Photography by Emily Kuhn / Jena Beise, owner of Heal At Home Moms. The business won a marketing package from the Sasha Group, Humanaut and Pathfinder Films during the Amplify pitch competition Friday during Startup Week.Not many people understand her business - including the people who could benefit the most from it - but Jena Beise said she is looking forward to changing that.
"It's a taboo subject, and the impact on quality of life is massive," said Beise, a physical therapist whose business focuses on pelvic and abdominal healing for women after childbirth. "So many people know so little about this. They don't even know there's help available."
Heal At Home Moms won a marketing package from the Sasha Group, Humanaut and Pathfinder Films during the Amplify pitch competition Friday, boosting Beise's efforts to get the word out about the business she has been slowly building since May 2019.
Andrew Clark, a judge for the pitch competition and a co-founder of creative agency Humanaut, said the combination of tackling a sensitive subject and making a difference for women's health makes the business stand out.
"Increasingly, there are brands proving that just being candid about real issues is powerful," he said during the Q and A portion of Beise's pitch. "I like the idea because I think its opportunistic, but also doing real good in the world."
The Amplify pitch competition was part of Startup Week, an annual week-long showcase and celebration of Chattanooga's entrepreneurial community. The events all moved online this year, and five very different businesses made virtual pitches during the Amplify competition on Friday.
The pitches ranged from Cocoa Asante, locally produced chocolate from cocoa beans grown in Ghana, to Mensuits.com, a website dedicated to quality men's suiting. Alchemy Spice pitched its business producing all-natural spice blends, and The Chef and His Wife outlined their proposition to distribute premium pimento cheese nationally.
"Each one of you guys has a really interesting story and something to share with the world," said Leif Ramsey, co-founder of Pathfinder Films and a competition judge.
Heal At Home Moms offers an eight-week, subscription-based program of online education and physical therapy for women who are experiencing pelvic pain, abdominal separation, incontinence and other symptoms following childbirth. Too often, women are told those experiences are a normal part of post-partum life, said Beise, who has three children ages 2 to 7.
"I got into physical therapy to help people, and that was an area that was greatly underserved," said Beise, who experienced abdominal separation during her own pregnancies. "I was able to help heal my own body, but it struck me that most people have no idea what to do and aren't told what to do - they just get told this is mom life."
The business
Heal At Home Moms offers an eight-week, subscription-based program of online education and physical therapy for women who are experiencing pelvic pain, abdominal separation, incontinence and other symptoms following childbirth.Online at healathomemoms.com
Jess Friedowitz, creative director for the Sasha Group and a competition judge, said the business could help to change the way people think about post-partum recovery.
"People really need something big that forces them to think about women's health differently," she said.
Because the Heal At Home Moms program is online, most of Beise's 450 customers are in other states - and even other countries. About 25% are local to Chattanooga, she said, and she has women using the program from as far away as the Czech Republic. The marketing package will give her a powerful tool to expand her reach, Beise said.
"I'm a physical therapist - I share my own story, but when it comes to marketing that's not my strong suit," she said.
Contact Mary Fortune at mfortune@timesfreepress.com. Follow her on Twitter at @maryfortune.