Empowering Wellness: Astha Jain on Ayuvya’s Women-First Growth Story
📝InterviewsAstha Jain discusses how Ayuvya is empowering women with leadership roles, digital skills, and inclusive growth. From a 40% women workforce to future wellness initiatives, she shares insights on building a diverse and future-ready consumer health brand.
India’s wellness and consumer health industry is expanding rapidly, driven by rising awareness around preventive healthcare, Ayurveda, and digital-first D2C brands. The sector is expected to cross $70 billion by 2028, fueled by increasing demand for holistic wellness, personalized health solutions, and e-commerce-driven accessibility.
Amid this growth, women’s participation in the workforce and leadership roles is becoming a key driver of innovation and consumer understanding. As part of our International Women’s Day special series, we spoke with Astha Jain from Ayuvya to understand how the company is building an inclusive workplace, empowering women professionals, and shaping the future of the wellness ecosystem.
Building an Inclusive Workplace for Women in Wellness
StartupTalky: How does Ayuvya contribute to women’s empowerment in the industry? Please share specific initiatives or programs.
Astha Jain: Ayuvya is also playing an important role in the empowerment of women by providing a platform for working, which is inclusive and allows for the development of skills and capabilities of the employees. At the current juncture, the company has 40% of the workforce as women employees, and they are from different functions of the company, ranging from marketing and operations to design and product development.
At Ayuvya, the recruitment process is merit-based, and the company is providing the employees with the platform for leadership and other decision-making roles. In the digital-first world, the trend is to sell directly to consumers, and Ayuvya is providing the women employees with the platform for developing skills in digital marketing, content creation, and e-commerce. The company is also working towards developing awareness about health for the women employees, which includes preventive health.
From Customer Care to Leadership: A Story of Growth
StartupTalky: Can you highlight any women leaders within Ayuvya who have played a pivotal role in shaping the company’s vision and growth?
Astha Jain: One of Ayuvya's prominent female leaders is Rakhi Mathur, who has played a significant role in the success story of our growth trajectory. In the beginning, Rakhi held a position as a customer care representative for Ayuvya and had the chance to help out at the customer's end.
Due to her efforts, Rakhi assisted the HR Department in developing an understanding of the clients inside our organization and through her hard work, innovative talents, and desire to learn, Rakhi is now a member of the creative staff. As of today, Rakhi is a principal designer with Ayuvya. The amount of growth Rakhi Mathur has seen at Ayuvya is representative of the company’s culture; it fosters and encourages its employees by providing avenues for growth, empowerment, and continual learning.
Addressing Challenges Women Face in Startups and Wellness
StartupTalky: What unique challenges do women face in your sector, and how is Ayuvya working to address these challenges?
Astha Jain: The challenges faced by women working in the wellness industry and startups include lack of representation, skills transition, and providing a flexible work environment. Ayuvya is, however, able to provide solutions to these challenges through its inclusive culture, which encourages merit-based career growth.
Currently, the company has 40% female employees, who empower other female professionals to take ownership of key functions in the company, such as marketing, design, customer experience, and operations. The company has created a cross-functional learning platform, which enables employees to learn new skills, such as digital skills in e-commerce, analytics, brand marketing, and other related fields. By empowering female professionals, the company is able to promote their self-confidence.
Evolving with Diversity: From Workforce to Leadership
StartupTalky: How has Ayuvya’s approach to gender diversity and inclusion evolved over the years? What measurable impact has it had?
Astha Jain: In the context of gender diversity, Ayuvya’s approach has undergone significant evolution in tandem with the company’s progress. Although the initial focus was on building a capable workforce, the organization has now shifted towards nurturing a balanced workforce.
Currently, the company has 40% of the workforce composed of women who contribute to the organization in the areas of customer experience, marketing, creative design, and operations. Ayuvya encourages internal movement of employees to positions of higher responsibility as they develop skills in the respective areas. In addition, the organization has seen the rise of women in the area of brand communication and marketing strategies. This has helped the organization grow in terms of culture and the diverse perspectives offered for effective consumer engagement.
A Message to Aspiring Women Entrepreneurs
StartupTalky: What message would Ayuvya like to share with aspiring women entrepreneurs and professionals this International Women’s Day?
Astha Jain: The message for aspiring women entrepreneurs and professionals would be to take initiative and develop skills. The space of startup and wellness is changing, and new opportunities are arising for women to lead, innovate, and build the new form of consumer brands. Women would bring in the new dimension of creativity, understanding the consumer, and executing the idea, which would be critical for building the new business.
The message that the aspiring women entrepreneurs and professionals will get is to take initiative, even if you have to start small, and take initiative. With the increase in opportunities in the Indian startup ecosystem, women will have the potential to emerge as powerful drivers of innovation and leadership.
What’s Next: Ayuvya’s 2026 Plans for Women-Centric Growth
StartupTalky: Are there any upcoming initiatives, campaigns, or partnerships that Ayuvya is planning to further support women’s causes in 2026?
Astha Jain: Ayuvya is also looking to explore several projects for 2026, with the aim of further strengthening its impact in the women’s health awareness and professional development domain.
Ayuvya is planning to take its educational campaigns for women on several topics, such as hormonal health, preventive wellness, and holistic self-care through Ayurveda, and so on. Ayuvya is also planning to further strengthen female participation in the workforce by providing more opportunities in marketing, design, and e-commerce operations, and so on, internally within the organization.
Ayuvya is also planning to explore campaigns focusing on women entrepreneurs and potential partnerships with women’s health education and women’s empowerment organizations, and so on.
The Future of Women Leadership in Wellness
StartupTalky: How does Ayuvya envision the future of women’s participation and leadership in the industry?
Astha Jain: Ayuvya believes that women will become more involved and influential in the wellness and consumer health sectors in the future. This is because, as the industry grows, there will be higher participation by women, not only as professionals but also as entrepreneurs, leaders, and innovators.
In D2C and consumer health, women will be bringing valuable insights into customer needs, product communications, and storytelling, which is now important for new-generation businesses. Ayuvya envisions a future where there is higher participation by women leaders across marketing, product, creative, and operations functions. By providing access to digital skills, leadership, and entrepreneurial paths, Ayuvya is looking to support this positive evolution in the industry.
Varun Bhardwaj