ep.107: let's get vaginal with giana jarrah

On this week's episode, Sarah sits down with Giana Jarrah, a biomedical engineer that specializes in the vaginal microbiome. Giana is clearing up all the cluelessness surrounding women's vaginal health. She and Sarah chat about common misconceptions surrounding vaginal health, what the vaginal microbiome is and how you keep it healthy, why many vaginal products are not actually good for your vaginal microbiome, and how you can advocate for yourself in the doctor's office. Sit down, grab your fav bevy, and come be clueless with us! More about Giana Jarrah: After suffering from chronic yeast infections and UTIs, Giana Jarrah had had ENOUGH. She wasn't receiving any solutions from medical professionals, so she took matters into her own hands. She did what she does best: research. Her research led her to create her own vaginal probiotic; therefore, starting her own company, With Meraki Co. Through With Meraki Co., Giana aims to remove the stigma surrounding conversations around vaginal health and has released a product, a probiotic that "supports and maintains a healthy and infection-free vagina." To learn more about Giana and With Meraki Co., visit her website below: https://www.shopwithmerakico.com/founder-s-story If you are loving CFC, do not forget to rate, review, subscribe, and follow! Follow us on our social media pages!  IG: https://www.instagram.com/completelyfuckingclueless/  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@completelyfckingclueless Sarah IG/TT: @sarahaliceliddy Audrey IG: @a.j.flowers Audrey TT: audrey.j.flowers Please note this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode Transcript

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Speaker 4 (01:04):
You're listening to a fifty eight Mber production.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Hello everyone, welcome back to the Completely fucking Cluelest Podcast.
My name is Sarah Alice Liddy and I use her pronouns.
And as you guys can see, you're in my bedroom today.
I don't think you've ever seen my bedroom before. But
we are doing something a little different. We are doing
a virtual recording. Audrey is home because it's currently Mother's

(01:35):
Day weekend and so wanted her to go celebrate with
her mom, and I am here with the lovely Jana.
Welcome to the podcast.

Speaker 5 (01:44):
Hi, thank you so much for having me. I'm so
excited to be on the podcast today.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
Of course, we're super excited to have you. And I
feel like it's honestly such a great time for you
to be here, because like getting vulnerable very quickly. I
feel like I've been, you know, going through stuff with
like vaginal health recently and feeling like, you know, all
these like symptoms. I was like, oh my gosh, do

(02:10):
I have a uti. I went to the doctor. She
was like, you don't have any like you know, yeas,
but still like feeling uncomfortable and something she had recommended
was taking like vaginal probiotics and stuff like that. So
I'm really excited to chat with you here about your
journey and get like all of your expertise in this
because I think it's such an important topic for women

(02:33):
to chat about together.

Speaker 5 (02:35):
Absolutely, no, I completely get it. I think that's the
beauty of this space, vaginal health in general. And then
also like my journey of transitioning from a scientist to
an entrepreneur and being able to navigate that all while
thinking of my customers, falling in love with my customers

(02:55):
and being able to educate them and also create products
for that need. It's just been like a lot. But
I'm an open book. I love getting vulnerable about my
journey and about everything vaginal health. So I'm so so
excited to chat about it.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yay, So let's hop right into it. So, something that
you've put out on your social media and I've talked
about is like your journey getting into like studying the
vaginal microbiome is because you were experiencing a lot of
vaginal health problems. So can you tell us about like
what that journey was like for you?

Speaker 5 (03:30):
Yeah? Yeah, So I like, I feel like the average girl,
like every girl. I didn't really know much about my vagina,
and what I did know about my vagina was pretty
much the like the stereotypes of the vagina, and so
I didn't really know much. And I remember when I
was having my very first urinary tract infection, I was

(03:53):
actually on my period the same time that I was
having the UTI, and so when that burning sensation kicked in,
I really just attributed it to my period. I was like, yeah, like,
what is what is this feeling? You know, like a
UTI didn't cross my mind. I had never had one before.
I didn't fully understand. I had just heard of UTIs,
and so I didn't think I was having one and

(04:15):
I ignored it. But I was like extremely uncomfortable, and
so I actually sat with my UTI for a whole
week because I didn't understand what was going on. And
it wasn't until I was hospitalized. I was in college
at the time, so I was a sophomore at college
studying biomedical engineering, and so I was like, this just

(04:38):
doesn't feel right. I started to have a fever. A
week later. My roommate actually called the ambulance and I
was rushed to the hospital and they were like, you
have a UTI, because I mean, I was ironically also
at having some kind of cold, so I was like,
maybe the fever is attributed to like my cold. Well,
they asked me in the hospital, like, are you having

(04:59):
any pain while peeing or any burning while peeing? And
I was like, yes, I'm having burning and They're like,
let's just take a yearine sample. They ran a cat
skin and they're like, sweetie, you have a UTI and
if you waited any longer, you could have sepsis and
you could die, so we need to treat you immediately.
So they put me on a very strong dose of antibiotics.

(05:21):
But unfortunately, after that very first UTI, I got one,
and then after that I just kept getting them, like
it was a never ending cycle. Never in my life
could I have predicted that I would be in this
like recurring state. And it's frustrating because you go to
the doctor and they're just like, oh, yeah, once you
get one, you get like a million of them, And

(05:42):
it's like nobody ever explains to you why it's just
the norm. It's and this is part of like those stereotypes,
And like I've even had a doctor tell me you'll
grow out of it, like it's it's one of it's
just it's so unbelievable. I'm like, what do you mean,
I'll grow out of it? And so that is like
what prompted me even at this point, and I was
having Uti after Uti after uti, And I also I

(06:04):
come from an ethnic home. I'm a first generation Syrian
American and so like, the vagina is not well studied
within the Arab community or like well understood or well
talked about. And so even with my mom, like my
mom has always been very open and honest with me,
and I feel very comfortable with my mom. But even then,

(06:24):
I mean, you know, she's not a vaginal expert. She
knows about the vagina what she's kind of grown up
being told. And so I remember when I was saying
I had burning, she was like, yeah, it's probably your period,
and we just both attributed it to my period. And
so I just kept getting Uti after Uti after uti,
and it was ridiculous. At that point, I started forming

(06:47):
antibiotic resistance to multiple antibiotics. So at this point, there's
three different antibiotics that I cannot take for my urinary
tract infections because I am resistant but even after becoming resistant,
the doctors were like, yeah, well, just do six months
of consecutive UTI treatment, and me, being a biomedical engineer,
I was like, Okay, this is a red flag. This

(07:08):
is what we're not gonna do. But that's where the
frustration came in, because I knew that someone like my mom,
who is an immigrant from Syria, who who would literally
just trust her doctor, would go on this six months
of antibiotic therapy and would likely worsen the situation. And
so I was like, there has to be another solution.

(07:29):
And that's what prompted me to do what every biomedical
engineer does best, and that's research. I mean, we're scientists,
and so I started researching and that's where I started
learning about the vaginal microbiome. And why I kept getting
all these UTIs because all of the antibiotics I was
on was actually killing my vaginal microbiome of its healthy

(07:49):
and good bacteria. Because antibiotics not only kill the bad
bacteria causing the infection, but they also kill the good bacteria,
which is why so many people have to taken antibiotics.
They end up getting yeast infect and so it's just
so common. Then you deal with BEV. So I've dealt
with the whole thing after being on antibiotics and not
a single doctor told me to replenish my body with

(08:10):
this good bacteria, and so I just fell down this
rabbit hole, thank the Lord, and doing research and I
found the world of probiotics and there was just no
gold standard probiotic for vaginal health, and I was like,
let me be the change. So that's how with moroccy
Co was born. But really it was my lack of knowledge,

(08:30):
which is why the huge part of my business and
the backbone of it is education, awareness and destigmatizing vaginal
health as a whole. Because that's how my journey really
came about, was my lack of knowledge, and was my
lack of understanding and my unfortunate shame that I had
in my vaginal health. Like I was so worried to

(08:52):
say that I was having burning down there because I
didn't know how it would sound or what it would come.
I was worried about that, even that little judgment, even
going to the doctor and saying it is like scary,
you know, like yeah, And now I'm unapologetically loud and
proud about vaginal health because it's not something we should
be ashamed about the burning, the itchiness, all of that,

(09:14):
like it happens to the best of us. So I yeah,
but really that's the stigma. This stigma around vaginal health
and my lack of knowledge is what got me to
where I am today. Truly.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
Yeah, that's so interesting because I really relate to the
like lack of knowledge. I mean, I still feel like
I don't have a lot of knowledge around it, and
I feel like a lot of women don't. Like I
remember in high school when you know, my friends and
I you know, started getting like east infections and UTI's
and I remember, I think my first yase and east
infection was from wearing just like nylon underwear because at

(09:49):
the time, everyone like went to Victoria's Secret Pink and
got those like nylon thongs, and I didn't understand that
like something like that could like throw things off and
cause like yeast and stuff like that. And I feel
like that is something I still struggle with a lot.
It's like the yeast infection of it all. So it's
really interesting to hear how like your experience like empowered

(10:12):
you to get the information, and you know, because of
your scientific background, like you were really able to do
something with it and something that I really want to know,
because you know, when you came to us and like
it was like, oh, you're a biomedical engineer that studies
the vaginal microbiome, I was like, what the heck even

(10:32):
is the vaginal microbiome? Like, please tell us and give
us that education because I have no idea.

Speaker 5 (10:39):
Yes, oh my god, I love this. This week in
me is screaming I'm so so the vaginal microbiome. So essentially,
in the vagina, what we have is basically a community,
and in this community is the vaginal microbiome. So you
have a gut microbiome. I'm sure you may have heard
of it. Our skin has a microbiome, and in this

(11:01):
microbiome contains good bacteria bad bacteria. But bad bacteria is
typically just like at bay, if good bacteria is present.
And so the community or the family of good bacteria
that dominates every single healthy vagina is known as lactobacillis,
So lactobi cells is this good bacteria that competes for

(11:23):
adhesion to the walls of the vagina. And so when
this bacteria sticks to these walls, it uses glycogen that
is supplied from our estrogen. So in our bodies, we're
producing the female hormone estrogen, and when we have normal
and healthy amounts of estrogen, it is supplying glycogen, which
is a polysaccharide, to the lactobicels in our vaginas. And

(11:45):
so this lactobi cells is using this energy supply to
stay alive and produce lactic acid. So lactobi cells. Not
every single strain of lactob cells produces lactic acid, but
most do the one that are found in our vaginas.
So this lactic acid production is what generates an acidic
pH in our vagina. So growing up, we've always heard

(12:07):
of pH balance and we heard of your vagina is
self cleaning, but nobody has ever explained why. So your
vagina is self cleaning only when you have the presence
of good bacteria. This is what gives your vagina that
self cleaning ability. Because your vagina will always come into
contact with bad bacteria, whether that's through sex or whether

(12:29):
that's through you accidentally even like washed with the wrong
soap and it irritated your vagina. That healthy bacteria and
that healthy community in your microbiome is there to protect
you and so it's self cleaning, it'll say, uh huh,
you don't belong here. And this lactic acid production is
what keeps your vagina at a healthy pH. So every

(12:52):
vagina is supposed to be between a three point eight
and a four point five, and so that's the acidic
value that we need to be in. So a pH
change directly means a shift in the vaginal microbiome, and
the shift is when you lose good bacteria. So what
a lot of people don't realize is bacterial vaginosis, which
is one of the most if not the most common

(13:14):
vaginal infection. What people don't know is that bacterial vaginosis
is actually the deficiency of lactobacillus. So if you do
not have lactobicils in your vagina, then what we see
is bad bacteria. Specifically the ones that are are the
reason that bacterial vaginosis even becomes a thing. So like

(13:35):
we've heard of gardiner ella, and there's other there's other
things that cause like we have group B strep, and
we have other bacterias that grow, and so these bacterias
grow in the absence of lactobacillus. And so now when
you have bad bacteria growing, this bad bacteria has a
high pH and so your PhD changes. And so when

(13:56):
we talk about vaginal microbiome and throwing off your pH,
all of it comes back to the microbiome and the
bacterial balance. That's what the microbiome is. It's your balance
of bacteria. And so things like using the wrong soap
can actually kill off the lactoba cell. So there's been
research studies showcasing that vagicil has actually killed the good

(14:16):
bacteria in the vagina. It's actually been clinically tested and
it does have the ability to kill off lactobi celes.
And so when lactob cells dies, then all the bad
bacteria is that naturally, I mean, nobody is one hundred
percent made of good bacteria, right. We always have a
little bit of yeast, a little bit of bacteria in
our vagina's bad bacteria gardiner Ella. But when this lactobicells

(14:39):
is missing and killed off, this is when the bad
bacteria loves to thrive because you no longer have this
acidic pH Because bad bacteria and yeast love to grow
in a higher pH value. So without the acidity, they
start to grow and they start to flourish. And so
that's directly what the vaginal microbiome is. But healthy bacteria

(15:00):
dominating healthy bacteria is what gives the vagina this self
cleaning ability and the acidic pH that we've heard of
but never really understood because a lot of people just
say like, yeah, this is gonna throw off your pH.
I'm like, let's actually talk about what pH is because
it's not just a number, because you can have a

(15:21):
temporary pH adjustment, but you're not actually correcting your pH.
So it's your vaginal microbiome is the root of all
of these buzzwords that we hear.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
On the end, right, Yeah, one hundred percent, because I
feel like, you know, it's cool that you are not
cool or just like informative that you bring up vagicil
because I feel like something like another I'm just like
thinking really back to like high school with this conversation,
because I feel like that to you know, when you're
when you start learning things and you know, girls talk

(15:52):
and we start comparing notes and everything, and I remember
when everyone started like using like Summer's eve. Yeah I
think that's what it's called. And it was like and
then it was like in college, it was like, no,
you can't use that because it like does this and
that right, and it's like you don't even really know
what it means when.

Speaker 5 (16:08):
It's like, oh this is bad, right and so and
for with things like you know what's I think also
frustrating is in my journey of like creating my company
and then wanting to create products for vaginal health is
recognizing the misinformation that exists in the market because we
see things and I swear everything in the feminine health

(16:28):
aisle is labeled pH balance, and I don't think people realize,
like a wash cannot balance your vaginal pH. The only
thing that can balance the vaginal pH is lactobacillis because
it is correctly consistently producing lactic acid. This production of
lactic acid is what generates an acidic pH. So a

(16:51):
wash isn't going to balance it. And in fact, the
problem is when we're younger, like middle school, high school,
we think like we've we've known about douching, and people
have douched in the past. And so I was fortunate
that my mom told me from a very young age, like, no,
you don't douche. It's not good for you. But so
many people do, and so many people think that like

(17:12):
soaps and all these fancy things need to go in
our vagina, not realizing that things like vagicill do kill
off this good bacteria that you do have in your vagina,
and so when you lose this good bacteria in your vagina,
you're left with bad bacteria growing. So now you're having
itching and you're having burning. So you go back to
the store and then you buy the Vagicill anti itch cream,

(17:34):
the Vegicill anti itch wipes, and now you're just giving
all your money to Vegicill, buying their whole line of products.
That's actually making the problem worse and never solving it.
And these big companies are profiting of for off of
a vulnerable topic. And so that's what was always so
frustrating to me, is like you are causing the problem,
and these vulnerable, innocent women are just going right back

(17:57):
to the store and they're like, oh my god, I'm
having itching, buy the anti itch cream. And I'm I'm
against these anti itch I've been asked like, will you
ever come out with an anti itch cream. I'm like no,
because if you are having itching, there's a root problem,
and it's an imbalance in your vaginal microbiome. We need
to correct it. I'm not going to give you like
a hydro quarter zone cream to just put on the itching. Like,

(18:21):
we need to find what the root cause of the
itching is, and it's likely an imbalance in your microbiome.
You're having a bacterial imbalance and we need to fix it,
correct it, and like restore and then maintain it. I
always say my product is meant to restore and maintain.
So if you're having an active infection, you definitely want
to kill the infection with antibiotics, but you want to

(18:44):
restore the vaginal microbiome with its good and healthy protective
bacteria and then keep taking the probiotic to maintain that
healthy bacterial balance. And so there's still like I remember
I went to CBS and there's some eve vinegar douche
and I'm.

Speaker 2 (19:02):
Like, oh my god.

Speaker 5 (19:04):
And I've seen tiktoks where people are like, if you
have a yeast infection, just do like three parts water,
one part apple cider or vinegar and just spray it
at your hooha. Your use infection will be gone. And
I'm like, guys, a temporary pH adjustment is not correcting
your vaginal pH Like yeah, I think that's that's part
of the misinformation is like we don't or the average

(19:27):
person doesn't fully understand what a vaginal pH is. We
think numbers, and we think it's the same with boric acid.
People think, oh, pop, a boric acids a pository and
that's it. And I'm like, you're going to be so
dependent on these pH adjustments without actually restoring and maintaining
your vaginal pH because you're not putting the good bacteria

(19:48):
in your vagina because that's what your microbio needs, not
like a temporary pH change, you know.

Speaker 2 (19:53):
Yeah, yeah, And I maybe this is a silly question,
but what causes like the like so the changes in
the page are caused by that lactic acid, okay? And
what changes that number is there? Like is it like
food or like, I don't relate that all that changes that.

Speaker 5 (20:13):
Yeah. So the biggest thing that changes the shifts in
our microbiome is hormones, the.

Speaker 2 (20:19):
Okay, the lovely thing that we all.

Speaker 5 (20:21):
Like to talk about. So people who are battling with pcos,
people who are battling with menopause. If you are in
pre or postmenopause and your hormones are shifting, and in fact,
one of the biggest, which is ironically, when I started
having these issues. Your period is a common trigger for
these infections. And this is because, as you know, our

(20:43):
hormones are on a about thirty day cycle, and so
every single day our hormones are changing, and so it's
ironic that my very first UTI was on my period.
And this is because when you are on your period,
you are more susceptible to your mary tract infections, bacterial vaginosis,
and yeast infections. Because if you remember in the beginning

(21:04):
when I was talking about the science, I mentioned that
estrogen produces glycogen, and glycogen is the energy source for
the good bacteria. But right before our period, we have
this very rapid dip in our estrogen, and so when
your estrogen dips before your period, you lose the energy
supply to this lactobacillus. So the lactobacills does struggle to survive,

(21:29):
and so naturally, before the period comes, we lose some
of this good bacteria in our vaginas, which makes us
more susceptible to UTIs BV and yeast infections because BV
will use this opportunity to quickly grow. And our period
blood is alkaline it's pH is rather high. So for

(21:49):
the five six days that you're bleeding, your vagina is
really just surrounded in a higher pH while simultaneous simultaneously
losing some of this good and so this bad bacteria
like gard norella may say, oh my god, this is
my time to shine, and we'll try to grow and
start to grow. And so this is why it's so

(22:10):
important to consistently be taking a vaginal probiotics so that
you're restoring and maintaining the good bacteria in your vagina
all thirty days, every single day. Because our hormones are
such an important factor. Men have it so easy. They
run on a twenty four hour cycle and we're over
here with the thirty days. Every day is different and

(22:32):
so yeah, even people on birth control, that's another thing
we see, like fluctuations and hormones. And this is why
so many of my friends who are on birth control
have yeast infections. And it's the shift of their hormones
and that that also causes yeast infections. And sometimes the
birth control can have too high of estrogen, and when

(22:53):
your estrogen is too high, that typically triggers yeast infections.
And so if you have too little estrogen, you're more
susceptible to bv and UTIs and yeast infections, so your hormones.
Stress is another thing. So the stress hormone is cortisol.
When you have really high cortisol, your vaginal microbiome struggles
to maintain its healthy bacteria. Our immune system is another

(23:16):
thing if you have a weakened immune system, so if
you're ever sick. So ironically, I just got hit with
all the stones when I got my first UTI because
I was having a cold, I was on my period,
so it was a combination of my weekend immune system,
my hormones shifting, and then I had my UTI, and
then I was on antibiotics. So now I'm left the
most vulnerable state. So yeah, it's it's literally just day

(23:40):
to day things, unlike what I think we've all been
told growing up. People think that you're dirty if you
get a get bv UTIs or used infections. People think
that you have multiple sexual partners or that you it's
all from sex, and there's there was always this narrative
that UTIs come from sex, and it's like, no, that
is not it is not not not true, and so

(24:03):
people just don't understand it. And it's like just being
a woman and having estrogen is like the factor that
causes us to have these infections. And so it's not
these these narratives I've when I made my tiktoks doing education,
I've had people comment like, just take a shower, you
guys are so dirty, and it's like, okay, sure, because
a shower is gonna solve the problem.

Speaker 2 (24:25):
Like exactly, I'm like, what, you know, It's interesting because
I feel like I'm learning for this conversation, Like you know,
like how could a wash help the situation because it's
like it's inside of you and a watch is watching
the outside. And yeah, I think that was one of
my like like top questions for you, was like you know,
this idea of UTI's being connected to sex and specifically

(24:48):
this like thing that I feel like I've just like
somehow known all my life of like how you have
to pee after you have sex? Like is that like
a myth? What is it with that statement?

Speaker 5 (25:02):
So literally, all sex does is introduce bacteria inside of
the vaginal microbiome. But ecoli, which is the main pathogen
that causes urinary tract infections, Ecoli isn't passed from a
male partner to a female partner, that's just not how
it works. So how ecoali is introduced in the vagina,

(25:24):
Our vagina is very close to our rectum, and so
that is why we are so susceptible to urinary tract infections.
And the urethra in the vagina is shorter than what
it is in a male. And so if our vagina
comes in contact with europathogenic ecoli from our rectum, because
our rectal mucosa ascends to our vaginal mucosa, which is

(25:46):
I will talk in a little bit why gut health
is so important, because your gut health is tied to
your vaginal health because the microbiomes are very similar. And
so a lot of times I recommend my customers if
you are having gut issues and you're seeing all these
UTIs and yeast infections, you should maybe start looking at
your gut health. And probiotics are incredible for gut health

(26:10):
because you're balancing both, you really are, and so ecoli
comes from the gut. Now, when you're having sex, it
can get messy, and this mucosa that you can't feel,
it's not like your gut is leaking and you're just
having poop everywhere, this invisible mucosa that you can't see
because it's on a micro scale. It ascends to the

(26:33):
vagina and the act of penetration can push some of
this into the vagina. But when you have the presence
of this healthy bacteria, this pathogenic bacteria isn't able to grow.
And so sex can of course make you vulnerable in
the sense that it's introducing your vagina to bacteria. But

(26:56):
when you are consistently restoring and maintaining it with the
healthy bacteria, the healthy guys are going to do their job.
Like the healthy bacteria is going to do its job
to protect you. That's what it's there for. And so sure,
it's great to flush your bladder after sex, but it's not.

(27:16):
It's not the the like absolute must. If you don't,
it shouldn't be a thing that causes you to have
a urinary tract infection because ecoli isn't being shoved in
your urethraad during sex, right. It's more so doctors just
coming up with, oh, like you should do this or
you should do that, and it's like, guys, no, Like

(27:39):
it's it's healthy to flush your bladder, but it shouldn't be.
It shouldn't be the like gold standard method of prevention,
because what's really there to protect you is the lacto basils,
and we should prioritize that. But if you do struggle
with things like so, I think one of the problems
after having repeated urinary tract infections is sometimes we start

(28:03):
to have pelvic floor dysfunction and we disrupt the signals.
So I know, for me, I most definitely have even
till this day, some pelvic floor dysfunction because I don't
fully empty out my bladder. And so when women do
experience multiple urinary tract infections, it does cause some damage
between the bladder and mind connection and the signal that's

(28:26):
being sent because of your body going into protective modes
so much that it strains your pelvic floor, and so
you have this dysfunction that it might not know when
to fully empty and it might be tightened all the
time that you're not fully emptying your bladder. And so
in that case, women can be more susceptible to with

(28:46):
like holding that bad bacteria in their bladder for too long,
which can trigger a UTI. But it's not directly the
act of sex. It's the issue of having the repeated
urinary tract infections that is causing pelvic floor dysfunction, which
can make you more susceptible to getting another UTI. So unfortunately,
UTI is trigger pelvic floor dysfunction, which can trigger more UTIs,

(29:09):
and you're in this endless cycle. And it's the same
with antibiotics. You take antibiotics and now you're left with
no good bacteria. So then your vagina comes into contact
with bad bacteria through anything. It could even be like
being on a period and wearing your pad for too
long and now you're harboring moisture and the yeast is
like I'm gonna grow and now I'm gonna flourish and survive.

(29:30):
And so now you have a yeast infection. You're on
anti fungals, but now BV comes up and you're in
this endless cycle without having good bacteria.

Speaker 2 (29:39):
Yeah. I think it's so interesting the connection that you
talked about between the gut and the vaginal microbiome, because
I now I'm like, oh my god, is it because
I have terrible like I have really bad ibis. Like
I have terrible gut issues and you know, and they've
been worse the last couple of months, and like so
has like things with my vagina and now I'm like,

(30:01):
oh wait, like I you know, and now I really
do want to hear about you know, your product and
the probiotic of it all and how it works to
heal you know, all this restore and maintain like you've
been saying, because I feel like that is such like
an important piece of knowledge for everybody to walk away from.
Like I'm like, I need to order this right after

(30:21):
we're done, like I'm ready to restore and maintain.

Speaker 5 (30:24):
Yes. So I was really struggling with urine airtract infections.
I just thought like, Okay, I need to flush my
bladder and things like that. But after I started taking
probiotics and everything, something else that I started to learn
was how, you know, having things like IBS is directly
related to related to having more occurrences of yeast infections

(30:48):
and BV and things like that. And so I started
studying the gut microbiome, and this is what I learned,
because the vaginal microbiome and the rectyl mucosa are just
so similar. This is where we've been seeing the importance
of restoring your gut microbiome in order to restore your
vaginal microbiome. And so all probiotics are good for gut health,

(31:10):
but not all probiotics are good for the vagina because
or are beneficial to the vagina. And that's because only
a certain kind of bacteria produces lactic acid, and that's
the lactobisiles that we talked about. But one of the
biggest things that people don't realize with IBS is IBS
is typically caused by high cortisol. And so cortisol is

(31:33):
your stress hormone, and when you have high cortisol levels,
you actually are more susceptible to this irritable bowel syndrome.
And this irritable bowel syndrome can sometimes cause a leaky gut.
And when you have a leaky gut, what it does
is it shifts the microbiome in your gut. It causes
this good bacteria to actually struggle to survive, and so

(31:53):
pathogenic bacteria starts to grow and you have this imbalance,
this dysbiosis within your gut, in your intestines, and it
causes all of these symptoms, the leaky gut, having to
go to the bathroom and all these things. And so
we need to put an emphasis on restoring the gut
microbiome with probiotics, but you also want to focus on

(32:17):
balancing your cortisol levels. And so this is something that
I learned because now we're seeing stress effects killing off
the good bacteria in your gut but also in your vagina.
And so we can keep pushing probiotics in our system, right,
but if we're not balancing that cortisol, then we're going
to keep having this issue. And so balancing the cortisol

(32:41):
while simultaneously replenishing our microbiome with the good bacteria is
so important, which is why I've been working on developing
a new product that I'm actually launching in about a
month that does just that. Yes, yeah, tell.

Speaker 2 (32:56):
Us about it, because something I feel like, sorry to interview.
Cortisol is another like buzzworth that you hear all the
time and my undercronologists and now I'm like, I'm seeing
her next week. I'm like, I am going to do
that cortisol test. I wouldn't be surprised if I had
a cortisol but yeah, I think it's a buzzword and
you're like, all right, what is it? How do I

(33:17):
you know, lower it or maintain it? So please tell
us about your product and just like how to you know, yeah,
lower and maintain the cortisol.

Speaker 5 (33:27):
Yeah. So my current product is the most incredible probiotic
prebiotic blend. So it's fifty billion colony forming units. So
that's the amount of good bacteria. And so we see
things on the market like one billion CFU, ten billion CFUs.
Mine has fifty billion CFUs. They're also protected with this

(33:47):
thing called bio enhance acid resistant strains, so they're meant
to withstand the stomach's acidity. So my biggest advice is
for anyone looking for a probiotic, do not buy a
gummy probiotic. They don't work. They're not going to make
it to your gut because they can't survive the stomach's acidity.
So before things, I think when we think of gut,

(34:10):
we just think of stomach, and it's not your stomach
at all. It's actually your intestines. Your gut is your intestines,
your colon. It is not your stomach. Your stomach has
its acidity. It's the first entry to the gut, and
so the probiotics have to survive the stomach's acidity because
our stomachs are highly, highly acidic so they need to

(34:34):
survive the stomach's acidity to then make it to the colon,
make it to the intestines, and then make it to
the vagina. So if they don't make it through the
gut or through the stomach, they're not going to make
it to the gut. So we wanted to make sure
that we are giving you Our product is in a
capsule form, but we want to make sure that we're
giving you a high amount to ensure that it makes

(34:55):
it to your gut and to ensure it makes it
to the vagina while also protect these strains with a
technology that's meant to withstand the stomach so acidity. We're
also feeding these probiotics throughout its little travel to your vagina,
through all the intestines. Its travel is being fed through
prebiotic fibers. So prebiotic fibers, because it's a fiber, sometimes

(35:20):
can cause gas and bloating in women. So we chose
ones that were clinically studied and clinically shown to reduce
gas and bloating so that you're not left with these
uncomfortable symptoms that probiotics on the market unfortunately cause because
they use like potato starch, and these fibers that cause
gas and bloating, and so we wanted to use fibers

(35:40):
that reduce that so that you can take this and
have a happy, happy gut and you're not having these
uncomfortable symptoms. And then our stars of supporting the urinary
tract is cranberry, but not just any cranberry extract. This
is a patented formula. So we hear again, you have
a ut either like oh, drink cranberry juice, cranberry and

(36:02):
specific so cranberries and blueberries and a bunch of other
things have these things called proanthocyanidids, but the ones that
exist in cranberries, they have a double bonded molecular structure
that is meant to attach the epithelial cells within the
vagina and it prevents europathogenic E. Coli from attaching and

(36:23):
causing a UTI. And so this is only found in cranberries.
But cranberry juice nine times out of ten does not
contain the proanthocyanodids that you need, so that's why we
are getting it from the extract. But the extract that
we use has the clinically studied thirty six milligrams of
paranthocyanodids that has been clinically proven to prevent europathogenic ecolie

(36:49):
from causing a UTI. So we have that cranberry there
in there this patented formula that is meant to protect
you from E.

Speaker 2 (36:56):
Coli.

Speaker 5 (36:57):
And then there's vitamin D three which has been shown
in research to help support a urinary tract, a healthy
urinary tract. So those are like the start of helping
to support the urinary tract, the bladder, the kidney, with
also simultaneously restoring and maintaining the vaginal microbiomes. So you
get this like full coverage now in our new product.

(37:19):
We believe in this cult favorite of our probiotic formula.
So our fifty billion c if you and it's prebiotic fibers,
they are still there. It is that same formula, but
now we have rather than the cranberry and the vitamin
D we have swapped those for some herbs that have
been clinically shown to balance cortisol. And so cortisol, as

(37:41):
I mentioned, is your stress hormone. And this we see,
like I think I believe, like with ibs, people are
typically like, oh, watch what you eat. Hot stuff causes
this and you can if you eat like things there
are spice, you have to have a low fodmap and
stuff like that, and there's just a bunch of things
with ibs. So what we want to do is we
want to help balance the stress hormone, and we want

(38:02):
to balance estrogen progesterone. We want to balance hormones as
a whole. So things like ashwaganda, elthanine, these things have
been clinically shown to actually balance cortisol and balance estrogen,
and so by balancing these hormones, you are left with
less fluctuation that's taking place in your body, and so

(38:24):
you're maintaining the stability within your hormones while also restoring
and maintaining your microbiome, your gut and vaginal microbiome with
the bacteria that it needs, so that you can be
happy and healthy from and free from all of these infections.

Speaker 2 (38:42):
That's amazing. I'm like, I feel like I'm learning so much.
Like all the things they're like clicking in my head
as you're speaking, I'm like, oh m g right, and
you know, and I think again, like I feel like
on TikTok on social media, you hear so many people
talking about hormones and all these things, and as a
lay person who you know, doesn't study all of this stuff,
you're just like, what does it even mean? Like I'd

(39:05):
love to know what it means. So I think this
is so informative because you know, it's crazy to hear
how much our hormones really do affect our body in
such a you know, unique and interesting way. Yes, and
like what causes people to have higher cholesterol? You know,

(39:26):
you hear stress, and I'm thinking, like, day to day
stress works. Stress, Like is that the stress that is
causing the higher cortisol or is it like okay.

Speaker 5 (39:36):
Yes, no, it can. And also we see things like
a dip in estrogen can trigger a rise in cortisol.
And so estrogen dips, your body almost reacts like, oh
my god, my female hormone is really low. And so
there is a link to people with pcos or people
who are going through menopause who start to see this

(39:59):
rise in quartzo. So low estrogen has been attributed to
a spike and a rise in cortisol. And so this
is because our body is trying to protect us. I
think what we need to always remember is our body
is here and functions to protect us. And so when
something shifts and something changes, our body is like, oh

(40:21):
my god, we need to go into protective mode, and
so the cortisol spikes to try to protect us. So
cortisol rises right before our period because our estrogen dipps.
But when we have consistent imbalances and our female hormones,
we can see consistent rises in cortisol because it is

(40:42):
almost trying to make up for this because it senses
that something is off. But things like day to day work, life, stress,
lack of sleep. So when you're not sleeping a lot,
all of the depletion of your body saying I didn't
get my rest for tonight, your cortisol rise. So you
can wake up in the morning with high cortisol because

(41:03):
the body is like hold on, I don't feel right.
So it's almost in this like protective mode. So this
hormone really functions. Your stress hormone is a response. It
really is a response. I think that's what's really important
to learn when it comes to cortisols. Cortisol functions as
like a response to stressors that exist in the life

(41:23):
and in your life, and a stressor is the depletion
of the female hormone and it's like, oh my god,
this is a stressor and then boom, cortisol just suddenly,
out of nowhere, skyrockets. And so cortisols consistently high during
women going through menopause because their hormones are dipping, and
so the cortisol's rising because it senses a stressor, it

(41:46):
senses something is off, and so areas of inflammation in
your body. So when you're getting these hot flashes and
the shifts in your mood and stuff like that, this
is all triggering a stress response to your body, and
so your ortisul rises and unfortunately a way to oh
my god, it's trying to protect you, but it needs

(42:06):
to be balanced, but sometimes it just doesn't know because
other things are throwing it off.

Speaker 2 (42:11):
Yeah, it's so interesting how like I think you know
what you're speaking about reminds me of like, you know, anxiety,
and how like you know when we are, you know,
mentally struggling, it's usually because you know, our mind is
trying to protect us in some way. And I feel
like we talk a lot about mental health on the podcast,
as Audrey and I have our own struggles with mental health.

(42:33):
But it's so interesting how you know things that can
like seemingly be very bad to us or these like
oh my gosh, our bodies just trying to respond and
you know, and protect us. So I think this is
really great information. And something I've also been interested in

(42:54):
asking you is, like, I do think there's so many
misconceptions and myths around like the vagina and everything. What
are your like top to like this is a myth
and misconception when it comes to vaginal health and just
the vagina in general.

Speaker 5 (43:08):
Yeah, so my number one always, as I mentioned before,
these infections do not just come from sex. It's more
than that. It literally anything can throw and so even
I'm so happy that you brought up anxiety. So even
within the last year of like running my business and

(43:29):
it's been so much, I've had heightened anxiety levels, and
so heightened anxiety elevates stress and that stress hormone cortisol,
and so there is a direct link to anxiety and
having gut imbalances and vaginal microbiome imbalances and so things
like that can cause a yeast infection or a UTI

(43:52):
or BV and so it's not always sex related. I
tell everybody that I'm so so sick and tired of
people just attributing urinarian vaginal infections to sex because that
it's just not true. It's simply not true. And so
that is like my number one, I say that for

(44:13):
absolutely everyone. My number two would likely be again, what
we talked about, the vagina is only self cleaning if
you have the presence of good bacteria, because I think
like it's a buzzword that we've talked about and it's
not something that people should use just to throw Oh,
your vagina is self cleaning, and no, like that, that's

(44:34):
not how it works. You need the presence of good
bacteria for your vagina to have the ability to be
self cleaning. And number three, I always love to bring
this up. Boric acid is not the solution. I am
so against boric acid.

Speaker 2 (44:50):
Can I ask? I don't even know what boric acid is.
What is boric acid good?

Speaker 5 (44:54):
I'm so lud. Boric acid is something that is made
in a suppository, So it's made in a capsule that
you essentially put up your vagina and it will melt.
And this boric acid has been used for a while
to treat bacterial vaginosis and yeast infections. And so what's

(45:16):
happening unfortunately, is these companies are giving like thirty day supplies.
They'll have like a bottle of these boric acid capsules
and you have them, and there are women who are
putting boric acid in their vaginas every single night. So
boric acid has for centuries been used as a roach
killer because it's incredibly strong, incredibly strong, and so I

(45:38):
think the misconception that people have with boric acid is
that they hear the word acid and they think, oh
my god, this is going to make my vagina acidic,
and this is going to solve the problem because they
think I'm having BB, that my pH must be high,
so I'm going to fix my pH by bringing it
back down with boric acid. But again they don't realize

(45:59):
that the number doesn't matter. It's about the bacteria. So
what worked at boric acid does is it's an antiseptic,
so it does kill gardenrella. It can kill the fungus
that's causing yeast infections, but it doesn't discriminate against good
and bad bacteria. It's similar to antibiotics. It will kill

(46:20):
off the lactobasilis as well. Now it may take a
little bit longer to kill off the lactobacils because it
is still an acid and lactobacillis does like to thrive
in an acidic environment, so it does, for the most
case target the biofilm of this bad bacteria first. But

(46:40):
with consistent use, especially because we sometimes recommend seven to
ten nights of using boric acid consistently, it's targeting this bacteria.
And so the lactopcill starts to struggle and it dies
because it is an antiseptic, and so you it also
because it is so strong, it thins and it also

(47:01):
like dries out the vagina. So when your vagina is
dry and those walls are thinner, you become more susceptible
to urinary and vaginal infections because these pathogens love to
grow in a dry, thinned, weakened environment. And so boric
acid it's a molecular pH is around a five point five,

(47:22):
which if you remember from earlier I said a healthy
vagina is between a three point eight and a four
point five. So having this like higher than what is
healthy pH level makes lacko bacillas struggle a bit to survive,
and so you are not fixing the problem by taking
boric acid. What I tell all of my customers who

(47:44):
reach out for advice, I always tell them if metronitosol,
so the antibiotic or klindamycine that's used to treat bacterial vaginosis,
if those are no longer working because maybe you're resistant,
or if you have a stubborn as yeast infection. My
advice is if pharmaceutical drugs are not getting rid of

(48:05):
it and you're looking for a homeopathic solution, my advice is, yes,
use boric acid for seven to ten nights because it
is strong, it can and will kill off this bacteria.
But if you use boric acid, you must use a
probiotic after. There's no if ants or butts from me,

(48:25):
like you have to because if you don't, you are
wiping your vagina clean of all of its good, healthy bacteria,
and so you are leaving yourself in a vulnerable state
to keep getting reinfections, which is why you see on
TikTok women will say, oh my god, anytime I feel
somethings off, I just pop the sin and I feel better.
And then anytime I feel off and I'm like, my love,

(48:49):
you keep feeling off because you are not restoring and
maintaining your vaginal microbiome with good bacteria. You're not solving
the problem. You are just putting like a band aid.
That's it. Like imagine you have an open wound and
you don't go and get stitches, and you just like
are like, you know, putting, applying pressure, doing the like
preliminary things, but not like solving the issue. And so

(49:12):
I'm like, no, you don't just pop a boric acid
suppository in anytime that you are feeling off. If you
are feeling off, yes, it's probably because bad bacteria or
yeast is growing and we can kill it with boric acid.
But now you want to bring those healthy guys back in.
You want to bring the lack of bacillus back in

(49:32):
so that now it can it can restore the environment,
and then keep using probiotics to protect you.

Speaker 2 (49:39):
Yeah, that's so interesting. I had never heard of this
before because but it seems like a very interesting like
cycle that you can get yourself into if you just
keep like using it and then you know, like kind
of like you said, you you know, you're killing off
all this good bacteria and then you like neat it
all over again.

Speaker 5 (49:56):
Yes, exactly.

Speaker 2 (49:58):
It's really interesting. The you know, the idea of like
good bacteria bad bacteria. And I'm curious because I think
another like very taboo topic is like vaginal odor and
like you know, girls struggling with that again the guy
I remember, you know, being in high school and people
are like, you know, how do you get your vagina
to smell good? Like do you drink pineapple juice? Like

(50:19):
I've heard that and all of that stuff. So is
the vaginal odor coming from like those like imbalances in
the good and the bad bacteria, And how do you
suggest you treat it?

Speaker 5 (50:32):
Yeah, so odor is directly attributed to the balance of
the bacteria in your vagina. And so when you have
I used to work in a microbiology lab during my
time at Lehigh University when I was studying biomedical engineering,
and all different as the medical texts would teach me
and tell me is bacteria. They would know what's growing

(50:53):
when they played it the the patients sample based on
like how it smelled. Some some of them would have
of a certain smell that you would know like, Okay,
this is staff growing, this is streptococcus growing. So you
kind of like know what bacteria produces an odor. It's
it's normal it produces an odor, and so a lot

(51:14):
of times that that is not really understood that even
good bacteria has a bit of odor. It's bacteria. And
so this odor does not smell like flowers and roses
and peaches, but it also doesn't smell foul. So good
bacteria does not smell foul. It shouldn't smell foul. It

(51:37):
is acidic, so sometimes you can have more of a
like vinegary type of smell or even like a like
I don't want to say yeast see because people are
gonna think yeast infection, but it can have more of
a like like a tangy smell. Sure it's and and
again those things are normal. Now when we start to
see foul odors, so gard Norella in particular is well

(52:01):
known to produce a fishy odor. This fishy odor is
why everyone says BV bb bb. But there's other bacterias
that can grow during BV that don't exactly cause a
fishy odor, but can cause a rotten odor, a foul
odor that is maybe different than what you are used to.
And so the way to correct that is of course

(52:24):
targeting the bad bacteria that's causing this foul odor and
so I always always say, do not use like home remedies.
I've seen people putting tampons in plain Greek yogurt and
shoving it up their vaginas, and I'm like, guys, I
also want to note that over seventy percent of vaginal

(52:46):
health infections vaginal infections are misdiagnosed. Our self misdiagnosed, and
so we as a whole need to stop diagnosing ourselves
because I think we are so paranoid about smell, an odor,
and discharge. We get so paranoid, like, let me be
the first to tell you, if ladies you're listening to this,

(53:07):
if you have a little bit of yellow discharge, it
doesn't always mean that you're having an infection. Your vagina
is always shifting and changing because we run on a
thirty day hormonal cycle, and so just because you're sometimes
your discharge can have a yellowish undertone because of your urine.

(53:28):
So it doesn't there's no need to panic every single
time you see any discoloration in your discharge, or if
your discharge is white, I promise you it does not
always mean that you have a yeast infection. Sometimes this
frothy white discharge can indicate bacterial vaginosis, but you are
trying to treat it like a yeast infection when it's not.

(53:50):
So this is why I'm also against these websites that
allow you to like go online and like take a
quiz and then they'll send a prescription to your your
pharmacy for baby or east infections unless you're someone with
like recurrent infections like for me. I know when I'm
having a UTI, there's no getting past it. I've had
so many in my life. I know exactly what a

(54:11):
UTI is. But sometimes people will have burning while peeing
and it could be caused by bacterial vaginosis, but we think, oh,
there's burning while peeing, so we just assume, oh UTI.
And then now we're taking antibiotics for an infection that's
not even present, and that's how you develop antibiotic resistance.

(54:31):
So please, I know, I under I fully understand. You know.
Anxiety heightens when we have any kind of odor, any
kind of discolored discharge, and we freak out. It's normal.
I still do. If I have a long day of
forgetting to drink water and I'm slightly dehydrated, and I
go to sit on a toilet and I feel like

(54:52):
my urine is burning because it's I'm so dehydrated. It
is so normal, like even me I and I go
into like a oh my god, am I having a uti?
But we need to take a second to just breathe
and kind of just trust our bodies and not start
reaching in our medicine cabinets or running to the pharmacy,

(55:14):
because even we'll go and get monostat for a yeast infection,
and it's like, you might not even have a yeast infection.
It might be BV that you think is a yeast infection,
or maybe it's because you're about to get your period,
because when you get your right before your period, your
estrogen drops. Because of this dip and estrogen, your vagina
gets a little more dry, and this dryness can cause

(55:36):
itchiness and a bit of like burning. So even I
I'm about to get my period, I feel dryness in
my vagina currently, and that is normal. It does not
mean an infection is present. And so I understand the anxiety,
and I think it's because we are in constant We
are in this constant mode of trying to be perfect

(55:57):
with our vaginal health, and it is okay, Like your
vagina is doing its best, and I think it's just
so important to try to listen and be in tune
with your vagina and like kind of understand A part
of it is really just starting to understand the vaginal
microbiome and understand what your vagina does and functions and everything,

(56:19):
because that's what's so important to having this relationship with
your vagina and being able to know what's going on.
Because with all the misinformation that exists on the internet
and in the world and in the medical spaces, we
are are the number one culprits of misdiagnosing ourselves along
with then our doctors misdiagnosing ourselves. So like over half

(56:42):
of the antibiotics that are prescribed for urinary and vaginal
infections are misdiagnosed in this country, and so that causes
antibiotic resistance and us trying to diagnose ourselves and thinking
we know, oh, white discharge must mean yeast infection. It's
just not true. And so a foul odor does represent

(57:03):
something being wrong. But my advice is go get a
culture done, request a culture from your doctor, not just
the oh, let me put a speculum in and just
look at things no, yeahs. A vaginal culture. A vaginal
culture is where they will swab you and they will
plate it in a lab and they put these plates

(57:25):
in an incubator and the bacteria that's in your vagina,
whether it's good or bad, will start growing in these plates.
A medical tech will read these plates after forty eight
hours and they will be able to identify what specie
is growing and causing your symptoms, your odor, your itching,
you're burning. So my biggest advice is don't at home diagnose,

(57:47):
go to your doctor and demand be your biggest advocate.
I had to tell my doctors run an antibiotic susceptibility
test so that I could prove to them that I
was resistant to seflexen. I had to say, run a culture,
and they looked at either, like, you know what a
culture is. I'm like, of course I do, because I'm
a biomedical engineer. But again, the average person wouldn't know
what to demand and what to request. So it's frustrating

(58:09):
that me, being a biomedical engineer, I have this knowledge.
But my advice is if I could pass that on
to the average woman, be your own advocate. Demand for
a culture, even when you're having a uti don't let
them just scan your urine and see, okay, you have nitrites,
that means you have a UTI. Having white blood cells
in your urine doesn't automatically mean you have a UTI.

(58:32):
These these urine strips that you can find at CBS
that test for leucostes and nitrites, it doesn't always mean
you have a UTI. That's not true. Like people think,
oh my god, I have white blood cells in my urine,
This must mean that I have an infection. No. Sometimes
it could just be your bladder is inflamed because of

(58:52):
all the previous UTIs that you had, or maybe something
is causing inflammation. Maybe you held your bladder your urine
in for two law that the wall and your bladder
became irritated, and so your body is inflaming. The walls
are inflamed, so that triggers white blood cells to be
in your urine because it's trying to protect you. Because
you made the mistake of holding in your urine and

(59:14):
so your bladder got irritated and now there's white blood
cells there to protect you. Doesn't mean you have a UTI.
So I just self diagnosing is never my right unless
you're someone who's like I've had the use infections my
whole life. I know what a used infection is.

Speaker 2 (59:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (59:31):
I totally recommend being your biggest advocate going to the doctor,
demanding cultures for your urine, for your vaginal swabs so
that we could get to the root cause of your
infection and then treat you properly. And if your doctor
doesn't tell you, I'm here to tell you that the
way that you will restore your vaginal microbiome and protect
yourself is through probiotic supplementation.

Speaker 2 (59:53):
Yeah. I mean that's what I recently did. You know,
I went and I got a culture because I was
I went and I picked up monostat. I was like, oh,
I like I must be having like a yeast infection,
and then you know, I started having the burning peing.
I was like, I bet I have a UTI. And
I called the doctor and she was like, you should
come in and get a culture done, and like let's
figure it out. And you know, I went in and

(01:00:15):
I didn't have a yeast infection, nor did I have BV.
And so the first thing she said to me was, hey, like,
you should take a value, you should take a probiotic
and and you know, I feel like that'll help your situation.
So that's what I'm going to be doing. After this
is ordering your probiotic, and before we have you plug
all this information of where you can get your product,

(01:00:37):
I want to ask you our last question we ask
everybody this question is can you tell us a recent
time where you felt clueless?

Speaker 5 (01:00:44):
Oh? Three recent time where I felt clueless. Honestly, the
new product development has been a journey. You know. I
think when the brand, you know, I'm like, I want
to expand, and I felt very clueless at first of
what do I want to expand with? You know that

(01:01:05):
that's very important because for me, I know I didn't mention,
but my company's name is with Mauraki Co. And Muraki
is a Greek word that means to do something with love, soul,
and creativity, and so that's what my brand represents. It
also means to leave a piece of yourself in your work.
And so I battled your aery tract infections. I battled

(01:01:26):
the whole nine yards and created a product with love,
soul and creativity. And I am my own customer. I
take my own probiotics faithfully every single day. I believe
in it, I stand by it, and I want to
keep that throughout every product that I launch. I want
it to be something that I believe in, something that

(01:01:48):
I stand by. And so I felt for a little
bit clueless because I'm like, you know, I celebrated my
one year anniversary last year in August. I'm approaching this
August will be my two year anniversary, and I'm like,
it's time, like I want to launch a new product.
But I felt a little clueless as to what would
that what will that be? And I just I started

(01:02:10):
battling my own seeing like, hm, I feel like I'm
having some inflammation or imbalance with all of the stress
that I'm having and me getting in a lab yet
again and researching the stress hormone and researching the fluctuations
of hormones and finding a love for hormones and the
connection between them and the vaginal microbiome and saying, well,

(01:02:33):
our probiotic formula is like gold standard. And now that
I'm no longer battling urinary tract infections, but I'm seeing
this imbalance in my hormones. I want to balance my hormones,
and so them being able to formulate something that's meant
to balance the hormones while restoring and maintaining with our
tried and true probiotic formula is something that I fell

(01:02:54):
in love with, and I'm like, this is yet again
leaving a piece of myself in my work. And so
I think I felt very clueless as to and you know,
you get those questions from people like when are you
launching a new product? It's it's been a year and
a half, and I'm like, ah, I feel clueless because
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:03:09):
What you know.

Speaker 5 (01:03:10):
Like I don't just want to say, Okay, I'll go
with my manufacturer and I'll just say let's do a
multi vitamin just for like the hell of it, because
I don't want to just be another supplements company. I
don't want to be just another one that you find
off the shelf. Like there's a story behind with morocci Co.
There's a real passion and a real love for my customers,

(01:03:31):
Like I adore my customers so so much, like they
are I'll cry. They're just so important to me. And
I think my business and what I stand, what it
stands for, is just so important to me and I
want to keep that throughout everything that comes from me
and what I produce and what I say like this

(01:03:52):
is mine, this is my baby, and I want to
be able to believe in it. And so I felt
clueless trying to decide what is that next product. But
I was positioned in the right place at the right
time where I started dealing with my own like, hmm,
well this I feel off. I feel like my hormones
are off. And then doing going down this rabbit hole

(01:04:13):
and learning about the hormones and studying that in the
vaginal microbiome and it's connection between the two, and saying,
oh my god, this is what we need in the
industry because this is directly shifting our vaginal microbiome. But
you know, we could keep putting all these probiotics in
our body, but we should be able to balance these
hormones as well. And so you know, I've been able

(01:04:34):
to then dissect that information and now I'm so excited
for the launch of my new product. I don't have
an exact date yet, but I should have a date
relatively shortly. But yeah, just clueless on I mean, I
feel like, in most parts I'm a scientist who is
still after almost two years, learning how to be an entrepreneur.

(01:04:55):
So I feel clueless. Every other week if not every week,
so happens. You don't know everything. I feel like a
lot of people always think like, oh, like every business
person just like knows, and a lot of people that
are like, wow, you're twenty five, You're running this business.
You're doing so well. I'm like, oh my god. Like
there's days where I don't even know. I'm like what
am I doing? And I have to make executive decisions

(01:05:17):
that are hard, and sometimes I don't know if I'm
making the right decisions and I feel clueless as to
what's the next step. Like it's normal in the business
owner life, and I'm sure you can relate to that too.

Speaker 2 (01:05:29):
Yeah, No, I feel like there's always clueless moments. I
mean I was literally having this conversation with another creator yesterday,
like you know, being like, yeah, everything can you know
look really nice and peachy and wrapped in a bow
on the outside, but like on the inside, behind the
closed door, it can be a lot. And I think
it's really beautiful to hear your story and to hear
how much like passion you do put into your products, because,

(01:05:51):
like you said, like the supplement industry is so crazy now,
and you know, you see a new product, a new
thing all the time, and like it's funny because I
feel like my partner, like they can sometimes get wrapped up,
like the other day they were like does collegen actually work?
And like stuff like that, And so I think it's
you know, for me, like you know, doing this interview
with you, and I hopefully what the audience will feel too,

(01:06:12):
is like you feel the trust with somebody who has
put this time and effort and care and thought into
making a product and it's not just like a dimond
dozen sort of a.

Speaker 5 (01:06:21):
Thing, right, And that's exactly what my TikTok is for
and why I'm so passionate about using that platform to
really educate people because I am, at my core a
scientist and a biomedical engineer, and when I explain the
science to the products and why I'm formulating these products
is because I have a deep in depth knowledge of

(01:06:41):
the vaginal microbiome and so a lot of these bigger
companies just don't. And it is about making money, and
for me, it's not. It's really the education. I said
it earlier. The education is the backbone to my brand
because it's so important that rather than just saying here's
a product, take this product. I really want people too.
And even if the result of my TikTok video isn't

(01:07:04):
somebody buying my product, at least they leave my TikTok
understanding their reproductive health better. And that is just so
important to me, because we all should have this deep
understanding that traditional medicine doesn't it does. They don't teach
us this. Our healthcare system doesn't teach us this. Our
schools don't teach us this. I mean even when I

(01:07:25):
was in school, we had sex ed and stuff like that,
but they didn't teach us this in depthly about the
vaginal microbiome. Like nobody was telling us that lubricants and
spermicides can throw off our vaginal microbiome. Nobody was telling
us that a period can cause these infections. You just
heard yuse infection or UTI, and that's what kind of
triggers the stigmas around them. And so I I'm just

(01:07:48):
very fortunate that I can be able to push the
education because that's so important. It is just so so important.
I just want to change how we see and talk
about vaginal health, which is why I'm so so happy
I was able to talk to you so openly about it. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:08:04):
No, this has been like such an amazing conversation and
I'm so excited for everyone to listen. And so, speaking
of your TikTok, can you tell us where people can
follow you, where they can get your product, all that stuff.

Speaker 5 (01:08:16):
Yes, So my TikTok is Gianna MJ so g I
A n A MJ. And then my website is www
dot shop with moroccyco dot com. If you don't want
to purchase my product, you can join the email list.
Our emails are super exciting. We always are pushing educational

(01:08:37):
content on there. I do everything from touching on women's
health throughout the years and how it's been stigmatized and
how we've been neglected in the medical system for all
these years, the improvements that we've made. I talk about
everything bb UTIs yeast infections, sti's pelvic floor dysfunction. So
I really pushed the educational information on my email list.

(01:09:00):
This is it's literally free to join. So even if
you're not ready to purchase my products yet yet and
you're not there financially or whatever your case is, you
just don't want to, I encourage you to at least
join the email list so that you can understand your
vaginal health better. And then I have my Instagram page.
It is at with morocci Co. My personal page is

(01:09:20):
just Gianna Jarrah my first and last name. But yeah,
I do like all the education everywhere, but my website
and my TikTok are my main sources of content.

Speaker 2 (01:09:31):
Amazing, Well, thank you so much for being here today, Jianna.
I feel like everybody's gonna hopefully take so much away.
I know I did, and I am like running off
with all this information now, being like I gotta tell everybody,
and you guys know that you can follow us on
TikTok at completely fck I m g clueless, and on
Instagram and YouTube at completely fucking clueless. Thank you guys

(01:09:53):
for listening. Have an amazing Tuesday, have an amazing week,
and don't forget to be motherfucking clueless by everyone.

Speaker 4 (01:10:13):
This has been a fifty eight Mber production. For more shows,
please visit the fifty eight Mber channel, fifty eight Mber
dot com or find us at fifty eight Mbermedia on
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