Melissa Eamer, founder and CEO of aging wellness brand Modern Age, joins Cheddar News to discuss the recent launch of its digital experience and flagship in New York City. 

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Aging Wellness Brand 'Modern Age' Opens Flagship in NYC

aiming to remove the stigma and help you take control of aging is modern age and evidence based aging wellness brand helping empower people to take control of how they age. The company has recently launched, it's digital experience and flagship in new york city, the studio will house a range of treatments and products curated by professionals aimed at aging wellness including skin, hair hormones and bone health. And joining us now is modern age founder and Ceo melissa immer melissa, thank you so much for joining us, your former amazon and Glossier executive. Why did you feel the need to pivot to the wellness space? Yeah, thank you for having me here. You know, I feel really fortunate to have spent a bunch of my professional career at amazon, but in the background for me there was always this real personal interest in how people age. And I think it really started by watching my mother age and age, not as well as some of her peers. And so I was really curious when I saw that about how much of that was genetic and how much of that was lifestyle or could have been in her control to have a better outcome. And so I came across a set of research on something called subjective age that really resonated with me and got me very excited to build a business around how to help people take more control over how they age. I love that your background was also as an executive at Glossier because when I first heard this story, I thought this was about beauty and preventing aging instead this is kind of embracing that path towards the future for all of us. Can you talk a little bit about how modern age does that? You know, your company uses a holistic approach, that's what you call it, to the most common concerns. So how are you doing that? Yeah, exactly. I think, you know, today's healthcare system in our country is very specialized, which is fantastic if you have a specific issue, but sometimes it lets us down when you really want to connect the dots across the different things that are happening in your body and I think, you know, the human body is a very complicated machine and a lot of systems work together to result in the symptoms that you may feel. So if you're seeing something in your skin, there's a good chance that there's something going on with your hormones or your nutrition that really is at the root cause of that. So, our holistic approach is really geared towards helping people connect the dots across what's going on and then feel more agency and control over how to impact that. Yeah, you mentioned your experience with your own mother. So, are there specific signs of aging that you think should be red flags for people to begin really focusing on this aspect of their health? It's such a great question because I think when people think about aging today, they tend to think of the elderly and the truth is a lot of what happens in your body starts happening in your thirties, forties, even twenties. Um, so bone mass is a great example of something that peaks in your thirties. People don't tend to think about it and they're 70 and you have broken a bone, but really there are things you can do today around nutrition and exercise really end up with stronger bones. Um so our message is really, it's never too soon to start thinking about aging. I think if you're in your thirties and you want to understand what's happening in your body, it's a great time to meet with one of the definitions then really address whatever is most important to you at that time. Our framework is something called subjective age and I mentioned that earlier about your subjective agent, the agent that you feel. And the really fascinating thing for me in the research is that it suggests that people can feel younger than they are end up living longer and healthier years. Um and it shows up in really interesting ways like they have younger brain age, they have better cognitive function. It even shows up in their buyer markers meaning their livers and their endocrine systems are performing in a healthier way And the modern age flagship in the Flatiron District in New York City. It comes after your series a funding round um, that generated $27 million. So can you just bring into perspective kind of how this new studio works and um some of the changes that you've been able to implement with that funding round. Yes, I'm really grateful to have an awesome set of investors who have been very helpful in making a really important decisions. But a lot of that funding went into investment in both the team and our physical space and flat iron. We were really fortunate to find a beautiful space that has windows on both sides to lots of natural light, Great 17-foot ceilings and our architectural designer Madeline Ringo has a really high attention to detail. And so you'll see it in places like our photo booth where you can take clinical photos but also fun photos to share or in our treatment rooms in the ceilings, you'll see lighting sculptures that actually change lighting depending on where you are in your treatment procedure um and everything from the refresh station to, you know, sort of freshening up on your way out. So the space itself I think is really pretty unique. And I'm really, we're really excited to have people in the doors and sort of experiencing it firsthand, it's really beautiful. I do want to ask you who is kind of your target customer, are they typically people who are closer to being a senior citizen, Is it forties to fifties or even thirties to forties. Um, and is it based on like a subscription or do people come in for specific procedures they want to get done. Yeah, it's not a subscription today. So it's all based on the pacific procedures. And we really try to craft a very personalized plan. So our target customers anyway on, you know thirties, forties, fifties, sixties. It's really never too late to get started, but it's also really never too early. Um So if you're in your twenties you may be interested in things that impact your skin, which is usually where people see aging show up first, usually in their face. Um If you're in your forties or fifties and maybe more about hormones and understanding really what's going on and how you feel in your metabolism over time. So we sort of treat each customer individually and say, where are you on your aging journey? What's most important to you and then how do you want to take more control over the outcomes that you have both today and going forward? Really fascinating. That's modern age founder and Ceo melissa M. R. Thank you so much for joining us.