Female Disruptors: Alannah Slingsby of MOMENT On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
For each weakness, there is a corresponding strength. In every person, there is a polarity, and the sooner you recognize this in someone, the sooner you can understand them. This is super important when considering adding someone to the team. Where does their polarity exist? Perhaps they have strong attention to detail, but also take a long time to get a task done.
As a part of our series about women who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Alannah Slingsby.
Alannah Slingsby is the CEO and founder of Moment, a health femtech platform focused on testing and treating hormone imbalances with a whole-person approach — from the comfort of your own home.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
Before starting Moment Health, I worked in Finance at Twitter. I thought I wanted to work in corporate finance but I was spending all my free time reading about health and the human body. I started working on some wellness projects and became the Head of Marketing at a large cancer clinic. Many types of cancers are hormone driven, so I had to know as much as possible about how hormones impact our well-being. On a personal note, in utero, my mother was negatively affected by a hormone medication that was given to her mother while she was pregnant. The drug, called DES, was a high dose of synthetic estrogen that has since been taken off the market, but caused serious health issues for my mother. That experience coupled with my job at the cancer clinic led me to my interest in hormones and health. Moment Health is femtech platform focused on testing and treating hormone imbalances with a whole-person approach — from the comfort of your own home.
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
Moment strives to provide the most safe and effective solutions to hormone imbalances on the planet. Maintaining optimal hormonal secretions is such a critical component to our health and wellbeing. Our hormones function as messengers between body systems helping to regulate so many functions in the body from our physiology and behavior, digestion, metabolism, respiration, tissue function, sleep, stress, reproduction and even our moods. Everyone can experience a hormonal imbalance at some point in their lifetime. Disrupted hormones can cause weight gain, menstrual cycle disturbances, skin related issues, mental health issues and overall leave you feeling a poor quality of life. It’s important to note that all things in the body are connected. When dealing with an imbalance in the body a multifaceted approach is vital for the body to work in harmony with itself. Our solutions are cutting-edge and strive to do good for the body, rather than harm. For example, our hormone formulations do not use added color dyes. Some of the inactive ingredients in Prometrium (a bioidentical Progesterone) include D&C Yellow №10 and FD&C Red №40. Some people can experience adverse reactions to food additives, even in amounts that are considered safe. In addition, Moment uses custom formulations. Not every woman is the same or has the same symptoms. Moment customizes each treatment plan and hormone therapy to precisely the dosage a woman needs to help her symptoms.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I’ve made so many mistakes. But one of the most regretful ones was not putting my health first. It’s easy to slip into a habit of waking up and immediately start checking emails. I stopped working out and going outside. As a result, I started to not feeling 100%. In the long-run, not making your health priority has a cost. We truly don’t have anything if we don’t have our health. Now I don’t check my email the second I wake up and I make sure to go outside and get sunshine first thing in the morning. I take phone calls outside and swim dips in the ocean as much as possible. This has made me more productive at work, and I should have made my health a priority in the first place! We only have one body and so we must treat it with love and caution.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
I’m lucky to have many amazing guiding lights in my life. My good friend is an advisor and sounding board for a lot of the major decisions we make. He has amazing instincts, listens to issues without judgement, and gives feedback gently yet firmly. There’s a lot to learn from how he guides people delicately. People don’t respond to harshness. A light touch is a lot more effective. One time he told me that when someone shares something with me that I did wrong, I tend to have to share something back that they did wrong. Why cannot I just listen to the criticism? My ego had been wounded. I’ve since course corrected and just listen. But I am grateful he didn’t deliver that feedback with any cruelty. A compassionate tone with no agenda is can produce the greatest changes.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
I’m not sure it’s about disruption as it is about Art. Every human has a divine seed to create. What they create is their form of art. Photographers take photos, copywriters write headlines, and so on. When art is at the forefront, it tends to be disruptive. Your vision, the purity of your art- that’s what matters. The goal is not necessarily to be disruptive, the goal is to create the best thing you possibly can- and disruption often accompanies that. Disruption in itself is movement towards replacing what once was. When something is true and right and correct, then this happens as a result. It starts with someones art and ends with a movement.
Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey? Please give a story or example for each.
1. For each weakness, there is a corresponding strength. In every person, there is a polarity, and the sooner you recognize this in someone, the sooner you can understand them. This is super important when considering adding someone to the team. Where does their polarity exist? Perhaps they have strong attention to detail, but also take a long time to get a task done.
2. Be customer-obsessed, not competitor-focused. Sometimes it’s easy start looking around at what’s going on with others. But stay the course and focus.
3. Everything in life has meaning to it if you view it as such. Nothing is random. You were meant for your challenges and they were meant for you. This goes for everything. There have been a few times where we accidentally used an incorrect address for a customer because we left off the apartment number. Lesson in there is to pay attention the details. Details, details, details. The fun is in the details.
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
We intend to grow in new states and continue to educate women on the importance of optimal hormone levels!
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges faced by ‘women disruptors’ that aren’t typically faced by their male counterparts?
I haven’t experienced anything unique to women that is difficult, thankfully! Starting and running a business is hard, but it doesn’t seem to be uniquely difficult for women in my experience.
Do you have a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us?
The work of Broda Barnes on hypothyroidism, Dr. Ray Peat on progesterone, and the Generative Energy Podcast on general wellness. All of this work encompasses a comprehensive framework for wellness, recognizing that our health is not localized. Health is not just one factor. It’s our attitude, it’s our food, it’s our sleep, it’s our relationships, it’s our environment. Our health is reflected through every cell. It’s in our laugh, in its our hobbies, it’s in our tears. Healthy life, healthy cells and vice versa.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
A movement towards helping people understand disease so they can have tools to thrive. In many diseases, hormone disruption is a major cause. The causes of the collapse in testosterone levels, the rise in infertility, and the rise in estrogen driven diseases like PCOS and endometriosis are not totally unknown. For example, one study looked at forty-one women with breast cancer and 119 controls. During the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle, one overnight urine specimen was collected. During the luteal phase, urine and blood specimens were obtained. Breast cancer was associated with high-plasma estradiol, high prolactin, and low progesterone. Your hormones are sending messages to keep your body in motion. Sometimes messages go rogue. But there are many tools you can utilize to prevent the diseases from occurring or at a minimum-improving the quality of your life. Knowledge is power and understanding your hormone levels may be crucial to understanding diseases and health issues including those associated with menopause, PCOS, endometriosis, weight gain, acne, fatigue, ovarian cysts, fibrocystic breast, and fibroids.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
All that happens to you, accept and welcome it. Nothing is wrong, nothing can be wrong — that should be the basic attitude.
How can our readers follow you online?
Moment Health’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joinmomenthq
My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alannahslingsby/
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Female Disruptors: Alannah Slingsby of MOMENT On The Three Things You Need To Shake Up Your… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.