By: Matt Emma
A former Fortune 100 executive is using her technology expertise to rethink women’s health and wellness with a personalized coaching app
Michele Balco spent more than 20 years at a Fortune 100 company helping organizations navigate complex change. She led strategic portfolios spanning technology, automation, and artificial intelligence, overseeing large-scale transformation initiatives and building high-performing teams to tackle business challenges.
Managing her own wellness while balancing a demanding career and family life presented a different challenge.
Each of her nutrition, workout, and sleep apps tracked a different part of her routine, but none gave her a complete picture. She could see what she had eaten, how she had trained and how well she had slept, but understanding how those pieces worked together was left up to her.
That disconnect inspired Balco to found QBod, an AI-powered health and fitness coaching platform. QBod is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.
As the holiday season approaches, her vision feels particularly relevant: a coach in your pocket that helps make wellness manageable when life gets crowded.
“Women are already connecting the dots for everyone else – at work, at home and across their families’ schedules,” Balco says. “I wanted to build something that could connect the dots for their own wellbeing, without giving them another project to manage.”
When Everything Needs Your Attention
For many women, holiday preparations arrive on top of an already full workload. Year-end deadlines overlap with school events, travel arrangements, family gatherings and the everyday responsibilities that continue through December.
The numbers help explain that crowded calendar. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 73.9% of mothers with children under 18 participated in the workforce in 2025. Among employed mothers, nearly 80% worked full time.
Balco’s experience suggested an opportunity to simplify one part of the day: deciding how to care for yourself with the time and energy available.
Putting Her Technology Experience to Work
Balco’s background gave her experience leading the application of technology to complicated business challenges. Building QBod meant bringing that perspective to a problem she understood personally.
The question became how to turn separate wellness records into guidance someone could use.
“I saw firsthand how technology could help businesses make sense of complex information,” Balco says. “With QBod, I wanted to bring that same thinking to everyday wellness: helping someone understand how their food, movement, sleep and recovery work together.”
At the center of the platform is Coach Q, an AI coach designed to consider those factors alongside personal goals. Users can work toward building strength, improving fitness or changing body composition, with guidance informed by what they log.
Support Beyond the Workout
QBod’s expanding tools also address decisions that happen far from the gym.
Dining Out Coach ranks menu choices against a user’s remaining daily macronutrient targets, including the amounts of protein, carbohydrates, and fat in their plan. For someone attending a holiday dinner or meeting friends between errands, it brings personal nutrition goals into a familiar setting.
The What I Take feature provides a place to record vitamins, supplements and medications. Users can log doses, view what is due next and track remaining quantities.
Together, these additions extend Balco’s original idea into more everyday moments, reducing the need to keep related information scattered across different tools.
“Whether you’re choosing dinner, reviewing your training or keeping track of your routine, the goal is to help you move forward with less guesswork,” Balco says. “Especially during busy seasons, we want women to feel supported in making room for their personal goals without having to rearrange their lives to do it.”
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical or professional health advice. Readers are encouraged to consult a qualified healthcare professional before making any changes to their health, wellness, or fitness routines.
