Entrepreneur
Women in business: meet the yoga teacher turned tech entrepreneur
We speak with Hazel Buckley, founder of the wellbeing app The Yoga Tree
Hazel Buckley had been teaching yoga for over a decade when she decided to go digital. She tells us how she discovered a new sense of peace and purpose in life through yoga and why she decided to take her practice to the next level.
How did you get into yoga?
My mum was a reflexologist and she always had a big interest in well-being. She was very much into healthy eating and healthy living, so I became interested in yoga because it was around me since I was a kid.
I took my first class with her when I was 17 and I was absolutely hooked. I loved it.
How did you start teaching yoga?
I studied computer science at UCC in Cork, but it was always in the back of my mind that I wanted to become a yoga teacher.
After I graduated, I started working in tech and I moved to London for a new job. However, six days after I got there, I found out my mum was diagnosed with cancer and I moved back to Ireland.
Moving back home and losing my mum triggered something in me and made me realise that I really wanted to be a yoga teacher. So I went into my teacher training and I followed my passion.
How did your wellness app come about?
I always wanted to bring my yoga classes more online because I’d see people leaving the class so happy and content, but then they may not practice yoga again for a whole week.
We often feel that it has to be a long practice in order to get the full benefit, but that’s really not the case. Showing up on the mat regularly is more impactful than doing one big class once a week. It doesn’t have to be such a big, big task.
I wanted to encourage people to have a home practice and to start slowly bringing a little bit more yoga into their everyday life.
I started to upload videos on my YouTube channel and then during the pandemic, when people couldn’t go to a studio, I started my online memberships that grew into The Yoga Tree app that we launched a month ago.
How was the process of building the app?
Building an app is like building a house – however long you think it’s going to take, it’s going to take way longer than that, and however much you think is going to cost, it’s going to cost much more than that.
I wanted to create a space for people to feel good and tap into different tools and different techniques to help them feel their best and I was lucky I had a background in tech because it gave me the confidence I needed to talk to my app developers and communicate with them.
I built it from scratch because I really wanted to have more control over the look and feel of it and now it’s like my fourth baby now. I absolutely love it!
Wellness apps have grown in popularity since the start of the pandemic. What makes The Yoga Tree special?
The Yoga Tree is a wellbeing app and its main pillars are yoga, meditation, self-care and nutrition.
What makes it really unique is that we have a section called ‘bespoke wellness’ where you can personalise your experience depending on your wellbeing goals, yoga experience and nutrition goals.
Teaching yoga over the years, I’ve learned that everybody is unique and everybody’s body is unique. So that’s why in the app, we’ve got over 500 videos, all varying different intensities, different experience levels, different themes and different focuses.
The nutrition is a big part of it as well. I am mostly plant-based and I love to help people introduce a little bit more plant-based food into their diet.
We have recipes that can help them improve their diet with support from our nutritional therapists and every day, we have a different self-care tip to inspire them to bring a bit of positivity in their life.
What feedback did you receive so far?
I have been blown away! The feedback has been really positive. A lot of people like the bespoke wellness section, because they can tap into what videos and practices are right for them.
Talking to my members and gathering feedback from them is extremely important to us because it helps us improve and tweak the app to create the best experience for them.
As we gather more data we plan on including more AI in the app. We can then offer suggested yoga videos, meditations and wellbeing practices according to our members’ behaviours.
What advice would you give to those who have never tried yoga before?
I think the most important thing is to listen to your body. Don’t push it too far, if it doesn’t feel right sit out the pose or take it back a step.
Yoga gives us a great opportunity to tap into how our body responds and how our body’s feeling. Through the practice of yoga we feel more grounded and more present.
I would say to people start off with short videos. Five minutes or maybe 15-minute videos, to keep the intensity low and see how you’re feeling.
Don’t be hard on yourself. The most important thing about yoga is being present and not whether you can touch your toes or not.
Over time, all that flexibility and strength comes. Enjoy the practice and be kind to yourself.
The Yoga Tree Community App is available now on App Store and Google Play.
Events
Last chance to save on Women’s Health Week and Women’s Sport Summit: Early Bird pricing ends 11 September
Early bird pricing for W Group’s two flagship October summits – Women’s Health Week Europe 2026 and Women’s Sport Summit Europe 2026 – closes on 11 September.
Both events take place at Emirates Stadium, London, bringing together founders, investors, corporates, and industry leaders shaping the future of women’s health and sport.
Women’s Health Week Europe 2026
7-8 October | Emirates Stadium, London
This year’s edition will be Women’s Health Week Europe biggest one yet: with 700+ attendees, 80+ speakers, and 20+ sponsors, it will also feature two stages – a Global Stage covering market trends and policy, and a Scale Stage focused on company-level growth and commercialisation. WHW takes place across two days of content, business matchmaking, and dealmaking.
Agenda highlights include:
- Where Capital Flows: Funding Trends in Women’s Health – with Merete Clausen (EIF), Ekaterina Gianelli (Calm/Storm), Henriette Hessen (Verdane), Jemma Day (British Business Bank), Ravit Warsha Dor (Telus Global Ventures), Tim Davis (LSEG)
- Six Feet Under-funded: Surviving the Valley of Death in Women’s Health – with Patric Stenberg (Gesynta Pharma), Valentina Milanova (Daye), Amber Vodegel (28x)
- The Women’s Health Label – Gift or Curse? · Live Debate – with Juan Camilo Arjona Ferreira (organon), Marissa Fayer (DeepLook Medical), Christian Lautner (Heal Capital), Annie Theriault (CBIV), Ida Tin (Clue)
- Passport to Scale: Taking Your Women’s Health Business Global – with Vanessa Carpenter (Femtech Across Borders), Annie Theriault (CBIV), Victorine Lançon (Daya Ventures), Dr Mridula Pore (Peppy)
Early bird pricing (ends 11 September):
| Ticket type | Early bird | Standard |
| Startups, Scaleups, Investors, Non-Profits, Government | £599 + VAT | £699 + VAT |
| Corporates, Payors & Providers | £1,799 + VAT | £1,999 + VAT |
| Service Providers & Consultants | £3,299 + VAT | £3,499 + VAT |
Register for Women’s Health Week Europe | See the full agenda for WHW
Women’s Sport Summit Europe 2026
6 October | Emirates Stadium, London
The first-ever Women’s Sport Summit expands W Group’s expertise in connecting key decision-makers to the sports industry.
WSS brings together rights holders, brands, investors, athletes, and media to accelerate commercial growth across the sector.
Agenda highlights include:
- From capital to crowd: the women’s sport cycle at scale – with Omar Shaikh (Arsenal FC), Nicole McWilliams (Google), Kerstin Lutz (Mercury13), Jo Currie (BBC Sport)
- Women’s sport through the investor lens: what gets funded – and why – Hugo Sever (APEX Capital)
- Rethinking ROI: what are we measuring that doesn’t actually matter? – Fi Watherston (Metro Bank), Silvia Keiser (Billie Jean King Cup), Gabriel Akin-Odujobi (Crux Football), Tammy Parlour (WST)
- Beyond the 90 minutes: matchday as a commercial product, not just a fixture – Maggie Murphy (Aston Villa Women FC), Sam Feasey (Diageo/Guinness), Molly Miller (OneFootball), Megan Feringa (The Athletic/The New York Times)
Early bird pricing (ends 11 September):
| Ticket type | Early bird | Standard |
| General Pass | £299 + VAT | £399 + VAT |
| Service Providers & Consultants | £1,799 + VAT | £1,999 + VAT |
Register for Women’s Sport Summit Europe | See the full agenda for WSS
Attending both events?
For group tickets or to attend both summits this October, contact Callum, W Group’s Client Success Lead, at [email protected].
KOVE Medical has raised €1.7 million to support first-in-human studies of an implantable device designed to reduce preterm birth risk after foetal surgery.
The University of Zurich spin-off is developing a device designed to close defects left by surgical instruments following fetoscopy, a minimally invasive procedure performed inside the womb.
Fetoscopies can treat life-threatening conditions before birth but require surgical instruments to pass through the uterine wall and amniotic sac.
This can weaken the protective membrane, causing fluid leakage or rupture and often leading to preterm birth.
KOVE Medical said in a statement on LinkedIn: “This is a crucial step forward for our company, and we are incredibly grateful for the strong support and trust from our syndicate of visionary angel investors.”
KOVE Medical says its device closes the defect at the end of the procedure, stabilising the membrane and preventing complications. The aim is to make in-utero interventions safe enough to become a standard method of care.
The company plans to use the seed funding to reach first-in-human studies, a key milestone for a medical device seeking regulatory approval.
The CHF1.6m round was backed by a syndicate of angel investors.
The Women’s Health Innovation Summit (WHIS), the event uniting the global women’s health ecosystem, has just announced 18 new speakers joining the agenda for its 2026 summit, taking place October 13–15 at Encore Boston Harbor.
The latest additions bring further depth across pharma, clinical research, health systems, venture, and policy, reinforcing WHIS’s role as the only platform where the full women’s health ecosystem convenes under one roof.
Newly confirmed speakers include:
- Kelle Moley, MD – VP, Women’s Health Early Phase Clinical Development, Cardiometabolic Research, Eli Lilly & Company
- Justine Levin-Allerhand – Executive Partner, Chief Corporate Development Officer & COO, Flagship Labs, Flagship Pioneering
- Sebnem Yildirimoglu, MD, PMP – Executive Director, Women’s Health Strategy, Premier Research
- Terri Stewart – Head of Global Healthcare & Government Affairs, EMD Serono
- Dr. Morag Grassie – Executive Director, Blavatnik Fund for Innovation, Yale
- Sandra Butler – Director, Design Impact, Mass General Brigham
- Zhenya Lindgardt – Chief Executive Officer, Sera Prognostics
- Sadie Morahan – Head of US Revenue, Withings Health Solutions
- Angela Drew, PhD – Vice President, Regulatory Strategy, Premier Research
- Dr. Stephanie Lahr – CMIO, Aqurio
- Michelle Andrews – Contributing Writer, KFF Health News
- Charlotte Williams – CEO, My Bump Hub
- Clint Dart, MS – Director, NIH Women’s Health Data Coordinating Center, Premier Research
- Cass Sanford – US Venture Advisor, FemTech Lab
- Megan Mukuria – Founder & CEO, ZanaAfrica
- Tiffany Inglis, MD, FACOG – Chief Medical Officer, Sera Prognostics
- Angelean Hendrix, PhD – Vice President, Pharmacometrics and MIDD, Premier Research
- Amanda Ducach – CEO & Co-founder, EmaEQ
“WHIS is where the women’s health industry comes together to take action,” said Poppy Howard-Wall, Event Director at WHIS.
“This latest wave of speakers reflects exactly the kind of cross-sector expertise our attendees expect – from global pharma and clinical research leadership to venture, health systems, and grassroots innovation.
“It’s this breadth that makes WHIS the room where things actually move forward.”
Bringing the Full Ecosystem Together
These additions join a growing 2026 agenda spanning four content tracks that reflect the full lifecycle of healthcare innovation, from early-stage research and development through to patient delivery, system transformation, and commercial scale.
Attendees can expect over 1,000 senior decision-makers, 120+ expert speakers, four dedicated stages, and more than 10 hours of curated 1:1 meetings.
Full speaker and agenda details are available at whisusa.com/speakers-2026.
About WHIS
The Women’s Health Innovation Summit is the only platform uniting the full women’s health ecosystem – providers, payers, employers, pharma leaders, investors, and innovators -to increase deal flow, expand reimbursement, improve access, and deliver better outcomes for women at every stage of life.
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