Wearables for Women

Summary

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Bloomberg Businessweek – "Wearables for Women"

Date: March 17, 2026
Hosts: Carol Massar & Tim Stenovec
Guest: Hallie Shelton, Chief Product Officer, Oura Health

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Episode Overview

This episode of Bloomberg Businessweek's Women's Health segment explores the intersection of technology and women's health, focusing on the rapidly evolving world of wearables. The conversation zeroes in on how products like the Oura Ring are shifting the narrative from basic health tracking to personalized, proactive daily health companions—especially for women, whose physiological needs have historically been underserved by both research and the market. Hallie Shelton, CPO of Oura Health and former Apple executive, shares how her team is using AI and design philosophy to empower women through actionable health insights.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Shift: From Trackers to Proactive Health Companions

• Oura Ring’s Role:
  • The Oura Ring offers 24/7 continuous monitoring, transforming passive data collection into proactive health management.
• AI Integration:
  • Shelton describes a two-fold application of AI:
    • Detection and Prediction (deep machine learning translates signals into actionable insights)
    • Conversational Engagement (large language models enable interactive, personalized dialogue with users)
  • Quote:
    • "We're now moving from something that was like a tracker to truly this proactive health companion." — Hallie Shelton (02:42)

2. Balancing Technology and Mindfulness

• Quiet Technology Philosophy:
  • Oura strives to provide meaningful insights without intrusive notifications, aiming for a product that users can almost forget is there.
• Design Priorities:
  • Comfort, accuracy, and longevity are key.
  • Quote:
    • "We really believe that...this should be a product or something that you can put on your body and almost forget about. It should just be there when you need it and out of your way when you don't." — Hallie Shelton (03:56)

3. Women's Health: A Historically Neglected Market

• Underfunded & Underresearched:
  • Host notes that women’s health research has often lagged, and that symptoms and needs are routinely dismissed.
  • Shelton emphasizes Oura’s commitment to centering women's experiences and cycles in product development.
• Beyond Reproductive Health:
  • Oura's features address every phase of the reproductive cycle, not just fertility/pregnancy.
  • Quote:
    • "We're trying to move the needle on proactive and preventative health...for women, we can't do that without deeply understanding their unique physiology at every phase of their reproductive cycle." — Hallie Shelton (05:14)

4. Actionable, Personalized Insights for Women

• Cycle-Specific Data:
  • Features track period onset, contraception, pregnancy, and perimenopause.
  • The app’s feedback is tailored to cycle phases (e.g., luteal or follicular), making daily readiness and sleep scores more relevant for women.
  • Quote:
    • "The insight messages that we give to people are all in context of where they are in their cycle." — Hallie Shelton (06:38)

5. Looking Ahead: New Developments at Oura

• Product Pipeline:
  • When asked about upcoming new rings, Shelton teases new developments but offers no specifics.
  • Quote:
    • "Can't share that, but we're working on some really exciting things. So stay tuned." — Hallie Shelton (07:23)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the value of proactive, personalized health:
  • "This is the first time where we've had these products...continuously measuring you." — Hallie Shelton (02:42)
• Reflecting traditional industry gaps:
  • "Women's health is at the forefront for us...we feel responsibility to do better." — Hallie Shelton (05:14)
• On quiet technology:
  • "It's not going to beep at you, it's not going to buzz at you, it's not going to take attention. Instead, we're thinking a lot about how do we connect you back to yourself." — Hallie Shelton (03:56)
• How Oura handles personalized health messages:
  • "If you're in your luteal phase...if you're pregnant, the insight messages that we give to people are all in context of where they are in their cycle." — Hallie Shelton (06:38)

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Timestamps of Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment Description | |-----------|------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:44 | Start of Women’s Health segment introduction | | 02:01 | Hallie Shelton’s background and introduction | | 02:42 | Discussion on AI and daily health in wearables | | 03:34 | The balance between technology engagement and quiet design | | 04:42 | Technology’s positive role in bridging women’s health gap | | 05:14 | Oura’s approach to women’s health and physiological data | | 06:08 | Personalized user insights—how Oura differentiates for women| | 07:17 | Tease about upcoming Oura ring products |

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Episode Tone and Feel

The conversation is thoughtful yet optimistic, blending a sense of urgency about women’s health equity with enthusiasm for the potential of advanced technology to close the gap. Hallie Shelton’s responses are both earnest and forward-thinking, making clear Oura’s intention to lead in personalized health for women.

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Summary prepared for listeners seeking key insights and discussion highlights—without the need to listen to the entire episode.

Transcript

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[Bloomberg Host/Interviewer]

Bloomberg Audio

[Caroline Hyde]

Studios Podcasts Radio news.

[Howie Mandel]

You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Massar and Tim Stanovec on Bloomberg Radio.

[Bloomberg Host/Interviewer]

It is time now for Business Week's Women's Health segment. We do focus on key issues and developing technologies impacting the present and future of women's health around the world. It's not always easy when we are seeing images like that and just reminded that there's a lot of stress around the country and really around the world.

[Bloomberg Host Introducing Guest]

We welcome Hallie Shelton, Chief Product Officer at Aura Health. She joins us from San Francisco. She was former global product lead for MacBook Pro at Apple. Before that she served as CEO and co founder of Move with It's a Fitness and wellness platform connecting people to guided fitness and meditation classes. It ultimately was sold to Under Armour Connected Fitness. Good to have you on the program. We talk about technology and health care converging and especially with consumer products that increasingly offer things that we used to only be able to get in a clinical or medical environment. How do you view the layering of AI onto this data in order to deliver actionable results to people?

[Hallie Shelton]

Yeah, hi. First, thanks for having me. It's great to be Here. When we think about wearables today, this is the first time where we've had these products. You've got this oura ring that's on you 24, 7, continuously measuring you. And so the way that we think about how AI is adding onto this is twofold. One, providing that deep machine learning, the detection, the prediction, the understanding that allows us to translate these signals into something that we can understand and act on every day. The second is through all the new LLM capabilities that allow us to take and extend that translation into a conversation to help make health a daily practice, something that we incorporate into our everyday as a back and forth conversation. So we're now moving from something that was like a tracker to truly this proactive health companion.

[Bloomberg Host/Interviewer]

Holly, how do you think about the balance? And we think about this a lot and you are kind of starting to see a pushback, whether it's, you know, dumb phones for kids rather than smartphones, but this balance of having technology that is so much a part of our life but not having it consume us and that goes into the wellness and health space as well. So how do you guys think about it at Aura?

[Hallie Shelton]

Yeah, we think about this a lot at Aura. We think a lot about what we internally call quiet technology. And so we really believe that, especially when it comes to wearables, that this should be a product or something that you can put on your body and almost forget about. It should just be there when you need it and out of your way when you don't. So we have a product that we think a lot about wearability. This is something that you can put on, it's super comfortable, it's incredibly accurate, has a long battery life and it's just always there, measuring you, giving you insight when you need it. But it's not going to beep at you, it's not going to buzz at you, it's not going to take attention. Instead, we're thinking a lot about how do we connect you back to yourself.

[Bloomberg Host/Interviewer]

And you know, I will say, though, when it comes to technology, I do think about it though, as a plus for where we've had a lot of conversations in this segment about women's health. Research has lagged. You often have members of the medical community that are dismissive about various issues for women. And how do you guys think, though, specifically about the opportunities when it comes to women in technology and health and wellness as really maybe a big opportunity?

[Hallie Shelton]

Yeah, like you said, this is a group of people who have been under researched, underfunded, often kind of reduced to reproductive health as what we think of as women's health. But at Aura, we're trying to make health a daily practice. We're trying to move the needle on proactive and preventative health. And we do that by giving everybody a voice so that they have the agency to live better. And for women, we can't do that without deeply understanding their unique physiology at every phase of their reproductive cycle. And so women's health is at the forefront for us. We start almost everything that we work on, starting with women's bodies, deeply understanding that, and we feel responsibility to do better. Here

[Bloomberg Host Introducing Guest]

I'm wondering, I have an aura ring. I'm wearing it right now. And one thing that it does tell me and it knows me to a certain extent, and if get a good night's sleep, it knows that I'm a parent and have kids. And it says like, parenting is hard and sort of customizes this message to me. What does it do differently for a woman if she were to have sort of the same sleep score, the same activity score? Like, what are the differences that happen behind the scenes that present those actionable insights?

[Hallie Shelton]

Yeah, obviously, like women, we don't think of our health in silos. And so we've built a collection, a suite of features that start at period onset, that go into contraception and just overall cycle insights that are there with you during pregnancy and into perimenopause. As we think about that daily health that you're talking about when you wake up with your sleep score and your readiness score, we understand exactly where you are in your cycle, if you're in your luteal phase or your follicular phase if you're pregnant. And so the insight messages that we give to people are all in context of where they are in their cycle.

[Bloomberg Host/Interviewer]

Hey, just got about 25 seconds. Any new rings launching this year? We watch really closely and if you could just be quick.

[Hallie Shelton]

Can't share that, but we're working on some really exciting things. So stay tuned.

[Bloomberg Host/Interviewer]

Holly, come back when you. We'd love to hear more. Let's stay in touch. Holly Shelton, she is chief product officer over at Aura Health, joining us from San Francisco.

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