Posted by Sorayya Dossett
on August 03, 2026
When Hannah Varamini – artist, professor, lifelong pill-avoider – couldn't get through the regime of daily prenatal vitamins, her husband Behzad (nutrition PhD) turned their apartment into a lab and spent three years asking a better question. The result was Tend Prenatal, the first whole-food, snackable prenatal bar. Hannah is the creative and brand force behind Tend, running the company from Los Angeles with their two daughters by her side. We are so excited to have her join the Oat Mama blog today!
Can you take us back to the moment when you realized the traditional prenatal wasn’t working for you, and how that frustration eventually turned into Tend Prenatal?
I've struggled with swallowing pills my entire life. I even have a vivid, mildly traumatic memory of unsuccessfully trying to swallow a giant multivitamin as a kid. So when we started trying to get pregnant, I really dreaded the daily prenatal routine.
Behzad’s PhD research was on prenatal diet. He knows the science better than almost anyone. And watching me suffer through something that was supposed to help me, and questioning whether those synthetic forms were even being absorbed properly – sparked something in him. He started asking: what if you just ate your prenatal? That question took three years and hundreds of recipes to answer. The result is Tend.
You spent three years researching, testing, and iterating before launching Tend. What did that season teach you about patience, persistence, and trusting your intuition?
"What surprised me was how much of my own background as an artist showed up in that process."
Behzad turned our apartment into a lab during the pandemic, and what could have been a season of stagnation became one of the most generative periods. Every failed recipe taught us something. Every tasting party brought us closer to something we'd actually be proud of. Three years sounds long, but when we finally launched, it was almost by accident! Our friends started venmo-ing us asking for more bars, and sending to friends. I learned to roll with the rollercoaster.
What surprised me was how much of my own background as an artist showed up in that process. Making art is also about failure, iteration, and learning to trust through profound uncertainty. I didn’t know I’d been training for this kind of persistence in my artistic life – the resilience that entrepreneurship requires.
"That's the surprising part about motherhood – the paradoxes, like how grief and joy, exhaustion and gratitude, can live so close together."
Becoming a mom after welcoming your rainbow baby is such a profound journey. What has motherhood taught you about yourself that surprised you most?
Before our pregnancy losses, I assumed things would unfold as they should. But then I realized just how fragile, how finite I am. What came out the other side wasn't bitterness – it was a kind of clarity; this is what I’ve been learning about motherhood. I can’t multitask like I used to. I had to become much more deliberate about what I give my attention and love to.
Our rainbow baby Nara, and then our second daughter Mina didn't make me forget what came before. They made our losses even more significant. That's the surprising part about motherhood – the paradoxes, like how grief and joy, exhaustion and gratitude, can live so close together.
What did postpartum look like for you physically and emotionally, and did you do anything differently the second time around?
The first time, I was so focused on being present for our daughter that I basically forgot to exist as a person. The depletion crept up on me quietly – physically, emotionally, creatively. I'd just left behind my art practice to go full-time on Tend, and in the fog of early motherhood that loss was harder to name than I expected.
The second time, I gave myself permission to receive. To ask for help before I needed to be rescued. I also understood so much more about postpartum nutrition – having built an entire brand around it – and I leaned into that. Also, every baby is different! So my second postpartum felt very different because our second daughter had a completely different personality. Even more than a year out, I'm still in it — and I'm trying to treat myself with the same care I'd want every Tend mom to have. That feels like the most honest thing I can say.
How has becoming a mother changed the way you show up as a founder and leader?
It makes me more present, and sharper. When I look at my daughters, I feel the stakes of what we're building in a way that no pitch deck ever made me feel. There are women right now who are exhausted and depleted and reaching for something that isn't good enough. That's personal to me in a way it wasn't before.
It also made me less interested in performing. Motherhood strips a lot of that away – you're too tired for it. So I've become more honest with myself, a more direct communicator, and honestly a more interesting one. The imperfect, real version of me turns out to connect better with our community anyway.
Whole-food nourishment is at the heart of Tend. How do you personally try to nourish yourself now as a mom, beyond just food? Any rituals that light you up?
"What I’m trying to get back to are rituals to connect to the side of myself I was before motherhood."
I was always a night person, before motherhood and the chronic sleep deprivation. What I’m trying to get back to are rituals to connect to the side of myself I was before motherhood. That means reading fiction or poetry before bed. It means 10 minutes of meditation daily before I start work – focusing on my faith, listening for the voice beyond myself.
I also try to appreciate and practice art & beauty, even imperfectly. I spent years as a studio artist and an art professor, and that experience is woven into how I think – about the brand, about beauty, about what's worth making. When I let myself paint or draw or write, even briefly, I come back to everything else more full.
How do you balance honoring your own needs while caring for your babies and growing a business?
Honestly, I am not great at this. Some weeks I find the rhythm and some weeks I'm running on adrenaline and the grace of my husband and kids.
What's helped most is getting specific. I don't need a grand gesture of self-care – I need a stretch of uninterrupted sleep and one real conversation with Behzad and ten minutes where no one needs me for anything. When I'm precise about what actually restores me, it becomes easier to protect it. The vague idea of "balance" felt impossible. The specific small things feel achievable.
What’s one small daily ritual with your kids that you look forward to the most?
With my older daughter, we always do an affirmation before bedtime, when she reminds herself she’s safe, she’s loved, and that we are always with her. Sometimes I need that affirmation more than she does – that I’m also safe, secure and loved unconditionally.
With Mina, it's breakfast. She just loves to eat and is very opinionated about her preferences. She loves looking out the window and waving at all the neighbors walking their dogs, saying “hi” even though they can’t see her. That innocent vulnerability is just precious.
What’s a recent moment of chaos that made you laugh instead of cry (or maybe both)?
I wasn’t prepared for the jealousy that having a second daughter would spark in my oldest! So many days they are fighting for my lap, asking me to pick them both up. The other day I was holding the youngest, and then my oldest freaked out and I tried to cuddle them both, resulting in a domino cryfest of them both looking at each other, looking at me, crying a semi-real, semi-frustrated cry.
What’s a mom win you’re quietly proud of from this week?
My older daughter has been introduced to candy and sweets and she knows these are not regular items we have in the house. She said the other day, if I eat my fruit snack I’ll eat it with my protein, okay mommy? That stopped me in my tracks. Watching her absorb the things we casually talk about – especially around food and nourishment – reminds me that everything we're building with Tend starts right here, at home.
"You can look at your children and feel everything you ever wanted, and also grieve, a little, the version of you who had more solitude and more creative space."
What’s something about motherhood you wish people talked about more honestly?
The paradox and ambivalence. Not about the love – the love is enormous and obvious and doesn't need defending. I mean the way you can feel completely fulfilled and also tremendously lonely in the same afternoon. The way you can look at your children and feel everything you ever wanted, and also grieve, a little, the version of you who had more solitude and more creative space.
I wish we gave women more permission to name the paradoxical emotions without immediately rushing to reassure everyone that they're fine.
Coffee, tea, or something else entirely? What's your favorite drink to wake up to?
On an ideal day, psyllium husk first, then coffee – a cortado! The coffee is less about the caffeine (I drink decaf) than the ritual – a small pleasure is a small win.
What’s your go-to “reset” when the day feels like it’s going off the rails?
A walk. Even ten minutes outside, without my phone if I can manage it. Something about moving through physical space unsticks whatever mental knot I've tied myself into. My best ideas and my deepest breaths both tend to happen on the block behind our house.
What’s a meal or snack that feels like a tiny luxury right now?
A scoop of ice cream with a sprinkle of nuts and a Tend bar. I'm an ice cream person — always have been – and this little combination scratches every itch.
Finish the sentence: Right now, motherhood feels like ______.
...the hardest, most important job – that can’t (and shouldn’t) be done alone.