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Most fertility apps look at your past cycles and make a prediction. Sabrina Nowicki built something different.
Sabrina is co-founder of Cyclisity, the digital companion to Taking Charge of Your Fertility — the bestselling book written by her aunt, Toni Weschler. What started as an annual lunch celebrating her first period became a mission to bring body literacy to women worldwide — and to build an app that teaches you to read your own body instead of outsourcing that knowledge to an algorithm.
What you’ll learn
Chapters
00:00 The Influence of Family Legacy on Innovation
03:08 Understanding the Fertility Awareness Method
06:10 The Basic Principles of the Fertility Awareness Method
11:53 Cyclisity: The Role of Education About Women's Health
14:47 Challenges and Learning Curves in Fertility Awareness
17:55 The Importance of Personalization in Health Apps
20:47 The Future of Women's Health Research
23:58 Data Privacy and Women's Health
29:44 Protecting User Data and Future Studies
32:21 Impact of Roe v. Wade on Privacy
35:05 The Advantages of Low-Tech Tracking
38:01 Self-Funding and Business Strategy
41:10 Leveraging Complementary Skills in Founding
44:09 Designing for Correct Use and User Experience
46:57 The Evolution of Cyclisity's Name
50:23 Empowering Female Founders through Investment
📋 Full episode notes + Sabrina’s bio: [link to blog post]
Connect with Sabrina:
🌐 cyclisity.com
📱 TikTok & Instagram: @wanderingSabrinaThe book behind the app:
📖 Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler → https://amzn.eu/d/0cX3icbH
If this episode made you think differently about your body or your health data, hit follow so you never miss a new episode.
“I don’t need to be an expert on any of these topics… that’s what I have my colleagues for.” — Izzy Sayers
What if the real obstacle for female founders isn’t a lack of knowledge, but the idea that they have to know it all themselves?
This episode is for female founders and women in tech who want to scale without needing to know everything themselves.
Host Dirkjan talks with Izzy Sayers, who leads the Emerging Giants team at KPMG Netherlands. Izzy helps startups and growing companies tackle tricky challenges like tax, finance, risk, and expanding internationally—areas that can make a big difference to a company’s success.
Izzy didn’t follow a typical path into tech. Her history degree turned out to be her “secret weapon”—not because it made her a technical expert, but because it taught her to ask good questions, connect ideas, and bring the right people together. This approach also helped her handle imposter syndrome, focusing on where she adds value instead of trying to know everything.
In this episode, you’ll hear:
• Why knowing when to outsource is one of the most underrated founder skills
• How to recognize the moment when complexity starts slowing you down
• What post-COVID networking has cost the startup ecosystem, and how to bring serendipity back
• Why women in tech often stay in the facilitator role, and what it takes to step forward
• How safe spaces help female founders ask the questions that actually move them forward
Izzy also talks about getting ready for motherhood while working in a fast-paced environment, and how this change is teaching her to manage her energy, be more selective, and think long-term.
Chapters:
00:00 — Introduction
05:17 — The history degree as a secret weapon
08:12 — Techstars NYC and the intensity of New York
11:20 — Transitioning from TNW to KPMG
14:05 — Overcoming imposter syndrome in a new role
16:18 — When and what to outsource as a founder
22:12 — How networking became transactional after COVID
25:04 — Strategies for better event attendance
33:22 — Safe spaces for women in the startup ecosystem
36:21 — Why women stay in the facilitator role (and how to step forward)
41:07 — Navigating motherhood and the startup world
46:30 — What makes a meaningful connection
Connect with Izzy Sayers and KPMG Emerging Giants
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/izzy-sayers/
KPMG Emerging Giants: https://kpmg.com/nl/en/home/industries/private-enterprise/emerging-giants.html
Check out the show notes on
Women Disrupting Tech Blog:
Substack:
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How do you build the next generation of global gold standards in women’s health, and why is it one of the biggest economic opportunities of our time?
In this episode, Carmen van Vilsteren — healthcare innovation leader, angel investor, and one of the Netherlands’ most experienced medical device executives — shares her mission to fund and coach seven female founders toward creating seven new gold standards in healthcare.
Having spent decades at Philips developing cardiovascular imaging systems now used every second of every day in hospitals worldwide, Carmen is done advising from the sidelines. She’s getting her hands dirty — investing, coaching, and building the ecosystem that women’s health has always deserved.
We dive deep into what it actually takes to create a global gold standard in healthcare, why women’s health represents a $1 trillion untapped economic opportunity, and how Carmen is shifting the conversation from niche issue to societal imperative.
By listening, you'll learn about:
Connect with Carmen van Vilsteren:
Connect with Carmen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carmen-van-vilsteren-a069a49/
Resources mentioned:
Fe+Male Tech Heroes: https://femaletechheroes.com/
FemTech NL: https://www.femtechnl.com/
Borski Fund: https://borskifund.com
Health Holland: https://health-holland.com
Carmen's co-authored publication in The Lancet titled ‘Why investing in women's health is a societal imperative’: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)00404-6/fulltext
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction and Background in Tech and Healthcare
03:57 Why Healthcare Became Carmen’s Passion
07:24 Development of Imaging Systems for Cardiovascular Applications
09:07 What Goes into Developing a Global Standard
14:43 Carmen’s Ambition to Fund Seven Global Healthcare Standards
17:01 Innovations in Preclinical and Clinical Imaging
19:08 The Role of Acceptance and Credibility in Healthcare
23:07 The Seven Golden Standards in Healthcare
32:50 Changing the Healthcare Ecosystem and Gender Balance
40:39 Women’s Health as a Societal Imperative
44:21 Engaging Men in Women’s Health Advocacy
49:24 Impact of Women’s Health on Society and Personal Life
54:00 Angel Investing and Supporting Female Founders
58:35 Paying Forward and Building a Support Ecosystem
01:10:47 Netherlands as a Global Center for Women’s Health
01:17:08 Vision for the Future of Healthcare and Innovation
01:21:32 Advice for Female Founders and Investors
01:22:48 Connecting with Carmen on LinkedIn
About Women Disrupting Tech: Hosted by Dirkjan Hupkes, Women Disrupting Tech features female founders, tech leaders, and women in STEM who are building the next generation of technology. We provide the actionable strategies and proven frameworks female entrepreneurs use to succeed.
👉 Subscribe to Women Disrupting Tech on Spotify and Apple Podcasts for weekly insights from women reshaping the industry.
What if three wall plugs could transform how night nurses care for an entire nursing home floor?
Femke Delissen is the co-founder of PAVA, a Dutch startup using a combination of Wi-Fi sensing technology and AI to help nurses in elderly care work more efficiently — without cameras, without wearables, and without sacrificing the privacy and dignity of residents.
In this episode, Femke shares how she and her co-founders turned an AI master’s project in Amsterdam into a full-time startup, why they’ve stayed committed to healthcare despite the temptation of faster markets, and what top-level sports taught them about building a resilient founding team.
You’ll hear about:
Whether you’re building in healthcare, navigating slow decision cycles, or looking for proof that you don’t always need a breakthrough invention to solve a real problem — this episode is for you.
About Femke Delissen
Femke Delissen is the co-founder and commercial lead of PAVA, a remote monitoring startup for elderly care based in the Netherlands.
She holds an MSc in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Amsterdam and studied at UC Berkeley.
Before going full-time on PAVA, she worked in a student-led consultancy at Sustainable Students Consultancy. She played hockey for HGC, at the highest competitive level in the Netherlands.
Connect with Femke and Pava
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/femke-delissen/
PAVA Website: pava.ai
PAVA on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pava-ai/
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
02:40 From Education to Entrepreneurship
09:38 Introducing Pava: Revolutionizing Elderly Care
11:04 Addressing the Challenges in Healthcare
14:57 Innovative Solutions: Wi-Fi Sensing Technology
20:41 Personalized Care Through Data
25:29 The Future of Monitoring: AI and Beyond
31:51 Passion for Healthcare: A Personal Journey
37:53 Navigating the Healthcare Landscape
44:48 Funding Challenges in Healthcare Startups
51:51 The Influence of Sports on Entrepreneurship
57:12 Learning Through Community and Collaboration
Connect with Women Disrupting Tech
Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube so you never miss an episode.
How do you build a tech company that prioritizes real human connection over the endless swipe?
In this episode, female founder Marsha Goei, Head of Brand at Breeze Social, shares her journey of disrupting the dating industry.
By removing the chat function entirely, Marsha and her team have created a platform that skips the small talk and goes straight to face-to-face dates.
We dive deep into the philosophy of human-centric tech, exploring how Marsha’s background in Industrial Design Engineering helped her build a product that solves the core problem of “app fatigue.”
You’ll also hear the raw reality of navigating a seven-person founding team as the only woman and how to transition a startup culture from “family” to “professional team.”
Key Takeaways from Marsha Goei:
About Women Disrupting Tech:
Hosted by Dirkjan Hupkes, Women Disrupting Tech features female founders, tech leaders, and women in STEM who are building the next generation of technology. We provide the actionable strategies and proven frameworks female entrepreneurs use to succeed.
Connect with Marsha and Breeze Social:
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
02:20 Introducing Marsha Goei and Breeze
05:22 The Journey to Entrepreneurship
07:58 Building Breeze: The Concept of a Dating App
11:14 Safety Features and User Commitment in Dating
14:11 Validating the Breeze Concept
17:05 From Concept to App Development
19:55 Business Model Evolution and User Experience
23:00 Design Philosophy and User-Centric Approach
25:56 Success Metrics and User Feedback
29:06 Navigating Gender Dynamics in Entrepreneurship
35:18 Building a Feedback Culture
38:24 The Shift from Family to Team
41:11 Navigating Roles and Responsibilities
45:07 The Journey of Self-Discovery
52:39 Recognizing and Overcoming Burnout
57:17 The Role of Investors in Growth
1:03:55 Empowering Female Founders through Community
👉 Subscribe to Women Disrupting Tech on Spotify and Apple Podcasts for weekly insights from women reshaping the industry.
Every visionary founder needs a disciplined operator to translate "big ideas" into functional reality.
In this episode, host Dirkjan Hupkes sits down with Eliza Moore, EVP of Client Experience & Operations at Prizeout, to deconstruct the unique mental models required to scale a startup from the ground up.
Eliza shares her journey from New York financial services to the fast-paced world of fintech, offering a rare look at the "how" behind successful execution.
We dive deep into the Data Chain Mental Model, a framework for better business decisions, and discuss why the most successful Women in Tech aren't just building products—they are building the systems that allow those products to thrive.
What You’ll Learn
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
02:33 Eliza Moore's Journey to Prizeout
09:36 Understanding Prizeout's Unique Fintech Model
13:58 The Role of Credit Unions in Financial Services
20:34 The Operator vs. Founder Dynamic
26:40 Lessons from Mentorship and Leadership
35:03 The Importance of Operators in Business
43:08 Mental Models for Success in Funding
44:28 Closing Thoughts and Where to Connect
Connect with Eliza Moore and Prizeout
Eliza Moore on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizamoore/
Prizeout website: https://www.prizeout.com/
The Data Chain Framework: https://medium.com/data-science/12-mental-models-for-data-science-f2e2133d85ea
About Women Disrupting Tech
Hosted by Dirkjan Hupkes, this show features the female founders and tech leaders building the next generation of technology companies. We provide actionable strategies for female entrepreneurs, startup leaders, and advocates for diversity in STEM.
Subscribe & Review
If you enjoyed this "Operator’s Playbook," please leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps us reach more women disrupting the tech landscape!
Whoever controls the narrative holds the power to influence others. But for female founders, storytelling isn't just about marketing — it's a leadership tool that can reshape how you're seen, heard, and followed.
In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, I talk with Jennifer Cloer, founder of Story Changes Culture and creator of the Chasing Grace Project, about why storytelling is a leadership imperative that requires embracing tension, emotion, and your own lived experience.
Jennifer explains how her decade at the Linux Foundation taught her the anatomy of a great story, why "narrative power is cultural power," and what it takes to architect an origin story that connects with investors, teams, and customers.
This episode is for female founders, women in tech, startup leaders, and entrepreneurs who want to understand how to use their personal stories to lead, influence, and drive real business growth.
What you'll learn in this episode:
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
02:07 The Birth of Story Changes Culture
07:20 The Chasing Grace Project: Empowering Women Through Storytelling
12:13 The Importance of Storytelling in Leadership
18:51 Authenticity in Storytelling: Balancing Personal and Professional
21:13 Embracing Emotion in Storytelling
21:23 Harnessing Tension in Storytelling
22:56 Filling the Gap: Story Changes Culture Masterclass
25:39 Elements of a Compelling Story
28:42 Overcoming Skepticism in Art and Storytelling
31:26 The Role of Agency in Storytelling
32:59 Choosing the Right Perspective
35:33 Underused Storytelling Elements for Women Founders
Connect with Jennifer Cloer and Story Changes Culture
Jennifer Cloer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifercloer/
Personal Website: https://www.jennifercloer.com/
Story Changes Culture website: https://www.storychangesculture.com/
Story Changes Culture on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/storychangesculture/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/story_changesculture/
Substack: https://storychangesculture.substack.com/
More about Women Disrupting Tech
The full show notes on the website: https://womendisruptingtech.blog/2026/04/09/episode-147/
Our Substack Newsletter: https://open.substack.com/pub/womendisruptingtech/p/episode-147
🎧 Listen to Women Disrupting Tech on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.
👉 Subscribe for more conversations with women building the future of tech through storytelling and leadership.
What people lose first after a brain injury isn't intelligence. It's confidence, autonomy, and dignity.
In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, I talk with Faviola Dadis, CEO and co-founder of BrainBoostXR, about how she's building AI-powered virtual reality rehabilitation that restores dignity for people recovering from acquired brain injuries.
Faviola explains why traditional cognitive rehab often fails — not because the exercises don't work, but because 50% of patients don't complete their protocols.
Her solution combines gamified VR experiences with AI-driven personalization to solve the adherence problem while addressing the emotional and social aspects of recovery that traditional rehab ignores.
We also explore the concept of digital twins in healthcare, how AI can personalize rehabilitation without reinforcing bias, and why loneliness erodes dignity faster than cognitive decline ever will.
This episode is for female founders, women in tech, health tech entrepreneurs, and anyone building products that need to balance clinical effectiveness with human dignity.
What you'll learn in this episode
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
02:55 Journey to BrainBoostXR
08:36 Understanding Acquired Brain Injury
14:39 The Role of Gamification in Rehabilitation
20:32 The Importance of Dignity in Recovery
26:21 Innovations in AI and Digital Twins
32:44 The Power of AI in Personalization
36:08 Ethics and Bias in AI Development
45:12 Commercializing BrainBoostXR
57:39 Defining Success in Cognitive Care
1:03:30 The Gender Funding Gap
1:05:11 Investor Expectations and Early-Stage Challenges
1:09:25 The Founder-Investor Relationship
1:14:55 Personal Health and Entrepreneurship
1:21:31 Building an AI Funding Coach
Connect with Faviola Dadis and BrainBoost XR
Faviola Dadis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/favioladadis/
BrainBoostXR Website: https://www.brainboostxr.com/
BrainBoostXR on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brainboostxr/
BrainBoostXR on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brainboostxr/
Connect with Dirkjan Hupkes
Dirkjan Hupkes on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dirkjan-hupkes/
Women Disrupting Tech Website: https://womendisruptingtech.blog/
Women Disrupting Tech Substack: https://womendisruptingtech.substack.com/
🎧 Listen to Women Disrupting Tech on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.
👉 Subscribe for more conversations with women building the future of tech.
Most startups hire fast. But is that the right hiring strategy?
In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, I talk with Relinde Boerman, lead recruiter at PolarSteps. This travel app startup scaled from 20 to nearly 100 employees while maintaining the culture that made it special.
We explore why PolarSteps ignores time-to-hire as a metric, how they assess culture fit beyond vague feelings, and what it takes to build a talent-dense team that doesn't compromise on values.
Relinde explains how clearly defined values become hiring criteria, why curiosity matters more than perfect clarity in a scaling environment, and how their "day at the office" interview process reveals what traditional interviews miss.
This episode is for female founders, startup leaders, and anyone building a team who wants to understand how to scale without sacrificing the culture that makes your company special.
What you'll learn in this episode
- Why time-to-hire is the wrong metric for culture-driven startups
- How to translate abstract company values into concrete hiring behaviors
- What "talent density" means and why it matters more than headcount
- Why hiring "overqualified" people for first-of-kind roles is a smart strategy
- How a full-day interview reveals what 3 rounds of traditional interviews can't
- What it takes to maintain culture while scaling from 20 to 100 employees
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
02:02 Relinde's Journey to Polarsteps
04:47 The Growth of Polarsteps
07:20 Maintaining Company Culture During Rapid Growth
10:23 The Importance of Values in Recruitment
12:54 Hiring for Culture Fit15:38 Assessing Cultural Drift
17:54 Defining Company Values
20:05 Embedding Values in the Hiring Process
22:15 Curiosity as a Cultural Element
25:12 Balancing Clarity and Ambiguity in a Fast-Paced Environment
27:58 The Role of Leadership in Culture
30:14 High Impact, Talent Density, and Values
33:10 Navigating Commercial Pressures in Hiring
35:43 Addressing Hiring Mistakes
38:15 The Day at the Office: A Unique Hiring Approach
40:59 Onboarding and Settling In
43:42 Fostering Belonging in a Hybrid Setup
46:51 Career Growth and Internal Mobility
49:23 Hiring a New CEO
52:19 Advice for Female Founders
55:15 Closing Thoughts and Resources
Connect with Relinde Boerman and PolarSteps
Relinde Boerman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/relindeboerman/
Polarsteps on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/polarsteps/
Polarsteps website: https://www.polarsteps.com/
Polarsteps careers: https://careers.polarsteps.com/
🎧 Listen to Women Disrupting Tech on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.
👉 Subscribe for more conversations on building sustainable, culture-driven tech companies.
Most people think technology is neutral. It’s not.
In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, I talk with Dr. Christine Miller, Professor of Design Management at the Savannah College of Art and Design, and author of “Tools, Totems, and Totalities.” She studies how power and cultural values get embedded into the technology we use every day.
We explore why so many modern tools feel like systems we have to submit to rather than products we choose, how AI and platforms are designed to ensure “the house always wins,” and what it takes to build technology that empowers human imagination instead of exploiting it.
Chris introduces the framework of tools, totems, and totalities — a lens for understanding why there’s such a gap between what technology promises and what it actually delivers. We also talk about the unique systemic challenges female founders face when trying to build outside the gravity of existing tech totalities.
This episode is for female founders, women in tech, and startup leaders who are building products and want to understand how design choices embed power dynamics into technology.
What you’ll learn in this episode:
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
05:34 Exploring Hegemony in Technology
08:28 The Nature of Technology and Trust
11:18 The Concept of Neutrality in Technology
14:17 Understanding Tools, Totems, and Totalities
17:03 The Impact of Totalities on Technology
19:53 Women Founders and Systemic Challenges
22:59 Alternatives in Technology: Blue Sky
25:54 Profitability and Societal Progress
34:38 Measuring Societal Benefit and Design Value
37:52 Identity-Shaping Technology and Brand Influence
41:12 Addiction to Technology and Design Principles
44:59 Conviviality and Sustainable Technology
48:48 The Challenge of Perspective in Corporate Culture
52:07 Building Support Networks for Founders
55:45 Designing for Creativity and Imagination
Connect with Christine Miller
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-z-miller-ph-d-b4735350/
Order her book Tools, Totems, and Totalities: The Modern Construction of Hegemonic Technology
On Amazon
On Bol
🎧 Listen to Women Disrupting Tech on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.
👉 Subscribe for more conversations on building tech that empowers, not exploits.
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