Portrait No. 001
Vicki Powell
Co-Founder & CEO
Lume Health
Raised — $2.5M
Lume Health is building the first wearable platform to continuously track hormones in real time. While today’s wearables focus on external signals like heart rate and steps, Lume measures the biochemical signals that actually govern how we feel and function, starting with cortisol and circadian hormones. By moving hormone measurement from infrequent lab snapshots to continuous insight, Lume enables earlier intervention and a more preventative approach to health. I grew up on a farm in \"the bush\" of rural Australia and later moved to the US to work on building innovative technology. I spent 5 years at Apple working as an engineer on wearable sensors, helping build some of the most advanced devices in the world. Yet at the same time, it felt like everyone around me was struggling with their health. The turning point came in 2020, when I lost my step-mum, Liz, to suicide. Looking back, it was clear something had been wrong for years, but we lacked the tools to understand it. I started Lume to help make an impact with the time I have left.
In her words
“I started Lume to help make an impact with the time I have left.”
Chapter I
The toughest challenges you've faced as a founder.
The toughest part of building Lume has been being underestimated. As a woman and an immigrant founder in STEM, I’ve been mistaken for the assistant when I was the lead engineer. I’ve had my technical credibility questioned despite years building wearable sensors at Apple. Early on, it was clear that being good wasn’t enough. That pressure sharpened me and pushed me to work harder and be better. What kept me going was the wins along the way. I was awarded patents at Apple. Then started Lume and built a world-class technical and clinical team. We raised $2M in venture funding. We shipped working prototypes, secured partnerships out of our league, and started changing lives one by one. I now prefer showing not telling. Because it all comes out in the end.
Chapter II
Your vision.
I’m obsessed with helping people see their potential, and understand what’s holding them back. Too often, people feel tired, anxious, depressed, or stuck and assume it’s a personal failure. In reality, there’s usually something biological happening beneath the surface that we don’t measure or explain. Our health system is reactive and fragmented, so people only get answers once things have already gone wrong (if ever). Lume exists to make it easier to understand ourselves. When people can see patterns in their biology over time, they can make changes before they burn out or break down. The change I want to enable is simple: people having agency over their own bodies. Getting information at the right time so they can do something about it.
Chapter III
The impact you want to leave behind — for your industry, your community, and the women who come next.
I want to help shift healthcare from something that reacts to failure to something that notices change early. If, 30 years from now, it’s normal for people to understand their biology in real time, and to intervene before they reach crisis, I’ll be proud of the role Lume played in that shift. I also want future women in science and engineering to see that you don’t need to fit a stereotype to build hard technology or lead ambitious companies. You can be underestimated, do the work anyway, and still change the system. I hope Lume helps people avoid unnecessary suffering, and inspires more women to build what they believe should exist.