By 2030 the world population of menopausal and postmenopausal women is projected to increase to 1.2 billion, with 47 million new entrants each year, but according to a recent Forbes survey, a staggering 73% of women don't treat their menopause symptoms.
What about vaginal dryness, hot flashes, sleep disruptions, and skin changes? Are we really putting up with this stuff? There are some amazing women-led companies out there who are forging a path to normalizing the conversation and education around menopause symptoms.
It's one thing to be a female entrepreneur, but when you take that boldness and bravery and combine it with a passion for women's sexual wellness, menopause, and beauty, you get this week's guest.
Michelle Jacobs is the co-founder and COO of the company Womaness, which has developed effective, science-based, and elegant products to support women from their heads to their toes. She believes that we deserve to feel and look great at any age.
In this episode Michelle and I discuss:
- The genesis of Womaness and the process to secure capital
- The science-backed research and market analysis needed to curate the product line
- Womaness' best sellers and why customers love them
- The personal impact of being a female founder
You can follow Michelle Jacobs and Womaness at:
https://www.instagram.com/michelle_jacobs_womaness/
https://womaness.com/
https://www.instagram.com/mywomaness/
https://www.facebook.com/mywomaness
_________________________________________
Are you ready to reclaim your midlife body and health? I went through my own personal journey through menopause, the struggle with midsection weight gain, and feeling run-down. Faster Way, a transformative six-week group program, set me on the path to sustainable change.
https://www.fasterwaycoach.com/?aid=MicheleFolan
Have questions about Faster Way? Please email me at:
mfolanfasterway@gmail.com
Sign up for Michele's weekly newsletter for more health and fitness tips and insights. https://michelefolanfasterway.myflodesk.com/i6i44jw4fq
RIMAN skincare finally gave me real, visible results—restoring my glow, firmness, and confidence in my skin at 61. RIMAN Korea's #1 Skincare Line - https://michelefolan.riman.com
*Transcripts are done with AI and may not be perfectly accurate.
**This podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, or other professional healthcare services, including the giving of medical advice. The content of this podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Users should not disregard or delay in obtaining medical advice for any medical condition they may have and should seek the assistance of their healthcare professionals for any such conditions.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I just love it when we get to talk about skin care
and sexual wellness with anamazing female entrepreneur.
They know the data and the factthat this demographic has been
largely overlooked.
Did you know?
By 2030, the world populationof menopausal and postmenopausal
women is projected to increaseto 1.2 billion, with 47 million
(00:27):
new entrants each year?
I mean that's amazing, but astaggering 73% of women don't
treat their menopause symptoms,and this is according to a
recent Forbes survey.
But what about vaginal dryness,hot flashes, you have sleep
disruptions and, of course, skinchanges.
Are we really putting up withthis?
(00:49):
There are some amazingwomen-led companies out there
who are forging a path tonormalizing the conversation and
education.
I will say this there are somegenerational differences in how
we approach our sexual healthand skin care.
Our younger peers are way moreproactive in seeking solutions
(01:10):
to the aging process.
Ladies, this is your permissionslip to not tolerate the status
quo Health, wellness, fitness,relationships and everything in
between.
We're removing the taboo fromwhat really matters in midlife.
(01:33):
I'm your host, michelle Fohlen,and this is asking for a friend
.
I am so fortunate to continueto meet amazing women doing
great things in this stage oflife.
It's one thing to be a femaleentrepreneur, but when you take
(01:55):
that boldness and bravery andcombine it with a passion for
women's sexual health, menopauseand beauty, you get.
Today's guest, michelle Jacobs,is the co-founder and COO of
the company Woman S, which haslaunched some amazing, effective
and elegant products to supportwomen from their heads to their
(02:19):
toes.
Michelle believes that youdeserve to feel and look great
as we venture into midlife.
Welcome to asking for a friend,michelle Jacobs.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Michelle.
It's good to be here.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Well, and it's so good to see you again.
I would like to tell theaudience how we met.
We were both doing a paneldiscussion at the Kroger
Wellness Fest and after I got tomeet Michelle, I said, oh my
gosh, a perfect guest for thisaudience.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
So thank you so much for being here and a perfect
podcast because I love the nameand it is so true.
Everyone is asking me for afriend.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
I get calls texts all the time.
Hey, I'm getting ready to go tomy GYN.
What questions should I ask?
I love that and I love thatwomen are willing to talk about
this.
Be open.
I've done a couple paneldiscussions here recently where
(03:21):
we could have gone till 10o'clock just with Q&A, because
women really do want to know allthe stuff and we're getting
more bold and happy to ask thosequestions, so it's really good.
Hey, before we get started, I'dlove for you to tell the
audience a little bit about you,not just where you're from, but
(03:44):
where you went to school andfamily and then your career
history, because that always, Ithink, is impactful to know when
you came from.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
It is always interesting to hear how people
ended up where they are and whattrajectory they took.
But I'm from New York.
From Long Island, new York, Iwent to Colgate University,
which is a small liberal artscollege here in New York, and
from there, wow, I spent a fewyears doing digital marketing in
New York.
I worked for a company calledAvenue A Razor Fish, which was a
(04:16):
pretty big agency.
At the time.
We were one of the first to dointernet advertising.
I'm 51, so this was in my 20s,so it was in the 90s I would say
80s, 90s.
My clients were Lancome RalphLauren.
I sat in a meeting with thefamily of Ralph Lauren and
explained to them how theinternet worked and why they
(04:39):
should spend money onadvertising on the internet.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
That was my claim to fame back a long time ago.
I did that for a few years andthen I went to business school.
I went to NYU.
So I spent a lot of fun A lotof universities in New York when
she worked at Pfizer ConsumerHealthcare.
So I worked on the centrumbusiness Advil really, really
learned about how to run abusiness, how to run a P&L
(05:05):
product development.
I mean I learned so much inthose years of like corporate
consumer package goods.
But then I got really like mydream job from there.
I worked at Real SimpleMagazine.
I was actually recruited overthere because they were
beginning a product line aroundReal Simple magazine, the media
company, and I was brought on todevelop the products associated
(05:28):
with Real Simple.
So I loved that brand, I lovedthat job.
I was there for 10 years.
I actually launched products atTarget and then we moved it to
Bed Bath Beyond and we expandedinto food and bedding.
I mean we had 14,000 productsunder the Real Simple name by
the time I was done.
Oh, I had no idea.
Yeah, it was huge.
(05:49):
And so I was there for 10 yearsand then eventually moved to
Home Shopping Network Again, alittle bit interesting there's
for those who know Home ShoppingNetwork, there's a brand named
Joy Mangano and she's verypopular on HSN and there was a
movie made about her life, joy Idon't know if you remember the
Miracle Mop Woman, yes, withJennifer Lawrence and Robert De
(06:11):
Niro.
So this movie was coming outabout her life and her brand was
exploding and she didn't really.
She had to manage all thatgrowth so I was brought in to
help her launch it.
All these different retailersand that was sort of where I was
.
Joy was thinking about retiringand at that time my friend,
sally, who we had been friendsfor 20 years, was telling me
(06:33):
about her health issues, and shewas telling me about issues
that she was having.
She found herself at a doctor'soffice and found out that all
of these symptoms she was havingwere related to menopause.
And she was like I don't havehot flashes, I'm not in
menopause.
And the doctor was like no,there's all these symptoms.
And that was really thecatalyst that got us talking
(06:55):
about starting Woman S, whichwas this product line associated
with perimenopause andmenopause.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
All right, so you had the initial conversation, yeah,
which I think is so funny.
It's like the conversation thatyou write and stuff down on the
napkin over a glass of wine orwhatever.
How long did it take from thatconversation to actually
launching the company?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Wow, I'm thinking back.
It took about two and a halfyears, I would say.
She first started talking aboutit.
She ended up getting a list ofproducts to go look at on Amazon
.
That's what her doctor said sheshould do and that was.
We were like laughing on thephone, I guess we were on the
phone back then we were saying,you know, she's like I'll never
buy these products.
These are products my motherused, or like my grandmother
(07:43):
used, and both of us had had acareers building women's
lifestyle brands.
She worked at Target for 25years, also worked on women's,
lots of women's brands and theseproducts that we were finding
in the market were not clean.
They weren't it's like goodingredients.
They didn't have goodinformation and, worse, like
they felt really sterile.
So one of the first things wedid was a whole series of
(08:06):
research with all kinds of womenacross the country and we found
that so many women were hungryfor information they had no idea
what was changing about theirbody and really looking for
better product.
That was right for them, betterclinical data, modern.
We realized there was anopportunity.
It probably took about a yearfor us to kind of come up with.
(08:29):
All right, this is really anopportunity.
Here's kind of the products wewould pull together and then in
the next year we really starteddeveloping the product line,
like working with formulators,working with manufacturers, and
I will say we had a meeting withTarget in February of 2020.
And then March of 2020 was.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
COVID.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Great timing.
So I spent about another yearand a half sitting right in the
seat looking at a Zoom screen,and that's when we started to
raise money and really finishthe brand identity of what
womaness was going to become.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Okay, there's so much to unpack here because you have
to go to investors.
How far along in thedevelopment process do you have
to be to be able to securecapital?
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Oh well, I will say it's changed a lot, even since
2020, when we were reallyraising money.
It was easier in 2020 than itis today.
You could secure capitalpre-revenue is what they call it
.
You know where.
It's just an idea, but theybelieve in your idea.
So we were able to securecapital pre-revenue, but we had
(09:40):
had a commitment from Target.
In our conversations withTarget, they wrote back to us
and we asked them to please putit in writing that they were
interested in our brand, theywere interested in this category
, and that they anticipatedwriting a PO eventually a
purchase order in order tolaunch a Target.
Once we had that, we were reallyable to go and pitch investors
(10:02):
and said we needed money inorder to launch a Target.
We needed money in order tobuild to this.
That was really for us, whathelped.
I mean, today it's so muchharder, just with the economy
the way it is, with the interestrates the way they are.
So now you need to I wouldalmost say like make the idea
actually come along a little bitand you need to have some
(10:22):
revenue.
You need to have some proofthat this was a real idea before
you can really lock in capital.
It's really tricky right now.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Did Target want any kind of exclusivity at first?
No, they didn't.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Oh okay, they did not want exclusivity.
At the time we did kind offloat the idea.
We didn't really want to gothere exclusively.
We really believed in this andreally thought we would have
other opportunities.
But they did not ask us forexclusivity.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
My other question is because I want to talk about
your products.
But how did you decide you weregoing to do sexual health and
you were going to do alsoskincare and beauty?
Speaker 2 (11:03):
That was a big question.
Well, at first it wasn't aquestion, because when we spoke
and we did focus groups withwomen, almost every woman we
spoke to said it's not just myskin, it's my libido, it's
vaginal dryness, I'm havingnight sweats, I'm having my hair
is changing, my nails arechanging.
(11:24):
So there was not one woman wespoke to that was only one
problem or one situation.
They had multiple things goingon.
So we felt right away that wereally wanted to create a what
we call head to toe andeverything in between solution,
because the way we were thinkingabout it was it's the woman's
(11:45):
whole body, it's your whole body, and the reason you're having
dry skin is because yourestrogen is going down, which is
why you have vaginal dryness,which is also why you're having
hot flashes.
So it made sense that when awoman was standing in front of a
series of products, she said oh, I need something for my skin,
I need a lubricant and I need agood supplement.
(12:06):
So it made sense to us.
I will say investors definitelywere skeptical at first, and
they were because they are notused to seeing that they want
one category.
You are either in this oryou're in that.
It was an uphill battle toconvince people that no, this
had to be a full solution, andalso with retailers.
Retailers are organized.
(12:27):
If you think of how you shop,skincare, supplement, sexual
wellness are all in differentplaces.
It's been really an interesting, challenging slash opportunity
to say you really need to thinkabout this as one issue for a
woman and she's shopping this.
This is a category for her.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Okay, my light bulb went off.
Your friend, your co-founder.
She had difficulty getting herdoctor to really hone in on her
issues and provide solutionsbecause doctors haven't really
been trained thoroughly inmenopause.
It's getting better, but itjust hasn't.
(13:05):
Back then it wasn't a thing,it's an elective in medical
school.
Now you're trying to convinceretailers when the doctors
aren't even on board yet.
Yes, right, you talk about yousaid uphill battle and you're I
mean there's like what 45symptoms of perimenopause and
(13:28):
menopause.
And yeah, I can imagine thiswas not an easy, easy challenge,
but your market research wastelling you that it's an
umbrella of problems.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
You put it like that, I'm like what were we thinking?
You're crazy.
But it felt so clear to us itjust felt like of course this
has to exist and of courseeverybody will understand it as
we're talking about it Sometimesyes, then sometimes absolutely
not.
I think it's been harder thanwe had thought, not so much on
(14:01):
our individual customers butfrom the larger institution kind
of point of view, From theretailers, from the investors.
It's harder for them to wraptheir head around this because
it is a new idea.
I can't believe I'm saying that, but it is a new idea.
But it does make sense from acustomer standpoint, how she's
shopping.
(14:22):
The other thing that's sort ofhappening in the culture is that
millennials are aging intoperimenopause starts in your 40s
, early 40s, late 40s.
So more millennials are in thiscategory now and these are the
same women that pushed for moresupport during pregnancy and
motherhood, more support for IVF, endometriosis, acknowledgment
(14:46):
of miscarriages.
So much has come from thisgeneration of women who's really
pushed for better women'shealth in general.
And now they're inperimenopause and they're asking
the same questions why arethere no products?
Why does my doctor not knowabout this?
Where can I go?
Why want a modern solution, soit's forcing the conversation.
Well, Gen X women and I'm a GenX woman are still whispering
(15:10):
about it and are embarrassedabout it, and so I think that
the culture is also changing,and that's been part of my
argument.
When we talk to retailers andwhen you say to retailers
millennials, who you've beenchasing, are now thinking about
this, it's helped crack the dooropen.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Oh, I can see that for sure, and I am a baby boomer
.
I'm in the last year of thebaby boomers born in 64.
So we don't talk about it mucheither, but I think it's getting
better.
Michelle, I have to tell you Ilove the names.
I love the names of yourproducts.
You have let's Neck EyeopenerOutdamspot.
(15:48):
I mean this is just a name ofyou.
You've got just great names.
How much fun have you had onthe creative side of this
business.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
You know it's interesting.
You say that because sometimesI feel like you are fun names
take away from theefficaciousness of the product,
because what I really love andwhat I'm really proud of are the
formulations of the product.
We worked really hard to createproducts.
That work period it wasn't.
Do they smell good?
Do they feel good?
(16:19):
They have to work, they have todo the job of what we're trying
to accomplish.
I love the names of ourproducts too, and Sally and I
came up with them ourselves overZoom.
Like hey, what about this, whatabout that?
Like it was really fun.
But I do worry sometimes thatit takes away from the
amazingness of what we'vecreated.
Maybe that's just a personalconcern of me of my own.
(16:42):
Yes, I love the names of ourproducts too.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Well, you know, though, it makes you stand out
that was really my point wastheir eye catching.
They make you stand out.
You have competition.
Yeah, there are other productsout there in the industry, and
of course, it's getting peopleto try them, and then you hook
them in with efficaciousformulas.
Right, and after I met you inSeptember, I went right to Ulta
(17:11):
on my way home, by the way and Ibought let's Neck, and I bought
Overnight Magic, oh good, andI'm loving them both.
Oh, good Thank gosh, I have theturkey neck.
I try not to wear turtlenecksall the time, like Nora Efron,
but there are times when I'mdoing a video.
(17:32):
Yeah, I know, and I'm like oh,dear God and the overnight magic
.
I have super dry skin.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
I love that product.
It's my favorite.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
My skin still feels dewy in the morning when I wake
up, which hasn't happened in thepast.
Love it.
And the other thing is thescent of your products are light
and, I want to say, elegant,because they're not overpowering
, and so great job, thank you,thank you.
Now, I know I need to buy moreof your stuff, but how did you
(18:07):
come up with your signaturescent?
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Oh, wow, that's funny .
We just kind of went out andsaid what do we love?
You know, we found a few thingsthat we really liked and said
you know why did we like someother scents that we you know
other products that we liked?
We really wanted to make italmost to the point where you
smell it when you put it on andthen the smell disappears.
We didn't want people sittingwith that scent, because I don't
(18:31):
like that, and so it's reallyreally light and felt like
floral, a little citrusy, but itgoes, it dissipates very
quickly.
So you kind of just have a goodkind of energizing feeling when
you're putting it on, but itdoesn't give you a headache,
because sometimes perfumes andthings can be too much.
So it's really really light,but really it's just.
It was sort of trial by error.
(18:52):
We gave some direction to ourformulator.
This is what we wanted to do,this is how heavy we want it to
be or how light we want it to be, and she gave us a million and
we narrowed it down and came upwith one.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Yeah, it's great actually.
I would love for you to talk alittle bit about your products,
some of your best sellers.
What makes them special?
Why are they doing so well?
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Thank you.
So in our skincare I won't gointo too much detail because it
could be it can get a littletechnical, so I have to stop
myself.
We really worked with amazingexperts, formulators and doctors
on like the three maincategories we're in skincare,
supplements and sexual wellnessand spent a lot of time talking
about what do they recommend fortheir patients, what are the
(19:41):
major issues that are facingthis population right now?
So for skincare it was so muchabout hydration, moisturizing.
We are not botox in a bottle.
We've been around for a longtime and we know that all these
promises you make you get fromall these lotions and potions
like there's only so much it canreally do for you.
(20:02):
But what's so important forskin at this age is the
moisturizing, the hydration andthe overall protection from
longer-term damage.
So those were the types ofingredients we look to put into
all of our formulations, in somecases also brightening and in
some cases also like spotreduction, and there are
ingredients out there that canhelp with that.
So we really focused on greatingredients.
(20:25):
We use it.
Just to name a few, we use aningredient called hyaclear seven
, which is an advanced form ofhyaluronic acid which I know a
lot of people have heard of andthat literally gets moisture
into your molecules and holdsonto that moisture for 24 hours
and that's why it feels so goodand you wake up with that sort
of like do we feel?
And that's in a lot of ourproducts, including let's Neck.
(20:46):
We also really focused onniacinamide and ingredients like
that that help with spotreduction.
Let's Neck in particular, whichis our number one by far
top-selling SKU the applicatoritself is a roller ball and it
has a stainless steel rollerball.
Women will put it in therefrigerator and take it out of
(21:07):
the refrigerator and you roll iton your neck in zecotay and it
helps with instant tightening ofthose like fine lines, but also
that hydration protection,decrease in spots, that kind of
thing.
But the actual act of rollingit on your skin helps massage
your neck and kind of pulls outthose muscles and helps
strengthen and smooth out thoselines.
(21:28):
So overnight magic is our fate,overnight cream.
Let's Neck is a great neck andzecotay.
We also have Fountain of Glow,which is our vitamin C serum.
I highly recommend that.
It's an 8% vitamin C and asqualene which is like an olive
oil feel but it dries dry onyour skin.
It's not oily.
It's great.
People love that as well.
(21:50):
We have the works, which is ourall over body cream, because
your skin changes, all over yourbody.
So those crepey skin thatdevelops on your arms and your
legs, yeah, love that.
For skincare.
Again, there's more, but thoseare sort of the highlights.
Our sexual wellness products.
I mean nine out of 10 women Italked to we were talking about
this at the beginning talked tome about sexual wellness issues,
(22:12):
vaginal dryness, libido issues.
So we have two vaginalmoisturizers that again doing
really great.
We love them.
One is coconut oil based, whichis antimicrobial in its own
property.
I mean, it feels really good,like I don't know how else to
describe it.
Women say who have libidoissues are like this sort of
(22:32):
changed my life.
It's amazing, oh gosh.
Yes, yeah, as a massage oil,they use it on dry skin, but it
is made for intimacy and it doesreally work.
It's like 100% guarantee.
That's great.
And then we also have a waterbased, which, again, it's a
preference, which one you likebetter.
(22:53):
The water based also can beused for intimacy, for vaginal
dryness.
You can use it all day.
And we also have a vibratorbecause what happens is your
vaginal wall thins and themuscles kind of atrophy, and
actually there's medical reasons.
You should use a vibrator orconsider using a vibrator,
because it helps strengthenthose muscles and helps almost
(23:14):
like queuing those kegelexercises.
And then for supplements we havemetopause, which is our like
powerhouse anchor If you havehot flashes, night sweats, brain
fog.
It only has three ingredientshighly clinically studied, great
reviews.
I'm so proud of that because ifyou can't take a hormone
replacement therapy, this is areally great alternative no
(23:36):
estrogen, no soy, no hormones.
We have a sleep product calledLet Me Sleep with sustain
release melatonin.
It helps you fall asleep andstay asleep.
So we really thought about youknow what are the symptoms
affecting this woman on a day today basis.
What are the best, most welltested ingredients out there
that we can bring into ourproduct line?
Speaker 1 (23:57):
I noticed when I was at Ulta that they had all your
products together.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
And that made a lot of sense to me.
But do you ever have people sayI don't know where to look In
the store?
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Well.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Ulta is great because Ulta has been an amazing
partner.
They do put our products alltogether.
We're on what's called thewellness wall.
It's like their health andwellness section.
A lot of women don't think togo there, so I'm telling anyone
that shops at Ulta check out thewellness wall because we're on
there A target.
We're on very few target storesat this point, but we were
(24:32):
separated.
So in that case, yes, a lot ofwomen were like I can't find you
, I can't find you in the store,or I found your skincare, I
can't find your supplements,because they did put us in
separate places and I think thebrand does best when it's all
together.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
That makes sense.
How has this experience of notjust founding but leading a
women focus company impacted youpersonally?
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Oh my gosh, it has changed my life completely.
I mean for many, many reasons.
But one thing I find reallyinteresting is, you know, when
Sally and I started Woman Us, wereally came at this from a
business perspective.
We were like, in business terms, there's a white space, it's a
big market, very business schoolcase study, this is going to
(25:20):
work and this is how we're goingto do it.
And then when we launched and westarted to build our community
and hearing from women whetherit was women who could not find
a doctor, who were reallysuffering or who were so
embarrassed by what washappening to their bodies or
could not find support, or theyfound our products and it
(25:42):
changed their lives or it becamea completely different
experience from I'm starting abusiness to like this is a
movement I'm advocating forthese women and we're all in
this together and this communityfeel of like how can we all
help each other?
Or like, what can we learn fromour community and how can I use
(26:04):
that to further get ourinformation out there to women
that really need the help?
And I think it's really changedme because I'm now, like, so
passionate about just realizinghow lacking women's health is.
I mean, I am from New York, Ihave a lot of doctors here, I
have a lot of places I could go,but that is not the same in
(26:26):
other parts of the country, andreally being a resource for
women has become so important tothe mission of this company.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
I love your passion and I will tell you that gets
you out of bed in the morningJust hearing those stories and I
want to agree with you that youknow, while access is pretty
good where I live and where youlive, there are a lot of women
out there that are reallystruggling to find answers and
(26:55):
the fact that now you can getappointments online, you can
find great products like yoursonline.
It's really opened up, not justthe choices, but it's opened
the conversation where I thinkthat's healthy and much needed.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Like I said, I have people that do reach out to me
quite often for suggestions fora doctor to see and I even get
stumped.
Now I'm like gosh, I'm notquite sure where I should refer
you, but just knowing that wecan go online and we can find
answers, that's such a greathelp.
I would love for you to tellthe listeners where they can
(27:36):
find your product.
So I know Target.
It's a little more limited inthe store but Alta and then
online, right.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
We're at Ulta Beauty, amazon and on womanistcom.
Okay, and then we have a greatInstagram by womanist.
But there's tons of blogs andinformation on our site.
If you're looking for productor you're looking for
information, we have so much.
We interview experts, weinterview doctors.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
There's some really, really great information on our
blog, and that's something elseI do want to give you guys a
shout out for is the level ofeducation that you provide to
people, because I did check outthe website and I was really
impressed with what you've goton there.
You're not just pushing product, you really are reaching out to
the broader community toprovide information.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
So I love that and we have covered topics that we
don't even have products forwith weight gain, hair, skin,
net like things related to hairloss.
A lot on HRT and option bothprescription and non
prescription options for women.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Well, and that brings up my next question what's new?
Anything coming for the companyor for you?
Speaker 2 (28:44):
We were really excited that we're now in all
doors at Ulta, so that's hugeand we're always working.
We're actually working on a fewsome very exciting things
that'll be coming out in 2024and 2025.
So look back and check us outand if you sign up for our email
, you'll definitely get earlyaccess to whatever's coming out.
We're really excited.
(29:05):
We just launched an amazingholiday gift, which are many
travel sizes of some of ourbest-selling skincare, because
we were getting complaints fromwomen.
They couldn't get through TSAwith our products.
So we made little minis of ourtop selling and that's part of
our holiday gift.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Ooh, I like that.
Yeah, oh, very good, michelle.
I have started asking all of myguests what one of their most
important pillars of self-careis.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Well, I think if you had asked me that a few months
ago, I probably wouldn't have agood answer.
But I have a good answerBecause I went to an event
recently and I heard someonespeak about meditation.
I'm like, yes, you know, notfor me, not for me, but I was
feeling so stressed out and somuch just from my own work, my
(29:58):
family life, the state of theworld, and I actually have
started to do meditation in themorning.
I'm very good about working out, so I usually do it after at
the gym, I sit in a corner andI've started to do.
It's called like a love andkindness practice, where you
repeat in your head things thatyou're grateful for, things that
(30:19):
you love, things you want towish kindness to, and I'm up to
about 10 minutes.
I started at like one minuteand I now probably will stay at
around eight to 10 minutes and Ireally love it.
I actually look forward to itbecause my brain, my days, are
so intense that it's like 10minutes where I actually clear
my brain.
(30:39):
It's not easy and it's reallyhard to do, but I'm actually I'm
very dedicated to continuingthat and continuing that into
2024.
And I've become a little bit ofan evangelist of it, because I
would highly recommend peoplelooking into figuring out a
little bit of like a mindfulness, even if it's for a few minutes
(31:01):
a day.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
I love that you brought this up because you're
obviously type A and youprobably are a little bit of a
cardio junkie.
I bet you love cardio.
That's like your release and mygood friend Sandy.
She's a breathwork expert andit took her a long time of many,
(31:26):
many years of yoga to finallystay for the end of class.
When is the quiet?
I forget what you call it.
It's Sri Vesana.
I'm not a yogi, but she said ittook her years to get
comfortable in her own body, tobe able to lie there still, and
I think you're telling me isthat you're starting to get
(31:47):
comfortable being quiet withyour thoughts.
I'm learning.
I'm getting there, it takes time.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
I am getting there.
When I hear people say like youcan work up to 30 minutes, like
that terrifies me.
But I'm getting there, I'menjoying it much more than I
thought I would.
It's been very helpful to me tokind of find some calm in the
chaos of the day.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
Well, I think it's great.
I think maybe I could use thatat three in the morning.
Maybe need to learn aboutmeditation, you know.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
But that's where it's supposed to help.
If you can do it for the 10minutes, then you can also use
that.
At three o'clock in the morning, when you wake up and you have
a thousand things in your head,you might be able to clear them
out faster.
I don't know.
I don't know if that's I'mworking towards.
Okay, I'll let you know if ithappens.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
All right, you let me know and then I will get on
Google and I'll do some researchmyself.
Okay, michelle, it was reallygreat having you here.
I'm so happy that I got to meetyou in September and I would
love it, when you launch thesenew products, if you come back
and let's chat again.
I would love that.
(32:56):
Thank you so much for having me.
Thanks, michelle, follow askingfor a friend on social media
outlets and provide a review andshare this show wherever you
get your podcasts.
Reviews and sharing help usgrow.
I just love it when we get to talk about skin care
and sexual wellness with anamazing female entrepreneur.
They know the data and the factthat this demographic has been
largely overlooked.
Did you know?
By 2030, the world populationof menopausal and postmenopausal
women is projected to increaseto 1.2 billion, with 47 million
(00:27):
new entrants each year?
I mean that's amazing, but astaggering 73% of women don't
treat their menopause symptoms,and this is according to a
recent Forbes survey.
But what about vaginal dryness,hot flashes, you have sleep
disruptions and, of course, skinchanges.
Are we really putting up withthis?
(00:49):
There are some amazingwomen-led companies out there
who are forging a path tonormalizing the conversation and
education.
I will say this there are somegenerational differences in how
we approach our sexual healthand skin care.
Our younger peers are way moreproactive in seeking solutions
(01:10):
to the aging process.
Ladies, this is your permissionslip to not tolerate the status
quo Health, wellness, fitness,relationships and everything in
between.
We're removing the taboo fromwhat really matters in midlife.
(01:33):
I'm your host, michelle Fohlen,and this is asking for a friend
.
I am so fortunate to continueto meet amazing women doing
great things in this stage oflife.
It's one thing to be a femaleentrepreneur, but when you take
(01:55):
that boldness and bravery andcombine it with a passion for
women's sexual health, menopauseand beauty, you get.
Today's guest, michelle Jacobs,is the co-founder and COO of
the company Woman S, which haslaunched some amazing, effective
and elegant products to supportwomen from their heads to their
(02:19):
toes.
Michelle believes that youdeserve to feel and look great
as we venture into midlife.
Welcome to asking for a friend,michelle Jacobs.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Michelle.
It's good to be here.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Well, and it's so good to see you again.
I would like to tell theaudience how we met.
We were both doing a paneldiscussion at the Kroger
Wellness Fest and after I got tomeet Michelle, I said, oh my
gosh, a perfect guest for thisaudience.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
So thank you so much for being here and a perfect
podcast because I love the nameand it is so true.
Everyone is asking me for afriend.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
I get calls texts all the time.
Hey, I'm getting ready to go tomy GYN.
What questions should I ask?
I love that and I love thatwomen are willing to talk about
this.
Be open.
I've done a couple paneldiscussions here recently where
(03:21):
we could have gone till 10o'clock just with Q&A, because
women really do want to know allthe stuff and we're getting
more bold and happy to ask thosequestions, so it's really good.
Hey, before we get started, I'dlove for you to tell the
audience a little bit about you,not just where you're from, but
(03:44):
where you went to school andfamily and then your career
history, because that always, Ithink, is impactful to know when
you came from.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
It is always interesting to hear how people
ended up where they are and whattrajectory they took.
But I'm from New York.
From Long Island, new York, Iwent to Colgate University,
which is a small liberal artscollege here in New York, and
from there, wow, I spent a fewyears doing digital marketing in
New York.
I worked for a company calledAvenue A Razor Fish, which was a
(04:16):
pretty big agency.
At the time.
We were one of the first to dointernet advertising.
I'm 51, so this was in my 20s,so it was in the 90s I would say
80s, 90s.
My clients were Lancome RalphLauren.
I sat in a meeting with thefamily of Ralph Lauren and
explained to them how theinternet worked and why they
(04:39):
should spend money onadvertising on the internet.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
That was my claim to fame back a long time ago.
I did that for a few years andthen I went to business school.
I went to NYU.
So I spent a lot of fun A lotof universities in New York when
she worked at Pfizer ConsumerHealthcare.
So I worked on the centrumbusiness Advil really, really
learned about how to run abusiness, how to run a P&L
(05:05):
product development.
I mean I learned so much inthose years of like corporate
consumer package goods.
But then I got really like mydream job from there.
I worked at Real SimpleMagazine.
I was actually recruited overthere because they were
beginning a product line aroundReal Simple magazine, the media
company, and I was brought on todevelop the products associated
(05:28):
with Real Simple.
So I loved that brand, I lovedthat job.
I was there for 10 years.
I actually launched products atTarget and then we moved it to
Bed Bath Beyond and we expandedinto food and bedding.
I mean we had 14,000 productsunder the Real Simple name by
the time I was done.
Oh, I had no idea.
Yeah, it was huge.
(05:49):
And so I was there for 10 yearsand then eventually moved to
Home Shopping Network Again, alittle bit interesting there's
for those who know Home ShoppingNetwork, there's a brand named
Joy Mangano and she's verypopular on HSN and there was a
movie made about her life, joy Idon't know if you remember the
Miracle Mop Woman, yes, withJennifer Lawrence and Robert De
(06:11):
Niro.
So this movie was coming outabout her life and her brand was
exploding and she didn't really.
She had to manage all thatgrowth so I was brought in to
help her launch it.
All these different retailersand that was sort of where I was
.
Joy was thinking about retiringand at that time my friend,
sally, who we had been friendsfor 20 years, was telling me
(06:33):
about her health issues, and shewas telling me about issues
that she was having.
She found herself at a doctor'soffice and found out that all
of these symptoms she was havingwere related to menopause.
And she was like I don't havehot flashes, I'm not in
menopause.
And the doctor was like no,there's all these symptoms.
And that was really thecatalyst that got us talking
(06:55):
about starting Woman S, whichwas this product line associated
with perimenopause andmenopause.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
All right, so you had the initial conversation, yeah,
which I think is so funny.
It's like the conversation thatyou write and stuff down on the
napkin over a glass of wine orwhatever.
How long did it take from thatconversation to actually
launching the company?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Wow, I'm thinking back.
It took about two and a halfyears, I would say.
She first started talking aboutit.
She ended up getting a list ofproducts to go look at on Amazon
.
That's what her doctor said sheshould do and that was.
We were like laughing on thephone, I guess we were on the
phone back then we were saying,you know, she's like I'll never
buy these products.
These are products my motherused, or like my grandmother
(07:43):
used, and both of us had had acareers building women's
lifestyle brands.
She worked at Target for 25years, also worked on women's,
lots of women's brands and theseproducts that we were finding
in the market were not clean.
They weren't it's like goodingredients.
They didn't have goodinformation and, worse, like
they felt really sterile.
So one of the first things wedid was a whole series of
(08:06):
research with all kinds of womenacross the country and we found
that so many women were hungryfor information they had no idea
what was changing about theirbody and really looking for
better product.
That was right for them, betterclinical data, modern.
We realized there was anopportunity.
It probably took about a yearfor us to kind of come up with.
(08:29):
All right, this is really anopportunity.
Here's kind of the products wewould pull together and then in
the next year we really starteddeveloping the product line,
like working with formulators,working with manufacturers, and
I will say we had a meeting withTarget in February of 2020.
And then March of 2020 was.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
COVID.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Great timing.
So I spent about another yearand a half sitting right in the
seat looking at a Zoom screen,and that's when we started to
raise money and really finishthe brand identity of what
womaness was going to become.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Okay, there's so much to unpack here because you have
to go to investors.
How far along in thedevelopment process do you have
to be to be able to securecapital?
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Oh well, I will say it's changed a lot, even since
2020, when we were reallyraising money.
It was easier in 2020 than itis today.
You could secure capitalpre-revenue is what they call it
.
You know where.
It's just an idea, but theybelieve in your idea.
So we were able to securecapital pre-revenue, but we had
(09:40):
had a commitment from Target.
In our conversations withTarget, they wrote back to us
and we asked them to please putit in writing that they were
interested in our brand, theywere interested in this category
, and that they anticipatedwriting a PO eventually a
purchase order in order tolaunch a Target.
Once we had that, we were reallyable to go and pitch investors
(10:02):
and said we needed money inorder to launch a Target.
We needed money in order tobuild to this.
That was really for us, whathelped.
I mean, today it's so muchharder, just with the economy
the way it is, with the interestrates the way they are.
So now you need to I wouldalmost say like make the idea
actually come along a little bitand you need to have some
(10:22):
revenue.
You need to have some proofthat this was a real idea before
you can really lock in capital.
It's really tricky right now.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Did Target want any kind of exclusivity at first?
No, they didn't.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Oh okay, they did not want exclusivity.
At the time we did kind offloat the idea.
We didn't really want to gothere exclusively.
We really believed in this andreally thought we would have
other opportunities.
But they did not ask us forexclusivity.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
My other question is because I want to talk about
your products.
But how did you decide you weregoing to do sexual health and
you were going to do alsoskincare and beauty?
Speaker 2 (11:03):
That was a big question.
Well, at first it wasn't aquestion, because when we spoke
and we did focus groups withwomen, almost every woman we
spoke to said it's not just myskin, it's my libido, it's
vaginal dryness, I'm havingnight sweats, I'm having my hair
is changing, my nails arechanging.
(11:24):
So there was not one woman wespoke to that was only one
problem or one situation.
They had multiple things goingon.
So we felt right away that wereally wanted to create a what
we call head to toe andeverything in between solution,
because the way we were thinkingabout it was it's the woman's
(11:45):
whole body, it's your whole body, and the reason you're having
dry skin is because yourestrogen is going down, which is
why you have vaginal dryness,which is also why you're having
hot flashes.
So it made sense that when awoman was standing in front of a
series of products, she said oh, I need something for my skin,
I need a lubricant and I need agood supplement.
(12:06):
So it made sense to us.
I will say investors definitelywere skeptical at first, and
they were because they are notused to seeing that they want
one category.
You are either in this oryou're in that.
It was an uphill battle toconvince people that no, this
had to be a full solution, andalso with retailers.
Retailers are organized.
(12:27):
If you think of how you shop,skincare, supplement, sexual
wellness are all in differentplaces.
It's been really an interesting, challenging slash opportunity
to say you really need to thinkabout this as one issue for a
woman and she's shopping this.
This is a category for her.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Okay, my light bulb went off.
Your friend, your co-founder.
She had difficulty getting herdoctor to really hone in on her
issues and provide solutionsbecause doctors haven't really
been trained thoroughly inmenopause.
It's getting better, but itjust hasn't.
(13:05):
Back then it wasn't a thing,it's an elective in medical
school.
Now you're trying to convinceretailers when the doctors
aren't even on board yet.
Yes, right, you talk about yousaid uphill battle and you're I
mean there's like what 45symptoms of perimenopause and
(13:28):
menopause.
And yeah, I can imagine thiswas not an easy, easy challenge,
but your market research wastelling you that it's an
umbrella of problems.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
You put it like that, I'm like what were we thinking?
You're crazy.
But it felt so clear to us itjust felt like of course this
has to exist and of courseeverybody will understand it as
we're talking about it Sometimesyes, then sometimes absolutely
not.
I think it's been harder thanwe had thought, not so much on
(14:01):
our individual customers butfrom the larger institution kind
of point of view, From theretailers, from the investors.
It's harder for them to wraptheir head around this because
it is a new idea.
I can't believe I'm saying that, but it is a new idea.
But it does make sense from acustomer standpoint, how she's
shopping.
(14:22):
The other thing that's sort ofhappening in the culture is that
millennials are aging intoperimenopause starts in your 40s
, early 40s, late 40s.
So more millennials are in thiscategory now and these are the
same women that pushed for moresupport during pregnancy and
motherhood, more support for IVF, endometriosis, acknowledgment
(14:46):
of miscarriages.
So much has come from thisgeneration of women who's really
pushed for better women'shealth in general.
And now they're inperimenopause and they're asking
the same questions why arethere no products?
Why does my doctor not knowabout this?
Where can I go?
Why want a modern solution, soit's forcing the conversation.
Well, Gen X women and I'm a GenX woman are still whispering
(15:10):
about it and are embarrassedabout it, and so I think that
the culture is also changing,and that's been part of my
argument.
When we talk to retailers andwhen you say to retailers
millennials, who you've beenchasing, are now thinking about
this, it's helped crack the dooropen.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Oh, I can see that for sure, and I am a baby boomer
.
I'm in the last year of thebaby boomers born in 64.
So we don't talk about it mucheither, but I think it's getting
better.
Michelle, I have to tell you Ilove the names.
I love the names of yourproducts.
You have let's Neck EyeopenerOutdamspot.
(15:48):
I mean this is just a name ofyou.
You've got just great names.
How much fun have you had onthe creative side of this
business.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
You know it's interesting.
You say that because sometimesI feel like you are fun names
take away from theefficaciousness of the product,
because what I really love andwhat I'm really proud of are the
formulations of the product.
We worked really hard to createproducts.
That work period it wasn't.
Do they smell good?
Do they feel good?
(16:19):
They have to work, they have todo the job of what we're trying
to accomplish.
I love the names of ourproducts too, and Sally and I
came up with them ourselves overZoom.
Like hey, what about this, whatabout that?
Like it was really fun.
But I do worry sometimes thatit takes away from the
amazingness of what we'vecreated.
Maybe that's just a personalconcern of me of my own.
(16:42):
Yes, I love the names of ourproducts too.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Well, you know, though, it makes you stand out
that was really my point wastheir eye catching.
They make you stand out.
You have competition.
Yeah, there are other productsout there in the industry, and
of course, it's getting peopleto try them, and then you hook
them in with efficaciousformulas.
Right, and after I met you inSeptember, I went right to Ulta
(17:11):
on my way home, by the way and Ibought let's Neck, and I bought
Overnight Magic, oh good, andI'm loving them both.
Oh, good Thank gosh, I have theturkey neck.
I try not to wear turtlenecksall the time, like Nora Efron,
but there are times when I'mdoing a video.
(17:32):
Yeah, I know, and I'm like oh,dear God and the overnight magic
.
I have super dry skin.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
I love that product.
It's my favorite.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
My skin still feels dewy in the morning when I wake
up, which hasn't happened in thepast.
Love it.
And the other thing is thescent of your products are light
and, I want to say, elegant,because they're not overpowering
, and so great job, thank you,thank you.
Now, I know I need to buy moreof your stuff, but how did you
(18:07):
come up with your signaturescent?
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Oh, wow, that's funny .
We just kind of went out andsaid what do we love?
You know, we found a few thingsthat we really liked and said
you know why did we like someother scents that we you know
other products that we liked?
We really wanted to make italmost to the point where you
smell it when you put it on andthen the smell disappears.
We didn't want people sittingwith that scent, because I don't
(18:31):
like that, and so it's reallyreally light and felt like
floral, a little citrusy, but itgoes, it dissipates very
quickly.
So you kind of just have a goodkind of energizing feeling when
you're putting it on, but itdoesn't give you a headache,
because sometimes perfumes andthings can be too much.
So it's really really light,but really it's just.
It was sort of trial by error.
(18:52):
We gave some direction to ourformulator.
This is what we wanted to do,this is how heavy we want it to
be or how light we want it to be, and she gave us a million and
we narrowed it down and came upwith one.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Yeah, it's great actually.
I would love for you to talk alittle bit about your products,
some of your best sellers.
What makes them special?
Why are they doing so well?
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Thank you.
So in our skincare I won't gointo too much detail because it
could be it can get a littletechnical, so I have to stop
myself.
We really worked with amazingexperts, formulators and doctors
on like the three maincategories we're in skincare,
supplements and sexual wellnessand spent a lot of time talking
about what do they recommend fortheir patients, what are the
(19:41):
major issues that are facingthis population right now?
So for skincare it was so muchabout hydration, moisturizing.
We are not botox in a bottle.
We've been around for a longtime and we know that all these
promises you make you get fromall these lotions and potions
like there's only so much it canreally do for you.
(20:02):
But what's so important forskin at this age is the
moisturizing, the hydration andthe overall protection from
longer-term damage.
So those were the types ofingredients we look to put into
all of our formulations, in somecases also brightening and in
some cases also like spotreduction, and there are
ingredients out there that canhelp with that.
So we really focused on greatingredients.
(20:25):
We use it.
Just to name a few, we use aningredient called hyaclear seven
, which is an advanced form ofhyaluronic acid which I know a
lot of people have heard of andthat literally gets moisture
into your molecules and holdsonto that moisture for 24 hours
and that's why it feels so goodand you wake up with that sort
of like do we feel?
And that's in a lot of ourproducts, including let's Neck.
(20:46):
We also really focused onniacinamide and ingredients like
that that help with spotreduction.
Let's Neck in particular, whichis our number one by far
top-selling SKU the applicatoritself is a roller ball and it
has a stainless steel rollerball.
Women will put it in therefrigerator and take it out of
(21:07):
the refrigerator and you roll iton your neck in zecotay and it
helps with instant tightening ofthose like fine lines, but also
that hydration protection,decrease in spots, that kind of
thing.
But the actual act of rollingit on your skin helps massage
your neck and kind of pulls outthose muscles and helps
strengthen and smooth out thoselines.
(21:28):
So overnight magic is our fate,overnight cream.
Let's Neck is a great neck andzecotay.
We also have Fountain of Glow,which is our vitamin C serum.
I highly recommend that.
It's an 8% vitamin C and asqualene which is like an olive
oil feel but it dries dry onyour skin.
It's not oily.
It's great.
People love that as well.
(21:50):
We have the works, which is ourall over body cream, because
your skin changes, all over yourbody.
So those crepey skin thatdevelops on your arms and your
legs, yeah, love that.
For skincare.
Again, there's more, but thoseare sort of the highlights.
Our sexual wellness products.
I mean nine out of 10 women Italked to we were talking about
this at the beginning talked tome about sexual wellness issues,
(22:12):
vaginal dryness, libido issues.
So we have two vaginalmoisturizers that again doing
really great.
We love them.
One is coconut oil based, whichis antimicrobial in its own
property.
I mean, it feels really good,like I don't know how else to
describe it.
Women say who have libidoissues are like this sort of
(22:32):
changed my life.
It's amazing, oh gosh.
Yes, yeah, as a massage oil,they use it on dry skin, but it
is made for intimacy and it doesreally work.
It's like 100% guarantee.
That's great.
And then we also have a waterbased, which, again, it's a
preference, which one you likebetter.
(22:53):
The water based also can beused for intimacy, for vaginal
dryness.
You can use it all day.
And we also have a vibratorbecause what happens is your
vaginal wall thins and themuscles kind of atrophy, and
actually there's medical reasons.
You should use a vibrator orconsider using a vibrator,
because it helps strengthenthose muscles and helps almost
(23:14):
like queuing those kegelexercises.
And then for supplements we havemetopause, which is our like
powerhouse anchor If you havehot flashes, night sweats, brain
fog.
It only has three ingredientshighly clinically studied, great
reviews.
I'm so proud of that because ifyou can't take a hormone
replacement therapy, this is areally great alternative no
(23:36):
estrogen, no soy, no hormones.
We have a sleep product calledLet Me Sleep with sustain
release melatonin.
It helps you fall asleep andstay asleep.
So we really thought about youknow what are the symptoms
affecting this woman on a day today basis.
What are the best, most welltested ingredients out there
that we can bring into ourproduct line?
Speaker 1 (23:57):
I noticed when I was at Ulta that they had all your
products together.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
And that made a lot of sense to me.
But do you ever have people sayI don't know where to look In
the store?
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Well.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Ulta is great because Ulta has been an amazing
partner.
They do put our products alltogether.
We're on what's called thewellness wall.
It's like their health andwellness section.
A lot of women don't think togo there, so I'm telling anyone
that shops at Ulta check out thewellness wall because we're on
there A target.
We're on very few target storesat this point, but we were
(24:32):
separated.
So in that case, yes, a lot ofwomen were like I can't find you
, I can't find you in the store,or I found your skincare, I
can't find your supplements,because they did put us in
separate places and I think thebrand does best when it's all
together.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
That makes sense.
How has this experience of notjust founding but leading a
women focus company impacted youpersonally?
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Oh my gosh, it has changed my life completely.
I mean for many, many reasons.
But one thing I find reallyinteresting is, you know, when
Sally and I started Woman Us, wereally came at this from a
business perspective.
We were like, in business terms, there's a white space, it's a
big market, very business schoolcase study, this is going to
(25:20):
work and this is how we're goingto do it.
And then when we launched and westarted to build our community
and hearing from women whetherit was women who could not find
a doctor, who were reallysuffering or who were so
embarrassed by what washappening to their bodies or
could not find support, or theyfound our products and it
(25:42):
changed their lives or it becamea completely different
experience from I'm starting abusiness to like this is a
movement I'm advocating forthese women and we're all in
this together and this communityfeel of like how can we all
help each other?
Or like, what can we learn fromour community and how can I use
(26:04):
that to further get ourinformation out there to women
that really need the help?
And I think it's really changedme because I'm now, like, so
passionate about just realizinghow lacking women's health is.
I mean, I am from New York, Ihave a lot of doctors here, I
have a lot of places I could go,but that is not the same in
(26:26):
other parts of the country, andreally being a resource for
women has become so important tothe mission of this company.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
I love your passion and I will tell you that gets
you out of bed in the morningJust hearing those stories and I
want to agree with you that youknow, while access is pretty
good where I live and where youlive, there are a lot of women
out there that are reallystruggling to find answers and
(26:55):
the fact that now you can getappointments online, you can
find great products like yoursonline.
It's really opened up, not justthe choices, but it's opened
the conversation where I thinkthat's healthy and much needed.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Like I said, I have people that do reach out to me
quite often for suggestions fora doctor to see and I even get
stumped.
Now I'm like gosh, I'm notquite sure where I should refer
you, but just knowing that wecan go online and we can find
answers, that's such a greathelp.
I would love for you to tellthe listeners where they can
(27:36):
find your product.
So I know Target.
It's a little more limited inthe store but Alta and then
online, right.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
We're at Ulta Beauty, amazon and on womanistcom.
Okay, and then we have a greatInstagram by womanist.
But there's tons of blogs andinformation on our site.
If you're looking for productor you're looking for
information, we have so much.
We interview experts, weinterview doctors.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
There's some really, really great information on our
blog, and that's something elseI do want to give you guys a
shout out for is the level ofeducation that you provide to
people, because I did check outthe website and I was really
impressed with what you've goton there.
You're not just pushing product, you really are reaching out to
the broader community toprovide information.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
So I love that and we have covered topics that we
don't even have products forwith weight gain, hair, skin,
net like things related to hairloss.
A lot on HRT and option bothprescription and non
prescription options for women.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Well, and that brings up my next question what's new?
Anything coming for the companyor for you?
Speaker 2 (28:44):
We were really excited that we're now in all
doors at Ulta, so that's hugeand we're always working.
We're actually working on a fewsome very exciting things
that'll be coming out in 2024and 2025.
So look back and check us outand if you sign up for our email
, you'll definitely get earlyaccess to whatever's coming out.
We're really excited.
(29:05):
We just launched an amazingholiday gift, which are many
travel sizes of some of ourbest-selling skincare, because
we were getting complaints fromwomen.
They couldn't get through TSAwith our products.
So we made little minis of ourtop selling and that's part of
our holiday gift.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Ooh, I like that.
Yeah, oh, very good, michelle.
I have started asking all of myguests what one of their most
important pillars of self-careis.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Well, I think if you had asked me that a few months
ago, I probably wouldn't have agood answer.
But I have a good answerBecause I went to an event
recently and I heard someonespeak about meditation.
I'm like, yes, you know, notfor me, not for me, but I was
feeling so stressed out and somuch just from my own work, my
(29:58):
family life, the state of theworld, and I actually have
started to do meditation in themorning.
I'm very good about working out, so I usually do it after at
the gym, I sit in a corner andI've started to do.
It's called like a love andkindness practice, where you
repeat in your head things thatyou're grateful for, things that
(30:19):
you love, things you want towish kindness to, and I'm up to
about 10 minutes.
I started at like one minuteand I now probably will stay at
around eight to 10 minutes and Ireally love it.
I actually look forward to itbecause my brain, my days, are
so intense that it's like 10minutes where I actually clear
my brain.
(30:39):
It's not easy and it's reallyhard to do, but I'm actually I'm
very dedicated to continuingthat and continuing that into
2024.
And I've become a little bit ofan evangelist of it, because I
would highly recommend peoplelooking into figuring out a
little bit of like a mindfulness, even if it's for a few minutes
(31:01):
a day.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
I love that you brought this up because you're
obviously type A and youprobably are a little bit of a
cardio junkie.
I bet you love cardio.
That's like your release and mygood friend Sandy.
She's a breathwork expert andit took her a long time of many,
(31:26):
many years of yoga to finallystay for the end of class.
When is the quiet?
I forget what you call it.
It's Sri Vesana.
I'm not a yogi, but she said ittook her years to get
comfortable in her own body, tobe able to lie there still, and
I think you're telling me isthat you're starting to get
(31:47):
comfortable being quiet withyour thoughts.
I'm learning.
I'm getting there, it takes time.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
I am getting there.
When I hear people say like youcan work up to 30 minutes, like
that terrifies me.
But I'm getting there, I'menjoying it much more than I
thought I would.
It's been very helpful to me tokind of find some calm in the
chaos of the day.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
Well, I think it's great.
I think maybe I could use thatat three in the morning.
Maybe need to learn aboutmeditation, you know.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
But that's where it's supposed to help.
If you can do it for the 10minutes, then you can also use
that.
At three o'clock in the morning, when you wake up and you have
a thousand things in your head,you might be able to clear them
out faster.
I don't know.
I don't know if that's I'mworking towards.
Okay, I'll let you know if ithappens.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
All right, you let me know and then I will get on
Google and I'll do some researchmyself.
Okay, michelle, it was reallygreat having you here.
I'm so happy that I got to meetyou in September and I would
love it, when you launch thesenew products, if you come back
and let's chat again.
I would love that.
(32:56):
Thank you so much for having me.
Thanks, michelle, follow askingfor a friend on social media
outlets and provide a review andshare this show wherever you
get your podcasts.
Reviews and sharing help usgrow.
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