POOJA SAMBARE — CO-FOUNDER, STRIBOG

Short (1 line)
Pooja Sambare is the co-founder of Stribog and created Hale & Hearty after struggling to work out what was behind her own bloating and stomach aches.

Bio (about 120 words)
Pooja Sambare is the co-founder of Stribog IT Solutions, the independent Indian studio behind Hale & Hearty Food Diary.

The app began with her own gut. Living with bloating and stomach aches, Pooja kept a homemade food diary in Apple's Freeform app: a photo of every meal, a note of what she'd eaten, and how she felt afterwards. She tried cutting foods out on her own, dealing with the pain day after day, and still couldn't pin down the cause.

Hale & Hearty started as the tool she wished she'd had: a simple journal for logging food and symptoms side by side. It grew into a food diary that helps people understand what works for them, built on her belief that food is not the enemy.

Quotes
"Food is about more than numbers. It's nourishment, joy, culture and celebration, something that brings people closer together. I wanted a food diary that helps you understand what works for you, without ever treating food as the enemy."

"I photographed every meal and wrote down how I felt, trying to work out what was causing my bloating. I cut foods out on my own and still couldn't pin it down. Hale & Hearty is the app I wished I'd had."

Photos (in "04 Founder photos")
- pooja-sambare-portrait.jpg — main press photo
- pooja-sambare-portrait-square.jpg — square crop for profiles and podcasts
- pooja-sambare-lifestyle.jpg — informal photo
Photo credit: courtesy of Stribog.
