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This week’s Making Rounds spotlights Holly Singh, founder and CEO of fertility consulting startup Wellhatched. At the company, Singh helps clients navigate fertility and family planning while also providing educational courses to companies on topics like egg freezing and surrogacy.
Today the Wellhatched team consists of two people: Singh and business manager Heather Robertson.
Singh talked with Healthcare Brew about whatWellhatched does to support prospective parents and how the evolving fertility and reproductive landscape in the US affects that work.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
What is Wellhatched, and why did you start the company?
I found myself, like many other people, with an infertility diagnosis. I had the reaction that most people have: You’re a bit surprised, you’re a bit overwhelmed, you’re a bit lost. There was just no guidance; there were no practical next steps. I just said, “I don’t want to regret not trying to fix this problem. I can’t be alone here.” So I worked nights and weekends to start this up in February 2020.
At Wellhatched, I’m the project manager for your family-building journey. The initial thought was to support people in the way I wished I would have been supported. That was a one-to-one consulting model. I've been called a lot of things. I've been called a fertility doula, the wedding planner but for having a baby. It’s someone to say, “Here’s this big process—let’s break it down.”
What does an average day look like for you?
It varies a lot. There’s been a lot to stay informed on, especially with everything that’s going on in the world of IVF [in vitro fertilization]. I end up spending a good amount of time connecting to other founders in women’s health. If we’ve got a workshop coming up, we’re constantly updating our materials. And then there’s actually the consulting with the clients or preparing. We’ve got to map out: How many children do you think you want to have? When were your eggs frozen? What was your last cycle? A lot of time goes into preparation.
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The fertility and reproductive rights landscape across the US has changed a lot in recent years. How is that affecting the work that you’re doing?
The initial reaction [to the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos should be considered children], understandably, was just that with concern. There is an emotional component to this that we cannot separate. Many of us who have gone through IVF have extra embryos left, and you could just kind of kick the can and pay whatever it was a year to have them sitting there. But now the concern is: “Well, wait a minute. If the laws and the landscapes changed significantly, am I being forced to make a decision? And what does this mean?” There’s a lot of uncertainty. There’s a lot of concern.
What’s your goal for the future of Wellhatched?
Hands down, every time I get a baby picture from a client—it doesn’t matter if it’s the first or the third or the tenth—it’s so special every time we see that. So, it’s to continue to support any and all intended parents that we can.
It’s also to continue to evolve the landscape of women’s health. I’d love to see what we do collectively because I think there are just so many interesting opportunities.