Why We Exist

Some companies are born from market opportunity.
Yaso was born from loss.

Early in my career, I worked with a remarkable woman—brilliant, driven, joyful, and full of life. She was a top performer, adored by all her colleagues, a mother, a partner, and a friend. No one knew that years earlier, her husband had unknowingly infected her with HIV.

At the time, treatment was limited. Fear and stigma were everywhere. She kept her diagnosis secret to protect her career, her child, and her place in the world.

By the time the truth emerged, it was too late.
HIV had spread to her brain.  First she lost her vision. Then her ability to speak or hear. Then her life. She was just in her early thirties.

She did not die from bad luck.
She died because she had no control.

No control over her partner’s choices.
No control over what he brought home.

No control over society and how they would treat a person known to be HIV positive at that time. She had no safe way to protect herself without risking everything else she loved.

 

Years later, in a meeting with two professors, overlooking the lights of San Diego, I learned the true scale of the global HIV epidemic—millions of women facing the same risks, without medical care, financial protection, or the power to negotiate prevention. I saw my friend's calamity scaled up to millions of women everywhere.

That was the moment everything became clear:

Treatment is heroic.
But prevention is power.

Unprotected sex doesn’t only lead to HIV. It drives:

  • Unintended pregnancy

  • Incurable sexually transmitted infections

  • Maternal mortality

  • Interrupted education

  • Cycles of poverty

  • Economic dependence that lasts generations

These outcomes do not fall equally. They fall most heavily on women—especially those with the fewest resources.

At Yaso, we exist to change that reality.

We are developing woman-controlled, non-hormonal prevention technologies that are:

  • Scientifically rigorous

  • Simple to use

  • Designed for real life

  • Intended for global access

There are many factors influencing unplanned pregnancy and disease—education, access, economics. We can’t solve them all.
But one thing we can solve today is a next-generation product that’s effective, affordable, and accessible.

Our goal is not just contraception.
It is autonomy.
Not just disease prevention.
It is dignity.
Not just innovation.
It is justice—at the most personal level of human life.

I could not save the woman who inspired this company.
But through Yaso, we are building a future in which millions of women will never have to stand where she stood—unprotected, unheard, and without a choice.

That is why we exist.