We're at a time when women in health need to be visible everywhere: conferences, media, podcasts, advocacy groups. Visibility itself becomes another business to run, on top of the one you're already building.

Here's the secret nobody talks about: business creates freedom for your health, but without your health, you can't build the business at all. Sustainability isn't a nice-to-have. It's the actual bottleneck.

For women building in health, it's personal. The innovation comes from lived experience, whether our own or a loved one's. Our health issues, or our families', don't disappear once we start building the solution. The anxiety can get harder. Women carry a weight most founders don't, because none of the systems were built for us: mentally, physiologically, or spiritually.

I understand that weight. I've had to manage my health and the anxiety, alongside work you just can’t put down. So, I spent the last year transitioning out of one of the most stressful chapters of my life: my body revolted against me because I never chose sustainability. So I choose it every day now.

I've dedicated my career to diving deep into VC, startups, AI, and health technology all at once to maximize impact. Learning about the technology was part of it, but speaking with other women going through the same experiences has been invaluable. It showed me what's possible. So thank you, health innovators. That's where my passion lies.

This collective is a way to show up for women as they're building, not once they've reached the finish line. We shouldn't have to build alone. There's a massive ecosystem of women that's powerful and well-resourced, but hasn't quite trickled down to founders, who still have to rely on capital allocators and networks to curate their own journey through each stage.

Events in New York are extensive, but I've never been more burnt-out from attending back-to-back events. That's why I'm building this collective as an ongoing community instead, so resources live in one place you can reference and discuss on your own time. No sifting through posts to find the link when you have a community for that.

You shouldn't have to burn-out just to grow your network or your knowledge, not when we could simply share what we already know. And it would be so much easier to collaborate if there were one way to reach an entire network of women building the future of health at once.

I'm suggesting we work smarter, because the road to building in health as a woman is already hard enough. As much as building can take from you, it can give back tenfold. It just takes one innovation, one solution, one chance. That's the bet I'm willing to take on this collective.

So, an official welcome to First Check Collective: community, clarity, production, and sustainability, all in one space designed for women building the future of health.

That belief is also why I started designing Sunlit Strategy Series. First Check Collective is the ongoing home for everything. Sunlit Strategy Series is the room, personalized to each founder's own strengths and weaknesses. We're curating strategy days for six women building in health at a time, to fine tune both the business and the person building it, with 1:1 mentorship for a 1-6 month commitment with health executives and investors.

And yet, until this summer, there was no single room where those founders could grow sustainably in a day.

This isn’t another 6 month accelerator that slows you down. It’s also not another event where you connect on LinkedIn, hoping to find what you’re looking for. This is a working cohort curated to you: six seats & one full day that turns into long-term support built around the specific mechanics of what moves a company from promising to fundable.

Here's what convinced me this needed to exist: Tech Nation's research found that female founders who complete a structured pitch preparation process land offer terms 23% closer to market standard than founders who don't.² Separately, structured networks that make direct introductions to capital outperform general networking events by 3.7 times.³ That's a measurable gap between a founder who's done the work in a structured room, and one who misses out simply because they didn’t obtain access. Almost nothing in this ecosystem is built to close that gap in a single day.

So First Check Collective produced the room to do it.

Sunlit Strategy Series is a full day in New York City, six founders, completely off the record, except for one closing podcast conversation you'll see the questions for in advance if you choose to participate. You leave having actually built systems & strategy:

Not just notes, but artifacts & deliverables to start using immediately throughout the day.

*Course materials are delivered to your inbox in advance to prepare your operating system & tools for the kickoff.

First Check Collective members get 30% off. Apply before August 1st and get two add-ons complimentary (a FirstCheck spotlight feature, a brand asset pack, a 30-day plan, or a 1:1 strategy session with the editor). Final applications close August 8th. The cohort day itself is tentatively set for either Friday or Saturday of the last week of the month, confirmed based on accepted founders' availability.

We're reviewing applications on a rolling basis. I read every one personally, and you'll hear back within 48 hours.

¹ NYCEDC / LifeSci NYC, "Women's Health Innovation in New York City," May 2026
² Tech Nation research, cited in Founders Forum Group, December 2025
³ Founders Forum Group, "Women in VC & Startup Funding," December 2025

🗓️ Upcoming Deadlines

First Check Collective is a dynamic private network dedicated to empowering women who are shaping the future of health. It encompasses investors, founders, operators, clinicians, executives, researchers, creatives, advocates, and anyone interested in the future of health based in NYC and globally.

We interact through the broader Discovery Community, which is sector-agnostic, to collect new perspectives and connections. Through the Production Community, we build specialized knowledge and shared experience specific to women in the health innovation ecosystem. Premium membership allows for stronger relationships and personalized resources at just $9.99/month.

We also coordinate high-touch experiences as add-ons including mentorships, curated cohorts, deep strategy, wellness integration, and visibility you won’t find anywhere else specific to women in the health innovation ecosystem.

Members can join a free community to connect and collaborate on events, while a paid community is reserved for premium members, offering exclusive content, resources, 1:1 support with the editor, and access to her network for strategic introductions. This paid tier is particularly beneficial for event collaborations, strategy sessions, and business development initiatives, providing a tailored experience for women leaders in health. You are not required to participate in the Sunlit Strategy Series to join the premium level of First Check Collective at just $9.99/month.

A standout feature is the Sunlit Strategy Series, which provides personalized cohorts for deeper engagement, plus additional 1:1 mentorship with a health executive and investor located here in NYC.

We offer a comprehensive suite of resources and services, including a product library, a biweekly newsletter that combines editorial content with community insights, and a podcast that amplifies the voices of women in the health sector.

We will be updating this with the latest resources, tools, workflows, guides & more as they are built. If you’d like to provide a free or paid resource to the collective, please email the editor at [email protected] to discuss.

We host all workshops and events alongside community chats that allow you to follow along at your pace and at your level of participation.

The collective hosts virtual live workshops and organizes in-person or hybrid events in New York City, fostering both learning and networking opportunities.

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