In each edition we delve into the minds of those who are redefining the boundaries of health. Our goal is to share the insights and stories of those leading the way to achieve the highest attainable standard of health for everyone.

In this edition I have been speaking with Mari-Carmen Sanchez-Morris Founder of FIT MAMA and Maricarmenfitness who is pioneering the future of maternal healthcare, transforming prenatal and postnatal provisions.

How are we getting postpartum care so wrong and what needs to change?

As a mother of three and ex Paediatric Nurse, I founded Mari Carmen Fitness after witnessing the inconsistencies when it comes to prenatal and postnatal support for mothers. I found there was not much information around keeping fit and healthy during pregnancy and how to return to exercise safely post baby, information was very inconsistent, it didn’t give me much confidence. Covid hit and I took my business online, this is when I found there was no app specifically for the prenatal and postnatal mother which supported all of their needs holistically from physical to mental health.

Please can you tell us about the FIT MAMA app and why your customers love it?

FIT MAMA is your all-in-one, highly accessible, digital care service for holistic health throughout motherhood and beyond. With this app we are pioneering the future of maternal healthcare, transforming prenatal and postnatal provisions through cutting-edge innovation and thought leadership. Together, we’ll revolutionise the way we support mothers and leverage ground breaking technologies.

Please tell us about your vision for FIT MAMA being integrated into maternity care with midwives.

Currently the NHS spends £1.5 billion per year on maternal mental health yet there is still no solution to this massive problem. I am working with the University of Warwick to carry out baseline research on the provisions for prenatal and postnatal women here in the UK. This will provide further evidence to how poor the maternity provisions currently are for women and will highlight the areas for improvement. I want to develop a comprehensive and interactive prenatal and postnatal program on the FIT MAMA app which all mothers can access for FREE with the NHS. My mission is for the mother to get access to this program by their midwife on their first booking appointment antenatally. This program will support the mother physically and mentally by splitting pregnancy and postpartum into weekly bitesize chunks. The mother can access safe and effective workouts by leading prenatal and postnatal trainers, women’s health physios, midwives and psychologists, giving them the support they need and answers to questions they may have by trusted experts on the app.

If we can support the mother at point of conception all the way through to the first year of the baby’s life it will absolutely have a huge impact on the mother’s physical and mental health. Not everyone can afford to pay for private women’s health physios and psychologists, why should they be at a disadvantage. FIT MAMA’s prenatal and postnatal program will be accessible for all.

You have started fundraising for your business, please can you tell us about why you are looking for investment now and about your experience?

I know from my clients that the results they achieve from the FIT MAMA app are so good that I want every mum in the world to benefit from it. Having bootstrapped the business for the first 12 months it’s now time to bring on board the right investors to speed up the trajectory. I am lucky to be working with some great angels who have helped me get off to a strong start. Everyone will tell you how hard fundraising is and they are right, but once you’ve landed your proposition and secured your SEIS/EIS you’re ready to go.

Please tell us an interesting fact about yourself

I am always supporting good causes, I’ve raised thousands of pounds for charity with lots of fundraising events, including running the London marathon. And my dad is Spanish.