B-wom: Empowering Women and their Health

Meet B-wom – a company dedicated to empowering women to take control of their intimate health. Many women are insecure and/or intimidated by its complexity and therefore unaware of their own bodies. Here is where B-wom comes in. B-wom was created with the specific goal of offering tools and support for women so they can create preventative and self-care habits for their health. We sat down with B-wom’s Head of Business Development, Estrella Jaramillo, to further delve into B-wom and the importance surrounding this women’s health issue.

Food + Mood NYC: Can you please tell us what B-wom is and how it came to be?

Estrella Jaramillo: B-wom is a digital coach that offers personalized programs for women’s health. We focus on prevention and early symptom management. Our users take a test and receive an evaluation and personalized care programs with habits, guided practices and exercises, tips, actionable recommendations, educational contents addressing their needs, and a tracking tool to see the evolution.We believe that women need to understand their health at every different stage of life, from puberty to menopause, and have the tools and resources to feel their best.

F+M NYC: Can B-wom help all women, regardless of their age and hormonal life-stage?

EJ: Yes, when users interact with our digital coach, they have to answer many questions so that we can understand what contents will be relevant to their profile. This is a key feature. We have programs for women that are interested in increasing their well-being and preventing, programs for new mothers to recover their pelvic floor and core and heal birth injuries, as well as contents for women transitioning to menopause. There’s something for everyone! In fact some of the contents are also age-agnostic, like our breast cancer prevention feature.

F+M NYC: Why is this category of health and wellness so important for women?

EJ: The increasing buying power of women is finally catching the attention of the business world. Thanks to more women taking leadership roles and the women’s rights movement, entire industries that were quite stagnant for decades are starting to experiment high growth and innovation. Let’s take the period health industry: The Tampax/Pad industry hasn’t seen significant innovation (other than different ways of doing the same) in decades. Female founded companies are looking at new ways of designing completely different products that might be better suited to the actual trials and tribulations of menstruating humans. Additionally, the category is also looking into providing better women’s health services and to cover gaps in the system. The fertility. sexual wellness and maternal health industries are being completely transformed – What a time to be alive!

F+M NYC: Do you find that women understand their bodies? Or do you see that they still have a lot to learn and understand?

EJ: We still have a lot to learn. We have been socialized into believing that talking about our bodies and our intimate health is tacky or taboo. The female body has been sexualized by a male dominated advertising industry, and yet we were raised to believe that we could not be or act like sexual beings, express sexual desire, talk about our bodies in positive ways, or prioritize our wellness after a certain age or transition to motherhood. We barely received any education about the changes our bodies would go through growing up, and our intuitions (which are powerful!) are often shut down when consulting doctors due to financial or legal concerns of the system.Women are very perceptive and usually know when something is wrong. Now our mission is to provide women with fact-based, non biased resources for them to take charge of their health journey, build the right habits, and advocate for themselves when necessary!

F+M NYC: What are your top three tips for balancing hormonal health?

EJ: The first step is to understand your hormones and your cycle. Ask your doctor to do some blood tests and check the levels of main endocrine, reproductive and cycle hormonal markers.Once you understand your baseline levels, you can consult with a specialist who can make dietary, lifestyle and exercise recommendations depending on the needs.Finally, keep sugars, stress, and sedentarism in check!

F+M NYC: How do you personally take care of yourself on and off the plate?

EJ: I try to eat pretty clean. I’d say I do 80/20 most of the time. I meal prep on Sundays and eat simple foods, usually a combination of rice or quinoa with 2-3 veggies and greens, and some protein (egg, tofu, and occasionally chicken or fish). I try to stay as lactose free as possible (I fail when I see a cheese plate!) and keep gluten in check. I don’t fully restrict myself from any types of foods, but I do have food groups that I only consume very sporadically. I eat fruits every day as snacks. It’s difficult to keep it up when traveling but I do my best! Additionally, I exercise 2-3 times a week, walk at least 45 min every single day, and stretch at home – this helps my metabolism stay awake!

Click HERE to learn more about B-WOM and follow them on INSTAGRAM!