantastic programs.
Right?
Like don't take that away.
Give us more.
Actually, we need more.
We have a childcare crisis in this country right now.
And you want us to have more kids?
Like what is this anyway?
Like,
Let's get things.
Let's get the formula like figured out here because right now it is like upside downbackwards.

(44:35):
So yeah, I'm going to, I'm going to tangent again.
Jeremy stopped me.
this is relevant.
mean, this is so relevant because yeah, I mean, I agree.
And I was in your same boat.
think of like I was terrified of how am I going to support a child and raise a family andmy career that I mean, I want to continue to build my career.

(45:03):
But like financially, have like I don't have the luxury of, you know, not having a dualincome family.
At least, you know, at that moment, I was like terrified.
And luckily, my employer did support with, and I live in California that has state-fundeddisability and paid family leave.

(45:24):
Again, people love to hate on California and high taxes, but there's a lot of benefit tohaving these social safety nets that are really necessary.
um
So yeah, I think that because of all those things, I did delay having kids and even tryingto have kids.

(45:45):
Because I was like, I don't, I can't afford it.
A lot of it is money too, like it's not, it's a classist thing in a lot of ways where therich people want poor people to have a lot of poor kids so they can basically be their
wage slaves.
Cause if the poor people stop having kids, who's going to be the wage slaves to the richpeople?

(46:07):
The rich people's kids can't work.
Are kidding me?
That's a big part of it too.
oh
Yeah.
Again, that's kind of a different conversation.
We're a healthcare podcast, not a political podcast.
And if you really want to get into the, ramp, you know, the meaning behind these things,it goes a lot deeper than just misogyny and things like that.
It's, actually even worse.

(46:27):
And there's, there's just, there's a lot of politics in healthcare and that is just whatit is, which is why we end up kind of tapping into that a lot in the conversations that we
have, because you just can't avoid it because politics dictate a lot of the programs thatwe have.
they influence how they're delivered, what kind of information, know, organizations likeyours are like, you know, we've had a couple of, I think we've done a couple of shows

(46:52):
where, you know, access to clinical research helps like feed the, you know, the, the, AI,the machine learning kind of parts of these like very, you know, tech focused products.
And if we don't have access to that stuff, right, then how can we deliver the care thatare that.
Americans need.

(47:14):
And that comes from the top, right?
Like it starts up here and that is driven by political decisions.
anyway, yeah, there we go again.
This has been the tangent podcast.
Let's just call it the tangent podcast.
That's thing.
It's so entrenched in it.

(47:35):
It really is.
It really is.
You can't talk about abortion without talking about politics.
You can't have a strictly healthcare conversation about abortion anymore because you can'tget the healthcare it takes to properly get your abortion because of the politics.
Yeah.
Which just blows my mind.
It's part of the conversation now.
That this happens.
And I'm so glad that you shared your story, um, because it is important, right?

(47:58):
It's why you're here.
It's what you're, why you're delivering this.
community and these workshops.
I don't know, what do you think's changing like around infertility and supporting womenthrough pregnancy loss, like kind of in like the grand scheme of things, like as, it's a
bigger and bigger part of like the conversation.
Yeah, that's a great question.

(48:19):
um I think it's, I'm starting to see it become a little bit more integrated.
There's just a growing recognition that mental health, trauma, chronic conditions all playa role in fertility.
There's a lot more innovation around, like really trying to get to root causes versus justthe

(48:45):
you're having trouble for six months or a year, depending on your age.
Now we'll shuffle you over to the fertility clinic.
Do you want to do these two things like pick A or B?
Like it's just, it's not, it shouldn't be that like, I don't know.
um
departmentalized and linear.
Yeah, exactly.
Thank you.
you.
Because it is complex and layered and I'm starting to see there be more resources that aremore personalized and individualized, which is really exciting across all of health care,

(49:17):
right?
Because we just need it to be more personalized and preventative too, right?
um Because if our children know more about
their bodies and reproductive health and how things work in their cycle, they're just moreinformed and then more empowered, right, to support their health journey down the road.

(49:42):
um And then I, you know, I like to say that there is that more um emotional piece, Ithink, coming into all of this.
There's companies that are kind of mixing more of like a uh
clinical model with more coaching to where it's like, I'm here to like support youemotionally a little bit through this versus just like, what's the lab work?

(50:11):
Here's your diagnosis.
Let's get you on a plan.
Like the humanity of it seems to be hopefully coming back and truthful.
mean, that's where Rhea sits.
Like that's what I bring more of to this experience.
Yeah.
I love it.
You need a doula.

(50:32):
Like as part of like, I'm thinking about our doula episodes that we've done.
I mean, you can have a doula for anything, right?
Like we all need an advocate or like somebody that's keeping, you know, that's, that's hasour interest in mind.
It's like a doula for infertility and pregnancy loss would be a beautiful thing.
Can somebody please do that?
If you're listening.
That is pretty brilliant.
Right.

(50:52):
I have someone in the platform who does that.
Shut the door.
Oh, we need another doula episode.
Yeah.
Okay.
We need to get her on.
Um, this is what happens.
We meet somebody and then we get connected with other folks and then we.
We three more interviews to do from this conference.
I know.
don't know if you caught all of them.
Monica, you're, you're like a, you're, you're on fire.

(51:13):
And another very relevant point you made, which plays back into the podcast here is thepersonalized and preventative approach to healthcare that is now becoming kind of the
norm.
Most of our episodes are about that.
Yep.
It's getting ahead of it and preventing it rather than treating it once you have it.

(51:35):
That's at least half our episodes, if not more.
That's, yeah, and that's exciting.
And that's what gives me hope, right?
Like it's happening and it's just more like, how can we continue that?
That's the shift has been happening for a while because I've worked in the healthcareindustry and it used to be like very like reactive and transactional, right?

(51:59):
Like the healthcare system wasn't built for consumers, but what's happening and thinkthanks to COVID actually, it has catapulted this work, right?
And then kind of the onset of like AI and tech and people getting a lot more comfortablewith that technology is definitely advancing it and the health systems, right?
Like the industry itself.
cannot bear the weight of these costs anymore.

(52:21):
We have to change or it is going to implode on itself.
It has already started and that is in the form of costs, right?
And so if we don't get proactive and we don't get into this kind of, as we call it,value-based care, em that shift and then technology having these kinds of programs,

(52:42):
getting out ahead of things before they get big, right?
that's going to be where the change is going to happen.
But we have to have our options, right?
Like we have to get what we need for ourselves, right?
Like Jeremy needs something different than me and you need something different than I do.
um Anyway, it's really awesome to see the entire industry starting to make that shift.

(53:02):
And that's so much about what we want to highlight and shine a light on on this show arethe people who are actually part of that seismic shift that's happening.
It is the uprising.
This is, you know, I feel.

(53:22):
Can I ask one more question before you totally wrap it up?
Cause this just occurred to me.
Yeah.
So if your community grows large enough, could you see it turning into more of a politicalthing and actually being a political advocacy group of some sort and actually pushing back
against the revoke revocation of women's rights?
Yeah, absolutely.

(53:44):
um I think one of the my like entry ways into women's health was because I was sofrustrated that my insurance did not cover any fertility treatment.
So the fact that like, I wanted acupuncture for fertility support, I had to pay out ofpocket.

(54:06):
um
all of IVF, you know, we paid for out of pocket.
And so I got on Twitter at the time and was like, where are the like, who is supportingthis bill in California?
And ultimately, like it did just get passed recently, that insurance providers will haveto cover reproductive care.

(54:28):
But
That's great.
you're already a political advocacy.
I will say that I personally am trying to get, you know, as educated and involved as I canwith what, you know, time I can kind of allocate there.
But I absolutely would like to at least offer the women who are joining who want tochannel some of their anger, frustration, grief, whatever it is.

(54:56):
It's like I want to make a change.
Like I want to make sure that I'm supporting, you know, the political
change in the policy work that's happening by some amazing organizations to improve healthcare, not just for women, but for everyone.
um So yes, it's definitely at the forefront.

(55:18):
I could see us hopefully growing to be a force one day to really pushing policy in theright direction.
Great.
I love the idea of that.
And actually, this is really uh quite a good place to end on because I was going to askkind of what's next for you?
what are the next big milestones that you're looking to achieve or working towards?

(55:43):
Yeah, um so I am slowly growing the community.
I'm kind of splitting my time between getting the word out about Rhea, about, of course,engaging as well, making sure that the women that are in there hear from me and each
other.
And then I'm hoping to bring on at least a dozen partnerships, like solid partnerships bythe end of the year.

(56:12):
And what that truly means is that these companies or providers are fully integrated intothe community.
We're hosting regular workshops.
I'm referring RAYA members to them and that we're building a sustainable revenue share ummodel here.
um I am trying to grow a for-profit company that will be a public benefit corporation.

(56:39):
So my
goal is to always have the impact that I want to make at the forefront of why we exist andwhat we do, what we do.
So the monetization piece needs to be very thoughtful that compassion comes first beforeconversions is what I try to keep at the forefront because that's really what I'm doing.

(57:04):
But to be a growing, sustainable, profitable.
profitable business, need to get some great partners on board.
Yeah, so I'm excited.
I would love to have a thousand people on the platform by the end of the year.
I don't think that's too ambitious because from what I'm hearing from just my organicoutreach, it's really needed and the response so far has been really positive.

(57:32):
That's awesome.
That's awesome.
Well, I'm cheering for you.
um So why don't you share with us too, where can anyone listening, um where can they findyou online?
How do they get involved in the community if that's what they want to do?
Yeah, so the website's the best place to go to get started.

(57:52):
ah It's rayacommunity.com, and that's R-H-E-A, community.com.
And it takes two minutes to sign up to join the community.
And then anyone who wants to talk about partnership can just contact me directly.
And it's just monica at rayacommunity.com.

(58:15):
Beautiful.
I'm on your website.
Very nice, by the way.
Thanks, I built it myself.
No technical background.
Impressive.
See, always hire a marketer.
Yeah, right.
There you go.
They can do everything though.
We can do so many things.
Well, marketing is such a catchall, but, um, cool.
I see that on there and you've got links to Tik TOK and LinkedIn and it looks likeInstagram on there too.

(58:38):
So just go to the website.
We'll put all the links in the show notes.
Do all the things.
Amazing.
Join the community.
Send it to your loved ones who need this.
Please.
Um, this is a
It's just a brilliant idea.
And thank you so much for coming on today and talking about the good work you're doing.
I can't wait to see what you do with it.
So.

(58:58):
Thank you so much for having me.
It was awesome.
And there you go.
Our conversation with Monica from Raya community, uh very cool community building kind ofstuff, just what I was hoping for from the intro.
But, why don't you give us our main takeaways here, Heather.

(59:21):
I think you even said it too.
It's like when there's a problem and another episode, I don't even know if it was thisone.
When there's a problem, women come together and like build the community stall for it.
Um, that was.
here in Kumar and episode 20.
that was the time.
If I remember correctly.
But it shows up all the time.
And so, you know, if you feel lost, like there's a community there for you and there'sprobably a woman building it somewhere, particularly if it is a woman's health issue.

(59:50):
So I just think that's really cool that Monica used her own personal circumstances, whichis kind of a trend, right?
With a lot of the people that we come come into contact with on this show, they're builtout of a need that
didn't, was not being served, right?
Well, I mean, you got to go through it to understand it, right?

(01:00:12):
And you're not going to start a community like that unless you understand what it's allabout.
Yeah, exactly.
And I think the other thing to point out, and people just don't realize this, that um thestatistics around the number of women who suffer pregnancy loss or experience infertility,
I'm one of them, is

(01:00:34):
pretty staggering.
And I actually pulled these stats off of her webpage because, and I don't know that weactually said it during the show, but I think we need to, we need to say this, that one in
four women experience pregnancy or infant loss and one in six people globally are affectedby infertility.

(01:00:55):
Those are pretty big numbers.
Yeah.
One in six, I'll tell you like 17%.
That's a lot.
That's a lot.
So, um,
You know, and infertility rates are rising, obviously with women having children later inlife.
Um, you know, we talked about some of the, like the environmental factors that can playinto it.
Um, we obviously touched on some political stuff in today's show.

(01:01:19):
Um, but Hey, it's part of, you know, it's part of it.
There's it, we can't avoid it.
It's what's happening.
So, yeah, I mean, with what you started with the community building is so huge for thingslike this and.
especially with today's political climate, there's places where, I mean, no one everreally wants to hear about it to begin with.

(01:01:42):
You know what I mean?
It's hard to find people who are willing to listen to you talk about the trauma ofpregnancy loss and things like that.
It's a very uncomfortable subject for most people.
They don't know how to react.
You add to that the political climate and there's places where people will be afraid totalk about this openly.
Yeah.
I mean, depression and anxiety levels, like the, the, is crazy for somebody dealing with,with either of these things, you know.

(01:02:08):
Right.
And a community like this, where all these women can come together in a safe place to talkabout this and the fact that it is going to build a community.
And ultimately there will be a lot of women getting together in that, that, that leads topolitical change.
That can actually change the whole climate and change the whole perspective.

(01:02:28):
Yeah.
So I really think that, you know, given some time, a platform like this can actuallyreally make some real positive change in the world.
Yeah.
I think about it as being kind of, um, the beginnings of like groups that are, you know,more popular today, like moms against gun violence or, um, you know, groups like that.

(01:02:50):
I think there's one called like moms rising.
It's all created and it grows because of.
starting from something like this, right?
Like it's somebody makes it happen.
They build the community, they find the people and next thing you know, they'reinfluencing lobbyists and they're influencing.
Yeah, political movement.
Yeah.
So I could see it doing this.

(01:03:11):
Yeah, I could see it happening.
So, and I hope it does.
I hope that she is the person to lead that charge.
So.
Find some of those, uh, all too rare female senators, congressmen in general, who, know,you get one or just one or two of them directly involved.
It can change the whole game.
there's so, so many things that this can accomplish given time.

(01:03:32):
Yep.
I think this is a really great episode.
Yep.
A different than our usual, but totally worthy of the time.
Absolutely.
Awesome.
Well, that's all I got.
If you like what you heard, then you can find us on all the audio platforms, wherever youlisten to your podcasts.
You can also find us in video version on YouTube where we have a

(01:03:55):
you know, designated playlists.
So if you do want to find just one category of our podcast to follow, YouTube's really theplace to do that.
We also have a Patreon that is in a video form.
You can join that community for just as low as a dollar a month.
Um, I where else are we these days, Heather?
You can find us online at healthcareuprising.com and mostly get, get to us out there onthe socials.

(01:04:22):
we are posting.
I am posting.
She does that part.
Regularly on LinkedIn, we're on Instagram, we're on Facebook and we are on Blue Sky.
So follow us out there.
Um, always posting when our episodes are coming and dropping, um, always sharing what areawesome, awesome companies and founders that are coming on the show.

(01:04:44):
Uh, always sharing the good work that they're doing.
So great place to kind of just stay in touch with us and, and, and keep up on all thegood, good things happening out there.
you go.
Lots more to come.
Yeah.
And if you have a story, um either you're a human story, because we do love our humanstories on the uprising, really important part of the show.
em But if you're a founder, if you represent a company that's doing something reallyinnovative in the healthcare space, a product, a program, a thing, a widget, whatever it

(01:05:14):
is, maybe you're just a person who's doing something really different.
We'd love to hear from you and we'd love to have you on the show.
So just shoot us an email at healthcareuprisingatgmail.com.
There you go.
So ah with that, I think we'll wrap up the show for the day, That was a hefty dose.
It really was.
So that's it for your dose of healthcare this week.

(01:05:36):
Keep looking for the good in the world because sometimes it's where you least expect it.

(01:06:38):
This has been a Shutup Production.
Shut up!