WoW Woman in Wearable Tech I Caroline Kryder, Science Communications Lead at ŌURA

Caroline Kryder is ŌURA’s Science Communications Lead, helping teams across the company educate users on their health by breaking complex scientific concepts into “bite-sized” pieces.

Before joining ŌURA, she helped clients build their own biometric research programs and communicate how the brain and body process emotion using eye-tracking, EEG, heart rate, facial coding, GSR, and implicit testing at Nielsen. Her work focused on exploring questions like “how do male and female superheroes inspire different emotions in different audiences?” Her passion is to empower people to understand their health and talk about science in their own words. 

ŌURA is the company behind the Oura Ring — a wearable health platform that delivers accurate personalized health data, insights, and daily guidance. ŌURA’s mission is to empower every person to own their inner potential.

Caroline, how did you get into this industry? Has it been an easy industry to get into or have you had many challenges?

For years, I was helping clients understand how the body and brain respond to advertisements, tv shows, and products - but I found I was happiest when those meetings turned into side conversations where clients were asking me questions about their own health. I realized I was far more passionate about helping someone understand signs of stress in their own heart rate data than figuring out if a horror movie trailer was raising heart rates enough to be memorable. I started doing a lot of research about my own health with different wearables and kept seeing Matthew Walker sporting the same Oura Ring year after year at neuroscience conferences as he talked about sleep. I knew that if he stuck with it, it had to be giving him amazing data. The moment Oura opened a U.S. office, I applied to every role they had opened with a letter about how I wanted to help people understand their health as my career, rather than a side hobby. And the rest is history!

How long did it take you to be where you are now? What was the biggest obstacle? What are the challenges of being in the industry you are in? 

The biggest obstacle has been keeping up with the pace and change of the industry. Health changes so quickly. One moment it's the gospel and the next moment the data is outdated. To solve that, we’re working hard to move away from generalized, population-level advice like “get 10,000 steps” or “get 8 hours of sleep” to personalize medicine for the individual. Eventually, individuals will be empowered to know what their personal temperature baseline is, how their heart reacts to stress, and what is their unique routine for getting the most REM sleep at night.   

What are your biggest achievements to date?

I’m really excited about starting to bust myths in the women’s health space. Some of the conventional wisdom we grew up with, like “menstrual cycles are 28 days” are actually myths that we can empower women to bust for themselves. I’m proudest of how fast we got this research done and that we might change the definition of “normal” going forward. You can read about the work here and see that cycles can really be 20-40 days long.

What are the projects you are currently working on?

I’m currently working on visuals for the app that make it easier for someone to understand how Oura is able to measure directly from the arteries in your finger vs. wrist-based devices which are on top of your wrist and have a muffled signal because they’re trying to read from arteries that are far away on the underside of your arm. The goal is that anyone, without any background in physiology, can immediately understand what we’re measuring just by glancing at their phone rather than staring at an overwhelming visual from a medical textbook!  

Is the #WomenInTech movement important to you and if yes, why? 

Absolutely! Throughout my education, I’ve been blessed to have female role models in the sciences who not only helped me get to where they were but pushed me. They’ve always told me, “you have to go further.” I feel like so many of us are holding that baton, sprinting at full speed, and calling out for help from those around us. Every time I look up, it feels like there are more women running next to me and we have to keep that momentum. 

What will be the key trends in your industry in the next five years and where do you see them heading?

Wearables are finally investing in features for women and we’re going to see technology explode that can help track cycles, menopause, fertility, pregnancy – all underserved areas of research. Using temperature data could be key to making those advancements a reality for so many people. It’s the secret to unlocking so many patterns because hormones drive these beautiful responses that aren’t widely taught. For example, we can use temperature data to see that estrogen has a cooling effect on the body whereas progesterone warms you up. When you start to spot these patterns, everything changes and you can understand your body so much more. 

What is the most important piece of advice you could give to anyone who wants to start a career in this industry?

Think about how your career and personal life complement one another. Too often, we try to fit every passion into our work or tie up our whole identity into our career but there are so many ways to pursue your interests. Early on, I received a copy of Designing Your Life as a gift and found their exercises to find what you want in life to be the most helpful way to walk into interviews with clarity on how to sell your brand to a future employer. 

Who are three inspirational women in your respective industry you admire?

A story I really love is how Clue’s leadership pivoted in the past year in a way that shows how female leaders in the tech space can raise each other up. As CEO and founder, Ida Tin, stepped up to become chairwoman, Clue pioneered having a co-CEO model where their product lead, Audrey Tsang, and general counsel, Carrie Walter both became leaders. Tech can be a very title-focused and hierarchical industry so I am really inspired to see women stepping forward with disruptive models that emphasize strength in collaboration. 

Find out more about ŌURA on their website.

Follow ŌURA on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Connect with Caroline on LinkedIn.

This interview was conducted by Marija Butkovic, Digital Marketing and PR strategist, founder, and CEO of Women of Wearables. She regularly writes and speaks on topics of wearable tech, fashion tech, IoT, entrepreneurship, and diversity. Follow Marija on Twitter @MarijaButkovic and read her stories for Forbes here.