Infrastructure, Not Inspiration: How Chiyo Scaled Women's Health with CEO & Co-Founder Irene Liu

Most founders talk about customer experience, but few truly think about infrastructure. In this episode, I sit down with Irene Liu, co-founder and CEO of Chiyo, to unpack how she built one of the most thoughtful and clinically-informed brands in maternal nutrition, starting from hand-delivering meals herself during COVID to building a company that now serves as a blueprint for where women’s health is headed next. What stood out most in this conversation wasn’t just Chiyo’s growth story. It was Irene’s perspective on infrastructure, behavior change, and how founders in health and wellness can build companies that solve deeply human problems without over-marketing or over-complicating the customer experience. We talk about the evolution of women’s health, the realities of scaling community-led acquisition, why paid media alone stops working, and what it takes to build trust in an emerging category. We also dive into Chiyo’s recent acquisition by Epicured and what it unlocks—from Medicaid partnerships to clinical research and performance nutrition programs for female athletes.