Introducing Hystelica Co-Founder: Andrea Wood
Andrea Wood is pleased to join the Hystelica team as Co-Founder and Business Lead.
We invited Andrea to introduce herself and tell us a little about why she chose to join the organization.
(Not) Training for My Cycle
In my twenties, I trained up to 20 hours/week to prepare for Half Ironman and Ironman Triathlons.
One day in particular stands out in my memory: I was about 80kms from home on my bike, and I was absolutely ready to pass out. I’d eaten all my food, drank all my electrolyte mix, and my phone was dead.
My response was to blame myself. I hadn’t prepared well enough. I hadn’t trained hard enough.
In a state of utter misery, I made it home, where I struggled physically and emotionally for the rest of the day.
The Body Keeps Score
The arrival of my period the following day removed all the mystery around my terrible training ride.
It only made sense that I wouldn’t have enough energy to ride 160kms the day before my period. This was my big AHA! Moment: My body’s natural cadence played a huge role in my success.
This was long before the concept of Women are Not Small Men surfaced. Try as I might, I could not find any supportive research, books, articles, or online content about planning my training schedule around my period.Yet, my lived experience indicated I could no longer take a man’s training schedule and make it my own.
Enter: Hystelica & Female-Oriented Research
Fast forward to 2024, when I received a WhatsApp message suggesting I connect with Dr Grace Blest-Hopley. Reading through the 2-page Call for a Co-Founder, I found myself feeling increasingly curious and excited about the opportunity.
Since my training incident decades prior, a lot had changed. Scientists were investigating the impacts of hormonal contraceptives on training and recovery cycles. Research on psychedelic therapies was growing every month; as was public interest in the life changing outcomes of psychedelic psychotherapy.
My life and career also evolved. In addition to spending 10+ years building startups in the software, gaming, agriculture, and manufacturing sectors, I’d gone back to school to study polyvagal informed therapy and psychedelic assisted psychotherapy.
Grace’s request for a business partner felt like the perfect blending of my business life and my therapeutic life. That feeling was only amplified by watching the talks Hystelica posted on Youtube. This woman was building something I’d like to be part of. Both the themes of the and the commitment with which Grace presented just felt right to me.
Exploring a Novel Class of Pharmacological Agents with Hystelica
The opportunity to build Hystelica with Grace felt like a blending of all my worlds and interests.
I had a skillset that aligned with the company vision and growth plans.
During the course of my re-education, I’d worked as part of a research team addressing the impacts of novel sound therapies on autonomic nervous system regulation. I’d built commercialization plans for facilities with legal permits to produce psilocybin for novel applications as part of Canada’s Special Access Program. I was keen to leverage this knowledge to build something supportive for the future of women’s health.
Hystelica’s mission fits the bill. The evidence-based approach to supporting female consumers of psychedelics is one the world needs right now. The safety and rigour offered by the proposed research (PMDD, Perimenopause) ensures that women will be empowered to take action to change their lives in alignment with biological cycles.
Bringing Hystelica “To Market”
As of January 2025, I’m proud to be taking on the commercialization of Hystelica’s educational programmes and protocols. I’ll be leading the brand’s fundraising and commercialization efforts, including marketing, sales, and operations.
By the end of 2025, we plan to close our first round of investment in order to develop our research into use-based protocols. It’s an ambitious goal, and one we believe reflects demand in the women’s health sector.
Bottom line: I’m excited to see what change Hystelica brings to the world.