Jyoti Sharma (Grace ShriRam) from TaraCares | A Deep Dive into Menopause and Workplace Support

Andrea: [00:00:00] Welcome back everyone to another episode of the HR scoop. I am Andrea, and I am so pleased to welcome to our show today, Jyoti Sharma, the CEO and founder of Terra Cares, a London based AI health tech startup addressing menopause. Welcome Jyoti. Thank you, Andrea. It’s,

Jyoti: it’s a fantastic opportunity to be here.

And thank you for having me on the podcast to share our work and research on behalf of the entire team at Terra Cares. Our champions, collaborators, investors, and shareholders. I’m excited to be here.

Andrea: Yeah. Well, I’m excited to talk about menopause because it is a topic we have touched on in some of our events and webinars, but we haven’t talked much about it on the podcast and menopause.

If you’re unaware, I don’t know where you’ve been, but welcome and we’ll, we’re going to tell you all about it because it impacts, you know, half of the [00:01:00] population of the world at some point in their life. So it’s a pretty important topic and I’m thrilled that there are more resources and tools and companies such as this trying to tackle it in a very.

tangible way. So I’m, I’m curious, I guess, just to get started is what inspired you to create Terra Cares? And what is, what is this mimosa I’m hearing about? Because I don’t think it’s a morning beverage.

Jyoti: No, it’s not. But it also is. Yeah. So Andrea, before I, before I start with answering the question, I also wanted to greet everybody from London, everyone who’s listening in, uh, because I see this as a live audience.

That is in a position of power and influence to deliver our mission for pioneering the future of female work through smart investing and maximizing returns. The company is named Tara Cares, uh, after the divine feminine energy manifestation of goddess Tara. And in action, she inspires [00:02:00] compassion. My preference is the Sanskrit word karuna, as it conveys the true energy behind the word.

And the most clear, pragmatic, and actionable definition of compassion that I’ve found in my spiritual practice is the intention and commitment to alleviate the suffering of others in a non transactional way. And that, Andrea, is our guiding light at Dara Cares. What inspired the company for centuries, families, health care systems, society, employers, have been unintentional about the health of the woman.

And there is a pressing need for scientific evidence. And a live stage integrated understanding and action on female health. For me, the pandemic expedited this urgency for everyone. At the time, I was working as an exec director at a big four consulting firm in London, leading COVID response and research, helping organizations in 100 plus countries, setting up COVID command centers.

What started to emerge [00:03:00] in addition to the surge in caring responsibilities shouldered by women was that I was seeing a differential response to the vaccine side effects. Whether it was menstrual irregularity, strokes, hair loss, fatigue, and several other, uh, conditions. And that Stara Cares was created as the voice for scientific evidence that is translated into action for healthy living and healthy aging.

And you asked me, what’s Mimosa? So the name of our first product, which is additional health platform is Mimosa. And it is inspired by, yes, of course, the drink, because it gives us. Something fun and exciting for our users to connect with, but also Mimosa is a very resilient and deciduous flower from Africa, which is also the official symbol of International Women’s Day.

And in our first use case, we are integrating gynecological and hormone health for women and all individuals [00:04:00] assigned female at birth. So that includes transmasculine individuals. Now, what is Mimosa and how was it built? And what’s the research behind Mimosa is what I’m going to share next with the audience and yourself.

Mimosa is a first of its kind, mobile first, enterprise SAS digital health platform for hormone health literacy and workplace well being. It is available in 20 plus countries on Android and iOS through an employer paid subscription model, and it can be offered as a personalized benefit for your female workforce, or it can be integrated into benefit, HR, so employee experience and productivity platforms.

How was Mimosa built? It was built on our research that was funded by UK Research and Innovation and the National Institute for Health and Care Research, which is equivalent to the National Institute of Health in the Americas. We conducted qualitative and quantitative research on lived experience of all types 15 countries.

This included a [00:05:00] systematic review of large scale, high quality literature collaborating with leading universities in England on public health and artificial intelligence and guided by equality and health inequalities impact assessment frameworks. What does Mimosa do for you as an individual and for you as an HRDEI leader and an organizational leader?

Mimosa personalizes science for you. It is tracing 29 determinants of individual psychological work and social determinants of health. It facilitates appointment preparation and it offers a comprehensive health insights to guide you and boss your unique menopause journey. And organizations benefit from Mimosa analytics.

That offers evidence and actionable insights to deliver on their talent initiatives and Andrea What I would also like to cover Is two more things one is how do we define success? So instead of Sharing with [00:06:00] the audience the features and functionality. Here’s how we define success just a couple of examples One, when a 22 year old with premature menopause or premature ovarian insufficiency or polycystic ovarian syndrome does not have to suffer from a myriad of secondary health conditions, has timely agency on her fertility and family building options, we would have succeeded.

When a 37 year old doesn’t have to be shrouded in fear and anxiety of her menopause transition, we would have succeeded. When women receive culturally appropriate care from their employers, their families, their healthcare providers, without mandating being comfortable in air with open conversation in vaginas and vulvas, we would have succeeded.

Because we respect cultural differences, and no, not every woman is comfortable talking about her reproductive parts in the open. And we need to find ways, as a [00:07:00] society, to promote diverse care seeking behaviours. Something that’s really exciting me at the moment and what we are working with our customers is our latest innovation release in Q3, which is an, uh, which is additional health, um, productivity agent.

With the AI revolution, the role of health and wellbeing becomes more important to productivity as the AI handles routine tasks, leaving workers to engage with more sophisticated ones. At least that’s the wish. that I hear from organizations we are working with. So we created MIMI, which is an enterprise grade, responsible AI, healthy productivity agent available to Mimosa Premium customers.

MIMI is an acronym for Menopause Information and Management Interface for women of all ages because our continuous research spans females from 18 to 80 years old. So hopefully, Andrea, that gives you a comprehensive picture of what we are building and what inspired Tara Cares. [00:08:00]

Andrea: Yeah, thank you for that.

It’s very interesting and much needed, of course. So what I’m really finding quite interesting is that we’ve talked about many times on this show, the importance of organizations having a clear vision and direction, because that makes it easier for decision making when it comes to strategy, when it comes to to funding, when it comes to hiring promotions, those types of things.

And it gets easier also to tie individual jobs to goals and unite people within one culture or vision. So I just wanted to call this out actually as a really good example of being so pointed and clear about the goal, the values and the vision so that people can really align the work. And sometimes I think.

We are mistaken that you have to be a really big company or you have to be a nonprofit specifically dedicated to, you know, a certain topic to care and have [00:09:00] that type of clarity. And so I just, that’s an aside. I just wanted to mention that for our listeners as an example, but. I guess the other thing that stuck out to me is that, you know, Europe and the UK really has been leading the way and is certainly ahead of the United States with menopause policy and resources.

So since you are kind of at the forefront of this, I am curious what some of the challenges you’re seeing women face in the workplace. How does Mimosa help address those challenges? You know, if you could kind of give us a little bit of what you’re seeing out there.

Jyoti: Yeah, absolutely. And Andrea, I do want to reinforce and emphasize, uh, the assigned remark that you made, because, uh, it’s very important.

Uh, every single organization, no matter what your size is, uh, and whether you’re profitable or a non profit company, This is an important talent imperative that you should be looking at Uh in supporting and not just for supporting individuals, but [00:10:00] also tying it with the financial objectives Uh, so coming to your question andrea there are you know in terms of challenges that women face in the workplace I can summarize it into three words Understanding, empathy, and action.

And let me unravel that one by one. The first one, understanding there is a symptomatic narrative. There is fear mongering and misinformation, which is being propagated by social media, as well as companies whose sole business model is to send you to the clinic. And what this has resulted in is a tokenistic response by many organizations.

Doing awareness sessions is a good first step, but it is not enough. And I have read several menopause policies that are often becoming the first place leading to the science, scientifically deficient understanding of menopause. So the first step for anyone listening to our conversation today, Andrea, is to [00:11:00] ask the right questions before you jump into solutions.

The second word, empathy. Empathy comes from knowledge. Evidence builds the trust in knowledge. And with trust comes action, action that is targeted with a clear path for value for both the individual and the employer. Now the current state of the Menopause Workplace Support looks something like this. And this is both from the UK and EU and Americas as well as Australia.

So our research currently spans 15 countries and it’s growing by the day. Companies are doing one of the few things. Number one, generic menopause awareness training. Number two, menopause policy implementation. Number three, symptom tracker apps, health insurance, menopause leave, and similar initiatives.

And number four, building gender calling network for menopause awareness and engagement. Now, all of these [00:12:00] initiatives and investments are seen as operational expenses. Not strategic assets that the company is building for long term value. Also, menopause support is sickness driven, not health oriented.

And all of these compound into challenges, which further exacerbate the already, um, you know, scary picture of menopause being a stigma and the discrimination and years of under representation in the workplace. So here’s how Mimosa addresses these challenges. And we are addressing these challenges organically, not just as a reaction, because we have been thinking about each of these, uh, requirements and each of these features.

and organizational needs as we build to the platform. The first one that these key breakthroughs are also aimed at both health and financial well [00:13:00] being. The first one is strategic organizational impact. What I mean by that is we are pioneering and helping organizations pioneer the future of female work, not just the future of work, and building workplaces that are female centric playgrounds for growth and success.

Done in a healthy manner. So, for example, with mimosa analytics, organizations gain meaningful aggregate analytical insights on the heterogeneity of the menopause demographic and continuous listening signals that can be applied to more personalized benefits that can be applied to your career and total reward strategies.

in a win win employee employer care model. Second one, early detection of perimenopause. Hopefully, our audience have heard about the term perimenopause. If you haven’t, it is the transition period and the best way to understand it is periperimeter. Peri means around, so it’s seven to ten [00:14:00] years or more depending on your specific circumstances.

when the transition starts happening of the fluctuating hormones until the time that the lady stops her, uh, periods and the, the hormones reach, uh, reach a declining level post, uh, post her, post the cessation of menstruation. Now with Mimosa, We are aiming to provide employees with early predictions and identification of potential symptoms that are associated with perimenopause early on.

So that you don’t just, you know, right now, women are desperate for care because they think that it happened overnight. Well, no, it didn’t happen overnight. We were just not monitoring what was going on. And this is important for healthcare burden, both for the employers and the healthcare systems to give you some numbers, the US healthcare burden from secondary conditions.

that happened from menopause, if not monitored, and if there’s no timely intervention, is 12. 9 billion for hypertension, 2. 7 billion [00:15:00] for osteoporosis, and 8. 7 billion for depression. So, it’s quite a seismic impact. And what Mimosa is doing is it is helping the fast growing 1. 2 billion women and their families by making care more intelligent, inclusive, and affordable.

The third one is personalized care recommendations. So Mimosa avoids the trap of symptom tracker apps, whose sole target is again, to send you to the clinic or to create fear. My business model is to keep you healthy by educating you and enabling you with evidence and agency in your health. And of course, if you need a clinical visit, then you are armed with real time longitudinal and comprehensive evidence through your usage of mimosas.

So when a lady is actually going through brain fog and loss of memory, and she goes to the clinic and she said, Oh, tell me what you’ve gone through in the past six months. I don’t remember how I was feeling two days ago. Right. So we are [00:16:00] helping enrich the shared decision making between the lady and the clinician.

Lastly, how this helps, just one quick example is, for example, if a lady is diagnosed say with polycystic ovarian syndrome or endometriosis or any gynecological hormone issue. Mimosa’s science engine already knows, based on the research that we are infusing into it and clinical expertise that’s infused into our models, that there is a high likelihood of symptomatic perimenopause for this lady.

Now, I don’t want you to wait another decade or two to discover the knowledge I can offer you by making science accessible now. So that’s how we are tackling the challenges. That are, uh, commonplace, uh, for women going through menopause.

Andrea: It is so complex because humans are all different and there is no, well, well, there is a timeline, but there is, it’s like puberty, right?

There’s no specific date that, you [00:17:00] know, it’s going to happen. Therefore it makes it a lot more difficult. Difficult. And again, what I’m seeing here is just this really interesting tie between the stigma and the journey that I have seen with mental health becoming mainstream. And now it feels like menopause is kind of following a similar trend.

Track, because it, it takes education. First of all, we have to know what it is. We have to arm people with information. We have to give them tools such as this, and we have to talk about it for progress to be made that actually supports people. And there are so many benefits, just like supporting mental health, which we all know now, but in 2019, that wasn’t the case.

Right. So I’m hoping this will follow a very similar trajectory where we’re actually helping people do the work and the job that they want to do. And so, you know, what advice would you give companies that do want to create that better support? What, you know, misconceptions might there be? What benefits could they [00:18:00] expect?

Um, kind of what are you seeing for real advice for companies and HR practitioners of pros, cons, benefits, you know, misconceptions, all of those things?

Jyoti: Yeah, and, and, Andrea, you made a very good point on mental health, and, uh, those analogies are, uh, quite frequently being made between menopause and mental health, and what I would like to double click on that point is that, uh, menopause is, you know, if it’s naturally iterated, it’s a natural transition, but it’s not happening in isolation, so when you look at strengths and weaknesses.

There is a term called psychophysiology of stress. And what we study in that is the psychological consequences of the physiological changes that are happening in your body. And cortisol as a stress hormone is not, it’s completely deeply interlinked. from an endocrinology perspective with estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone.

So, those things are quite intertwined. So, if an organization feels, oh, I’ve [00:19:00] done that, given a mental health app, and that is taking care of stress, and now I need to look at menopause, no, it’s all interconnected. And that’s what we are aiming to do with our, with our, with our products, but also with how the messaging that we Uh, and the advice that we give to organizations that it’s all integrated and it’s cross disciplinary.

Now coming to your question, what advice and real advice, which is very important. Number one, organizations need to shift from sickness driven to a health oriented mindset. And this is very, very important. So benefits such as menopause leave and medical insurance, certainly they play a role and I’m not saying they need to be taken away.

But what I am saying is that ultimately your North Star must be a healthier workforce, and you need to see what those specific industry challenges are for you. The second one, you need to link the company’s strategy and financial objectives with the investment that you have on [00:20:00] support. And that can only be done through scientific and continuous evidence.

not through static surveys and six monthly or annual employee engagement surveys. Third, please reassess and re evaluate the company resources that you are spending or have spent. Because if you cannot prove the ROI in terms of clear drivers of value for your company, then the budgets will start to shrink and we will be back to where we started.

And who suffers the woman and everyone related to her health and well being. So to give you an example, with Mimosa Analytics, our value drivers are looking at predicting talent retention, attrition, and transition. So even when an organization starts with, say, a six to 12 month pilot, we are shaping the pilot with our Mimosa Intelligence Services to architect an ROI strategy.

That the pilot and subsequent scale will deliver [00:21:00] for the company. I too frequently, of course, as a consultant for 22 years, have seen organizations spend millions into strategy services without really calculating the clear value that the organization will receive from it. And to that point, it’s important to also understand what some of the common misconceptions are.

Maybe that employers, uh, have, uh, first the menopause is not age related. That menopause is age related and affects women of a certain age. No, it doesn’t. Any menstruating female can be diagnosed of menopause, uh, especially the non-natural types, which is early menopause or surgical menopause. Um, uh, during her lifetime.

Second, that hormone therapy is the golden pill for menopause. And if you’ve given hormone therapy benefits, then, you know, you can check the box, not really, yes, hormone therapy plays a very big role, [00:22:00] but again, there is a need for a holistic combination of hormone and non hormonal interventions, because not every woman wants to take hormone, hormone therapy, or can even take hormone therapy.

Third. That all women will experience hot flushes and night sweats. So let’s invest a million in wearables of all sorts No, not every woman experiences hot flushes and night sweats. And this is this is one of my biggest concerns at the moment with the social media dialogue where women Feel because the you know, everything that we are being fed from social media people women’s feel Oh, i’m not having hot flushes and night sweats.

So i’m not in perimenopause We have around 65 mimosa You Because of the dynamic design that we’ve done, we are actually discovering new symptoms and identifying patterns with ethnicity and specific individual circumstances of the lady. And the fourth one that I do want to add is that men are also undergoing andropause or male menopause.

So, and it’s very important [00:23:00] to note that with the exception of sexual dimorphism and symptoms such as bleeding, many symptoms are linked to gender dysphoria. There are links to cognitive executive functions, confidence, lack of self esteem are identical between men and women. So you know, when a, when a CEO or a CFO tells me why should we care, I actually had this three weeks ago where we were working with a big bank and they said, Hey, why should we really care?

And when I brought them these facts about males and females, then they actually suddenly started caring. So it’s very important also how you are positioning this within your organization and we of course help organizations to build that business case. And what I want to quickly also touch on, Andrea, is how HR departments can actually address these through a results driven approach.

Um, so the first one is. again, asking the right question. So you need to first understand the heterogeneity of the menopause experience. [00:24:00] And the way you do it is it has to be multidimensional and you have to have a researcher’s lens so that your findings Can actually be synthesized into a game plan that can deliver the objectives you’re looking for second one And you know people and many folks in the audience Uh may or may not like this but menopause awareness efforts and champions and all of that they have helped Certainly normalize the conversation.

However, the measurable impact on companies financial returns From investing in menopause support an individual’s career financial well being remains uncharted. And that’s what we are after We are working with companies to show you where menopause sits on your corporate balance sheet And what’s happening is that decades of discrimination and underrepresented ethnicities?

They they prevent many from seeking help So actually as an employer, even if you have very good intentions If people are not disclosing their challenges it further [00:25:00] complicates Your ability to respond appropriately. And I want to, I want to substantiate this with an example. So at least in the UK and EU, one of the leading industry sectors is financial companies and financial services.

They have been the most progressive in investing heavily and were the early adopters to becoming menopause aware. So to give you some examples, Virgin Money built a gender colleague network for menopause awareness and engagement. How Greaves Lansdowne built employee network groups with key priority being increasing women at middle and senior levels.

Yet, and I’m sure these are examples which are resonating with some of the listeners today. Yet, this sector faces skill gaps, it faces competition for talent, and unmet gender parity targets. And what that does for the rest of the population is that it results in increased workload for staff, increased costs and limitations to growth, and then putting pressure on the business [00:26:00] profitability and continuity.

And that’s why we built Mimosa and what we are helping organizations, some of them are actually even looking to scrap their current menopause policies with what they’ve learned from the pilot. So what they’re benefiting from Andrea is the micro view that they get on individualized, uh, experience, uh, of menopause while tackling a macro workforce topic that is tailored to their specific value drivers.

I hope that gives enough, uh, enough food for thought to our listeners today, Andrea.

Andrea: Yeah, it, it does. And I want to quickly touch on one more related topic for our HR, you know, practitioners listening. You’ve talked a bit about ROI and financial considerations related to retention and retention is critical, of course, but retaining a diverse population is especially key for top performing organizations and those that really want to focus on a strong culture of belonging and.

productivity in general, you know, satisfaction. [00:27:00] So what impact do you think menopause support can have linked to this gender diversity and inclusion effort that an organization hopefully is going to focus on?

Jyoti: And so I’m delighted that you asked that question, Andrea. You know, before I founded Thara Cares, um, I’ve learned from 22 years and transforming people experience in DEI with human centered technology and what I’ve learned.

Is that the first step is to redefine redefine metaphors into an opportunity for growth and innovation Not a problem So when you start with an investigative lens and research as I it transforms the energy of your decisions and efforts and How we are helping organizations do that is we are helping organizations redefine what diversity equity inclusion and belonging means and how it can be translated into meaningful outcomes when you look at your metaphor’s [00:28:00] demographic.

And to answer your question, Andrea, which is so, so significant, I want to leave the audience with a question, a thought to think upon for each of those topics. So first one is diversity. The question I encourage our customers and prospects to ask is, how do I comprehend the various dimensions and diverse experiences of the menopause transition for my people.

The second one, equity. How do I investigate care seeking behaviors that are culturally diverse? The third one, inclusion. How do I transcend age and ethnic considerations in our inclusion framework? The fourth, belonging. How do I consider psychosocial perceptions in a culturally relevant and appropriate manner?

When you contemplate on those questions, You will find yourself [00:29:00] arriving on pathways of thinking that can actually then help you take a fresh look at your initiatives and what you would like to do now, what you would like to change now or implement in future. And to give you one example, again, we are working with a large multinational bank, uh, in, in Germany, where, uh, we are linking their Mimosa pilot results to understand their voluntary staff turnover rates.

And there is a huge DEI pattern that is emerging in the, in their voluntary staff turnover rates, which have actually increased by five percentage points in the past six months, mirroring pre COVID, uh, uh, percentages. So what you’re doing is we are looking at the pilot findings. We are looking at their DEI data and using the insights gained, we are combining it with our workplace and AI research and building predictive models.

for attrition, retention, and transition. And that’s [00:30:00] how, that’s how you intercept DEIB very strategically rather than, uh, an ad hoc or a siloed effort within an organization. So I hope that helps Andrea in, in shedding some light on that topic.

Andrea: It does help. And I think it’s always just good to bring that up and give people talking points and a little bit of information because we do need to lead those discussions and always make sure it’s part of any new initiative or policy or tool that we are bringing to the company that we’re really getting a well rounded benefit and why it matters.

Um, so that’s a great tip there. So I guess to, to keep us, you know, we’re going to have to close soon, but I want to know before we do, if you could define the future, everything, you know, and everything you wish, what would your vision be for menopause care and workplace wellness? Around the globe be going forward.[00:31:00]

Jyoti: Thank you for that question. And yeah, it would be to build new frontiers of care and compassion, where science is a way of life. Where profit earning calls from companies also discuss how many sick days they have reduced, how many family days they have increased and, and how much health insurance premiums they haven’t used.

And where good health is a measure of success for all stakeholders. Employees and their families, employers, and shareholders, in my view, and the work that guides our principles at Tora Cares, that’s the only way to a healthier working world, building healthier families and society.

Andrea: Well, that is a great vision, and we have a little bit of work to do between here and there.

But, uh, it starts with conversations such as this. So, I really appreciate you coming and sharing your vision. Some of these topics that are a little bit harder to get to because of the stigma and sometimes shame associated with them around the [00:32:00] world. So thank you for that. And before we let you go, I have to ask you, when I ask all of our guests here on the show, which is if you will share something with our audience that most people may not know about you.

Jyoti: Uh, what most people may not know about me is that I actually respectfully declined three PhD offers. on menopause from leading universities in England and Australia to set up Tara Cares, because I did not see a traditional PhD as the right pathway to translate my ambition for research into actual user benefits.

So Tara Cares is my lifelong PhD. Uh, for I may never receive a doctoral degree, but that is absolutely irrelevant. Um, we are that’s the robustness with which every single team member including investors who are carefully selected Are working day and night for

Andrea: our mission. That’s [00:33:00] impressive And I think a great reminder that although degrees are important and required, certainly for some positions that it’s not everything and passion and drive and vision, whatever your role, whatever your dreams, uh, you can do that.

So I think that’s very inspiring and thank you so much for coming and sharing with us. Thank you, Andrea. Thank you for having me today. It was a pleasure. All right, everyone. Thanks for listening and we will see you on the next episode.