“Women’s health seems to be this magical abyss that lacks conversation, personalisation, and a true sense of community”, Maya and Mili Kale of Moom Health tell me over email. Indeed, the realm of women’s health is still very shrouded in mystery and stigma.
While there have been strides to clear those muddied waters and normalise these conversations, such as Ferne Health or Ease Healthcare, there is still much to be done, and we are only at the starting line.
For starters, Moom Health is a personalised supplement platform that aims to transform women’s health from a one-size-fits-all to tailor-made one. Your Moom journey starts with their expert-backed questionnaire to discover how to uniquely support your mind and body.
The questions range from your current health concerns to your sleeping habits, to how many veggies you eat in a week.
After that, you get personalised recommendations packed into daily sachets and delivered monthly to your doorstep.
Currently, Moom has a total of nine supplements that vary from long-time favourites such as B-complex, to stars of Ayurveda such as Ashwagandha.
Tailor-made healthcare vs a one-size-fits-all solution
For Maya and Mili, Moom Health was an idea that was years in the making. After all, the duo has always been exposed to traditional healing modalities as their parents grew up in India.
Even in their formative years, inklings of Moom have been making small appearances.
During their schooling days, supplements were given to them, sort of like a side dish during meal times. When they both went to college, their mother would pack some of their supplements into individual daily bags —repurposed jewellery bags were the early prototype of Moom.
Not to mention, the road to Moom has a more personal route for Maya. Having battled with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) since she was 15, she struggled to find ways to best support her unique symptoms.
After years of research, countless appointments, and spending too much money, she found a solution in natural medicine and holistic healing. She could confidently say that this worked for her but cautioned that this is not a blanket solution for all those suffering from PCOS.
The importance of a tailor-made solution had never been more clear. Moom is a culmination of years of our experiences and the conversations we have had with countless women. The issues seem to be unanimous, but the solutions can’t be.
There are some many platforms and medical/wellness practitioners that have ‘hero’ products, or believe that there is one solution to a host of issues. But we struggled to find anything targeted specifically to women, and even more specifically, to each woman in a unique way.
– Maya and Mili Kale, co-founders of Moom Health
Creating a ritual with Moom
When it comes to women’s health or anyone’s health personalisation matters, Moom understands best.
“Personalisation allows you to make sure that what you are consuming is tailored to your needs and goals”, explained the founders.
For example, let’s take someone who is concerned about their skin health as opposed to someone else who might want to focus on their pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS), the supplement Super Curcumin might be an overlap.
To ensure the best results, someone targeting skin health should pair their Super Curcumin with a Synbiotic or Super Amla. Then, for someone targeting PMS, they should pair it with Magnesium instead.
It’s a delicate dance, but one that Moom can help you with. This is why the quiz at the beginning of your journey with Moom is especially important.
No, it’s not a fluffy personality quiz. In fact, it’s a rigorous questionnaire that took Moom over a year to develop.
We worked with eight medical experts from traditional and non-traditional medical fields to develop the quiz to ensure that it was a holistic and true representation of our customer’s wellness history and goals.
– Maya and Mili Kale, co-founders of Moom Health
The quiz takes about five to six minutes to complete. It starts with questions about one’s diet and lifestyle, then moves into women’s health issues (such as PMS, menopause), and finally ends with general health questions and health goals.
While Moom Health is targeted and developed for women who menstruate, Maya and Mili asserted that their supplements are for anybody, be it men, women, trans or non-binary.
“We believe that the more specific we are about what we do, the greater the impact we make,” they added.
The wild, wild, West of supplements
In this age of Covid-19, health and wellbeing are on everyone’s minds and supplements are still very much a nebulous topic for many. Should you take supplements? Are supplements necessary? What kind of supplements is good for you?
These are the kinds of questions that one has when approaching the vast world of supplements for the first time.
Maya and Mili second these worries. “Our biggest concern was whether or not people would resonate with our product and story. Supplements are like the wild, wild, West for most people”.
We wanted to make sure that we were creating a product that people could easily understand and educate themselves about, something that was accessible, and something that didn’t break the bank.
– Maya and Mili Kale, co-founders of Moom Health
With Moom’s subscription service, the vitamins start from as low as S$1 a day and nothing above S$2 — this is a stark difference from those giant bottles of pills you purchase off iHerb.
The affordable pricing makes it a low barrier of entry, making it easier for you to take charge of your health. Not to mention, every part of Moom’s ritual is thoughtful and intentional.
Moom’s sachets are made with Reverte® additive, a biodegradable material that keeps your supplements fresh. At the same time, those Insta-worthy tie-dye boxes are made with sugarcane pulp, a rapidly renewable material.
Given all the multitude of benefits that come with daily supplements, Maya and Mili stress that they are not magical cure-alls.
Supplements, like all good things, take time and ultimately, they work to help support your body in the same way that good, healthy food does, or a new serum that supports your skin. It takes months before you feel and see results, and some results are more visible (when your skin improves) while others are more of a feeling (when your gut starts to heal).
– Maya and Mili Kale, co-founders of Moom Health
The two have also worked hard to ramp up their educational content by thoroughly engaging their community.
“We try to provide as much information to a consumer as they need to feel comfortable with the product, and we are always there to respond to DMs (direct messages) and emails.”
They also credit social media as an invaluable tool for education about supplements and overall wellbeing.
“Whether it’s relaying information from our advisory board, sharing reviews, or providing infographics on a particular supplement, these are all concepts that allow you to become a more educated user and advocate.”
The future of wellness in Singapore
Wellness has often been associated with either copious amounts of exercise or nibbling on salad greens.
While there is nothing wrong with that, it does create a lot of pressure to conform to a certain idea of what healthy looks like. Maya and Mili hope to change that notion with Moom and their approach to healthcare.
“To us, it’s all about making choices that help us feel our best selves. Sometimes, that means picking the extra vegetable instead of fried chicken for our lunch, (and) sometimes, it’s the other way around.”
Like their company values, there is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to your health and wellness.
For the month of October, to commemorate Mental Health Awareness Month, Moom is launching an initiative that prioritises mental health and how you are feeling while acknowledging your complete mind-body connection: Rest is for the Strong.
They are launching a limited edition series of T-shirts, where all of the proceeds will be donated to Samaritans of Singapore, to help with their efforts around access to crisis support and counselling.
In a time when everything is in constant flux, a simple ritual like Moom is enough to bring some grounding to your day.
“We see rituals as something that you enjoy doing every day, and Moom is one of the many (hopefully easy) rituals you can incorporate into your day.”
Featured Image Credit: Moom Health
