This week on Calling in Sick, I'm sitting down with Ellie Klein — founder of Jelliebend, former competitive ballet dancer, contortionist, and someone who has been navigating scoliosis and hypermobility since childhood. And let me tell you… this conversation took us places I didn’t even anticipate (like just being a female in the US right now…)
We're diving into:
🩰 Growing up as a ballerina with scoliosis and hypermobility — the brace, the ballet intensive, the teachers who used her body as the "bad example" in class, and what it does to a young girl to be publicly identified as wrong in a space where your body is everything
🤸 Life after ballet — the pivots she took from school to contortionism to becoming a founder all while juggling her health
💡 Building Jelliebend — the moment her body craved support but couldn't tolerate traditional braces, how her ADHD sensory needs shaped every design decision, and the completely bootstrapped journey of making the samples herself
💸 The fundraising reality — pitching a women's health product to mostly male investors who thought she was making shapewear, going $20K into credit card debt because she believed in what she was building, and what it actually takes to crack into VC without connections
🌸 The women's health funding gap — why products outside the "bikini zone" struggle to get investment and what that means for founders like Ellie
💪 The delusional optimism it takes to build something — and why she wouldn't change a single thing
xx, Alex
💬 Comment: Have you ever been made to feel like your body was the problem — and what did you do with that?
TIMESTAMPS
Intro:
00:00:00 Welcome back to Calling in Sick!
Ellie’s Story with Scoliosis, Hypermobility & Jelliebend:
00:00:38 Who is Ellie and what the heck is Jelliebend?!
00:07:53 What building a product for yourself that turns into a company is like
00:12:47 Growing up as a ballerina with scoliosis
00:24:19 The 411 on scoliosis treatments and surgery
00:29:57 Being used as the "bad example" in class due to a disability… and processing it alone
Life after ballet:
00:44:14 Contortionism, her coaches & what that world gave her
00:52:09 Building Jelliebend — bootstrapping, samples & early days
00:53:22 Fundraising reality — pitching to investors who don’t understand chronic illness & doubling down
01:04:34 The VC fundraising playbook problem — selling to women when the VC world is mostly men
01:06:37 What success actually looks like when you're self-funded
Ellie’s next frontier (diagnosing the mystery illness):
01:07:44 Suspected POTS, the diagnostic journey & what's next
01:11:04 The female experience of invisible illness & finding the right providers
01:12:43 Women's health, bikini medicine & getting louder together
Conclusion:
01:13:04 One Brain Cell Show (SPOOKY SZN!!): Monster & American Horror Story (Hulu)
01:16:15 Where to find Ellie & Jelliebend
01:16:31 Thank you for listening… + Come back Wednesday for Fact or Fiction!
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• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/callinginsickpod/
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Connect with our guest, Ellie Klein:
• Instagram, Personal - https://www.instagram.com/ellie.unicorn.klein/?hl=en
• Instagram, Jelliebend - https://www.instagram.com/jelliebend/?hl=en
• Website - https://jelliebend.com/
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Produced by: Alexandra Wildeson — https://www.instagram.com/alexandrawildeson/
#Scoliosis #Hypermobility #Jelliebend #EllieKlein #ChronicIllness #ChronicPain #ScoliosisAwareness #HypermobilityAwareness #WomensHealth #ChronicIllnessEntrepreneur #InvisibleIllness #SpoonieLife #Ballet #Contortionism #WomenInBusiness #VCFunding #WomensHealthFunding #BikiniMedicine #CallingInSickPodcast #AlexWildeson
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