Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / 7 women pioneers changing the future of feminine health, and what we can learn from them

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7 women pioneers changing the future of feminine health, and what we can learn from them · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:12
  Hello, it's Dune here, your host and hype girl. Thank you so much for tuning into my solo episode this week. I'm coming from my little hotel room in sunny New York City, and I'm just feeling so grateful to be here in this beautiful city, buzzing with all the energy.
• 0:35
  Today I want to dive into a topic that I know is going to be relevant for every single one of you listening in, and that's the topic of female health. Women have been underserved by the healthcare industry for a really long time, but now finally
• 0:54
  With more women in STEM and more female entrepreneurial disruptors in the mix, the future of femtech is looking really bright. Women's health has taken the startup world by storm in the last few years for very good reason. What used to be a niche category is projected to grow to a mighty 50 billion by 2025.
• 1:16
  Through Female Startup Club, I've had the pleasure of chatting to some incredible women contributing to this changing narrative. And all of their stories completely blew my mind, as I'm sure they did yours. And for that reason, today, let me reintroduce you to seven pioneers changing the future of feminine health and what we can learn from them. Let's firstly talk about Dr. Amy Deverania, the founder of Uva.
• 1:46
  an incredibly innovative women's health company. Amy has more than 10 years of experience as a data scientist and has both led and published original research in the areas of personal genomics and biomarker discovery. Her solid understanding of biology and being able to apply complex analysis has led to innovative projects in the healthcare space.
• 2:10
  After facing her own struggles with conceiving her son, she decided to build a solution to help women having difficulty getting pregnant. Today, she and her team have built the first at-home test, UVA, that measures multiple hormones through urine samples and provides personalized results and insights on a woman's fertility.
• 2:33
  It is incredible stuff. And the learning that Amy wanted to pass on to our entrepreneurial listeners is one that's going to ring close to home. And that's that women are smart and they will figure out exactly what they need as consumers. For Amy, that manifested in being careful in what kind of language and methods to use when it comes to selling your product.
• 2:58
  You never want your consumers to really feel like you're selling them something. Come at them as an informational resource and let your potential customers make the further decisions for themselves. And obviously, they'll be more loyal for it. Next, I want to introduce Nadia Okamoto from August, or you might know her better as the period girl.
• 3:22
  August is the lifestyle period brand that makes sustainable period care that actually works. And Nadia is one of those women that is just impossible not to be impressed by and excited about.
• 3:36
  She's a Harvard grad, author, speaker, NGO founder, Gen Z marketing agency founder, and now August, as well as a TikToker that's grown to more than 2.4 million followers. Yes, 2.4 million. That is a crazy number. And she wasn't one of those people that jumped on the TikTok bandwagon in the really early days. She was three years late to the game.
• 4:02
  The learning with Nadia's story is that TikTok can be a brilliant platform to build traction, especially when it comes to those more traditionally difficult or taboo topics. If you stand for something and if you have something to say, if you're a female entrepreneur,
• 4:20
  TikTok is the place that you need to be. It's all about mentality, not your specific strategy. So spend as much time as possible on the app, getting to know your tribe, because there is just so much potential there. Up next, I want to dive into the story of Bethany Edwards and her creation, Leah, the world's first flushable pregnancy test.
• 4:44
  Leah is an earth-friendly healthcare company on a mission to revolutionize reproductive health through the development of innovative products. The company's first product, which came to market just last year, is the FDA-cleared Leah pregnancy test, which is changing the historically wasteful product into a plastic-free, flushable, biodegradable form.
• 5:08
  This is innovation in its truest form. There hadn't been a major update to the pregnancy test in over 30 years. Until now. And boy, oh boy, was it needed. There is such stigma still that remains around pregnancy tests as a product. Just think about the struggle of what to do with the damn thing after you've used it. And literally, most people, if not everyone, has been there.
• 5:38
  The learning here is that a truly great product will provide your target audience with a solution to a problem. Maybe a solution that we didn't even know we needed. And that can be some really empowering stuff.
• 5:52
  With Leah, Bethany has made a standpoint on a powerful object that creates so much conversation, allowing it to be both more environmentally friendly and give women all the privacy values they deserve. It's potent to be able to shake that up. Make a statement, offer something different. Next, I want to talk about Alexandra Fine, a real favorite from the show and one of the women behind Dame. Dame.
• 6:21
  Dame is leading a sexual revolution as a woman-powered resource for game-changing products for pleasure and supportive content. Through in-depth research, smart design, community input, and plenty of empathy, the Dame team has designed a line of exceptional tools to enhance sexual wellness for women and their partners everywhere.
• 6:45
  Dame is not only revolutionizing toys for sex, but it's changing the way we experience, understand, and explore sexuality as part of holistic well-being. Becoming a key player in the movement to bring pleasure to the forefront of wellness. And my favorite thing about this company is that they shout really damn loudly about the things they care about.
• 7:08
  In the words of Alex, if you have a great product, say something powerful. Prickle people's ears. Get someone interested in wanting to have a conversation back with you because that is so important. The Dame girls found out just how important that was when they almost had that power taken away from them.
• 7:29
  In 2019, Dame sued the New York Transport Authority, aka the subway, for refusing to show their advertisements across the city because of the suggestive nature of the ads
• 7:41
  And from that, one thing became clear. If they were not allowed to safely hold a conversation there, they needed to speak out. They should totally be allowed to advertise as long as they're not making people feel aroused on the subway. The mission is to help people understand sex, have clearer boundaries around what's okay and what's not okay.
• 8:02
  Q2022, Dame won the legal battle and can be spotted across the transport system's advertising spots. And there you have it. If you have a great product, say something powerful. Our fifth story today is by Crystal Duhaney, the founder of Milky Mama.
• 8:22
  After having her second child and returning to work, Crystal struggled with her milk supply and realized that there were very few resources for breastfeeding mothers in the same predicament. Using her knowledge as a registered nurse and love for baking, Crystal developed a milk-making cookie recipe and fell in love with the results. So in November of 2015, Milky Mama was born.
• 8:45
  Today, the brand is dedicated to educating, supporting, and empowering parents to have the best breastfeeding journey possible. And in 2020, Milky Mama announced the formation of the Milky Mama Foundation, which sponsors black women who aspire to become certified lactation consultants.
• 9:04
  And the thing that Crystal swears has made Milky Mama the multi-million dollar revenue business that it is today is kindness. When Crystal made the switch from selling to teaching, the results were paramount. Just being genuine and coming from a place of trying to help people instead of trying to sell them something all the time.
• 9:24
  Just creating that warm and fuzzy feeling for people. That's what works. Your customers will become your influencers and it costs nothing but means everything. And now I want to introduce you to another woman modernizing sustainable period care, Cherie Hoga from SALT.
• 9:45
  In 2018, SALT launched its flagship product, the SALT Period Cup, with the vision of making cleaner, more sustainable period care accessible to everyone.
• 9:56
  The spark for salt came from a phone call Cherie had with an aunt in Venezuela. She'd gone without pads and tampons for years, and the political instability there had caused these huge shortages of basic consumer staples like food and hygiene supplies, and grocery stores were just literally empty. Everyone who's been through the pandemic this past year knows what it feels like to not be able to get what you need, and that dependence on disposables really kept her up at night.
• 10:25
  This feeling ignited her passion to create Salt's Period Cups, which has grown into a brand that works with impact partners to provide products to underprivileged girls and women so they can manage their periods, stay in school, and lift themselves out of poverty. Now in their third year in business, Salt has donated more than 12,000 cups at the time of our interview in over 22 countries and is creating some seriously life-changing impact for women.
• 10:55
  Cherie's advice for women who have a big idea is to really look at the social mission and see what good you can do in the world. More than ever, millennials and Gen Zs as consumers and as potential hires want to align with companies that align with their values. Make sure that you're one of them. And last but not least, I want to shine a light on Sally Mueller and her company Womaness.
• 11:20
  Womaness is a collection of modern, innovative menopause products developed for women by women that offer solutions from head to toe and everything in between. With community, education and inspiration, Womaness sparks the power of menopositivity. Sally's mission here is to provide information and inspiration to women going through this incredible and misunderstood stage of life so they can really live their life in an unstoppable way.
• 11:50
  It all started from building a community of menopausers wanting to connect and be part of something inspiring, to share their journey about menopause, but also just about their lives. Community has been the main thread running through the company ever since. And this is also what Sally's top recommendation is for others building brands out there. To really hone in on your community and leverage your network.
• 12:15
  not being afraid to ask for help or advice. And I know it sounds like you're imposing on someone, but the fact is that people actually really want to help you. Women want to help other women and men want to help other women too. So don't be afraid of asking for help and advice when you need it or even when you don't. And watch the magic that happens when you open those doors.
• 12:39
  Okay, that's all for today. Thank you so much for tuning in to this mini episode. I hope you enjoyed learning about these feminine health companies as much as I did digging back through the archives. These are all stories that have really stuck with me in the last year, an incredible little bank of inspiration. And if I can pass that feeling onto even just one of you today, that's a mission very much accomplished.
• 13:05
  And as always, if you're on your phone listening to this episode, take a quick screenshot of the podcast and share it to your Instagram stories or leave us a review in your podcast app to help other ears find us. And of course, you are always welcome to slide into my DMs or my inbox because you know how much I love to chat. Feel free to ask me any questions or share what you're up to. You can reach me directly at Doon Roisin in all the usual places.
• 13:32
  That's D-O-O-N-E-R-O-I-S-I-N. Okay, see you next week. Bye.
• 13:56
  Hey, it's Dune 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.
• 14:20
  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.
• 14:43
  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.