words by Farrah Darma
Samoedra
In the quiet moments that follow the exhilarating rush of childbirth, a new chapter in a mother’s life begins. Amid the joy and wonder, there’s a lesser-known narrative, one that often goes unnoticed: the postpartum journey. A labyrinth passage of recovery and healing. In this delicate period, nourishing both body and soul becomes imperative. This is where Samoedra and its world of postpartum nutraceuticals take center stage.
Samoedra Pty Ltd is a female founded company incorporated in Australia that focuses on providing a premium nutraceutical range of ingestible elixirs for women’s hormonal wellness. Inspired by the Javanese art of healing, Ivanna Salehuddin is bridging ancient knowledge with cutting-edge science to create a range of nutraceuticals.
At the heart of Samoedra lies a vision of motherhood, with dedicated efforts to enhance the postpartum experience for mothers. “Our ingestible elixirs are formulated with extracts of botanicals and adaptogenic scientifically formulated by experts with carefully curated and clinically backed ingredients to ensure the optimal levels of efficacy.”
The Start of Samoedra
The start of Samoedra was inspired by Ivanna’s own healing journey as a mother, one that only came to her attention after the birth of her third child. “After the birth of my special needs baby, Zalia, I experienced first-hand the therapeutic benefits of natural botanicals in postpartum healing. I didn’t practice the confinement period with my first two children and have to say that I was rather ignorant/arrogant of the idea of it. Thinking it was mostly old wives’ tale that was made up to control women.”
Ivanna Salehudin | Samoedra
Due to her special needs baby being born at the very start of Covid-19, unlike her previous births, Ivanna was naturally confined at home with no other choice but to rest and recover. And unlike her previous births, she did not suffer from post-partum depression (PPD). Her confinement nanny prepared a brewed drink for her, every day for five months. It was this very practice that sparked Ivanna’s curiosity and later led to the birth of Samoedra.
“I thought about what made my third birth different. Looking at the situation, if I were to go through depression then this was the perfect set up for it! Traumatic birth, rare genetic syndrome diagnosis and let’s not forget Covid! The only thing I did differently this time around was rest and the brewed drink.”
Having been in the nutraceutical industry since 2014, Ivanna called in a favor from a food technologist to research and validate the ingredients used in her confinement drink. When presented with strong evidence of the therapeutic benefits tied to the ingredients, she knew almost immediately that this was something she wanted to pursue – postpartum hormonal wellness.
Embarking together with her on this journey is her best friend Sofia Erica – whom she first met on a double date 20 years ago.
“My best friend Sofia Erica (who later became my business partner) made a comment on how happy she was to see that I was recovering well despite the situation with Zalia’s condition. She initially was afraid that I would go through PPD like I did with my previous pregnancies. Which came as a surprise to me since I wasn’t aware that I ever had PPD! After speaking to other close friends and going through flashbacks in my head of memories with my babies, I realized that I did suffer from PPD without knowing it. A wave of guilt came rushing immediately! Luckily for me that my children were quite young, and I still have the opportunity to set things right.”
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Working hand-in-hand with Sofia, a 5th generation healer in her family, the duo delved deeper into hormonal health particularly during the postpartum period. Being mothers of 5 children between them, they discovered many aspects of womanhood including PostNatal Depletion. They worked with partnering labs and scientists to develop Samoedra’s first range of ingestible elixirs to address this issue during this pivotal cycle of a mother’s life.
Addressing Postpartum Wellness In A Stigmatized Society
Postpartum and hormonal wellness has long been an overlooked segment in women’s health, often women having to suffer in silence due to stigmatization around the topic. Many of whom do not even realize the detrimental and long-term effects of such down-playing. This can be seen in the rise of postpartum depression among Western and Asian societies.
By creating awareness on postpartum issues such as PostNatal Depletion, Samoedra is not only educating women but also men on the effects it can have on a woman’s quality of life and her relationships with others. Ivanna believes that through nurturing understanding, it would encourage support provided for women that are struggling through their journey.
Samoedra addresses the existing gap in the nutraceutical market, particularly in women’s wellness by providing women with natural, effective and science backed solutions that is made easy to consume to help with postpartum recovery.
Ivanna Salehudin | Samoedra
Having first debuted their range of postpartum hormonal wellness in Australia, the biggest challenge they faced was educating consumers on the importance of self-care and recovery for mums post birth. “Our aim was to destigmatize the concept of shame in not feeling yourself after having a baby. It is our tagline in Samoedra ‘feel more you, be more you’. As for Asia, we find that even though traditionally women here are aware of the practices in caring for mums post birth, many have opted to forego it in these modern times. Therefore, our challenge in Asia is to reinforce what they already know by providing science based and clinical papers on the topic.”
Offering a holistic approach to postpartum wellness, Samoedra recognizes how the journey of motherhood encompasses both physical and emotional realms, both equally as important as the other. Each nutraceutical serves as a testament to Samoedra’s commitment to empowering mothers on their postpartum journey.
Only four months after launching, Samoedra has achieved significant milestones. Aside from raising their valuation to AUD 5 million and establishing a lab partnership for research and development, they have made their way into Australia’s Myer Department store – nationwide online and in their Sydney and Melbourne flagship stores.
Samoedra
Their product range, MetaWoman, consists of MetaCleanse (for Gut Health), MetaBalance for (Hormonal and Mental Wellness), MetaPower (for Energy and Vitality) and MetaRevive (for Skin and Hair Health) as well as The Postnatal Depletion Ritual (A 30-day program with the 4 ingestible elixirs for postpartum recovery).
Designed to fit into your everyday need as a woman, Samoedra’s range of ingestible elixirs has become a personal consumption ritual for Ivanna.
Embracing modern advances in nutritional science, Ivanna and Sofia have helped many women journey into the world of postpartum wellness, recognizing the profound beauty and complexity of motherhood.
As they continue to enhance and support women’s overall well-being throughout their hormonal stages (puberty, postpartum, perimenopause and menopause), keep on the lookout for some interesting discussions as Samoedra launches their very own podcast by the end of this year and their further expansion in Asia with new product launches by Q2 2024!
