Jackie Selby, EMBA '21, hosts a conversation with Kristen Ellefson, SFMBA ’23, and Bindu Chanagala, SFMBA ’23. While at MIT Sloan, Kristen and Bindu co-founded nurtur, with the mission to empower moms to identify and address postpartum depression before symptoms occur. Learn more about their MIT Sloan story, their entrepreneurial lessons learned, and how they are shaping the future of maternal mental health.
Kristen Ellefson, SFMBA ’23, is the Co-Founder & CEO of nurtur and has decades of leadership focused on aligning mission with profitability. Her inspiration for Co-Founding nurtur stemmed from witnessing close friends silently battling postpartum depression (PPD), revealing gaps in the healthcare system's standard of care.
Kristen's extensive background in healthcare technology and go-to-market strategy includes building successful sales teams at a PE-backed healthcare interoperability firm. Her leadership journey spans roles such as becoming the youngest member of the Senior Leadership Team at a globally recognized non-profit with staff reporting to her in 80 markets, achieving significant 10x revenue growth, recruitment by Teach For America, and was sorority President within one of the nation’s largest Greek communities.
Kristen holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Business Foundations from The University of Texas and earned an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, solidifying her expertise in merging business acumen with a profound understanding of human behavior and healthcare innovation.
Bindu Chanagala, SFMBA ’23, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer of nurtur, draws from her personal journey as a young immigrant mother who encountered significant challenges in accessing maternal mental health resources over a decade ago. Following the birth of her first child and the heartrending loss of her fourth pregnancy, Bindu navigated a healthcare landscape largely focused on infant health metrics, where her maternal experience and postpartum depression symptoms often went unnoticed.
Her career in healthcare began at Intermountain Health and SelectHealth, where she demonstrated leadership by advancing from an engineer to leading a team of 50. At SelectHealth, she streamlined operations through automation, spearheaded quality initiatives, and contributed to the development of predictive risk models. Her impact-driven approach and innovation mindset have been instrumental in enhancing healthcare delivery and outcomes.
Bindu holds a bachelor's degree in Information Technology and earned an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, underscoring her blend of technical expertise and strategic vision in driving meaningful change within healthcare.
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