Chemicals are not for my pussy!
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Every week we’ll sit around the kitchen table of a different impact entrepreneur to discover their secrets, to see how they live and, not unimportantly, to score a free meal.
This week we met Mariah Mansvelt Beck, co-founder of Yoni.
With their provocative campaign Chemicals are not for pussies, Wendelien and Mariah started crowdfunding Yoni towards the end of 2014. Through a deal with Etos (the largest drugstore chain in the Netherlands), their products are now in more than 500 stores. Their story was not one without struggle, for example they decided to throw two years of work out the window. Today these pioneers are still trying to provoke with their newly released Cycle Series.
Mariah: All women have the right to know what’s in their tampons, sanitary towels and pantyliners. Strangely these products never mention what’s in them. My food and clothes all have clear labels and yet such an intimate product doesn’t. It’s absolutely ridiculous. Yoni is transparent. Our products are made of organic cotton and clearly state as much on the package. They’re better for you, but also environmentally friendly.
Was there high demand for such a product in your close circle of friends?
Mariah: The first reaction from most women was: “I’ve never really thought about it.” And I hadn’t either until I was thirty and heard that I had an early stage of cervical cancer. A specialist advised me to use to stop using synthetic tampons and sanitary towels, and to use organic cotton ones. But where was I gonna get those?
Are there more woman dealing with this issue?
When I was diagnosed I took it personally. Only two years later did I think, hey, wait a minute, I’m probably not the only who’s never heard of organic cotton feminine products. When I looked into it, I found that around 40% of women experience irritation. I knew that this group of women were probably already searching for better alternatives.
How does it feel to constantly tell others you’ve had cervical cancer?
Mariah: Sometimes it’s a little unreal. I started to notice this in preparation for the speech at the TEDX Amsterdam Awards. I called my mother for advice and she just said, “That’s what happened right?” And of course I knew that’s what happened, but it still feels weird. Plus it’s been a while ago, although it’s really defined my life. I wouldn’t have this company if it hadn’t happened to me.
We decided to throw all the designs out the door
Can you describe your toughest moment at Yoni?
Mariah: The story around our first concept didn’t come together. We’d received a lot of feedback and it just didn’t work. The packaging had to be as solid as a rock as it’s really hard to change once it’s available in stores. We’d just quit our jobs when we heard that the packaging wasn’t technically possible. That’s when we decided to throw all the designs out the window. Everything we’d worked on for the last year. That’s how Yoni started.
Was it hard to let your concept go?
Mariah: We asked ourselves whether or not we should continue. We’d worked so hard just to throw it all away. That was our lowest point, but we felt we had to start from scratch again. We really questioned ourselves. Luckily everything turned out fine.
We wanted to do things differently
Mariah: You could call our campaign, Chemicals are not for pussies provocative, but in the feminine hygiene sector, there’s a lot of space to do things differently. For our most recent video we started working with Ine & Sanne, two creative entrepreneurs who’ve made a number of music videos. They wanted to expand their commercial portfolios with something more creative so they made the Cycle Series for us. It’s a series of videos that depicts the two most important moments in the menstruation cycle.
How does Etos (drugstore chain) react to this?
Mariah: As far as I know, they’re fine with the fact that we do things our way. The flyer they distribute is a bit dull, so we asked if our style for the ad had to follow their lead. It didn’t, which is a good thing because we want to do things differently and make it look prettier. And we’ve received many positive reactions in doing so!
Where do you see Yoni in 10 years?
Mariah: I don’t know. Our goal at the moment is to be super efficient with a small team. To run a company with more than a hundred people is a totally different ball game. I don’t know if that would make me happy. Will we still be running Yoni in 10 years? Maybe we’ll pass on the torch to someone else… We’ll see.
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