Soula CEO Natallia Miranchuk on Using Empathetic AI to Combat Postpartum Depression
The professional work of Natallia Miranchuk, who founded Soula and serves as its CEO, focuses on assisting families throughout their initial months of parenthood. Miranchuk combines her more than 15 years of maternity and parenting project work with her experience as a doula, coach, and entrepreneur.
In Belarus, she collaborated with international organizations, including USAID, UNFPA, WHO, and UNICEF, to develop educational programs that benefited over 350,000 women. Miranchuk dedicated herself to newborn care and education through her work as a photographer who documented over 3,500 newborns, displayed her photography at international exhibitions, and taught more than 850 students throughout the world.
Her professional experiences enabled her to develop an understanding of what expectant parents require regarding emotional assistance and information during their pregnancy period and early childhood phase. The creation of Soula emerged from this digital platform, which uses AI technology to help expecting mothers and their families during their entire pregnancy period and beyond.
Introducing Soula: A Digital Doula for Expectant Mothers
Soula functions as a mobile application that combines artificial intelligence with professional expertise from experts in the pregnancy and parenting fields. The platform combines multiple tools into one unified system, which enables users to access a personalized AI chatbot and track their pregnancy progress while using a daily planner and educational materials contained in an organized library.
The AI assistant serves as a permanent interactive partner who provides users with information and emotional support at all hours of the day. The system provides continuous operation, which enables users to request assistance during times that extend beyond standard medical consultation hours. The platform develops reliable pregnancy and postpartum communication channels through an integration of artificial intelligence and professional knowledge from doulas and medical experts.
Addressing Emotional Well-Being During Pregnancy
Soula exists because many women who become pregnant need emotional support throughout their journey into motherhood. Research findings show that mothers who receive doula support experience postpartum anxiety and depression at lower levels than those who do not receive this support, with decreases reaching 57.5 percent in certain situations.
The Soula platform attempts to replicate aspects of this supportive environment digitally. The AI system delivers reassurance through its conversational interactions, together with practical guidance and curated information to assist users in managing their pregnancy-related uncertainties. The service is designed to provide women with trustworthy guidance and emotional support during times of distress
Expanding Access to Maternal Support Worldwide
Worldwide efforts for improved maternal health support must overcome existing access challenges. The organization aims to achieve its primary goal through improved access to its services. People in many areas do not have access to standard doula services because these services require customers to pay for them at high costs.
The digital assistant system helps users by providing its services through their mobile devices to make their work easier. Women who reside in distant locations that lack maternity facilities will benefit from this approach.
AI Technology and Expert Knowledge Combined
The technology behind Soula uses GPT-based conversational systems. The chatbot generates responses by summarizing expert-approved information rather than relying solely on generic AI output. Natallia Miranchuk states that the system improves its ability to meet user requirements through continuous development, which uses data from user activities and expert assessments.
The platform requires technological direction, which mentors such as Andrei Kulik and Aliaksei Severyn provide through their expertise in software development and natural language generation, respectively.
The Soula team keeps developing the application through two main methods, which involve adding new content and making their AI recommendation system more accurate. The team plans to develop upcoming features that will provide users with customized guidance based on their specific pregnancy experiences.
