How can you combine motherhood with a senior role in healthtech? Flo chief medical officer Dr. Anna Klepchukova explains how she has managed this shift
As an intensive care medicine specialist who has worked in emergency departments, I know stress, and I thrive on challenge. Moving into a very senior role in a fast-paced healthtech start-up was — and continues to be — exhilarating, so deciding to step away from work to start a family was a daunting proposition. Now a mother of two, while I couldn’t say I have found the perfect balance (does it exist?), combining a rewarding job with motherhood has been the right decision, and the support I’ve received has been a revelation.
Interviewed by Laura Potter.
What attracted you to working at Flo?
To have an impact. I’d worked as a doctor, then I’d joined Big Pharma as a marketing manager in a company that had country-level impact, but when I heard about Flo, a company that aims to improve health on a global scale, that was the main motivation. I also really like novelty, technology and innovation, so I naturally shifted from very traditional industries, like healthcare and Big Pharma, to healthtech.
You have had two children while working full time for Flo. How have you made that possible?
I was lucky to have my first son during the COVID-19 pandemic, because then all companies were pushed to become fully remote. I only spent five days on my maternity leave, then I went back fully remote. With my second son, I thought I would take six months off, but after a month I realised it was too boring for me, plus I needed to push forward some of the projects I was responsible for. So I went back to work. I am very grateful that Flo has a policy where you only have to be in the office two or three days a week so I can spend less time commuting and more time with my kids during the week.
Why did you choose to have a short maternity leave?
I guess because I like my work and I hate predictability. I need to have some novelty and challenge for my brain every day. With babies, life is all about routines, which is harder for me than working in a start-up, so it has been my voluntary choice to be back at work.
What does a work/life balance look like for you?
I read a book that suggested you should think about what’s important to you, then allocate your time accordingly, so invest 60% of your time in your number one priority, 30% in your number two priority, and 10% in your number three, say. I’m experimenting with different setups and evaluating how I feel to see what works for me. Some days I feel like I need to be more work-focussed, other days I feel guilty that I’m a bad mum, so I don’t have an answer yet, but when I dedicate maybe 60% of time to work, 35% to family, and 5% to myself, I think I’m happy.
What works for me is having time each day to do something for my family, like having breakfast with my children, then doing something for work, like a productive meeting or writing, then having at least an hour for myself — going to the gym or for a walk while listening to a podcast. When I have those three areas in my life balanced, it’s a good day.
What doesn’t work for you when it comes to balance?
Spending three or four days away from my family when I go on a business trip. So for longer trips, I take my sons with me. I also need to work to feel balanced. I spent a month not working when I had my second maternity leave, and by the end of that month I felt imbalanced. There had been too much focus on my family’s needs, not enough on my own, and in particular on my intellectual needs. I was so happy to jump on my first video call. Even though we were disagreeing about new features, and it was very intense, I was smiling throughout. People were laughing, saying “Why do you look so happy?” but it was exactly what I was craving.
How do you keep boundaries around work and family?
During working hours I don’t see my children, even if they’re at home. I don’t do personal tasks. I don’t answer phone calls from my dad. Then in the evening, when I play with my children, I don’t check my emails or messages. My boss and my team know that I will answer in an emergency, but I don’t do kids while at work, and I don’t do work when being a mum.
Have you had any instances where you have needed extra support or flexibility?
Flo is super flexible, and I’m so grateful to my boss because he managed to create conditions where I could be both a top manager and a mum. It’s hard to step out of a senior role, because without me some decisions won’t be made, and I don’t like to be a bottleneck. I felt guilty leaving my team, so it was a hard choice even daring to have a child. I knew it could negatively impact my career, but my boss reassured me that he could support me to have both.
How do you prioritise?
It’s a process, and I can’t say I’m perfect, but we have company-wide planning where we define the goals the company wants to reach, and those are always my focus. If, for example, our number one goal is launching educational content, and I have two tasks — something that supports educational content and something else, like doing a public speech — I would pick the company priority.
I also read recently that success mostly depends on what you’re not doing rather than what you’re doing. With every new task, I think, “Should I not do this?” because I tend to do too much — that’s my nature. So if it’s not my priority, I won’t do it.
For example, I have defined priorities in my family life: to spend more time with my kids. So I gave up ironing clothing or cooking complicated meals because I would rather spend an extra 30 minutes with my children than eat something sophisticated.
How do you manage stress in full-on periods of work?
I know that when my cortisol levels increase, the healthy response is to work my muscles, so I go for a run or do gym training — or both. I can guarantee that if I run 10 miles, it doesn’t matter what has happened, by the end of the run, I feel much better.
I also think about worst-case outcomes; whatever happens at work, nobody will die. I won’t end up broke and living under a bridge. If it’s not stage four cancer or death, it doesn’t deserve my sadness, stress or too much attention.
Who do you approach when you need support or advice at work?
People in my team, managers from other teams, my boss, and our investors. What I really like about Flo is the quality of people. My number one work principle is don’t work with assholes. Life is too short. I was very fortunate to join a company that was initially a bunch of really nice guys who went on to hire a bunch of really nice guys. We’ve built a supportive team, so I can go to any manager in the company to ask for help or advice. It’s not Barbie World; of course we have conflicts of interest or differences of opinion, but I definitely get a lot of support from my colleagues.
What brings you the most satisfaction at work?
Coming up with ideas to improve the health of women and people who have periods using technology. I love when product people come to us saying, “We have this new user segment of women aged 35+. Can you come up with ideas for what we can do for them from a medical and technological perspective?” Thinking about what the problem is and how we can solve it is my favourite type of task.
What advice would you give people building their career in healthtech?
Get some practical medical experience with patients, then get a second education or experience in some other area — be it marketing, data science, or research — and become a T-shaped professional. I see people trying to come to healthtech straight from medical school or the hospital, and they don’t bring enough value to the team. They don’t know that a business has to make money or how to convince a user to do something using marketing skills. Just being a good doctor is not enough to be a successful medical advisor. Find a second area that interests you and build your experience and knowledge of it. Then bring your unique expertise to healthtech, and you will succeed.
