I Quit Tech to Solve My Health Problems | My Story

At 28, I looked at my life and realised I had come so far, but I still wasn’t really living. And I wanted more than to just survive or even be comfortable. I wanted meaning, a future, a family, a legacy.

Escaping childhood abuse

Looking back, I can see how far I’ve come since the day I ran away from captivity from my parents at 16. I was born and raised in South Africa, and I had a Rapunzel childhood of abuse and isolation. I was 16 the first time the police and child services got involved. My mother brutally attacked me in front of our au pairs, who let my sister out to get our neighbours to call the police. But the legal system failed us because we were white and well-fed. The child court accepted a mere apology from my parents and put us back with them.

My parents retaliated by immediately pulling us out of school and moving out of the court’s jurisdiction and locked us in the house indefinitely, keeping us out of school. No contact with the outside world, never allowed to leave. No one came to save us. Six months later, just before my 17th birthday, my mother told me, “We’re not celebrating your birthday. There’s nothing to celebrate. I regret the day you were born.” After 16 years of this abuse and neglect, I finally broke.

That night, I was going to put a period on my story, but my sister convinced me to run away instead.

The child court failed me again, but eventually I turned 18, and I could never help my sisters like I promised.

Freedom and goodness

After I ran away, I basically lived out of a bag for 7 years, nomading, surviving, figuring things out as I went, and trying to make it in the world by myself. I had no place to call a home, but at least I had my freedom.

I finished high school and finally matriculated by myself despite all odds. Then I went to work in the USA as an ore for 2 years. I started in sunny San Jose, California and ended in bustling New York. I made so many incredible memories. Had epic adventures.

I saw the Aurora in Alaska and went dogsledding. I road-tripped with a bunch of au pairs from New York to Florida. And found an unbelievable goodness in people that proved my parents wrong that the world wasn’t just full of evil people.

As an au pair, I earned $800 a month. So when I visited Alaska by myself, I was on a shoestring budget. I was only able to afford my trip through the absolute kindness of strangers accommodating me for free, through the couch surfing app or just out of the goodness of their hearts. It was an amazing experience sharing our stories and connecting, and I made friends and family for life. If that’s not a testament to the goodness of humanity, I don’t know what is.

Towards the end of my two years in the US, I tried to get into university because it was always my dream to study physics or engineering and I got into a university in the UK for engineering. But I couldn’t gather the financial support that I needed from schools or my personal connections. So defeated, I went back to South Africa after my visa expired in the US.

Tech, dignity, and love

But my luck turned and at 23 I finally caught my breath. I got a marketing job in tech. I had my own space to live in and I was finally earning enough money to live with dignity. I was even lucky enough to find love. I found my special person. He taught me how to take myself and life less seriously.

Now home is where we are together.

Digital nomading

We share a love for travelling. So in 2022, we travelled Turkey for a month.

And in 2023, we went digital nomading in Asia for 8 months, basically until our money ran out.

Losing my health

These were the best five years of my life so far. But slowly, I began deteriorating mentally and physically. My job, once a lifeline, had become meaningless, and I was no longer valued. My exceptional health, which was a gift, was starting to slip away. I had more comfort then than I had ever had in my entire life. But I was stagnating.

At 27, I started asking myself big questions. Do I want to spend the next decade like this? What happened to my dreams of doing something extraordinary and making the world a better place?

And now there was a new dimension. Sean ignited a new fire in me. And now I want to be a mother one day. But can I do both? My clock is ticking. My biological clock. Do I have enough time, or do I have to choose one?

One day, I heard someone ask, “What do you want written on your tombstone?” And that hit me like a truck. It brought everything into focus. I want to be remembered as an extraordinary wife and mother, as someone who inspired others to live fully with courage and make the world a better place.

That meant I needed to change and get uncomfortable again. I knew that I needed to fix myself so that I don’t repeat the same mistakes my parents did. And I knew I needed to fix the world that I’d be bringing my kids into.

Quitting and building MELIA

So end of 2024, I quit my job and set out to build MELIA, the most holistic, personalised, AI science-driven health and wellness platform in the world. It’s designed to track and improve every aspect of human wellness using data science, psychology, health science, design, art, machine learning, and gamification.

Why?

Because when I faced my own health challenges and autoimmune diagnosis at 25, the health care system left me broke, frustrated, and without answers.

And when I turned to the internet, I just realised that people were just trying to sell me things and I couldn’t trust anything that they were saying. “In 2023, the longevity doctor Peter Attia sued the fitness tracking company Oura Ring, claiming that it owes him $1.3 million in unallocated stock options. It is a blueprint for the relationships between medical companies and medical influencers and offers us a rare peek into the money that moves around behind the scenes that subtly and sometimes overtly affects the way that all of these people communicate human health information.”

I know the answers are out there; and if they’re not, I’m going to find them because I’m fed up with this. Not just for me, but for the billion people out there who struggle with their mental and physical health. Life shouldn’t be this hard with all the resources and technology we have today. Some people are trying to get to Mars while most of us are still struggling with the basics.

Who am I?

Hello world. I’m Michél. I am not rich. I don’t come from money. I don’t have a degree. I live in a third-world country. And I’ve never built a business before. But I have a sharp mind, an insane drive, and I don’t give up when the going gets tough.

I’ve spent 5 years working tech doing digital marketing. I did everything from SEO to graphic design to video editing to data analytics and Python. I love science, art, psychology, technology. I love being outdoors, being in nature, traveling, dancing, and weightlifting. I also love learning. I’m a problem solver and most importantly, I believe in humanity.

I’ve seen enough goodness in this world to decide that people are worth saving. When I needed help, people who had so little shared their home and food with me and gave me love and understanding beyond all logic and comprehension. When I asked people why they helped me, they said, “Michél, you had so much potential. You were fighting to help yourself, to make a better life for yourself. You just needed a little help.” And I’m going to pay that gift forward to the world.

We all have so much potential in ourselves, and we just need a little help. I don’t know anyone with influence or money, but I believe in my mission, and I believe in myself. Every day that I make choices that make me a better person than my parents or myself of yesterday, last month, last year, I go to sleep a successful person.

Let’s build a better future

So, this channel (YouTube) is where I show you how I build MELIA from absolutely nothing. This is also where I share how I heal from trauma, improve my mental and physical health, and build a life that’s actually worth living. A life that when I’m lying in my deathbed in old age, I can say I have lived a full, good life. And I’m ready to make way for the next generation to flourish. And so I hope to empower you to do the same.

Whether you’re a founder, a healer, or somebody just trying to figure life out. If you want to live a healthier, happier, and more fulfilling life, and maybe build something extraordinary while you’re at it, subscribe.

Let’s build a better future together.

You don’t have to do this alone anymore. I promise.