WoW Women in FemTech I Danika Kelly and Renee Kokts-Porietis, founders of My Normative
Danika Kelly and Renee Kokts-Porietis are the founders of My Normative, the only health-tracking app on the market working to change the status quo of measuring women and female persons as a percentage of 70kg, 20-30-year-old, cisgender male.
They’re on a mission to validate and represent the lived realities of female persons and offer evidence-based, scientific insights on how those realities (menstrual cycles, pregnancy, menopause) affect their health and wellness journey. My Normative leverages its proprietary app and data lake to develop tools, algorithms, and data sets that will help clinicians and health innovators incorporate female persons into clinical and medical trials.
Danika is a passionate advocate for - and trained scholar in - sex and gender issues in the areas of health and risk. Danika comes from both: the world of high-performance sport as an athlete and a coach, and holds positions as an educator and practitioner in the lifestyle-fitness arena in Western Canada.
Renee is passionate about addressing the gender gap in health data. She is an Epidemiologist by training with a background in female physiology, health research, and biostatistics. Although Renee has retired from collegiate rowing she remains an avid outdoor enthusiast.
Danika, Renee, tell us a bit about your background and your projects so far.
Danika: Oh man, even outside of our academic careers, we have so many…Good? Devastating? Can it be both? projects that have gotten us to this point. So, first, we did the 52 Project- Where we reviewed an app a week for 52 weeks trying to find something, anything, that properly serviced female persons and their unique needs (spoiler alert, there was an incredible dearth).
Renee: Then we did: The Sex and Gender Project- Where we assessed potential users’ current levels of understanding and acceptance of including the separation of sex and gender within personal health tracking technology. Biological sex and socially constructed gender are two individual concepts that impact an individuals health and wellness. These concepts are often conflated and their associated effects on health remain largely unknown to members of the general population - and everyone else.
And then we made the My Normative app.
Right now, a basic understanding of menstrual cycle tracking has been included in some commercially available technologies. However, these have often been focused on tracking cycle events (e.g. ovulation, periods) and restricted to reproductive health. Our development of the Normative Wave (our way of integrating different aspects of health) removes the current silo present in current technologies and represents the effects of the menstrual cycle on the female experience as a whole. The technological development of this approach and implementation is the first of its kind.
How did you get into this industry? Has it been an easy industry to get into or have you had many challenges
Danika: During grad school, Renee and I used to get together and run twice a week while griping about the lack of data on women and female persons. And at a certain point, the feminist rage just boiled over and we were, shall we say, naive enough to decide to try to do something about it.
Renee: Leaving academia was accompanied by a fair amount of culture shock but, the work we wanted to do, and the rate at which we wanted to do it… has made the journey very worthwhile.
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?
Danika: So, we founded My Normative in mid-2020, and we have gotten a long way in a short while. That speed though is thanks to the decade we both spent studying these topics in university. From our time in school, we have a fairly sophisticated understanding of female and women’s health.
Renee: A lot of people don’t realise the impact female physiology has on someone’s health and wellness, these impacts aren’t inherently good or bad, but the way they have been addressed so far —that is, largely ignored or dismissed— is problematic.
What are your biggest achievements to date?
Both: 100% Launching the My Normative app on March 8, 2021.
What are the projects you are currently working on?
Renee: Ok. This is where things get interesting. In our current machine learning project, we are aiming to predict the menstrual cycle phases by using a combination of commonly collected biometrics and a variety of self-report topics. Technology and artificial intelligence offer a new opportunity for female persons to not only track but also predict their menstrual cycles. Early mobile app algorithms have been grounded in the assumption of the “classic 28-day cycle,” which is only observed in approximately 15% of women and does not appropriately or adequately represent the underlying physiology for menstrual cycles of different lengths. For technology to move forward it needs to be unbiased and inclusive of the variations in hormones, anovulation events and variable cycle lengths. This is where our research can really make a difference in the status quo for women and people who menstruate.
Is the #WomenInTech movement important to you and if yes, why?
Danika: Yes. It is. And I think so for several reasons. So, first, because tech is a newer industry the “old boys club” is less firmly entrenched and thus the industry will be more likely to adapt to more inclusive and representative models of hiring, promoting, presenting, representing, etc. than other traditional industries. I think strategically for gender equity - this industry is a good place to plant our flags of change. Second, to me, this means that cultural barriers to access (and, perhaps more importantly, be successful in) the industry for women and people who menstruate are going to be more easily erased. This means we’re more likely to see women and people who menstruate getting higher-paying jobs in the sector, guiding decision-making processes in the sector, and demonstrating the value that diverse teams bring to business... ultimately impacting the gender wage gap and changing sex and gender-based biases in the workplace.
Renee: Completely agree with what Danika said.
What will be the key trends in your industry in the next five years and where do you see them heading?
Renee: I think we’re going to see more and more businesses heading into biotech and female health… because as a society we’re realizing that the sort of gender data gap that we have is not only unacceptable… but hindering our ability to produce innovative medical advancements such as precision medicine.
Danika: Right? Isn’t it wild that we’re designing precision medicine based on people’s genomic sequencing... but not accounting for their sex?
What is the most important piece of advice you could give to anyone who wants to start a career in this industry?
Danika: I think, for me, and this is going to sound really cliché, but, own your knowledge, and embrace the power that comes with your expertise. There will be many smart-sounding people around you asking questions about your ideas, product, and dreams… and that’s good! You should absolutely be able to consider those questions. But when you know the answer… own it. I know you’ve thought really hard about your company and I haven’t even met you. Be strong in your convictions.
Who are three inspirational women in your respective industry you admire?
Danika: Oh, Dr Pirkko Markula- Who probably hates the work we’re doing… whenever I make a decision about our work I’m like… would Dr Markula hate this? She is one of my guiding stars.
Renee: Ok, as a counter-balance, Emma Walmsley and Dr Cara Tannenbaum probably don’t hate what we’re doing.
Find out more about My Normative on their website.
Follow My Normative on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
This interview was conducted by Anja Streicher, Chief Marketing Officer at Women of Wearables. Anja is passionate about women’s health and wellness and is inspired every day by WoW women in tech and business who are changing lives with their innovative products.