Originally Published: Jul 2, 2024
YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/EOL4qxAJ1uQ?si=ccFILhu-JHFxUGDr
In this insightful interview, Ashlee Wisdom, the founder of "Health in Her HUE," discusses her groundbreaking digital platform that connects Black women and women of color to culturally competent healthcare providers. Born out of Ashlee's personal experiences and the need for a resource that addresses the unique challenges faced by Black women in accessing quality healthcare, "Health in Her HUE" aims to reduce racial health disparities and empower women to make informed health choices.
Ashlee explains how the platform leverages technology, community, and media to create awareness, engagement, and accessibility to health information tailored specifically for Black women and women of color. She highlights the platform's efforts in addressing the higher incidence and mortality rates for various diseases among Black women, irrespective of socioeconomic status, and how it provides users with the tools and knowledge to make informed health decisions.
The discussion also touches on the rigorous training and commitment of the healthcare providers associated with the platform, ensuring they are equipped to understand and address the unique experiences of Black women. Ashlee shares inspiring examples of successful community engagement initiatives and the positive impact of the platform in improving health outcomes for Black women and women of color.
Looking to the future, Ashlee shares her vision for the growth and expansion of "Health in Her HUE," aiming to reach even more women and continue the crucial work of bridging the gap in healthcare access and quality for Black women and women of color. Throughout the interview, Ashlee's passion and dedication shine through, making it clear that "Health in Her HUE" is not just a digital platform, but a movement towards health equity and empowerment.
Ashlee Wisdom, MPH FOUNDER & CEO, Health in Her HUE
Janae Sharp, Founder, The Sharp Index
Female Founder: Empowering Black Women's Health: Ashlee Wisdom's Journey with 'Health in Her HUE
[00:00:30] Janae Sharp: Hi, I'm Janae Sharp, founder of the Sharp Index. And today I'm sitting down with Ashley Wilson, the founder of Health in Her Hue to talk to her about her groundbreaking work in health equity and her digital platform, Health in Her Hue.
As a little background, racial disparities exist across all U. S. income and education levels, with maternal mortality among Black women occurring three times more often than among white women due to inequities in access and care. And some of that comes down to digital tools. According to Deloitte research, Black, mixed race, and Hispanic respondents were twice as likely as white respondents to say that digital tools for maternal health did not meet their personal needs or align with their cultural backgrounds.
So today we're going to sit down with Ashley and discuss A little bit more about that. We'll discuss her groundbreaking digital platform that connects Black women and women of color to culturally competent health care providers. Born out of Ashley's personal experiences and the need for resources that the unique challenges faced by Black women in accessing health care, Health in Her Hue aims to reduce racial health disparities and empower women to make informed health choices.
for joining us. We'll touch on the rigorous training and commitment of health care providers associated with this platform to ensure that everyone is equipped to understand the needs and the unique experiences of black women.
Hi, I'm thrilled to welcome you today, Ashley. And I'd love for you to tell our audience about the genesis of Health in Her Hue and your specific purpose. We've been a big fan of yours for a long time.
[00:02:15] Ashlee Wisdom,: Oh, thank you so much.
Thank you for having me on the show. So the genesis of Health in Her Hue, I started building Health in Her Hue in 2018. Because of my experience working within the health care system. I was working for an academic medical center and I needed to transition from one department to the next to satisfy an internship requirement for my graduate studies or program at NYU.
And when I was going to work for this department, I was given a heads up that It was a revolving door for black women faculty members that it was not the most psychologically safe space for women of color but I need to work there. So I worked in the department. I was just like, I'm going to put my head down, just satisfy this requirement, and I'll be out.
But it was as toxic and, just problematic as people had cautions me about. And so I was going through that experience. I was breaking out in chronic hives because of dealing with the microaggressions and all the stuff that I was experiencing in that setting. And then also being a grad student at NYU, learning about the data that was showing consistently that black women had some of the poorest health outcomes across different health indicators.
And then learning about some of the social factors that result in that, like working in environments that are sexist and racist or living in an area that's a food desert or isn't walkable. And so all of those things started to stir for me because I was experiencing in real time, how Being in an unhealthy environment can have a direct impact on your health.
I wanted to create a platform that highlighted why women of color need to be much more intentional about where they were seeking care, how they were managing their health, how to be self aware about the different social determinants of health that are ultimately impacting their health outcomes.
And I didn't see any solutions in the market that were tailored to women of color. I decided that I was going to build a platform that made it easier for women to find trusted healthcare providers, as well as have a trusted resource to find health information that took into account their lived experiences.
[00:04:14] Janae Sharp: First of all, I'm sorry you went through that because that sounds terrible. And second of all, I think it's amazing that you were able to build something to meet that need. Digital tools are twice as likely. To be reported as, not appropriate or not meeting the needs of populations where they're, they're Black, mixed race, or Hispanic.
So it's interesting to see just how wide that disparity is that they're impacted by. So let's talk a little bit more about that. What made you choose a digital platform? to make those connections.
[00:04:51] Ashlee Wisdom,: Yeah. Well, I always say this. I don't think technology is going to be the panacea for all of the problems that exist within our health care system.
But technology is a powerful tool that can help address and bridge some of the gaps that exist within our health care system. And so I just knowing that there are a lot of systemic issues that won't be solved overnight. It's like, okay, how can I. Leverage technology to help connect women of color to providers.
How can I leverage technology to bring information to women in the spaces and places where they're already engaging? That's why I leaned into digital as the, platform that I was going to use to try to build and execute on the solution that I wanted to execute on because I just saw the potential for it to reach more women than I would doing things at a very grassroots kind of manual approach.
[00:05:41] Janae Sharp: Yeah, I like that because it overcomes some of those barriers, and you're going to where people are, meeting people where they were already engaged, and I think that's critical for improving health care access to meet people in their communities. You also mentioned some other things that you were doing.
What are the specific ways that Health in Her Hue empowers Black women to make those choices? You mentioned like, you know, connecting to providers. I can't remember them all.
[00:06:10] Ashlee Wisdom,: Yeah. So just double clicking on the, like, bringing, solutions to people where they're already engaged, that was part of the genesis of Health in Her Hue.
So I'm not an engineer, I'm not a technical founder, but I'm really great at, taking really complex information and making it more, relevant and actionable to your everyday person. And so that's what I did in the early days, like reading really nerdy, stuffy academic journals and taking the most important information and turning it into engaging content on social media.
That's how I was able to build a strong community around the mission and idea of Health in Her Hue. And so I did that really thoughtfully for two years while I was bootstrapping the company and took the time to understand and learn from other women of color, what were the pain points, what were the friction points that they were experiencing as they were navigating the healthcare system, and I used that to inform what product we were going to build, and what was going to be our product roadmap.
And one of the resounding things that kept coming up, From our community was that they either had a negative experience with the provider and really wanted to find a provider who looked like them that they're more likely to trust or that they were seeing all these headlines about black women being more likely to die from childbirth or black women not being believed or pain being discounted.
And so they really wanted to find providers who are trained to be closely sensitive. And that was the impetus for us building out the provider directory to make it easier for women of color to search and find providers who are racially concordant. Or providers who may not look like them, but are committed to providing culturally responsive care.
So we have a provider directory and that was, content was like our first product. Then we built the product provider directory and then community became a core part of the health and acute platform because what we learned from women is that they were seeking spaces where they could connect with other women of color.
who had the same diagnosis as them. Being connected to other women of color who have the same condition or maybe going through the same care experience was really enriching and informative because you can learn from other patients about how they're building their care team, how they're navigating managing their health, what therapies and, medications that they've tried.
So I'll say all that to say that's, how we led to what we've built today, which are those three Cs. We provide connections to providers through our provider directory, we develop content to improve the health literacy of women of color, and then we have, solutions to connect women to a community of other women of color who have similar conditions that they may be navigating.
[00:08:36] Janae Sharp: That's nice. I like the three Cs. Also, it is true that people have better outcomes from people who look like them. They're going to have better outcomes if they have, a lack of obstetrician. And I think like 6 percent of doctors meet that requirement. So there's a big opportunity there to improve it.
Do you have any stories you can share? Like, how is that? Have you seen the community at work? Like, how has it been awesome?
[00:09:02] Ashlee Wisdom,: Yeah, so we've had providers who tagged us on social media or who'll send us messages saying, Hey, um, you know, this patient found me through your directory and I was able to give this patient a diagnosis of PCOS and she started crying because she had seen a number of other providers.
and her symptoms were being dismissed. But when she saw me, she was just relieved that someone was willing to like, take the time to get to the bottom of what was actually happening to her. So stories like that, really stand out to me. Another one that I often share was another doctor who tagged us on social media.
She's a gastroenterologist based in the Texas area. She shared that She was preparing for a new patient appointment, and she noticed that the patient's address was like in a town that was three hours away from her practice. When the patient arrived, she asked her like, how'd you find me?
And why'd you drive three hours to come and be seen by me? The patient told her that she learned about Health in Her Hue, and searched for a gastroenterologist in Texas, this was a black gastroenterologist specifically, and she was willing to drive three hours to be seen by this doctor because her Previous gastroenterologist was very dismissive of her pain and symptoms.
And so she felt very strongly that if she found a specialist that looks like her, that they would be more willing to like go the extra mile of like taking her, her concerns seriously and getting to the bottom of it. So that just validates that, you know, patients are actively seeking out providers who look like them because they're more likely to trust them.
And if you're more likely to trust your provider, you're likely to engage with them in a more preventative way as well as adhere to the clinical guidance that they're they're giving you so that that's just one example on the provider directory side with our care squad program.
Women were able to see that we're driving, better health behaviors because we do a pre and post survey when people start the program and when they complete it. So we're seeing that we're increasing health literacy and that we're increasing women's willingness to actually seek Care and take on healthy behaviors to better manage their conditions once they go through the program.
So I'm just really excited about the early wins and the early impact that we're seeing and excited about the potential to drive even more impact as we continue to grow as a company.
[00:11:10] Janae Sharp: Yeah, I'm glad that you have some stories and do you have like metrics or statistics that are with that or, you know, how are the programs?
What have you seen
[00:11:19] Ashlee Wisdom,: with the measurements? For the CareSquad program in particular, the one, the topic that we've had in market the longest is our mental health and wellness. CareSquad is really focused on helping women identify whether or not they are managing or experiencing depression versus anxiety and different mental health disorders.
And so we've been able to show that women had an increased awareness of differentiating between anxiety and depression. Women express more willingness to engage with their employers, employee assistance program. After completing mental health and wellness care squad, and then women are continuing to stay connected to the women who were part of their care squad.
So to give a little bit more insight into the model, women have access to the curriculum contents, and then they're matched to a cohort of six to eight other women of color who are also trying to learn more about. managing their mental health and understanding mental health awareness. And so after people complete the four month long program, they build intimate relationships with the women who are part of their cohort and continue to engage with them even beyond the program.
So that's been really exciting to see in addition to the outcomes that we're able to see that we're driving.
[00:12:24] Janae Sharp: Yeah. You're building a community. That sounds amazing. Like, That the communities are continuing on beyond just like the initial group.
Tell me about how providers engage? Like, do people have to sign up? You know, how are you building that community, that network you were talking about?
[00:12:41] Ashlee Wisdom,: Yeah, so I'll share that. We had a moment of virality back in 2020 when I launched the very first version of our provider directory. It was a very not beautiful product, but I just needed to get it out there to prove that there was demand for it.
And so when we launched it, I took a screen grab of the product and posted it on our Instagram, went to bed the next morning. It was all over and people were like, can doctors sign up for this? i've always wanted a platform like this to make it easier to find providers who look like me And that's how providers learned about us initially.
And so we've still been benefiting from that early momentum Um, but to answer your question very directly providers do have to self opt in They come to the health interview platforms and they can create an account as a provider. And there's an onboarding process. So they share their license number, their national provider identification number so that we can verify that they are who they say that they are.
And they commit to our health equity pledge is the last step. Members are able to leave reviews about the experiences that they've had with providers that they find in the health and RCU platform because we want to see whether or not people are having positive experiences with the providers who've self opted in and who've also self committed, to provide culturally responsive care to the women who engage with the health and RCU platform.
Oh, that's cool.
[00:13:58] Janae Sharp: It's important to like, be able to self opt in and to learn more. I want to see if we can talk a little bit about recent legislation about trying to improve the overall landscape. In 2023, we had this spending bill, which required people to start working on this, that you need to have a better diversity action plan for clinical trials to determine if drugs are safe and effective.
And. The outcomes for certain populations were not matching, what they should be, and they found that also clinical trials didn't align, like there was underrepresented populations and, and less trust, you know, that is earned. What are your thoughts about that work? Are you guys involved in that?
[00:14:43] Ashlee Wisdom,: Yeah, so we're leaning more into that work. I've always seen pharma as a potential partner. We were initially, you know, planning to focus on health plans and we've made some great traction with some early, health plan partners and excited about that.
But on the clinical trial front. We are seeing interest from pharma in partnering with Health Interview to, bridge the trust gap that exists currently with women of color in industry, and it's a warranted distrust, like I always want to name that, that there are legitimate reasons why certain patient populations have a distrust for pharmaceutical companies and for the health care system writ large, but that distrust is ultimately not working out in our benefits, because we do need to be represented in trials and studies so that science and medicine can be just as, us as it is for other patients.
We don't want science and medicine to only work for white males, which is in large part, our current situation. And so I do see it as my responsibility, as a public health professional and as someone who's building a digital health platform to help educate. Women who are engaged with the health in r He platform on why it's important for us to be represented in these trials and not to force it down their throat without acknowledging why there is the distrust and that that distrust is warranted.
But also to say if we're not represented, medicine is just not working for us and we don't want that either. So I see health in RH. being like the conduit of brokering trust between industry and women of color and women of color are willing to engage with studies. We actually just had an event last night that showed that women of color, particularly black women aren't being asked to participate in studies.
And so we're not even being asked because the assumption is that we're not going to trust or participate. Then it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. And so there are, like you mentioned, the policy tailwinds that is really requiring pharmaceutical companies to prioritize having the appropriate representation of different patient populations that are going to be benefiting from the drug in their studies earlier on.
And that's the work that I think health center who can play a role in doing and educating women as well as driving awareness to studies that could be relevant to them.
[00:16:52] Janae Sharp: That's nice because, you know, people are willing to engage if they understand what the care is for and if it's appropriate for them.
You said you had some partnerships. Do you want to tell me anything about the partnerships?
[00:17:05] Ashlee Wisdom,: Well, one part
[00:17:06] Janae Sharp: is who's fun to work with.
[00:17:08] Ashlee Wisdom,: So we actually worked with Blue Cross Michelle of Minnesota. We had a great pilot with them to just show and validate that health in our he was able to drive engagement through our platform.
And so that was really great. And they're a very innovative health plan. They're really trying to find solutions to best engage their members. So they've been great partners. We've also had an exciting partnership last year with Avino, which isn't quite a pharmaceutical company. They're a consumer health brand that spun out of a pharma company.
They're amazing, but Avino, I love, I actually love their products. So that was a great partnership because it was actually a brand that I could say, like I personally use and know that it's effective, but I also really appreciated the fact that they, were aware of the fact that eczema, and other skin conditions disproportionately impacts people of but then there aren't enough I'm a dermatologist of color or dermatologist is generally who are trained to diagnose and identify certain skin conditions in skin of color.
And so they partnered with us to drive more awareness about that and also to educate women on their amazing products that can actually be beneficial for women and children who have eczema. So that was a partnership that I was really excited about and felt was really impactful.
[00:18:20] Janae Sharp: I mean, I use their lotion, so I like them.
Good stuff. I want to talk a little bit. We've talked about some different, conditions, eczema. We've talked about maternal mortality. When people come to your platform, are they usually coming for a specific condition or a specific concern? What are the real needs when people are engaging with these digital health tools?
[00:18:44] Ashlee Wisdom,: Yeah, so I would say one condition, and there are a dearth of, there's not enough solutions that are focused on this particular condition. And it's interesting because 70, so the condition is fibroids, uterine fibroids, and 77 percent of women, irrespective of race and ethnicity, will be diagnosed with fibroids at some point in their life.
Black women are disproportionately impacted. I believe that the statistic is that, 80 percent of black women by the time they turn 50 will have been diagnosed with fibroids. This is a condition that really can impact the day to day life of a woman, like heavy bleeding, bloating. All these things women are having to call out from work because when they're on their cycle because of the heavy bleeding as a result of fibroids and it's a condition that kind of has been glossed over.
There really aren't that many, I know that there's like, um, V, I'm forgetting the name of the clinic, but they focus on uterine fibroids. Um, but in terms of I mean, I
[00:19:38] Janae Sharp: think everyone who's listening, like, if they know someone who's had this, it takes forever to get care, and it's a nightmare.
[00:19:43] Ashlee Wisdom,: Exactly.
[00:19:44] Janae Sharp: That's been what I've heard, you know.
[00:19:46] Ashlee Wisdom,: And sometimes women, or especially women of color, because they're delaying care, and for a host of different reasons, including barriers to accessing care and so on and so forth. By the time they get to the doctor, their fibroids are a lot larger and it requires a more invasive intervention.
Whereas if the fibroids were identified earlier, There could have been a less invasive procedure or lifestyle changes that they could do to manage the condition. So we've been seeing a lot of demand from health and our human members around, getting support and getting answers to questions related to fibroids and finding providers that can help treat uterine fibroids or give them a second opinion.
Because the other thing is that women, women of color are disproportionately referred to get a hysterectomy. for fibroids when that may not always be the only option available to them, but oftentimes that tends to be the option that is primarily presented to women of color. So we actually just launched a new product called care point where women can come to health interview and they can search for frequently asked reproductive health questions and then watch one to two minute long video responses from a physician that specializes in that.
Condition and they're, answering the questions that women are submitting to Health NRHU. And we decided to focus CarePoint initially on uterine fibroids because there aren't enough digital solutions right now, to provide support to women. And as I mentioned, the statistics are really significant that majority of women will experience fibroids.
And so they need Resources to help them better understand how to manage it and seek the appropriate care for, the condition.
[00:21:18] Janae Sharp: Well, I'm thrilled because that's, you know, I know people who are personally impacted by that and, you know, across the board, the first thing that happens when they go in is it's dismissed.
So being able to find that community and the tools to be able to engage with health care in that way is critical. I want to congratulate you on your fundraising. Oh, thank you. And tell me. What is the plan? What are you looking forward to expanding into?
[00:21:45] Ashlee Wisdom,: So we, um, launching care point was part of the plan for our seed round.
We wanted to launch this new product and large part to drive more engagement on the health and acute platform. So really creating additional or adding additional features that will bring women back to the platform. More like on a more consistent basis versus just coming to find a provider and then leaving.
So that is really what we're focusing on right now is driving more growth of our membership and then driving more engagement by building in additional features and products that will provide value to women of color as they're managing their health and navigating finding healthcare providers.
And yeah, so we're right now executing on our Seed round strategy, also trying to secure more customers and partners, generating revenue and finding that product market fit is the name of the game right now so that we can then go out to market again and raise, our Series A.
[00:22:36] Janae Sharp: Yes, so if you're listening in, looking for more people who want to work with, with that and improve health outcomes and also improve their clinical trial efficacy and meet their compliance requirements.
Well, thank you for meeting with us. I also like to know, like, what do you think the future of digital is for, for you? For your work for work with health in her heel.
[00:22:59] Ashlee Wisdom,: Yeah, I see. I mean, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention AI. I think AI is definitely a powerful tool that won't replace certain fundamentals of health care, but will help make digital tools and just healthcare more efficient.
So I'm being eyes wide open and being AI. to improve what we're already doing. I don't see AI as like the panacea or the answer to everything. But we could
[00:23:26] Janae Sharp: teach it to read the images of people with black skin,
[00:23:31] Ashlee Wisdom,: and that's actually, I think the, when people ask me, how is health interview thinking about AI, I constantly say that we have a unique data set.
That I think will be really powerful at training some of these large, models around, you know, understanding people of color and particularly women of color better. So I'm excited about that, but I think about the future, future of digital health, I see digital as really being complementary to that in person, brick and mortar care, that, you know, wraparound care.
I don't see digital as being, again, like, The only solution I think we're complimentary to what's actually being done in clinics.
[00:24:07] Janae Sharp: Yeah, it's part of it. It's to help expand the potential for access.
[00:24:12] Ashlee Wisdom,: Exactly. Yeah.
[00:24:13] Janae Sharp: Well, thank you so much for meeting with me today and for your work with Health in Her Hue.
Because it's certainly one of the biggest needs in healthcare right now.
[00:24:22] Ashlee Wisdom,: Thank you so much for having me, Janae. I appreciated this conversation.