2022 wrapped – A Letter from Rita's Founders
2022 is coming to a close and the Rita team is taking a moment to rest, recharge, and reflect before the Grand Launch of our digital fertility assessment next month. We’re proud of our efforts and accomplishments over the past year and are thrilled to introduce the world to the concept and practice of proactive fertility so that from 2023 forward, we can plan for motherhood with more knowledge and less fear.
Dearest community and supporters of Rita,
We hope this holiday season brings joy, intention, and peace to you and your loved ones. The end of the year is fast approaching and our fertility product is finally ready to launch next month - yes, you heard that right and we couldn’t be more excited! In the final week of 2022, the Rita team has a precious opportunity to slow down, reflect and be grateful for all that we achieved this past year - all of which would not be possible without your collective support and personal experiences.
In Rita’s first full year, we found ourselves launching a startup with a precious mission amidst many unknowns. We tested our ability to build a product while building families, managing businesses and professional responsibilities, balancing childcare and the care of sick loved ones. We researched and held dear the past and future experiences of mothers and hopeful mothers while navigating personal efforts to conceive and even loss.
We did all this while building up a brand new team, working remotely and from around the world in four different time zones. Despite setbacks and challenges, each and every person who helped bring Rita to life over the past year shined in our shared passion of making a better future of fertility possible.
This past year began with great momentum for Rita. At the beginning of 2022, we ran our first WIRB study - the first of its kind fertility study to understand the many factors that impact fertility health. More than 1,000 women from across the US registered to be part of our research. We were able to collect a diverse dataset from women of all ages, ethnicities, demographics, sexual preferences and fertility status. Participants in 49 States shared their personal reproductive experiences, including journeys to the birth of 568 babies.
By spring, we were able to analyze the results of our study and summarize initial discoveries and key learnings for study participants and our medical team.
During the summer, our brilliant AI team took our study results and the collective knowledge gleaned from our team of doctors and scientists to deploy the first AI prediction model. In the months that followed, they continued enhancements to place AI at the core of our digital product experience.
In the meantime, one of our Tik Tok videos about cervical mucus for ovulation tracking went viral, igniting a series of comments from male users that reminded us how much potential exists when it comes to reproductive health education and respect for the reproductive experiences of women. Not to mention the fact that the US Supreme Court made the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022 a glaring moment that put the spotlight on the state of women’s reproductive autonomy for the world at large.
By fall, our medical team was hard at work preparing more than 500 fertility explanations and insights to ensure a personalized and comprehensive product experience for women in various stages of the fertility journey.
All the while, our team has worked tirelessly to build out the first ‘Alpha’ version of our product which will be released in the days ahead to select users in our product waitlist and to everyone else by mid-January.
In this moment of reflection and gratitude for where Rita started and where Rita’s going, we want to say THANK YOU, to everyone who stood behind us, cheered us on, and helped us bring our product to life.
To our angels, collaborators, team members, friends and families - none of this would be possible without your support and we are forever grateful.
As we head into a brand new year, we hold close to our hearts the vision that every woman can understand the factors that impact her fertility health, beyond hormones and age, so she can plan for her future, proactively and guided by knowledge rather than fear.
We’re so proud to have a diverse group of women in our community already today; some questioning whether parenthood will be a part of their journey, some who are nearly ready to begin building a family, and some who have already started trying for their first, second, third, or fourth child. As we continue to keep your individual experiences at heart, bear with us: we will provide a personalized experience that meets and supports you where you are.
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Wishing you and yours good health and peace in the New Year.
Kamila and Alessia