About · The collective

Hannah Russell & Sarah Gunn — the founders, the conviction, the why.

Founded by women,
built for women.

The Health Collective was born from a stubborn belief: that women's wellness has been badly served by a category built for someone else. We're here to fix that — with science, digital craft, and a healthy disrespect for the status quo.

The story · 01 / 04

A collective of expertise, not a single brand.

A collective,
not a company.

We're called The Health Collective for a reason. Our work sits at the intersection of science, software, and service — and doing it well requires a collective of expertise: nutritionists, naturopaths, scientists, food technicians, digital strategists, data engineers, and operators.

Our role is to assemble that collective around meaningful women's wellness problems, and to build venture-scale businesses that address them. We are digitally native by default. We run lean by design. And we hold ourselves to clinical standards of evidence — because the women we serve deserve nothing less.

Our flagship venture, element³, launches in 2026 — a three-part supplement regime for women 35+ that represents everything we believe a wellness brand should be. It is the first of many.

Our values · 02 / 04

Four words.
We live by all of them.

Decades of operating experience taught us that values, lived honestly, are the only sustainable competitive advantage. These four are non-negotiable.

  1. 01 · Expertise
    Expertise.
    Decades of experience scaling consumer and digital businesses. We know the playbook — and when to throw it out.
  2. 02 · Integrity
    Integrity.
    Evidence over marketing. Transparency over spin. If we can't prove it, we don't claim it. Full stop.
  3. 03 · Care
    Care.
    The women we serve are not a target market — they are the reason we exist. We serve them with dedication.
  4. 04 · Connection
    Connection.
    A business is a set of relationships — with customers, partners, team, and the natural world. We honour all four.
The co-founders · 03 / 04

Four decades of scale, now pointed at women's wellness.

Two founders.
$1.7B+ commercial scale
between them.

Hannah Russell, co-founder of The Health Collective Co-founder

Hannah Russell

Digital · Commercial · 20+ years

More than 20 years in digital, e-commerce, data science, marketing, and general management. Hannah has held commercial accountability for portfolios in excess of $1.6B and is an expert in scaling new propositions up to $100M+ ARR across FMCG, financial services, and retail.

Previously
Fonterra dunnhumby Unilever The AA (UK) TheMarket Warehouse Group
Sarah Gunn, co-founder of The Health Collective Co-founder

Sarah Gunn

E-commerce · Retail · 18 years

18 years in e-commerce, technology, and leadership across New Zealand and Australia's largest retailers. Sarah was a founding member of TheMarket.com — NZ's first curated marketplace — which she helped scale to 120 employees, 8,000+ brands, 1,400+ merchants, and $120M revenue before its amalgamation with The Warehouse Group.

Previously
TheMarket.com (founding) Warehouse Group E-commerce Marketplace AU & NZ retail
The invitation · 04 / 04

Want to be
part of it?

We're talking with investors, retail partners, clinical collaborators, and exceptional operators. If that's you — we'd love to hear from you.

hello@thehealthcollective.co.nz Contact us