Aneela Idnani is the Co-founder & President of HabitAware. HabitAware is a HAX and Backstage Capital company and holds research grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and National Science Foundation. HabitAware’s innovation was featured in TIME Magazine (2018 Best Invention), BuzzFeed, SELF Magazine, The Washington Post, and Prevention Magazine. 

Aneela co-invented Keen2, a smart bracelet and app system to empower people with compulsive hair pulling, skin picking, and nail-biting to take control and shift to healthier stress-relieving behaviors. Having grown up with a hair-pulling disorder (also known as trichotillomania, a BFRB), Aneela is an outspoken mental health advocate, author & TEDx speaker raising awareness of these very common yet unknown conditions. She serves on the advisory boards of LaunchMN, BetaMN, and the International OCD Foundation (IOCDF) Twin Cities Chapter. Aneela is a native New Yorker and first-generation Indian American. She proudly calls Minneapolis home and looks forward to supporting tech entrepreneurs in the local community.

Shatter mental health stigma, check out her TEDx talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkfBtT4VbI4