Royalty Joins the Prenatal Health Revolution
One of my favorite Italian authors, Cesare Pavese, once wrote that life is beautiful because “living is beginning, always, at every moment.”
Joining the Bloomlife team was a new beginning for me and an adventure full of surprises.
Perhaps one of the most unexpected (and, to be honest, a bit a scary) surprises that Bloomlife threw my way: a meeting with the King and Queen of Belgium. Along with my colleague Raphael, I had the honor of presenting our work at Bloomlife to the royal family and their delegation including some of the most important politicians of the country.
This unique opportunity presented when they visited the Holst Centre in Eindhoven to learn more about its activities in the field of Internet of Things. A few companies were selected for demo sessions, including Bloomlife.
At first, being asked to prepare and perform a demo for the King and Queen filled me with pride and enthusiasm. At first. Then the anxiety took over.
Let’s just say that public speaking is up there as one of my biggest fears. And by “public”, I mean any group of more than 3 people. This was undoubtedly the most important audience I could possibly imagine.
On the day of the demo, an elegant red carpet welcomed us to Holst. After setting everything up in the demo room, Roxanne (our pregnant model for the day), Raphael and I nervously waited for the visitors to arrive.
Soon a horde of journalists invaded the room and started yelling instructions at us (mostly in French) on where to stand, so that they could take better pictures. The sudden chaos was utterly confusing and signaled that the King was about to enter.
Peace was restored as soon as the King walked in, looking both elegant and stern. He moved closer, shook our hands and nodded his head, encouraging us to start.
And there we were, explaining to His Majesty about our mission of using wearable technology to improve the health of moms and babies worldwide, illustrating our accomplishments, achievements, ambitions for the future, and showing him our first product: the Bloomlife smart contraction tracker. With Roxanne’s help, we were able to show the way it is applied on the belly, as well as how uterine contractions are automatically detected and displayed in the companion app.
During the presentation, we could tell the audience was captured by our story and eager to learn more about Bloomlife. The many questions that followed certainly confirmed that.
After a short Q&A session, the King and the his delegation left. The success of this first presentation made us feel more confident and relaxed for the second one.
When the Queen arrived, I was instantly charmed by the beauty, grace and warmth she radiated. She immediately made us feel at ease. Clearly fascinated by our work, she started asking questions as soon as we completed our presentation. She was curious about the ease of use and comfort of the device as well as the way doctors can benefit from the information it collects. She also acknowledged the importance of addressing issues related to pregnancy complications. Before leaving, she asked us a few more questions and, upon learning that I’m Italian, she thanked me with a perfectly pronounced “Grazie mille”.
Two more presentations followed for investors and once more, we were amazed and pleased by the interest and positive feedback.
As the guests left, we were finally able to relax and reflect on this amazing experience. With all the tension dissolved, we felt happy, proud and exhausted.
Above all, however, we felt honored to have shared our mission, our work and the passion that drives us with such an important and influential audience.
Elisa is a Clinical Studies Engineer at Bloomlife and is no longer mad about being thrown in front of the bus to present Bloomlife to the Royal Family of Belgium.
