RISING ICON #108: Aneela Idnani
An interview with Aneela Idnani, co-founder and president of HabitAware.
What name do you prefer to be called?
Aneela
What are your pronouns?
She / her / they / them
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Syosset which is on the north shore of Long Island, New York.
What city are you currently based in?
Minneapolis, MN is home!
How do you typically introduce yourself to new people?
“I pull out my hair” is usually the first sentence when on stage. This “fun fact” comes up very quickly in an introductory conversation as I’m eager to raise awareness of the mental health condition that plagued me when I was younger: Trichotillomania.
What’s one thing you wish more people knew about you?
I wish more people knew that I love creative arts that allow me to work with my hands.
I’m currently working on a lego art piece for my sister and my memoir with New Harbinger Publications.
Who do you help?
I serve people with Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors.
These debilitating and subconscious mental health conditions include:
Compulsive skin picking (dermatillomania)
Chronic nail biting (onychophagia)
Hair pulling disorder (Trichotillomania)
BFRBs are the brain’s way of automatically self soothing in moments of discomfort or distress. It feels good at the moment, but the aftermath of physical damage and inner shame create a vicious cycle that threatens efforts to live a peaceful, balanced life.
What are you building now?
Right now, I am continuing to grow HabitAware (more below) and also started a non-profit, BFRB Changemakers, to further support the community.
HabitAware’s goal as a mental health tech and behavior change company is to develop specific solutions for debilitating conditions. With the support of NIH and NSF grant funding we’ve done this for the BFRB community and are now adapting our technologies to support others with excessive eating conditions and compulsive eye pressing, which is common in the blind community.
BFRB Changemakers focuses on a boots on the ground and global approach to heal through community, support the supporters, improve access and quality of BFRB care, and increase outsider awareness and reduce stigma.
What were you building ten years ago today?
Ten years ago, HabitAware was just an idea created during an “aha” moment.
After my husband, Sameer, caught me without eyebrows after a bad late-night pulling session I finally shared my Trichotillomania secret with him. In the coming weeks he started noticing when I was engaging in hair pulling. One evening while sitting on the couch watching TV, I was pulling out my eyebrows and he gently grabbed my hand. That was the “light bulb” moment. I responded, “I wish I had something that notified me!”
We set out to test our hypothesis: Will awareness make it easier to stop hair pulling?
We met cofounders, Kirk Klobe and John Pritchard and when the prototypes they built worked for me, we kept going to make HabitAware a solution for others.
What do you predict of yourself 10 years from now?
I don’t have any specific predictions for 10 years from now.
Ever since I was a kid I have seen problems and come up with creative solutions. I simply trust that if I continue to do good in the world, good will come back to me and I will be able to continue living my dream of serving communities and solving issues for them via inventions and investments.
This to me is the power of Serendipity as a StrategyTM (SAAS), a term I’ve coined for this process.
What’s a fact or statistic you wish everyone knew about your industry?
It’s estimated that 1 in 20 have a BFRB.
If it’s not you, it’s someone you love.
Though common, these disorders are not as well known as other mental health conditions. There is a misperception that because it’s our hands engaging in these hair pulling (Trichotillomania), skin picking (dermatillomania) or nail biting behaviors that it’s our choice. This judgment from our peers creates so much inner shame that we suffer in secret - and that secret makes it worse.
Once our loved ones take the time to better understand the subconscious nature of these disorders, we receive the compassion and healthy support we deserve.
Why do you believe the work you do matters?
I believe in HabitAware because our community and customers share stories of how our work has been “game-changing” in their lives. With team HabitAware, positive life change is achievable.
Who is your mentor and what is the best advice they’ve given you?
I am lucky to have many guides in my life.
From the Minneapolis startup up community, I’ve leaned on Erin Newkirk, Sue Perpich, Nancy Lyons, Lisa Lavin, Adam Choe, Dara Beevas, Cihan Belvan, Neela Mollgaard, Matt Decuir, Reed Robinson and so many more! I am grateful for their friendship, time, advice, and encouragement and pay it forward as a mentor to early stage entrepreneurs and people in my mental health community.
From the BFRB community, I’ve been coached by Christina Pearson, the honorable founder of our community and awareness movement. She has been instrumental in helping me stay “people first” as we build HabitAware and BFRB Changemakers.
As someone with OCD Intrusive Thoughts and General Anxiety Disorder, the best piece of advice came from my sister, Vicky Kamlani.
When we were at the height of COVID, I expressed my worry of “what if I get covid?” My anxiety lay in getting long covid, a debilitating side effect.
Her response was, “If you are going to spend time in ‘what if’ land, why not focus on something positive like “What if you win the lottery!?”
Her question was a reminder that what you focus on, you find.
By far though, it’s been my two sons who have been my greatest teachers. Their view of the world is magic. While on summer vacation, as we sat at the fire pit roasting marshmallows, one of them stuck their stick smack in the middle of the fire and burned their marshmallow. After that, both voiced the power of patience in the process to get the “golden color.”
It was a nice reminder that moving fast breaks things whereas moving with intention fixes them.
Though I am their mom, I am also their student.
What publication do you hope to appear in next?
In 2018, HabitAware was selected as a TIME Best Invention and graced the cover! I am most grateful for that feature because it was an international stage to raise BFRB awareness and to be recognized for our innovation efforts.
I would welcome a feature story in PEOPLE magazine.
Who would you love to be interviewed by (podcast host, journalist, thought leader, political figure, television host)?
Without a doubt, I would love to speak with the Good Morning America team!
If you had to give a TEDTalk tomorrow, what would the title be?
I am lucky to have given a TEDx talk, “Overcoming Trichotillomania: The Power of Awareness.” This talk has been viewed 250k times and explains how the power of awareness is the key to conscious control and behavior change.
My next TEDTalk would be called “Your pain is your purpose” and would explore how our instinct to flee, fight or resist life challenges just creates more challenges. Instead, we can find peace when we look at our life challenges with curiosity, dance with them and find meaning in them. This is how I viewed my breast cancer diagnosis in 2022 and I am certain that by dancing instead of fighting, I healed more quickly.
What makes zero sense to you?
It would mean the world to have my forthcoming memoir with New Harbinger Publishing be selected for the Oprah Book Club!
While I have learned never to say never, right now it would make zero sense to win any sort of Olympic sport medal.
What’s a word in your industry you hope gets re-evaluated?
“Cure”
What game are you changing?
The game of (mental) health care is rigged. We’ve been conditioned to rid our issues with pills. But these pills time and again have shown that the side effects make things worse.
Instead of trying to change the game, HabitAware built a new stadium with new rules to serve a community that has largely been ignored by the traditional system.
Our goal is to show folks that healthiness is possible and the path to get there is far more rewarding than swallowing a pill because it is an act of self love, awareness and compassion.
What’s the next thing you’re a part of that you want to invite more people to participate in?
I am on a personal and spiritual journey right now. I am studying the Bhagavad Gita (Hinduism), and the texts of Sikhism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity as well as mental health practices. I hope to synthesize my learnings, put them to practice and build my leadership skills so that I can bring these frameworks to more people in a non-denominational manner to encourage more love, service and self care in the world.
Where can we follow you online?
Thank you so much, for including me as a Rising Icon. I would love to connect with anyone reading, please follow or DM:
Instagram.com/bfrbchangemakers
What’s one thing that makes every leader better?
The best leaders set aside their wants and desires (ego) for the greater good. This doesn’t mean setting aside their needs or putting themselves last. Leaders must be the example of how to take care of oneself and do right by self while also doing right by others without expecting anything in return.
Please include any websites or profiles you’d like us to link below.
We’re grateful to each RISING ICON for their transformative work. Thank you, Aneela, for sharing your story!
LAUREL is a media relations partner for bold leadership. For nearly a decade, we’ve built effective communications strategies for scale and growth, specializing in key opinion leadership and go-to-market strategy for people driving impact. RISING ICONS is made possible by grant funding from Knight Foundation.
“Once our loved ones take the time to better understand the subconscious nature of these disorders, we receive the compassion and healthy support we deserve.”
NOTICE: It’s important for our readers to understand the origin of this interview content. RISING ICONS is a profile series that amplifies the voices of leaders with perspective and positions that drive newsworthy work. This interview was not edited from its original submission. All claims are made solely by the person featured and may not directly reflect the views of LAUREL or its partners.
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