Women’s Wellness Glows Up
How Tia reinvented women’s healthcare to make members feel seen, heard, and loved.
Over the past few weeks, our Hellen team highlighted brands that inspire us by reimagining loyalty through emotional connections and a deeper sense of belonging. We looked at beauty brand Topicals, travel and food membership program Dis-loyalty, and restaurant loyalty platform Blackbird. In our final post of this series, we turn our attention to Tia, a membership-based healthcare model with ambitions to create “a new standard of care for women.”
Launched in 2017, Tia provides care to support its members’ physical, mental, and reproductive health, from treating sore throats to UTIs. While the health startup focuses on women, Tia is open to patients of all genders and sexual orientations and commits to providing “unequivocally sex-positive, culturally competent care.” Patients pay a membership fee for access to virtual and in-person care services, including pelvic exams, ultrasounds, acupuncture, and pelvic floor therapy, as well as online messaging and booking. They can also get referrals to specialists and invitations to community events. (While the membership fee doesn’t include the cost of appointments, Tia is in-network with most major PPO insurance plans.)
Tia, which means “aunt” in Spanish, has made an intentional effort to make the doctor’s office feel more like home and less like…well, torture. For many women, a routine pelvic exam can be embarrassing, uncomfortable, or even traumatizing. Too often, the medical industry minimizes women’s pain or gaslights them, leading to avoidance or delay in seeking medical care. Tia aims to break that pattern.
A few things that make Tia’s membership experience feel extraordinary:
💜 Mission-minded
Considering that nearly half of women in America are “medical orphans” with no primary care provider (according to Tia’s latest research report), Tia’s mission of making primary care synonymous not just with science and quality, but with community, is a compelling benefit.
🔗 Connected care
Tia’s collaborative care model treats “the whole you,” with a deep understanding that physical, mental, and emotional health is interconnected. Being a “one-stop-shop” for everything—from acupuncture to mental health, primary care, and gynecology—makes it easy for Tia members to feel loyal to their clinic.
🌟 Delightful design
Each Tia location is designed less like a traditional OB/GYN’s office (think: uninspiring, gray spaces) and more like a hotel lobby or spa. The clinic's aspirational architecture and interior design, coupled with its bold branding, helps deepen emotional resonance with members who are tired of the healthcare status quo.
🤳 At your fingertips
While Tia now has an ever-expanding brick-and-mortar presence (thanks to recent partnerships with hospitals and health systems), the company started as an online health messaging platform. Today, with a combination of online and in-person support, Tia members have the power to shape their own seamless healthcare experience and contact their care team about anything from billing questions to prescription refills.
👯 Leading through community
Beyond doctor’s appointments, Tia members get access to educational and community events, partnering with like-minded brands and organizations (including Octave mental health services and Wundabar Pilates) to cultivate a sense of affinity. Tia also lets members share a referral discount code with friends, taking a cue from consumer-driven brands that rely on word-of-mouth, peer-to-peer marketing.
🔊 Real talk
In an industry rife with medical jargon, Tia leans into casual, conversational language. Its blog doesn’t shy away from taboo subjects, like “Decoding period blood colors” and “Understanding pain during sex and what to do about it.” The brand feels like a trustworthy friend or confidante, not a condescending doctor.
🧦 All the little things
Last, but definitely not least, it’s the small touches that really make Tia stand out—from a curated “learning library” of books on display in the waiting area, to comfortable robes instead of the usual paper gowns, and a pair of socks to keep your feet warm in stirrups. The overall atmosphere—dare we say “vibes”—are carefully calibrated with obsessive attention to detail, making the membership experience feel truly exceptional.
Interested in evolving your membership model to deepen a sense of belonging with your customers? Get in touch with our Hellen team: contact@heyhellen.com.