Game On
Beauty and the Beat
While most of us were just learning how to adult by the time we were 27, Urska Srsen, had already been named in Forbes magazine “30 under 30”
for her company Bellabeat. Urska & Bellabeat invented Leaf, a health tracker that’s changing the way women keep tabs on their well-being. Talk about #goals. Is she proud? “Yes, but mostly busy,”
laughs Srsen.
Bellabeat founder, Urska Srsen. Credit: Bellabeat.
Flashback to three years ago when Srsen & a friend collaborated on an app that allowed soon-to-be moms to listen to their baby’s heartbeat in utero. “This was really our introduction to women’s health,”
Srsen says. While her friend—a fellow kite-surfer—approached the app from the engineering standpoint, Srsen, an art major, was more interested in the design aspect of the project. “I was interested in making wearable tech as intuitive & user-friendly as possible for women,”
she says. Enter Leaf, a piece of jewelry made of wood that can be worn as a bracelet, necklace or pin & features no confusing buttons or complicated settings. It monitors your activity throughout the day, sleep throughout the night & your cycle throughout the month. Just go to the app to see your results!
One major difference between Leaf users & typical fitness tracker fanatics is that Srsen’s fans are not workout junkies. “The problem with average fitness trackers is that they only reward you when you’re doing intense workouts,”
says Srsen. “If you’re away from the gym or not running, they really don’t provide much feedback or incentive to keep you living healthily.”
Leaf, on the other hand, serves as a motivational tool. Think of it like the health conscious angel on your shoulder, necklace or bracelet. You can program it to remind you to take your birth control, walk 20 minutes a day, or go to bed before the next episode of your latest Netflix binge.
“Many people think they’re living a healthy life but when they're faced with the reality of their behaviors, they discover otherwise,”
says Srsen. In fact, although Srsen likes to windsurf, kite surf & snowboard, even she had to get real & realize she wasn’t as active as she thought. This light bulb moment inspired the decision to have Bellabeat track “active minutes”
rather than exercise itself. “The recommended amount of exercise a day for women is 20 minutes,”
she says. “Anyone can do that. And whether it’s yoga or window shopping, you should be rewarded for it.”
Bellabeat founder, Urska Srsen. Credit: Bellabeat.
Not surprisingly, Srsen says Bellabeat has made connections between the amount of sleep & exercise that a woman gets & the regularity of her cycle. “We are using this data to build new products going forward that strengthen the mind-body connection, like meditation exercises that help with cramps & insomnia”
says Srsen. This summer, Bellabeat introduces a new product with features far beyond tracking & data collection. You know how everyone tells you to “stop stressing”
when you’re at your most stressed? The Leaf Urban can actually help you do it by predicting what’s going to get you wound up, based on lifestyle habits. The next-generation device, which comes in pin, bracelet & necklace form, also tracks sleep, menstrual cycle & meditation.
Despite having her feet planted firmly on the ground (or surfboard in the sand), Srsen often finds her head in the clouds (literally) as she jets between her four offices in San Francisco, US; Shenzhen, China; Zagreb, Croatia & London, England. But as she knows all too well, busy people are often the ones who need stress-relief most. No matter where she goes, she hustles to get her 20 minutes of active movement in every day. The best way to wind down after a sweat session? With a bit of pampering, of course.
Try creating a mini post-workout paradise at home to reward your hard work & tired muscles!
• First, turn up the heat with a self-heating scrub, like Origins Warm Down Warming Lava Scrub, to detoxify & exfoliate skin while relaxing sore muscles.
• Next, go for a deep, invigorating clean with an exfoliating body wash to refine & purify skin while you wash off sweat.
• Finally, refresh post-shower with a lightweight, cooling moisturizer to replenish skin’s hydration.