42. The Startup Changing Postpartum Care—And the Woman Behind It
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For so many women, the postpartum season is the moment everything shifts in their bodies, their identities, their energy, and their expectations. And yet somehow, the support systems that are supposed to catch us often blur into a single six week checkup and a “you’re good to go!” That’s the part that’s always felt off.
In today’s conversation, you’re going to hear from someone who decided she couldn’t sit with that any longer.
Anna McMaster spent nearly a decade in the clinic as a women’s health physical therapist, watching the same heartbreaking pattern play out over and over: moms canceling their first postpartum PT appointments because the newborn fog made it impossible… only to show up months later in pain, overwhelmed, and asking if she could fix everything in one visit before returning to work.
That moment repeated hundreds of times is what sparked Ask Amy, the app Anna built to help women get earlier, easier, truly accessible postpartum care. And the story behind it is both powerful and painfully relatable.
This episode is a gentle exhale for every mom who’s been told to “just deal with it,” every practitioner who wishes women had more support, and every founder trying to build something meaningful while raising tiny humans.
Why Ask Amy Exists (And the Truth That Sparked It)
Ask Amy wasn’t born from a business plan. It was born from frustration, empathy, and a deep belief that we can’t keep normalizing pain for mothers.
Anna shares what it was like to watch her patients go from vibrant, active moms to be, to exhausted postpartum women juggling back pain, leaking, painful sex, and the pressure to “bounce back” right before heading back to work.
And the painful part? Many of these issues could have been prevented or healed sooner if support was actually accessible.
This is the gap Ask Amy fills, the early weeks where women need care most, yet rarely get it.
Inside the App That Mimics a Pelvic PT Visit (Without Leaving Home)
Anna walks us through how Ask Amy works, and it’s so much more than a workout app.
Women complete self assessments for pelvic floor function, hip stability, glute strength, and core integrity, including diastasis recti screening. Then the app builds a customized plan that updates based on symptoms, pregnancy stage, or postpartum recovery needs.
If you wake up one morning with a hip that suddenly feels off, the program adapts.
If you’re three days postpartum and simply want to reconnect with your body gently and safely, it guides you.
Plus, women can text Anna directly inside the app when they need real support from a real clinician. No childcare. No commute. No waiting room.
The Bigger Issue: Why Women Are Told to “Just Push Through”
We get into the societal piece, the part no one likes to talk about.
Anna shares stories of women returning to work two, three, five weeks after birth, still bleeding, still healing, still expected to perform. She talks about her 70 year old patients who’ve lived with leaking since their first baby. She talks about the quiet resignation so many women feel, as if discomfort is simply part of motherhood.
And she offers a different path.
What if moms didn’t have to choose between caring for their bodies and caring for their babies?
Business Lessons From a Solo Founder Who “Accidentally” Built an App
This is one of the most relatable parts of the episode.
Anna admits she tried to code her beta version of the app herself using AI tools… and quickly found herself drowning in bugs, spending full workdays troubleshooting instead of building the business.
Enter her husband, who lovingly reminded her:
“You know you’re allowed to hire a software engineer… right?”
The lesson?
Doing everything alone doesn’t make you stronger. It just slows your impact.
Finding Community, Raising Money, and Building a Mission Driven Startup
We also talk:
The loneliness of entrepreneurship (even for introverts)
Why LinkedIn surprisingly became Anna’s best networking tool
What she’s learning as she prepares to fundraise
How she defines success right now, simply taking one brave step forward each day
It’s refreshingly honest and exactly the kind of conversation women founders crave.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode
00:08:00 What Anna noticed in clinic that told her postpartum care was failing women
00:11:40 How the Ask Amy app personalizes assessments and exercise plans
00:15:13 Why accessibility matters more than ever for postpartum moms
00:20:59 Diastasis recti what it is, how to assess it, and why it’s never too late
00:25:22 The hidden cost of inadequate maternity leave
00:31:35 The hardest lesson Anna learned building her company
00:36:18 Where she found community (and where she didn’t)
00:39:59 How she defines success during her fundraising season
Meet the Guest: Anna McMaster
Anna McMaster is a women’s health physical therapist and the founder of Ask Amy, a first of its kind platform offering customized PT assessments and exercise plans for women from pregnancy through postpartum recovery. With nearly a decade of clinical experience, Anna is passionate about making pelvic and whole body postpartum care accessible, intuitive, and stigma free. Whether through her app, virtual sessions, or in home visits, she’s on a mission to help moms feel supported, educated, and truly seen.
Find her at https://www.askamie.co/ or on LinkedIn.
A Final Reflection
If you’ve ever felt like you were supposed to “hold it all together” while your body whispered (or shouted) that something wasn’t right… this episode is for you.
Anna’s work is a reminder that caring for yourself isn’t indulgent, it’s foundational. And the earlier we start talking about the realities of pregnancy and postpartum recovery, the more we shift culture, expectations, and ultimately… women’s lives.
Press play and give yourself the permission your body has probably been asking for.
