“Feel Good Five” interview
How do you assert yourself in the tech industry, Natalie Rechberg-Egly?
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In our “Feel Good Five” interview format, we talk to exciting women and men who are at home in the cosmos of wellbeing and ask them five questions. This time with Natalie Rechberg-Egly, Fem-Tech founder of Daysy.
Natalie Rechberg-Egly, owner of Valley Electronics AG, has a personal concern: to support women who want to monitor their fertility themselves. Namely, by getting to know your fertile and non-fertile days in order to be able to plan a pregnancy in a targeted manner. She put her concern into practice back in 2014 and, together with her team, brought the lifestyle fertility tracker Daysy onto the market.
In the “Feel Good Five” interview: Natalie Rechberg-Egly
Brigitte: You are a FemTech entrepreneur and have developed a fertility tracker that helps women get to know their own cycle better. How did you come up with this idea?
Natalie Rechberg-Egly: The subject of “fertility tracking” has been with me almost all my life: after my mother could not tolerate the pill, my father looked for a way in the 1980s to help women manage their cycle naturally observe and precisely determine their fertile phases. Together with experts from the fields of medicine, IT and design, he designed the world’s first cycle computer: The “Lady-Comp” came onto the market in 1986 and to this day inspires more than half a million women.
Then as now, it was incredibly important for women to know their cycle, because with this knowledge they can decide for themselves about their family planning.
That’s why I continued my father’s work and developed Daysy, a fertility tracker that is contemporary and easy to use.
Sara Kulka proudly shows off her caesarean section scar
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How difficult is it to assert yourself as a woman in the tech industry? What advice would you give to other female founders?
To be honest, it’s not easy as a woman in the technology industry – and especially in medical technology. It always feels like you have to prove yourself and it takes longer to be taken seriously and heard. Unlike today, when I started in this area in 2008, there were even fewer women in the tech industry and fewer role models. That’s why I’m happy about the development that more and more women like Victoria Engelhardt from Keleya or Lia Grünhage from AVERY are daring to stir up the technology industry and even develop “Fem-Tech” products that make women’s lives smarter and better !
The most important tip of all is: Be true to yourself – a lot of people will give you advice on how to run your business.
It’s important to trust your gut instinct. If advice appeals to you, take it. If not, then not. Be strengthened in your own leadership personality, because that is what sets you apart and makes you unique.
You lead the business development and development of new products in your company, you also lead the market launch of Daysy. A job that certainly leaves little space for free time. What are your moments of relaxation like?
I’m not only the manager, but also the mom of two little boys who need your attention and who I want to be there for. Sure, that can be quite a balancing act in everyday life. What helps me is that I plan fixed times where my kids come first. Since I’ve been a mom, prioritizing my own tasks during working hours has been even more important than it was before. However, having limited time to work is also a good filter for tasks that may simply not be important enough. My very personal balance and “me time” is on the back of my horse, in the stable and in nature. Then my inner batteries are recharged and my head is full of ideas.
Do you have certain rites?
I have two daily reminders on my calendar. In the morning I take the time to do something meaningful: I take up a specific problem and solve it. This is how I start the day productively. In the evening I take my time and actively deal with my goals and dreams. This helps to keep the inner compass on track and steer in the right direction. In stressful situations I always say to myself, “Take a deep breath and sleep on it.” The next day, once your thoughts have settled, you can often see more clearly.
Not so long ago women were less concerned with their own bodies. What do you think: How do we manage that even more women deal with their own cycle and get to know their bodies better?
Knowledge empowered! I think that every woman wants to get to know herself and her body at some point. So the topic becomes important on its own. For some women, earlier, for some later.
But the more knowledge we spread and the more attention we pay to the topic in public and in the media, the more information there will be and the more women will hear and learn about it.
Education, information and knowledge are the be-all and end-all. With Daysy, I wanted to give women and everyone who menstruate a device that allows them to manage their body and cycle without much effort and simply by measuring their body temperature on a daily basis get to know. With the low entry barrier, we want to give as many as possible back their body awareness, promote health and thereby strengthen female self-determination – regardless of where the users are in their reproductive phase. With Lady-Comp and Daysy we can already accompany thousands of women worldwide on this journey and I wish that we empower even more women in this way and be part of their everyday lives!