Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / How to take a billion dollar idea and turn it into a reality, all while donating 10 million pads to girls in need with Molly Hayward, Founder of fem care brand Cora

Transcript

How to take a billion dollar idea and turn it into a reality, all while donating 10 million pads to girls in need with Molly Hayward, Founder of fem care brand Cora · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  This is Molly Hayward for Female Startup Club.
• 0:12
  Imagine not being able to go to school or go to work because you don't have the products you need during your period. Imagine having to use dirty rags instead of tampons or pads and being forced to drop out of school in elementary, all because of your period. For millions of women and girls around the world, this is a reality. Enter Cora.
• 0:33
  Cora is a purpose-driven Femcare brand that's on a mission to build a better future for all women all around the world, founded by Molly Haywood. Molly is one of those sparkly women I felt like I could chat to for hours about her mission over the last decade and what she's managed to build with Cora. It's an elevated period brand for the modern woman with a major social one-for-one give-back scheme to girls in need.
• 0:58
  Since 2016, Cora has donated well over 10 million pads and has helped provide reproductive health education to roughly 15,000 girls in Kenya and India. This is one of the most inspiring women I've had the pleasure of interviewing, and I hope you love this episode just as much as I do. This is Molly for Female Startup Club.
• 1:20
  All righty, well, let's get started. I want to go back to the beginning of your journey and learn about the how and the where and the why of Cora. Yeah. So really, Cora started for me out of a place of real confusion and personal sort of, I think, confusion.
• 1:40
  crisis almost. So I was actually coming out of the first company that I had co-founded. So I started a sustainable clothing company way back, probably about 10 years ago. And I was really interested in ethical fashion and sustainable fashion. I had actually lived in London for a time. That was really the hub of ethical fashion at that time. And I
• 2:02
  And really was so interested in the opportunity to contribute to that industry being more environmentally sustainable, more ethically sort of aligned, I think. And you dove right into that. And after a couple of years, really realized it was going to take me so long in that particular industry to make the impact that I really wanted to make.
• 2:25
  And I think as a, I was so young, you know, I think as a 22 year old, I was like super impatient and I just couldn't really see the forest for the trees. And so I kind of made the choice to, you know, sell my share back to my business partner and just move on because I was like, I need something that I can really like sink my teeth into and start to feel some really real results.
• 2:47
  But I didn't know what that was. And prior to that, you know, I had been involved in a couple of other startups. And really, I loved the idea of the way that business could be used for social good. And so that was my whole sort of driving journey.
• 3:04
  level of interest or driving force in my interest in business was not necessarily business per se, but being able to use that as a vehicle for doing, you know, doing good in the world, creating some sort of change. And so I was really at this crossroads, like I moved back from London
• 3:22
  I was back in the US. I had no idea what I was going to do or what my next project or venture was going to be. And a friend sort of called me out of the blue and was like, hey, I know you have always had a really specific interest in women and girls and economic development. That's what I studied in college. And...
• 3:42
  you know, said, I'm going on this volunteer trip with this organization to Kenya. They're focused on women's health and girls' education. And they have one seat left on their plane. Like, do you want to go? And it was in like a month or something. And I was like, yes, sign me up. And so I went thinking just like I wanted to
• 4:00
  kind of have a new experience, get back to a place of service and kind of honestly get out of my own head. And I got there and saw, you know, all of this amazing investment being made into girls education and women's health. So they were, you know, building schools and clinics, providing girls with uniforms and school supplies. And then as I got to know a lot of the girls in the community,
• 4:24
  I was sitting with one of them one day and she basically told me that she was home from school that day because she had her period but couldn't afford to, you know, buy pads. And, you know, and that was basically what she and all of the other girls in this village would do.
• 4:43
  And I was sort of stunned. Like, my immediate reaction was like, okay, I'm here with this nonprofit organization. Let me write a check to them. You know, like, I can make a contribution every month. They can earmark those funds for pads. You know, the girls here in this village will have what they need each month.
• 5:03
  And then like the entrepreneurial light bulb sort of kicked on. And I was like, hang on a minute. You know, there are probably millions of girls all over the world, like this girl and these girls. And there are probably millions of women like me who would have that same sort of visceral, empathetic reaction to hearing that and feel like, you know what, I can give a small amount each month, like,
• 5:31
  you know, the cost of a cup of coffee or a latte every month to make sure that a girl has what she needs during her period. I think number one, because, you know, we've all just had that experience of like not having a tampon or a pad when we needed it. And it's like, you can't, you can't continue with your day until you have addressed this issue. So we all know kind of how essential those products are to our ability to just function out in the world. But,
• 5:58
  But, you know, equally, it really struck me that there, I think there is this growing consciousness that, you know, it is the education and empowerment of women and girls all over the world that is really going to ultimately begin to solve some of our greatest world problems.
• 6:17
  So taking kind of that feeling and that understanding and that instinct about, you know, the desire to connect women in need with women in my own society, it morphed for me into this idea of creating a brand that really...
• 6:33
  showcased and highlighted this issue and gave consumers a way of engaging with it. So buying, you know, product their products in the US as they normally would, but we would use our profits to be helping to provide pads to girls in Australia.
• 6:51
  you know, in places like Kenya. And we now, you know, we have partner in India as well. And we also give here in the US. So it really evolved from there. So I came back to the US from Kenya and really started to build that brand and knew that I wanted to not just kind of have that social mission, but also create a line of products that,
• 7:09
  with natural or organic, the brand, I wanted it to feel modern and design led, I wanted to kind of change the experience from one that felt kind of like neutral or negative that made, you know, I think most experiences historically have made you just feel like you're a 13 year old girl over and over and over again, Libra.
• 7:29
  Totally. And I really wanted to elevate the experience and just, you know, create what I felt like was a brand that represented all the different values of the modern woman.
• 7:41
  And I also feel like at that time, there wouldn't have been many people doing that. Like, I know now there are lots of brands in the period space and Femcare. Yes. But back then, like, it really was like a disruptive, forward-thinking, new way that, you know, there were brands doing the social impact moment, like, you know, Tom's did the shoes and...
• 8:03
  you know, there were people doing that, but. Orbi was doing glasses. Yep. Exactly. But no one doing it in this space. Totally. Yeah. We were definitely one of the first. And that was both like a really exciting opportunity and also really like daunting. And it was challenging raising money because there was like this sort of lack of proof that this industry was,
• 8:29
  right for change from a customer perspective. And so like a lot of the work that I had to do was convincing people that like, no, like women are absolutely like hungry for this type of a shift.
• 8:43
  in their own experience in this, you know, this very personal and intimate aspect of their bodies that's really just been ignored and kind of dominated by like these huge corporations that, you know, kind of promote these outdated notions of womanhood. Like, and yeah, that was kind of like the struggle at that time.
• 9:06
  And I think also women were ready for like the subscription model. Like we buy the same exact product every month. Like why not get the convenience message? Like why not get it delivered? Totally.
• 9:19
  And so you get back to the US, you have to think about like money. Obviously, it's a big startup capital sort of thing that you need. You have to potentially find your co-founder. What was that process in the early days? Yeah, I mean, I bootstrapped Cora for the first 18 months. And really, I was like using my savings. I was doing a bit of moonlighting. Like I would find, you know, kind of like odd jobs in business that like people needed help with.
• 9:48
  And really kind of like strung it all together. But like, to your point, like I didn't have enough capital to buy like a container load of my own products yet. And I was really, you know, to your point, it was such early days in this category that
• 10:05
  I didn't even know if women actually wanted a subscription. There weren't subscriptions out there yet for this product. And so I ended up finding a wholesaler who didn't have any minimums. And so I would just order cases of like an existing product, like organic product, like seven generation. And basically reached out to like 10 of my friends and was like, hey, I have this idea. If I let you customize a box of organic products and...
• 10:34
  I ship them to you every month. And I also, you know, give a month's supply of pads to a girl in Kenya or India for every monthly box that I send you. Like, is that something you would pay me for? And oh, well, they were like, oh my God, yes. And so like literally just started up
• 10:54
  in my bedroom, like packing boxes for these 10 women. Um, and funny enough, like I got to sit on stage with, uh, the CEO of seventh generation, like a couple of years ago and like got to tell him, like, I totally, you know, sort of like ripped off your product. Unsold your product. Yes. So resold your product. And that's how, you know, Cora got started. Um,
• 11:22
  But yeah, and then it just grew from there. They told their friends and the sort of initial customer base, which I still considered such a test group, started to grow. And I was making just enough money to kind of cover my costs. Not really. I was still losing money every month. But it was this validation, and I just had this feeling of like,
• 11:47
  you have to keep going. There were so many moments where like I was out of money, out of energy. And, um, but I just had this feeling like, no, this is an important idea. This is, this has legs and like, you just have to keep building on it. And so, yeah, that was like the first like year and a half was just like me pretty much by myself, um,
• 12:12
  kind of starting to do everything. And yeah, like ultimately ended up kind of doing like a Kickstarter campaign and got a bunch of new customers there and raised a bit of money, you know, from that, not a ton, but in the early days, like, you know, I think I raised a little over $30,000 and like that felt like a ton of money at the time.
• 12:34
  And, and then funny enough, my co founder and I met, because I was invited on to like a TV show, that was sort of like shark tank, but it was a little bit more like you would be mentored by these investors. And so I was on that show. And at one point, one of the investors kind of pulled me aside and was like, Hey, you know, I probably shouldn't be talking to you off camera, but I actually have a
• 13:03
  a friend who is working on a really similar idea. And like, I feel like you two could totally team up and work together instead of potentially competing. And ended up connecting with Morgan. And like, we just totally hit it off and we were so aligned in terms of our values and our vision for, you know, the opportunity and the way we wanted to build the brand and the company. And, um,
• 13:31
  And so that was kind of it. Like we, that was, you know, summer of 2015. And yeah, we kind of like worked together to take what I, the customer base that I already had and the brand that I had started to build. And, you know, we were able to actually go out and start raising real money at that point. And that was what allowed us to like start buying our own products and, you know, create all of our own packaging and build a website and, you know, build a subscription
• 14:01
  It worked well and, and yeah, kind of like kicked it off from there. We launched the brand officially in February of 2016 as a DTC business.
• 14:14
  Yeah. Oh, so cool. I just love what you've been doing. When you were on that TV show, had you thought about getting a co-founder? Were you even interested or were you like, I want to do this myself? No, totally. I was definitely looking for a co-founder, but it was really hard to find a person who was willing to quit their job and who also had a passion for periods. Yeah.
• 14:37
  Like those two things are like the kind of specific. And so, yeah, I really struggled to find someone that fit the bill. And like, you know, thankfully, the stars aligned and, you know, found that person. But it was definitely challenging for a while.
• 14:54
  Yeah, I can imagine finding someone that you can like basically enter in this new weird relationship with that's going to last a really long time. Totally. And that you have really complementary skill sets with like you don't want like two people who only know about like marketing. You need you need like finance and operations and supply chain and like all these other pieces. And so, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
• 15:18
  I want to talk more about the money stuff when you went through your like investment rounds. I think I read that you guys have raised like more than $16 million or something. That's just amazing. Yeah. I think, I think closer to 30 at this point. Oh, 30. Crunch base is out of date. We don't like to publicize our fundraising. I feel like we've sort of, yeah, we're, we're a little more low key. Humble. Very humble. Yeah.
• 15:46
  I want to talk about what the journey was like for you as a woman raising money and you know what it was like sitting in rooms with VC going through that process as, um, yeah, as a young woman. Yeah. You know, um, I can't say that I ever felt sort of like directly, um, I don't know, I don't have a horror story like a lot of women do and I'm pretty grateful for that, but
• 16:14
  But I definitely think that the category itself, you know, made those conversations a lot harder because the majority of people sitting in those rooms were men. Um, and as a man, if you can't, um,
• 16:29
  menstruation is an experience you've had. And so it's really difficult to put yourself in the shoes of, you know, the core woman and the consumer who wants and needs this product. When we would go into meetings and there was at least one woman, if not more, or the lead VC was a woman, like the conversations were so much easier because like, I didn't have to explain what
• 16:53
  like why this was important or what the problem was or why there was a need. Like women absolutely got it immediately. They were like, oh my God, like, you know, I hate going out. Yeah. The brands are such shit. You know, the experience is outdated. The ingredients are unhealthy. Like I, you know, it just, the conversations were a lot easier when there was a woman in the room. And I think like in the early days, it just, um,
• 17:21
  that first round feels like a million years ago. But, you know, we ended up with one or two institutional investors, but then a lot of them were like, ended up being, you know, entrepreneurs, people we knew who, you know, were early stage investors, wealthy individuals who were like,
• 17:44
  who weren't sort of overanalyzing the situation, frankly, I think who were just looking at it being like, yeah, this makes total sense. Like $6 billion category hasn't seen any innovation in 40 years. Consumer consciousness shifting towards healthier products, new brands kind of being taken up by consumers. Like I think that sort of higher level thinking allowed them to like get more comfortable with all of the uncertainty that...
• 18:13
  you know, inevitably exists. But yeah, I think that piece of it, like I just, I found myself having to tell a lot more stories and really illustrate the problem for a lot of investors, you know, again, who were men and like, just couldn't really wrap their heads completely around why this was so important.
• 18:33
  Yeah. And do you think throughout that experience, do you have things, lessons that you're like, I would do this again and I wouldn't do this again that you can share? Yeah. You know, I think one of the things that we did that really helped take a lot of the pressure off the process and that I think
• 18:54
  I see a lot of entrepreneurs, male and female, kind of not do this, is we never once went into an investor's office and stood up at a projector and like pitched. We would always somehow do it really informally. We would do everything we could to kind of like get an introduction properly.
• 19:14
  to someone from, you know, someone else in our network, like there was never like a cold email. So we always did it that way. And then we would oftentimes send our information up front and let them sort of like go through the presentation. And that way we got on the phone and we could walk through stuff together, but it wasn't like, oh, let us have this really rehearsed,
• 19:39
  kind of presentation. And it just made it more of a conversation. And I think it took a lot of the traditional pressure off. And it changed the situation psychologically such that we didn't feel like we were going in there and we were like, having to kind of like perform and put on a show, which I think really like, creates this weird power dynamic where it's this person is the one with the money. And this is the person who needs the money. And even though that's like,
• 20:06
  true in a sense, it sort of leveled the playing field. And I think that was a huge lesson. And that's definitely a lesson that I would share and encourage others to kind of potentially heed is like, you know, going in with a feeling like I have something truly valuable here and I'm offering you the opportunity to...
• 20:25
  get involved and to, you know, potentially own a small piece of it. And here's what we've got going on. We're on equal terms here. Like you can say yes or no, you can, you know, decide if it's the right fit for you. But that I think really helped to not make it feel like such a stressful process. And ultimately, I think, you know, ended up working, working out for us.
• 20:51
  And probably they also got a really good sense of just who you are as like a calm person and not having to be stressed, being like, oh, my gosh, I've got to get this point right. And I'm nervous about standing up here in front of you. Yeah. Yeah. It's sort of, I mean, it definitely felt like it.
• 21:09
  lent some credibility. Like you look, you look a little more seasoned when you show up and you expect to be treated as an equal than when you show up and expect to kind of be a supplicant. And like, you know, you come in wearing like your suit and you've got like a binder and you're like, don't do that. Like wear your jeans and your t-shirt and just go in as who you are and, you know, like share your story authentically, know your shit, know your numbers, know your,
• 21:39
  Don't be afraid and certainly don't kind of go in thinking you're going to have to like grovel or like convince someone that you're worthy. Yeah. Great advice. Thank you.
• 21:54
  And I want to talk a bit about at some point, you know, you were 100% a D2C brand, you were subscription based. And then at some point you, I think it was around 2017, that you decided to move into Target and you've since moved into some other retailers and shifted a little bit. Can you talk about that experience and why you decided to shift from the D2C model?
• 22:15
  Yeah, totally. So back in 2015, 2016, like DTC was super hot. I think consumers were like very into this idea of customization and getting things delivered to your door and convenience, certainly for like the urban millennial, like that was such a...
• 22:34
  an attractive proposition. And so that made a lot of sense for us. And frankly, as a business, like that's a model where you have so much more control over the customer experience. And, you know, essentially, all you need to do is like build a website and a bit of a marketing machine and like you're off to the races.
• 22:51
  With retail, like that's a whole other beast. You have to go in and work with brokers and buyers and you have to, you know, convince them to take your product and how much and, you know, placement and all these sort of like bigger negotiations. And as a small brand, like you're competing for like a very limited amount of shelf space at any retailer.
• 23:11
  You know, we started off as a DTC brand because it felt aligned to like who we thought our initial customer could be, which was that really high expectation, highly discerning, conscious expectation.
• 23:25
  millennial woman. But we knew from the get go that actually in this category, roughly 70 to 75% of women still preferred to buy their products in store. It was like, I don't want to pay a premium for, you know, delivery to my door because I go to Target, you know, once a month anyway to buy other stuff and I just grab it there. Yeah.
• 23:49
  And so, you know, we sort of knew that that was, there was a, you know, existing consumer dynamic at play. So we knew pretty early on that we wanted to go into retail. I think we went, we ended up, you know, just really fortuitously getting the opportunity to
• 24:07
  meet with the buyer in this category at Target really early on. So we had an advisor who's, you know, was a founder and whose products were in Target. And he, we basically got him to like take a box of our products with him to, you know, their headquarters in Minneapolis and kind of like, you know,
• 24:27
  um, make a, make a secret drop, but here you go. Take this. Um, but you know, we ended up getting a call from the buyer in our category at target, uh, right after that. And she was sort of, you know, core has been on my radar for a while. I would love to have a chat with you guys. We were sort of like, great, we're going to be in Minneapolis anyway, like next week, which of course was
• 24:53
  Not true. We, you know, but we wanted to meet in person. And so we ended up going in. And at that time, Target was actually, and this is where like the serendipity of timing is just something you can't, you know, control and you can't sort of control.
• 25:11
  predict, but Target at that time was actually just getting ready to launch the sort of their first natural set, um, in Femcare and Cora, you know, was sort of like it on their list of brands, um, that they wanted to bring in. And so we went into that meeting and we didn't know that was all happening. And so we sort of thought like, well, this will be an intro meeting and we'll get to know her. And then, you know, maybe we could probably be ready in a year to launch into retail.
• 25:40
  but we need a lot more time. Like we're, you know, we're still really young. And we went to that meeting and I think that meeting was in like May and late May. And she sat us down and basically said, you know, I love Cora. I love the brand. I love what you're doing. Can you be on shelf like September 15th? And we were like, oh, totally. Yes. That's not,
• 26:11
  And like, you know, basically like walked out of that meeting and we're like, holy shit.
• 26:19
  Like, how are we going to be? How are we going to do this? Yeah. How are we going to get, we didn't have retail packaging. We didn't, you know, like our supplier at that time was in Europe. And so it was like, it was like going to be this whole thing. And somehow we pulled it off, like, you know, got product to shelf in 13 weeks, which I
• 26:42
  looking back was just totally nuts, but we did it. And like, we've had this amazing relationship with Target ever since and have, you know, really grown our brand significantly there. And that, you know, has also catapulted us kind of into other retailers as well. So, you know, that was a huge turning point for Cora, I would say was getting, you know, basically what was our ideal retailer. Like we always said, if we could only go to one retailer, who would it be? And we
• 27:12
  they're the cool retailer and it's amazing yeah that was and I guess it like totally um fast tracked your vision of going into retail by like a million percent because you were like yeah you know maybe in a year we'll see we'll see how we're going we'll see where we're at yeah yeah exactly yeah it was like okay no we're we're we're doing this now I guess oh my gosh that's incredible um
• 27:39
  And I'm curious to know about like where you are now. I mean, obviously the state of the world is a little weird, but in general, before, you know, the pandemic and around now, what's been working for you in marketing and how you are like acquiring new customers at scale, given the size of the brand that you are today? Yeah. I mean, you know, given our size, it's a huge range of initiatives. I mean, we've
• 28:03
  we try to approach our customer from like all of the angles where, you know, that she's looking to for new product ideas or inspiration. And so, you know, for us, acquiring at scale, interestingly, is like now so, so tied to being on retail shelves, like we have our DTC business, and that business continues to grow really well. And so, you know, like acquiring customers there
• 28:33
  And, you know, so we do all of the sort of all of the things that most brands do to acquire customers online. Ads, Google, all the things. Ads, Google, Instagram, like all of all of the things. And we do take a really data oriented approach to that. Like our DTC business is like super analytical.
• 28:52
  And we're always just focused on optimization and like understanding our customer better and like, who is she and what does she want? How much is she willing to pay? Like, it's always this game of like testing and learning and testing and learning. But really, in terms of acquiring at scale in this category now, it is all about retail distribution.
• 29:13
  And so us acquiring customers is really actually so tied. It's, it's so, it's kind of so basic. Um, but like at retail on shelf with a physical product, it's so much about the real estate that you have and also how you show up there. So like literally just like your packaging.
• 29:33
  And, you know, I think we've been successful on that front so far, and it's always an evolution and we're always optimizing that as well. But like, we really took this approach of like, we want to show up in this really sort of like,
• 29:48
  minimal, sophisticated way that like really stands out from both the old brands and the new brands that are still kind of like just putting a ton of like pink and color all over their packaging. And it still feels kind of like girly and, and a bit juvenile. Like we really wanted to kind of like level up and try to create something more sophisticated. And like, that's, you know,
• 30:15
  that's just who we are. And that's, you know, how we've wanted to show up. And, you know, that's worked really well. But I would say for anyone who's working on a physical product or, or thinking about going into a retail environment, like that's something to, to really invest in and nail from day one is like packaging and like, how do you really stand out and create a brand that draws people in?
• 30:39
  Yeah. And I also imagine for you guys, you know, being a brand that's elevated for, you know, the young modern woman when she takes that home and sits it on her shelf. It's beautiful to be out. It doesn't need to be hidden or like, you know, taken out of the box and then the box thrown away. Exactly. Yep. Yeah. Yeah.
• 30:58
  Wow. Love that. That's really, really cool. Really cool. Um, the last kind of key question I asked before the six quick questions is what is your advice for anyone who has a big idea? You know, I feel like my advice is just start, just start working, just start putting the
• 31:25
  Quora to me was always a big idea. From day one, it was a billion dollar idea, even when sales were $100 a month and expenses were like $300 a month. But I just had this nagging feeling that I couldn't not do it. The idea of not doing it was like I was leaving this huge opportunity on the table that I was not showing up in the world
• 31:54
  And offering what felt like a really valuable solution for both women here as well as girls, you know, in need. And so I feel like when you have a big idea, it's like. Trust that the building blocks are.
• 32:11
  are going to be really small, but that you're ultimately going to reach whatever is your sort of like, holy grail, or the sort of like fulfillment of your vision. I think that having clarity of where you want to go is so important. You know, there are tactics I could share. And there are like, you know, all the things that sort of have to go right along the way. But I think the essence of a big idea is so rooted in
• 32:39
  the mind and in your passion and in your ability to make that vision or idea other people's passions too. You know, like that's how you build a team. That's how you bring on investors. That's how you find partners. That's how, you know, things start to magnetize and sort of like show up for you. And so, yeah, I feel like it's,
• 33:02
  It's like hold the clarity of that vision and then start to just day by day do the small things that build towards that as best you can. And you're not going to be great at everything, but kind of being willing to be the marketer and the ops person and the finance person and the web developer and all the things for a while in the beginning.
• 33:32
  in that idea. And, you know, no matter kind of where you're starting from, that's, that's what I would say. And I always think like, if you just envision like, you know, when you're 10 years from now and you look back and all those tiny little steps, they will have compounded to bring what you're actually working to, to life, which is just so important to always remember the compound effect across anything like personal life. If you want to get fit, just go for that walk, even like just
• 34:02
  Totally. It's like I was just thinking before we got on, I don't know what made me think of this. I think I was thinking about like, gosh, how long have I been working on Quora? And like, you know, and it's been...
• 34:15
  like almost 10 years, not 10 years yet, but like eight ish. And I was just thinking 10 years to overnight success. You know, most people look at what you do and they think like, oh, you just got lucky and you're, you know, you have some special sauce and you've only been doing this for a couple of years. And how'd you do it so fast? It's like, it's, it's, it's taken some time, you know? Yeah. Yeah.
• 34:40
  And it's like people forget the ups and downs as well. They forget that there was lots of bad moments where you're really low and you're at the bottom. Oh, my God. Totally. Yeah. I've had plenty of those. I think we all do. Okay. Question number one is what's your why? Oh, my why, like I shared from the beginning, was like how do I –
• 35:05
  create something that can actually help girls in need? How can I help, you know, to create a better and safer experience for girls having their periods so that they can go to school so that they can play with their friends so that they can feel confident in their bodies. And that really morphed into Cora and the brand here. And like,
• 35:28
  I think it's become the greater why from all those like smaller, more individual things is really like elevating the consciousness of women when it comes to their bodies and the products that we use and the way that we think about these sort of like natural experiences. So, yeah, elevating consciousness and and helping those in need.
• 35:51
  I mean, it's just truly remarkable for women everywhere, for women who use your product and for the women who are also on the receiving end of the good that you're doing in the world. Number two is what's the number one marketing moment that's made your business pop? Oh, you know, I think it was landing on shelf at Target. Honestly, like that was...
• 36:17
  And again, that's not like a trick on Instagram. That was really sort of like old school fundamental, like just get in front of people who are looking for your product in a really obvious place. And for the last however many years, like retail shelves have been the obvious place. And so, yeah, I would say for us, and that's super personal to our brand and our product category,
• 36:47
  yeah land landing sort of where majority of women are looking for this type of product yeah getting in front of the eyeballs yeah yeah number three is where do you hang out to get smarter oh getting smarter when it comes my body physical experiences for me that's core is sister site blood and milk um
• 37:11
  And we have like an amazing team and an amazing editor who runs that platform. And like the content just continues to blow my mind. Cora was providing healthier products, but there was still this like education gap. Like most of us haven't had any kind of formal education or insight on these very like intense experiences in a female body since like, you know,
• 37:37
  ninth grade health class. And back then it was like, don't get an STD, don't get pregnant. And that was like pretty much all you could normally take away from it. And so even as the like originator of that platform, it has grown so much that I go there and I learn, you know, so many things. Um, and then I feel like in terms of like current events and staying up with the
• 38:01
  traditional like New York Times, The Atlantic. I love The New Yorker. Like I love kind of the publications that like take these issues and like really go long form with them and
• 38:13
  And, you know, what I feel like take a more maybe academic approach to them. Like I miss being in college. I miss being a student sometimes. And I feel like those sites kind of give you the opportunity to like deep dive and really hear from smart people about, you know, everything that's going on in the world. Yeah. And you can learn about such obscure things that you're like, oh, didn't know that was a thing. Question number four is how do you win the day?
• 38:42
  I win the day by really intentionally kind of setting up my energy. So like, this has taken me so long to figure out, honestly, you know, for me, it's not like
• 38:54
  Sometimes it's exercise that feels good too. But like for me, it's actually more about like before I dive into email or phone calls or meetings or whatever it might be that I actually take a moment to intentionally decide how I want to show up in the day. And there's this really cool method that a friend of mine used.
• 39:15
  shared with me where you pick a color. So like color is vibration, like every, you know, everything's vibration, but like color holds frequency the same way, like sound holds frequency. And, you know, we all have different associations with like what colors mean what, but the idea is like you pick a color for the day and like, there's an energy about that color. And you imagine kind of like exuding that wherever you show up and with whoever,
• 39:46
  And it really works. It's kind of crazy. And so I do that. And then I also realized Sarah Panton, who started Vitruvi, which is like they make the beautiful diffusers. They're like a home scenting company. She introduced me to the idea of doing that, but with smell. And so literally like setting up your space with a specific smell that feels intentional and that like reflects how you want to feel.
• 40:16
  And so for me, winning the day is actually about like intentionally setting myself up with a feeling and like a vibration before I go out and interact with anyone. And like, it's amazing how different it feels when you do that with intention rather than in reaction to what you're doing or who you're talking to or like what someone said in an email. So yeah, that's, that's what I do.
• 40:45
  What was your smell for today? Bergamot. Oh, very nice. Yeah. It's kind of spicy but sweet. Oh, nice. I've done a perfume making course before and I went through learning all about the smells. I really love it. Question number five is if you only had $1,000 left in your business bank account, where would you spend it? Packaging. Packaging.
• 41:13
  Yeah, packaging. Again, like, you know, so much of, I think, just in our specific category, like where we have to be successful is in, you know, on the front of our tiny box on shelf in our retailer. So yeah, I'd probably spend it just optimizing that. That's great. And last and final question is, how do you deal with failure? Oh, yeah.
• 41:42
  I think in younger years, probably not well. But that's, you know, I feel like I've learned a lot about failure over the last however many years. I'll tell you what I've learned from failure and then I'll talk about maybe how I cope with it. But I think what I've learned from failure is that it tends to arise.
• 42:07
  Anytime that I have not followed my own instinct about something where I've ignored a gut feeling, whether that was about something we were going to do or something we weren't going to do or a partner or an investor or whatever it was, like those moments of failure felt like they came about because I had...
• 42:30
  sort of followed my mind as opposed to like my inner guidance about something, or I felt pressured into doing something that wasn't quite right, but I was like, Oh, I'll just do it anyway. It'll be fine. I can almost trace every failure back to like that moment. And so I think dealing with failure to me is,
• 42:53
  it's become so much more of a reflective process where like I can fail at something and really it just becomes so much more of an opportunity to say what happened? Like, like, can we dissect this and really go back to like where it kind of went sideways? And I think again, it seems to come back to like, Oh yeah, there was this moment where like we went too fast or,
• 43:19
  or we didn't think this through, or we felt like this, we had this pressure to do it, you know, and we didn't really invest the time or the money or seek out the right people to help us do it. It was like, we had to do it faster. We had to do it cheaper or whatever it was. And like that never, it just never ends well. And so I think for me, it's dealing with failure has changed.
• 43:46
  I think I have a deeper understanding now of like, this won't happen if you will follow your instincts, if you will like really treat this with a lot of, you know, treat situations with a lot more care and consideration. And, you know, I think I've just come to understand that like it's inevitable and it's part of the process. And, you know, it's, it's always going to,
• 44:14
  to be there and it happens and it happens to everyone. And like, you know, you have to, I trust that when something has failed or gone wrong, it's providing the seed for the next thing to kind of grow out of that, hopefully smarter and better. And with a little bit more thought. Yeah. Take the lesson. Yeah. Take the lesson.
• 44:37
  Oh, thank you so much for taking the time to record this podcast. I really love listening to your story. Oh, thank you. Thank you for the thoughtful questions and conversation.
• 44:52
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 45:17
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 45:39
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.
• 45:56
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 46:20
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 46:43
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.