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V O L . X X V I I I N O. X X S E P T E M B E R 1 9 , 2 0 2 2 20 H E A LT H C A R E / W E L L N E S S Sad and angry to hear that, Berg told the front desk she'd never see that doctor again, then searched for another practitioner willing to listen and offer simple solutions. e experience got her thinking about what other women without the same resources go through, and an idea for a business she launched with two other women, Cecilia Tse in San Francisco and ara Vayali in Vancouver, British Columbia. eir enterprise, hey freya, aims to offer innovative health solutions for women in their mid-20s through their 40s between pregnancy and meno- pause. Helkin calls them women's "forgotten cohort," juggling busy careers and family responsibilities. e company's name is both a nod to the fundamental question "How are you doing?" and an eponymous Nordic goddess of love, family, beauty, visionary magic, battle and war. "To start," Berg explains, "we'll offer an app that allows women to confi- dently track their health for the things that really matter to them and find peer support, labs that allow women to understand what's happening inside of their bodies, and a supplement line that is curated exactly to the needs of women in this age range and doesn't exist in the market today." Currently, she says, neither the consumer goods nor the app market provide accessible, inclusive and trust- worthy solutions for women's health, as hey freya is setting out to do. "For example, the health apps and supplements available today cater to women trying to conceive or who are menopausal, leaving out vast numbers of women," she says. "We look at women from a much broader perspective: We are complex, require community and time- saving solutions, and deal with more conditions than just our period." Plans for the business include launch- ing a crowdfunding campaign in October to match a portion of grant funding received, and to get a first run of lab test- ing and supplements ready for sale. ere are also plans to build a first version of an app that tracks more than menstruation and provides anonymous peer support, with a full launch foreseen for 2023. A PASSION FOR MAKING PRODUCTS THAT HELP PEOPLE. Our products help to answer questions. Questions about a diagnosis, or a DNA match, or if a surface is contaminant-free. Puritan is the world's most trusted manufacturer of single-use specimen collection and sampling devices. Puritan. We help you know. WE'RE HIRING — JOIN THE TEAM! Visit puritanmedproducts.com/careers FORENSICS & GENETICS MICROBIOLOGY MEDIA ENVIRONMENTAL & FOOD SAFETY CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENTS DIAGNOSTICS & SPECIMEN COLLECTION MEDICAL & VETERINARY Puritan manufactures more than 1,200 products for use in the following fields: Puritan. ® People with a passion. P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y O F H E Y F R E YA F O C U S » C O N T I N U E D F RO M P R E V I O U S PA G E The team at women's wellness startup hey freya includes (from left) Cecilia Tse, COO and CFO, in Berkeley, Calif.; Thara Vayali, chief medical officer, in Vancouver, Canada; and CEO Helkin Berg, in Cumberland, Maine. They recently met in person for the first time.

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