Revolutionizing Femtech Apparel

Speaker 1: hi welcome to the Sheil fit experience with Melanie you're here because you want to scale and grow your business Master business strategy and learn about new tech Innovation join me and my inspiring guests as we dive into the topic of how how to create build scale and operate the business of your dreams in addition to being an entrepreneur I'm also a twin mom and Optimist who loves empowering you to experience the life that you crave Magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy so grab a coffee or cocktail get comfy and let's dive in Mitch Gilbert is a graduate of the University of Chicago with a bachelor's degree in public policy after college she became obsessed with Women's Health and sportsare apparel she started business school after falling in love with sportsware design and then earned a full scholarship to build Oya prior to that she was a deoe consultant and the chief product officer at a sportsware startup thank you so much for joining us today Mitch please tell us about who you are and about the leaps that you made throughout your life and career prior to launching

Speaker 2: Oya to begin I'm a woman a lot of this stems from this idea that Oya is for women by women so experiences that I've had experiences that women had as well as different athletes and just things that I've learned from OBGYNs have really spurred why I want to support feminine health I feel like it's a topic that's very stigmatized and that no one talks about and as far as the leaps and Journeys that I've done I've always been a very Innovative person you know always wanting to find new things tinkering I built a NASA endorsed robotics team at one point of like my life completely crazy but like I just enjoy tinkering I also love fashion as I was leaving Consulting I was looking for an opportunity to do that be stylish be Innovative and work on a social problem that I thought was important like feminine health I found the intersection of all of those things in F Tech apparel I was lucky enough to apply to business school get a full ride to come here and since I've been here we raised a good amount of capital and it's been a journey and I'm just learning and growing every day I met UC Anderson I'm such a big fan it's so sunny it's great share success like I I highly recommend

Speaker 1: it to anyone what gave you the courage

Speaker 2: to launch OA and can you tell us about your product yes essentially millions of women are wearing leggings that are not healthy for them or do not fit them well so the CDC reports that 75% of women develop vaginal infections and like 30% of all women have bacterial vaginosis right now at like any given time and 24% of women postpartum have urinary in continents women are putting up with them in a Peril specifically leggings because of their spandex properties and the fact that they don't absorb moisture or like increased ventilation it makes a woman

Speaker 1: two times more likely to develop these vaginal health issues we thought we could redesign leggings from scratch and kind of flip that on its head so we put in some hidden mesh panels to increase breathability we put in some anti microbial fabric to eat bacteria we put in some absorption things also it's fashion so it compresses all the cellulite it's really shap we we care about these things and you know and pockets for convenience and all this has come together really with like the first fintech leing with really to help women glow from the inside out essentially

Speaker 2: what gave you the courage to launch your

Speaker 1: product and business that's a great question I think being in business school really helped it's a part of our curriculum I also have a very talented team both myself I have a background in sportsware apparel and I also like interned with Nike I have another finance manager from Nike who helps a lot with helping us think about like our unit costs and things like that I have an engineer who helps us with our supply chain and then also someone from Dita who helps on like the health side in addition to Great mentors across manufacturing health and marketing and so all of these things come together to give me the confidence because I think I'm a little risk inverse and I'm not necessarily one of those people who are like let's just do it you know I get SC it can be scary but not too scary to where we don't make the leap where we don't move forward and say I'm going to make this happen I think everyone has their own approach you know some people just jump some people need a lot of scaffolding and I think it's just figuring out what your risk tolerance is and trying to figure out what needs to be true in order for you to make that leap and really work on attacking that

Speaker 2: list for you how do you hope that your

Speaker 1: product will inspire women so when starting this journey I knew that feminine Health was an issue entirely I wasn't prepared for how much shame and stigma came around it like a lot of women want to feel beautiful and having a beautiful vagina is a really important part of it yes and healthy yeah a healthy one it's really important to like a woman's sense of well-being right if you're thinking about all these issues that I was just listing statistics for a lot of women are suffering in silence or they don't know or they're not going to get the proper care and the proper help and so when thinking about our brand I really want women to know that their feminine Health matters it's okay to say that and that there are resources out there or things that they can do to help take care of their feminine health and and really back to that idea of like helping women

Speaker 2: glow from the inside out oh I love that this goes along with my next question I know that there are a lot of women athletes and marathon runners and ultramarathon Runners out there and also because of Co we're wearing loungewear and leggings so much more today how do you think your business has shifted during covid

Speaker 1: I think it's just become all that much more critical so again to that statistic leggings make women two times more likely to develop vaginal health issues now these numbers have went up because suddenly everybody's wearing right to your point about athletes as F Tech continues to grow as an industry and women are starting to get more comfortable being like my health is important I think athletes are also getting on board that train and women are starting to get the help that they need and and the reason why I keep harping on the term athletes is they were actually part of the reason that we discovered this I was at the OBGYN office at UCLA I was talking to her about leggings My Obgyn and she's like man I wish you young women would stop wearing them they're not great I tell you all to wear cotton and I was like okay I guess and she was like yeah just take for example the UCLA D1 women athletes they're always here and I was like what wow they're always sick interesting yeah and we started interviewing other OBGYNs and there were different populations of women so it was recent moms like postpartum they're struggling with different issues you have athletes you know who are always sweating in their spandex different issues and so when I think about the future I want women to recognize that they are issues that they're not stigmatized and that they can get help and and I think about more fintech products coming out onto the market to support women as they get more empowered

Speaker 2: I love that and I have noticed that in my own apparel that there's not as much cotton of available because there's a lot of Blends happening yeah it's interesting because sometimes women want the bandex they want things that hug their curves right but sometimes you can't make up how your vagina works like you know it needs aborption and ventilation right so interesting you are busy running a business and managing a team what is your strategy for management and staying on task I've

Speaker 2: great advice and what I've learned is teams want to do a good job but to your point having clear communication and

Speaker 1: also letting the teams kind of flourish in the areas where they can really do a good job and kind of do within the project what brings them Joy so important yeah making sure that you have the proper roles and responsibilities for people and that there's a balance there's always things that need to get done making sure that you have a motivated team and that there's a culture around that is super important

Speaker 2: hard during though hard yes yes with the recent shift in technology today are there any tech apps or platforms that you use either in your business or your personal life that you couldn't live

Speaker 2: in the apparel industry that's great cuz you start to wear clothes and you think oh this feels different like the quality isn't right or it's made with a fabric that's not as breathable and it's not as comfortable so I love that you're having that conversation I really want women to feel comfortable in OA like I want them to put it on and be like you know this is like my best friend of leggings I love that that's so great we're all shifting and pivoting at such a rapid Pace today is there an obstacle that you've come up against due to the recent environment that you can share with us and how you were able to overcome it

Speaker 1: yeah I think Supply chains during the time of covid specifically with a barel were just really hard when we were trying to launch it was during the height of covid and we wanted to produce in LA but suddenly the factories were down everyone's efforts to stay open had been redirected to Central Business and so it was a really big scramble to find a new manufacturing partner we had to go overseas and to build that supply chain but the reason I bring up that example and like what helped me get through it is that if there is a will there is a way sometimes you need to just be like there's a light at the end of this tunnel and you can't necessarily anticipate all the steps that you're going to take to get through that tunnel but that's where being gritty comes into play right I love the word grit it's so important especially for entrepreneurs because to your point things don't always happen the way you want them to so important to just keep moving forward I have two businesses and with my other businesses in real estate it's very easy to focus on the past and and I check this in my own self to focus on the past or what didn't work or how you felt sometimes it's less easy to think about like where is it that you're trying to go in the future and how do you prepare yourself we are all dreaming of travel right now what is a favorite place that you visited and

Speaker 2: why oh my gosh I love turkey one because I have a fashion problem and so I just I needed to buy everything there I really like yachting turkey has like great it's on the Mediterranean it has beaches and everything I love food and the food was just so exciting because not to be a nerd again but turkey has been conquered by so many empires and so they have this like weird influx of like or like it's like a combination of different Cuisines

Speaker 1: and and it's Super Fresh is there a favorite dish or a favorite place that you stayed that you can tell us about I

Speaker 2: think Turkish breakfasts are really nice it's almost like a mix between is really like almost like shishuka type breakfast but at the same time it's more Greek I'm just saying you should try it and I also like a try a Turkish bath they wash you in like these oils and things girl I love the spa for all of us who have been

Speaker 1: missing the spa during Co that sounds fantastic yes definitely magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy what is one tip that you can leave with us today about how you find and live your

Speaker 2: joy find things that naturally let your soul light up with me that is apparel or like even color schemes like I like putting things together to look visually appealing my business centers around an idea that makes me happy like supporting women and like putting together colors and things like that and I think that that's important I think another piece is recognizing when you're an entrepreneur it's easy to get so passionate and sucked into like everything but it's almost like compartmentalizing you know like a little bit and like doing that like meditation and recognizing that there's a core you if you breathe into it like that core you shouldn't be as swayed by things so that will help you find that inner peace cuz peace comes from within

Speaker 1: that's such great advice because it does become your business baby to where that's all we think about but there's also other parts of us that have to be fulfilled and that when we fulfill those areas we can bring them into our business if you're happier and more well-nourished person people want to listen to you you know like when look happy you radiate that energy people want to embrace that the more you can get yourself grounded the more you can get team grounded and you know delegating work to make sure that everyone's on the same page the more I think that helps with finding your joy so true and you can tell from our conversation that you are living your joy and building your joy which is

Speaker 2: wonderful I'm doing something it is definitely challenging at times some days it's like joyful and some days I'm like wow I don't think I feel I think every entrepreneur feels that way but when you talk about apparel and color you light up I do I really do it's been

Speaker 1: so much fun fun talking to you today can you please tell our listeners where and how they can find you we're very active

Speaker 2: on Instagram so you can find us at where Oya so w a r o o y a that's also the same address for our website and you could also find us on Facebook super excited to get you resources to support your feminine health and like leggings that you know help you feel confident

Speaker 1: love it thank you so much for joining us

Speaker 2: today thank you

Speaker 1: melody if you are TI built it we'd love for you to join us we offer Community memberships masterminds Innovative virtual events and meaningful connections to entrepreneurs and corporate leaders please also check out our sheb built it shop curated products from women-owned businesses who put their heart and soul into their beautiful and Innovative products we offer Sheil tip business Consulting and the Sheil tip blog thank you to everyone around the world who joined today thank you to my editor Rich stalino please down download And subscribe wherever you get your podcast and until next time together let's let nothing stop us from experiencing the life that We crave