Good Leaders Clinic Episode 3: ‘Reaching a turning point’ with Chen Mao Davies

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Speaking hardly any English, Davies remembers landing in Edinburgh from China to become a student, as lost “as Paddington Bear”, determined to achieve her childhood dream: working on Hollywood movies. After struggling at university at first, she passed her degree in computer graphics and animation with flying colours, and entered the visual effects industry in 2011. Her work on the film Gravity earned her an Oscar and a Bafta, and she went on to work on movies from Disney, Warner, the Marvel series… and Paddington. 

But a traumatic birth experience with her first child, serious challenges in breastfeeding and postnatal depression opened her eyes on the dire lack of support for women, during childbirth and beyond. 

“At two in the morning, I almost felt like I just wanted to open the window and jump out,” she tells podcast hosts Liam Black and Tim West. In the middle of the night, she had no access to midwives, doctors or support of any kind, and she felt desperate and vulnerable. 

“This was my moment,” she says. “I felt like I wanted to solve this problem, for everyone… that is how I decided to set up Anya, to overcome challenges for breastfeeding, and then later on, all women’s health challenges.”

Anya is an app which uses an AI model trained on content produced by clinicians so that it can answer health questions and provide support to women at any time of day or night. 

It wasn’t easy. Just like the visual effects industry, the entrepreneurship world is very male-led. The inherent bias women face as entrepreneurs doesn’t help with imposter syndrome: Davies remembers attending a pitching session surrounded by men, who made her “feel redundant” as she was trying to present her business idea.

• Read more: Opinion: Female founders are not uninvestable: I can bust the myths that are holding them back

But Anya is a success story. It has reached more than 7m people in the UK, partnering with the NHS – anyone can download the app for free, and if their local NHS trust is connected to it, they can upgrade to a premium version free of charge by entering their postcode. 

Studies have shown that by providing better information to women, the app has led to a reduction in emergency procedures and complications during pregnancy, with the NHS saving £5 for every pound it pays for using Anya. The app is also successful in reaching underserved women, who are often too shy to ask questions to health professionals for fear of being judged.

How did Davies succeed? “I think it is about self belief,” she says. “I constantly doubt if I’m a good leader, if I’m making the right decisions, if I’m taking the business in the right direction, but maybe what we need more is that conviction and ‘trust your gut’... that’s what I need, and that’s maybe what a lot of female entrepreneurs need to be successful.”

Davies speaks to West and Black about:

• Pivoting from Hollywood life to becoming a mission-driven entrepreneur
• How she realised she needed to find a solution to barriers faced by women in accessing healthcare
• The struggles to juggle work and family, and the consequences for her mental health
• The importance of self-belief and conviction to fight imposter syndrome in a world often geared against women