Meet Emily, a creative strategist and Social Media Manager at Tally, based in Nashville, TN. After working in social media for the past 11 years, she’s embarking on a long-desired journey to pursue her own SaaS product, one inspired by her personal wellness journey and the tools she wishes she’d had along the way. We were excited to learn not only about what she’s building, but also how Tally gets to play a role.
Who are you? Tell us about yourself.
My name’s Emily! I’m a Social Media Manager and Creative Strategist based in Nashville, but my heart is back home in California, where I grew up. I’m biiiiig on all things ‘granola’ and wellness, which is what inspired this project.
I grew up primarily around the arts, I sing and make music on the side, studied acting (once upon a time), and only in the past couple of years have I been more exposed to the tech world. It’s very different from what I’ve done traditionally in my 11 years of working online with brands and products, but being a part of the community Tally has so intentionally built, and constantly seeing what people are launching in SaaS, has been massively inspiring.
What is “SOMA”?
SOMA is a wellness app (that is very early in its development, might I humbly add haha) that replaces daily tracking with weekly voice or text check ins. Instead of asking users to log every symptom or habit (which can feel so redundant and often ends up becoming a roadblock to sustainable check in’s), it’s designed to be more conversational with tailored prompts, listening for patterns over time that help determine the next follow up questions. Checking in on things like energy, mood, inflammation, or stress, things we may not even think to check for cause we’re so used to them. As it listens and gathers patterns over time, SOMA reflects them back in a report that’s actually usable, whether that’s for personal insight or something you can bring to a doctor or therapist. From there, it gently offers practical support through thoughtfully vetted, third party products that align with what’s showing up.
The heart of SOMA is making health feel more human, less daunting, and more approachable. So much wellness tech is clinical, rigid, or overwhelming, especially for people navigating chronic stress, hormonal shifts, or autoimmune symptoms, things that require deep dives, but you don’t always know where to start.
This is designed to feel more like reflection than data, but ultimately, it’s a tool that can help one get answers to questions they’ve had, or maybe didn’t even know they had.
How did you hear about Tally?
Once upon a time, I did a UX/UI bootcamp in 2022 while I was attempting a drastic career shift (as one does in their mid 20’s), and someone in my small group recommended Tally as we dove into our user research portion of the project. Since then, I’ve seen it pop up with a couple different clients I had worked with, and even dabbled in it myself. I always found Tally so easy and simple to use, with the most generous free tier, as well as clean design. To be a part of the team now feels like a sweet full circle moment.
What’s your favorite Tally feature?
We’re currently testing a new feature, (Tally AI), and once that’s done? Woooof. It’s genuinely exciting to see how it changes the way people build and think.
What makes a form fun to fill out?
I’m a sucker for human language and some “vibes” in a form. Whether that shows up in introduction, copy, design. It can be as simple or noisy as someone wants, but I just want thoughtful and true to brand.
Like, use some memes in your form. Make me giggle. Make this form worth my time haha
What’s your go-to coffee order? ☕️
Kicked coffee (apparently espresso is TERRIBLE for womens hormones, who knew). So yes, I am that matcha snob. LOVE a ceremonial grade matcha with some honey and pistachio milk.
If you could give one piece of advice to founders, what would it be?
After working with well over a dozen company and product founders over the decade, one thing always stands true: your internal world shows up in your external world— whether that be your team dynamics, your workflow, your email responses, even the product itself. Taking care of yourself with intentional, calculated and equal measure as you’re tending to your project will only make it succeed.
Sure, there’s sacrifice. Giving your yes to something, requires you to give your no to something else. So really make your yes’s count, because they pile up. And you’ll have to confront ‘em later.
Thank you for chatting with us, Emily!
