Rising Stars: Meet Rachel Ward of Orange County (& expanding!)

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Ward.

Hi Rachel, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My story starts like a lot of women’s stories: sitting in doctors’ offices being told everything looks “normal” when I felt anything but.

By 20, I was dealing with chronic gut issues and acid reflux. By 25, I was seeing a chiropractor three times a week just to manage how my body felt. And by 29, I’d been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and generalized anxiety disorder.

Every doctors office I landed in, it was the same answer: Take your medication, and you’ll be fine.

No conversation about nutrition, lifestyle, stress, or how everything might be connected.

At the time, I was working at my dream job in marketing at Pinterest’s HQ in San Francisco, navigating a deeply unhealthy relationship, and carrying the emotional weight of serious mental health challenges within my family. I was pouring everything I had into my career and the people around me, with very little left for myself.

I was operating way beyond my capacity, but I didn’t even realize it yet.

Then, one day, a coworker at Pinterest (who went on her own health journey after tragically losing her parents) mentioned that I might want to explore how my diet and lifestyle are affecting my Hashimoto’s diagnosis. She also suggested finding a naturopathic or functional medicine doctor and trying acupuncture.

Honestly? It sounded like a foreign language to me. And there was no way I wanted to give up gluten & dairy (which she suggested).

I’d never been introduced to this world of holistic healthcare, where someone might look beyond a single symptom and ask what was happening in my body and my life as a whole.

But that conversation changed everything.

I started finding my way into the offices of incredible women practitioners who listened, asked deeper questions, and helped me advocate for myself. It was the beginning of what would become a five-year journey of healing, physically, mentally, and emotionally.

And it wasn’t just about changing what I ate or which doctors I saw.

It meant learning to set boundaries with people I loved. Walking away from a marriage that was deeply damaging to my well-being. Rebuilding my nervous system after years of chronic stress. And eventually, making the decision to leave the Bay Area, where I’d grown up, and start over in Southern California, a place I’d loved since my college days at SDSU.

I moved to Orange County knowing exactly one person, a close friend since high school.

Sometimes healing means changing your entire environment, not just your healthcare routine.

And even as I began feeling better with amazing people supporting me—it takes a village to heal—I continued running into the same frustrating healthcare experiences so many women know too well.

One example I’ll never forget: I was struggling with debilitating digestive symptoms, but my conventional GI doctor attributed everything to GERD and prescribed medication. A female functional medicine practitioner suggested I ask him for a SIBO breath test. He insisted I didn’t have SIBO. I had to advocate for myself three separate times before he finally agreed to order me the test.

The results were wild. I tested positive for both hydrogen- and methane-associated SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth), digestive conditions that can be linked to thyroid dysfunction and gut motility issues, with stress potentially making symptoms worse. And I had to fight so hard just to get tested in the first place.

It was another reminder of how easily women can feel dismissed when their symptoms don’t fit neatly into a diagnosis or their standard labs look “fine.”

Over the years, I found myself in the care of extraordinary women specializing in everything from hormones and gut health to nutrition, acupuncture, and nervous system regulation. This village of women looking at the whole picture helped me better understand my body, and just as importantly, taught me how to advocate for it.

But I kept thinking: Why did it take me so long to find these women? And why did I have to figure so much of this out on my own?

I knew I couldn’t be the only woman asking those questions.

After spending my career in marketing, storytelling, and community building, I realized I wanted to use those skills to create something I desperately wished had existed when I was starting my own health journey.

That’s how move&make was born.

I started creating curated, in-person experiences in Orange County that brought ambitious, curious women together with incredible local experts, wellness practitioners, and brands. Not another networking event or girls’ night, but a place where you could have meaningful conversations, learn something that might genuinely change your life, and meet women who make you say, “Oh my gosh, SAME, girl.”

That vision culminated in an event I hosted last year called Hot Girls Have Hormones™. It was supposed to be a one-time thing. I invited all my personal wellness practitioners to speak on a panel and have booths to talk to women. They all showed up for me and this community. Out of that night 1-year ago, we built over 12 more events to bring women together around hormone education—making it approachable, empowering, and actually fun.

Everyone in our community believes women deserve more than being told their labs are normal when they feel terrible & having to navigating it all alone.

Today, we’re launching an online platform for women everywhere: our Hot Girls Have Hormones™ Club and podcast will bring hormone education, expert-led conversations, and meaningful community expanding beyond Orange County, while continuing to create the curated, in-person experiences that started it all.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There are always struggles along the way. For me, honestly, the biggest one was just having the courage to start something.

I’d had this idea for a long time, but I was still sitting behind a computer in my corporate marketing and copywriting role, not really knowing where to begin.

When I finally started telling people what I wanted to do, their encouragement helped keep me going. Sometimes hearing someone say, “You can do it. Just start!” goes a really long way.

So I did.

I took all my experience in marketing, copywriting, and working on in-house creative teams and put it to work. I designed my own logo and branding, bought a domain name, filed for a trademark, and was off to the races.

Planning events actually came pretty naturally to me. I’d been doing it for years as a community leader within the organizations I’d worked for, like co-founding Pinterest’s first mental health community called Pinside Out. I’ve also always been the person planning parties for friends, organizing church retreats, and finding reasons to bring people together.

So while people might assume planning and executing events was the hardest part, that was actually the easy part for me!

The real challenge was getting over that initial hump of starting, and then finding the courage to keep going every day.

At first, it was balancing a full-time corporate career while trying to build something of my own on the side. There were never enough hours in the day.

Then, when I finally stepped away from my last corporate role six months ago, the challenge shifted. Suddenly, I had the time and freedom to build my business, but without the security of a steady paycheck, benefits, or the structure I’d been used to for so many years.

And that’s a whole different kind of challenge.

It’s one thing to believe in your idea when you have a consistent income coming in. It’s another to wake up every day and bet on yourself, even when there’s no guarantee of what comes next.

But honestly? It’s been so worth it. And so healing.

I’m learning that building something you believe in requires just as much courage and trust in yourself to keep going as it does to get started.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
One of my absolute favorite parts of building move&make is the “sky’s the limit, go big or go home” building part!

After years of working on in-house marketing and creative teams, I now get to bring my own vision to life. No rounds of feedback from cross-functional stakeholders or waiting on approvals. Just my creativity running wild with event concepts, branding, storytelling, and marketing. It’s honestly been one of the most fulfilling parts of this whole journey.

And I’m constantly learning. My motto right now is win AND learn. There really is no failing in this season. A loss is a lesson. A bump in the road is a lesson. A pivot? Another opportunity to learn something new. I’m learning to embrace all of it.

At its core, move&make creates curated experiences that bring women together around wellness, career, and meaningful connection. Our flagship community, Hot Girls Have Hormones™, focuses on making women’s health education approachable, engaging, and actually fun.

But what I specialize in, and what I think really sets us apart, is taking a topic that women are curious about, struggling with, or simply not talking about enough, and turning it into an entire experience.

I’m a copywriter, storyteller, and word girly at heart, so naturally, it usually starts with a name.

Some of my favorites have been our iconic *Hot Girls Have Hormones™ events including Hot Gut Summer* for gut health, our *Permission to Pause* perimenopause series, and career-focused mixers like *Don’t Girlboss Alone* and *Hustle Softer*. We also hosted *Wired Differently: The Female Brain* for Mental Health Awareness Month, exploring how women’s brains work and the connection between mental health and our overall well-being.

I love that these topics all come back to the bigger picture of what it means to be a woman. Our hormones, mental health, careers, relationships, and physical well-being don’t exist in separate boxes. They’re all connected.

Each event has its own little world. Its own name, personality, visual identity, and story. Sometimes the entire concept starts with one conversation with a woman or one incredible expert I meet. From there, I build the experience around the topic, bringing together different perspectives and specialties to create a conversation that feels both educational and relatable.

And that’s probably what I’m most proud of.

Bringing together experts from completely different walks of life, backgrounds, and specialties, sometimes women who have never even met, and watching them come together on a panel where the conversation just flows.

A physician, a nutritionist, a therapist, a founder, or a holistic practitioner might all approach the same topic differently, and that’s exactly the point. I don’t want every expert to have the same opinion. I want women in the audience to hear different perspectives, ask their own questions, and walk away with information that empowers them to make decisions for themselves.

There’s something really special about watching women connect the dots in real time, whether it’s a panelist building on another expert’s perspective or an attendee realizing she’s not the only one experiencing something.

And none of this would be possible without the incredible generosity of the experts who’ve trusted me with their time, knowledge, and stories. They’ve helped turn my ideas into experiences that genuinely impact women.

Now, with the launch of our online Hot Girls Have Hormones™ Club and digital educational series, I’m excited to bring these conversations beyond Orange County and make this community accessible to women across the country.

I think what sets move&make apart is that we’re not just bringing women into a room. We’re intentionally bringing the right women, conversations, and expertise together to create something they can take with them long after the event ends.

We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
To me, success is finding something you love that allows you to create a work-life balance that feels right for you. And I think that looks different for everyone.

Ever since graduating college with my journalism degree and diving into a career in entertainment, I knew one thing for sure: I never wanted to put work ahead of my life or the relationships that mattered most to me.

For me, success means having the freedom to travel, experience the world with the people I love, and build a stable, peaceful family life while still pursuing something meaningful and fulfilling professionally.

I’ve always been ambitious. From being class president in high school to leading employee resource groups at big tech companies like Pinterest, I’ve always loved leading, creating, and bringing people together. And I don’t think that ambition will ever go away. But over the years, I’ve learned that ambition and balance don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

You can want to build something big AND want a slow morning. You can be driven AND prioritize rest. You can give so much to others AND still make space for yourself.

This is something I keep learning and practicing every day. But I think that’s something we especially need to remind ourselves of as women.

At the end of the day, I don’t define success by a job title, paycheck, or how busy my calendar is. I define it by the life I’m creating around the work I love.

To me, real success is finding that balance between giving to others and giving to yourself, without ever losing sight of the people and experiences that make life worth living in the first place.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://moveandmake.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moveandmake.oc/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/move-make

Image Credits
Photos by David Meye & Jamie Bigman