Jo Sarah Garcia and Umaversity: Building a Global, Shame-Free Ecosystem for Women+’s Well-Being

Women Story
9 minutes ago
3 min read

In a world where women+’s health is still widely under-researched, under-taught, and wrapped in stigma, Jo Sarah Garcia is building what many systems have failed to provide: a safe, inclusive, and culturally aware space for women+ to understand their mental, physical, and sexual well-being.

Based in Amsterdam, Jo Sarah Garcia is the Founder and CEO of Umaversity, a global education and community platform dedicated to empowering women+ through science-based knowledge, expert guidance, and shame-free conversation. Founded in 2022, Umaversity operates at the intersection of education, health, culture, and community — addressing topics that are often considered taboo, inaccessible, or misunderstood.

Why Umaversity Exists

Umaversity was created in response to a systemic gap: despite affecting half the global population, women+’s health — particularly around hormones, menstruation, sexuality, mental health, trauma, and life transitions — remains poorly supported by mainstream education and healthcare systems.

Jo Sarah Garcia recognised that lack of education leads not only to poor health outcomes, but also to shame, silence, and inequality. Umaversity was designed to counter this by offering a trusted home where women+ can learn, share, and connect without judgment.

The platform explicitly centres inclusivity — culturally, generationally, and experientially — recognising that women+’s health cannot be addressed through a single Western or medicalised lens alone.

A Multi-Platform Model for Learning and Support

Umaversity operates through a thoughtfully designed ecosystem that combines education, community, and access to experts. At the heart of the platform is the Umaversity App, which includes Umapedia — a culturally aware, taboo-breaking education library featuring content from over 150 international experts.

Across the platform, members can access:

200+ videos, e-books, guides, and lived-experience stories
Expert-led masterclasses and workshops
A global community and membership system
A podcast featuring real, unfiltered conversations
Online and in-person events and festivals

The content spans a wide range of topics, including hormonal and menstrual health, mental well-being, pleasure and sexuality, relationships, motherhood, sexual trauma, and major life transitions — areas where reliable education is often fragmented or absent.

Global Reach, Measurable Impact

Since its launch, Umaversity has reached 15,000+ women+ globally through its events, content, masterclasses, podcasts, and festivals. The platform has hosted an international online festival on non-Western medicine and women+’s health, bringing together experts from multiple continents and medical traditions, with attendees from more than 25 countries.

Beyond reach, Umaversity has focused on building trust. It has successfully:

Built and activated a network of 150+ experts across disciplines and cultures
Sold out its first onboarding cohort of founding members
Successfully launched its second cohort
Maintained high engagement through community-led programming

From Individual Empowerment to Systemic Change

While Umaversity directly supports individuals, its vision extends further. The organisation also works with companies, educational institutions, and organisations to integrate women+’s health into workplace culture, learning environments, leadership development, and policy frameworks.

This B2B and institutional work translates women+’s health from a “personal issue” into a strategic, cultural, and leadership concern, supporting long-term systemic change rather than surface-level initiatives.

Recognition and Thought Leadership

Jo Sarah Garcia’s work has been widely recognised. In 2025, she received the TEDx Impact Pioneer Award, acknowledging her contribution to redefining women+’s health education. She is also a TEDxAmsterdam speaker, where she delivered a talk addressing the global lack of education and support around women+’s health.

She has since been invited to speak at multiple conferences and summits, including Zorg2040 (Healthcare 2040), presenting Umaversity’s vision for a more inclusive and accessible future of healthcare to audiences that included healthcare professionals, researchers, investors, policymakers, and business leaders.

A Founder Shaping a New Standard

What sets Jo Sarah Garcia apart is not only the scale of Umaversity’s ambition, but the clarity of its values. The platform is built on love, unity, empowerment, and exploration — principles that actively shape how education is delivered, how communities are held, and how conversations unfold.

By combining science with culture, education with community, and personal healing with systemic reform, Umaversity is redefining what women+’s health support can look like in the modern world.

As global conversations around well-being, inclusion, and equity continue to evolve, Jo Sarah Garcia and Umaversity are not simply responding to change — they are helping lead it.