By SGN | 19 Mar 2025
They recall: “We like to say our mum was the original wellness influencer. She would bring us fresh green juice after swimming practice, and make us chia puddings for breakfast!”
With a Pilates instructor for a mother, and a former national swimmer for a father, the Kale sisters, who grew up in Singapore, and spent their formative years as competitive swimmers themselves, were no strangers to wellness.
“Wellness practices from the region like anti-inflammatory haldi doodh (turmeric milk) jamu (Indonesian herbal concoction), traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and naturopathy were the norm at home,” is their recollection.
Thanks to their parents, who were born in India, the sisters inherited a robust philosophy on a healthy life, which advocated for balance, consistency, movement, and the use of food as fuel and medicine as the key to a healthy life.
“Everything in moderation,” the sisters say. They were also well-acquainted with supplements, having taken them alongside meals for most of their adolescent and teenage lives.
“We always appreciated the value of traditional medicine, while valuing modern science.”
A life-changing diagnosis and diverging life paths
At age 15, Maya was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and was immediately prescribed hormonal birth control. For nearly eight years, she dealt with adverse side effects of the pill, and turned to natural ways to deal with the malady.
Years later, as Mili began to suffer from hormonal acne and eczema, she too would join her sister in a search for natural remedies they hoped would be the answer to all their health woes. However, most solutions seemed to be prohibitively expensive, or geared towards male audiences.
As life took them down different paths, their searches would have to continue separately. Both attended university in California, with Mili attending Occidental College. Maya would join her a few years later, reading International Relations at Claremont McKenna.
Outside of academics, both women led flourishing extracurricular lives. “We were both active in several leadership groups on campus,” Maya explains. “I was a Resident
Assistant in my dorms during my senior year, while Mili was an Orientation leader at hers. We were also both recruited athletes – swimmers at our respective universities.”
After earning a Master’s degree in Education Policy and Sociology from Columbia University, Mili left to work for non-profit Teach for India, where she worked with students from low-income neighbourhoods in the country’s capital.
Commenting on the experience, which she found challenging and rewarding in equal measure, she mentions how the experience provided her with immense insight into who she is as a person. “I walked away with skills that I apply to every aspect of my life, like resilience to gratitude,” Mili says. “The list truly is never-ending.”
Maya, on the other hand, moved to the Big Apple at age 21, to work for a tech startup, Mealpal – a role she landed after applying to several companies that fitted her interests in the tech world.
“The minute you say you need sponsorship, everything becomes tougher,” she recalls, with a chuckle. Mealpal taught me how to hustle. There were never enough hours in a day to get things done, and never enough budget, so I learned to be scrappy.”
Of the two sisters, Maya was the first to return home. She was WeWork Singapore’s first community hire, and worked her way up, eventually becoming the brand’s Regional Marketing Lead. During her time there, she held a number of community manager positions – a skill that would prove to be handy in the later part of her career.
Starting a business under one roof
During the pandemic, the sisters were finally reunited, after having been apart for nearly a decade. Finally, they had enough time on their hands to plan their next moves.
“Returning home to Singapore – after experiencing everything that was out there – was always on the cards for us,” Mili says. “Home and family come first.”
“We always knew we wanted to do something together, so this gave us the time to think things through,” Maya shares.
Throughout the years, Mili and Maya had never given up on their search for natural ingredients and holistic healing remedies that would answer some, if not all their health woes. The answer to what their next steps should look like, was suddenly clear.
“We decided to start something that not only meant something to us personally, but also positively impacted the wider community at large,” the sisters share.
In 2021, Moom was born – a natural supplements provider curated with the modern Asian woman in mind. Touted as “100% natural and 100% convenient”, Moom promises to address women-specific issues like fertility, gut health, hair loss, stress, sleep, and hormonal health in the form of personalised, expert-formulated supplements via a monthly subscription service.
To drive home the element of personalisation, Moom offers curated supplements tailored to customers’ specific health issues or needs. Recommendations are made based on the results of an online quiz.
“The supplements we offer are made from herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, and naturopathy” the sisters say. Ingredients like bromelain, peppermint, ginger, milk thistle, moringa, and spirulina – which are either known as superfoods or natural remedies make up the bulk of the supplements’ ingredients.
To build brand credibility, Mili and Maya worked closely with nutritionists, naturopaths, and gynaecologists. They have also invested in clinical trials to test the efficacy of their sleeping and anti-bloating capsules.
“The scepticism we face is regarding the use of natural remedies and supplements, and whether they will work or not,” the Kale sisters mention.
“Thankfully, our products are formulated by experts, we use the best ingredients in the world, and rely heavily on science backed clinically studies.”
Getting Moom off the ground
During Moom’s first year of operation, the Kale sisters “bootstrapped” the business on their own, pouring around $50,000 of their own savings and resources into the fledgling company.
“The funds we invested went into inventory, packaging, and formulations,” Mili says. “Kicking the business off the ground was difficult, but gave us the confidence that Moom had the ability to grow and become something.”
Neither sister took a salary in the first year Moom was launched. It wasn’t until September 2022 that Moom raised S$1.2 million, in a seed funding round supported by venture capital fund DSG Consumer Partners, fashion retailer Love, Bonito, and wellness brand incubator Nuguru.
The connection to DSG Consumer Partners, who served as the lead investor in Moom’s seed round, came about by a stroke of luck.
“We reached out directly to almost all venture capitalists in the consumer space in Singapore,” Maya mentions. “But the introduction to DSG happened because of a school friend, who, we had no idea, worked there. This helped us cultivate a great relationship.”
“Securing investment is all about relationship-building, and as founders, Mili and I find that to be our strong suit. We are thrilled about the way all our investors came together and how they have supported us in our growth over the last three years.”
The start of every new business tends to be rocky, and Moom was no different. For Mili and Maya, sourcing for likeminded manufacturers and health experts proved to be exigent. “Finding the right partners who understood us and believed in what we were trying to create was incredibly challenging,” the sisters say.
“It’s all a process of trial and error – we wish there was a less clichéd answer, but it’s all about trusting your gut, and working on building solid relationships. We are fortunate to have found amazing partners.”
They admit that building up this part of the business – securing funding and buy-ins from relevant experts took the longest and felt the hardest. However, they are grateful for how their investors and team of health advisors came together to support their growth.
“Over the last three years, they have really shown up for us,” the sisters say.
What Moom stands for
While neither Mili nor Maya had previously worked in the wellness industry, wellness had been a ubiquitous part of their lives and childhoods. And after years of experimentation, research, and expensive doctor consultations, the sisters were ready to take matters into their own hands.
“Moom is a culmination of our experiences of years, and of the conversations we have had with multiple women facing the same or similar issues,” they share. “Women’s health is often touted as this ‘magical abyss’ that lacks conversation, personalisation, and a true sense of community.”
With Moom, Mili and Maya aim to bring clarity to the women’s health space. “We saw firsthand how pressing the need for a personalised, convenient, and holistic, supplement platform was,” they remember. “That’s why we started Moom.”
So far, the customer response to Moom has been nothing short of glowing. Three years since its commencement, the brand has quickly emerged as the darling of supplements for millennial women in Singapore.
High repurchase rates and positive feedback and encouragement from customers have only reinforce the sisters’ resolve to continue putting out quality products.
“Every and every one of our reviews mean so much to us,” the sisters say. “But the fact that people keep coming back to purchase our products again and again is what we truly feel the proudest of.
The sisters share the story of a woman who took the time to provide feedback on her experience with Moom.
“A special moment for us was when we received an email from a woman who shared her fertility struggles with us,” they mention. “She told us how after taking Happy Hormones (Moom’s inositol powder blend), she managed to get pregnant after years of trying. Her story was just so heartwarming; we got goosebumps!”
Cultivating a close-knit community
While Mili and Maya have encountered their fair share of ups and downs, especially those that come with building a business, they soldier on. Over time, they have learned to lean on each other for support during the highs and lows. “Having a cofounder, team lead, or someone you can lean on is crucial,” they share.
Their investors are not the only parties they share a close bond with.
The sisters, who had both participated in community-building exercises for previous employers in varying degrees (Maya being the first community hire for WeWork Singapore, Mili working extensively with students of all levels at Teach for India), know what it takes to organically grow a community of invested customers.
“My PCOS journey taught me that there are so many women facing the same thing I have,” Maya reflects. “But there’s not enough education out there. We want to change that.”
The sisters rely greatly on their community for product development. “How do we create products that serve our community of customers? This is something we always keep at the back of our heads when formulating a new product,” they explain.
Moom’s next course of action
At present, Mili and Maya are focused on making a name for Moom, and elevating its status as a community-built supplement brand.
“We hope to be the go-to for natural supplements focussed on women’s health for all women across the region,” they mention. Plans to expand to Hong Kong later in April 2025 are in the works, with operations already underway. “We are exploring setting up in a larger Southeast Asian market in 2026 – potentially the UAE as well,” Maya shares.
“Of course, Singapore is home, and has given us a great launchpad to be able to enter different markets in the region,” Mili points out. “It’s very different from a lot of the other markets in Southeast Asia, each of which pose their own unique challenge. However, being in Singapore provides us great global networks for us to tap into and learn from.”
And while regional expansion is likely to be in store for Moom in the future, the sisters have not lost sight of what made them unique in the first place – their community-mindedness.
“This year, we’re working on exciting initiatives that are entirely community-suggested. We’d also love to create a giveback programme in conjunction with female founders,” they propose.
To those eager to start their own business, yet are not feeling brave enough to take their first step, Milia and Maya have this to say: “Just start! It doesn’t need to be perfect- let the perfection come as you evolve!”
