#135 Recognising the different ways to have a family with Jenny Saft

Welcome to the 135th episode of the award-winning Diverse Minds podcast.

This month, the focus is recognition, and today, we are talking about the right to have a family and the different ways to do this with Jenny Saft, Founder of OVIAVO.

About my guest Jenny Saft

Jenny has a business background and completed her MBA at Hult International Business School in San Francisco. Attracted to the startup world, she stayed there for three years before moving back to Germany. Before starting Oviavo, she worked as VP Business Development for the Dutch fintech company Adyen (IPO 2018).

Jenny has personally undergone several social freezing cycles and has experienced the inadequacy of medical advice and support, the lack of transparency from clinics on treatment, cost, physical and psychological effort, the stigma in our society and the overwhelming amount of (often misleading) information online.

OVIAVO is a fertility benefits platform that helps employers attract & retain top talent while tackling diversity & inclusion. By providing fertility benefits, OVIAVO is helping modern companies overcome inequality. Not everyone is able to conceive a child and OVIAVO wants to support everyone in their family forming journey regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation or marital status.

In today’s show on

• About Jenny Saft and why she started OVIAVO. [02:05]
• Why she decided to freeze her eggs, even though she wan't sure she wanted children. [04:13]
• Her vision of true equality in the fertility, adoption and surrogacy space. [05:04]
• What workplaces can do to genuinely support staff who are on mental ill health and fertility journeys. [14:07]
• Her top 3 tips for looking after her mental health. [25:56]

Quotes on

• Starting a family should be a right and not a privilege.
• Communication is so important.
• You have to force yourself to look after yourself.
• In most European countries, the adoption rates are really low because there are not that many children that are up for adoption.
• Implementing fertility benefits alone is not enough.

Connect with my guest and learn more about

• OVIAVO on Instagram and Facebook
• OVIAVO website
• OVIAVO's [email protected] 

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Remember to tune in next week, where I’ll bring you more insights on mental health and inclusion.