"I had become exceptionally good at performing wellbeing — rather than actually experiencing it."
Originally from New York, now living in London.
I have spent over a decade working across healthcare consulting, digital therapeutics, health tech, and life sciences — building my career in high-performance environments where everyone is solving big problems, moving quickly, and running on adrenaline.
It started during my healthcare consulting years at KPMG: late nights, all-nighters, eating whatever was available at 11pm, constantly running on adrenaline. That was where the fatigue began. The unexplained weight gain. The feeling that my body was somehow struggling to keep up with the pace I expected from it.
Outside of work, I love historical fiction novels (slightly nerdy, unapologetically so), cooking for people as a form of affection, and despite now working in wellness, I still struggle to sit alone with my thoughts for longer than five minutes without mentally planning my next idea, project, or life pivot.
A new city. The same pattern.
I moved to London for my MSc and entered the health tech world — exciting, fast-paced, exactly where I wanted to be professionally. I became Chief of Staff at one of the world's leading digital therapeutics companies, travelling constantly across Europe while quietly becoming more anxious, more exhausted, and more disconnected from my own wellbeing.
After that, I joined a digital health company focused on chronic disease management as Chief of Staff, where I helped lead the business through an acquisition alongside the founders. The stress was immense. I was missing periods. Struggling with IBS flare-ups. Dealing with chronic fatigue, anxiety, poor sleep, hormonal issues, back pain — while still performing at a very high level professionally.
Because that is what ambitious women do. We cope. Exceptionally well, actually.
The youngest. The only woman.
Following the acquisition, I joined the acquiring company — a leading European healthcare and life sciences organisation — where I became the youngest person on the senior leadership team and the only woman on the technology leadership team.
I was incredibly proud of that. I had worked hard for it. And yet underneath it all, my body was very clearly telling me something had to change.
I remember sitting in senior leadership events trying to maintain complete composure while my IBS was flaring so badly I had to keep slipping out of the room. Bringing my own food to events because explaining my health issues felt more uncomfortable than quietly managing them alone. Looking polished, capable, high-functioning — while feeling completely disconnected from my own wellbeing behind the scenes.
The decision.
We are surrounded by health advice, yet very few of us are actually taught how to be well. On one side, influencer wellness culture. On the other, a healthcare system designed around disease management — stepping in once symptoms become severe enough, once a diagnosis exists, once intervention is required.
And somewhere in the middle sits the reality most women experience: very little meaningful support to help them understand their bodies, prevent illness, build sustainable habits, or learn what wellbeing actually looks like for women living high-performance lives. That is the HARAYA gap. I left to fill it.
What Haraya means.
I am Filipina, and Haraya is a Tagalog word meaning vision — imagination, the mind's eye. More specifically, it speaks to envisioning a state not yet obtained — being able to imagine a different version of your life before you are fully living it yet.
HARAYA exists for the woman who knows she is capable of extraordinary things — and is finally ready to believe she deserves extraordinary health alongside them. Because ambition and wellbeing were never meant to exist in opposition.
