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Stephany El-Hayek: From Embryology Intern to Mama and Founder of A Good Start

Stephany El-Hayek/LinkedIn

Sep 28, 2026, 17:13

Stephany El-Hayek: From Embryology Intern to Mama and Founder of A Good Start

Stephany El-Hayek, Founder of A Good Start, shared on LinkedIn:

“My fascination with reproductive biology started in a developmental biology class during my BSc. I was completely amazed by the intricacies working together to turn an embryo into a human being.

So I decided to do an internship with an embryologist at a fertility clinic in Lebanon. I got to see fertilization happen in front of my eyes, under a microscope. I was fascinated.

During my PhD, I went even further back, to where it all starts. I studied the development of the female egg, exploring how it develops to prepare for fertilization. The picture here is one I took of a mouse egg at my PhD lab. I used to send them to my now-husband to show him how cool my work was.

Isn’t it beautiful?

Fast forward a few years, I became a mama.

And, as any modern parent knows, the internet quickly becomes a new parent’s best friend. What would start as a simple attempt to troubleshoot something my baby was doing, or a bit of pre-purchasing research on a new toy, would often end with me down a rabbit hole of research papers.

Because I wanted to understand why. And there it was again: my fascination with human development. This time, I was looking for answers to questions about my day-to-day with my baby.

‘Why are babies designed the way they are? Why do newborns behave in ways that can seem so counterintuitive to us? Why do they feed so often? Why do they want to be held so much? Why do they wake so frequently?’

The more I learned, the more I started seeing biology playing out right in front of me in my baby: how he would calm down the instant he was held, how I was pumping yellowish milk when she was sick, and how overnight they figured out peekaboo (AKA ba22ousi in the Arab world).

Yes, parts of the newborn phase can be incredibly frustrating.

But there is also something extraordinary happening in a newborn baby; they’re growing, developing, and learning at an astonishing pace.

And that is really where A Good Start comes in.

I want to help parents understand some of that incredible biology, not to overwhelm you with science, but to make the newborn phase a little more understandable. What’s the point, I hear you ask?

Because, first of all, biology is seriously cool.

But more importantly, understanding why your baby does what they do can change the way you experience those difficult moments.

When you understand that so much of your baby’s behavior is by design, and is meant to help them survive, grow and thrive, it can become a little easier to respond with curiosity, empathy, and even intention.

Expecting a baby and feeling curious? I offer free intro calls for couples who are interested in learning more about the biology of the newborn phase.”

Stephany El-Hayek