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Speaker 1: What are you going to do when you hit a hurdle?

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Speaker 1: If you fall, you get back up. If you clip

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Speaker 1: the hurdle, you keep running, And so it's it's horrible

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Speaker 1: when you're on the ground, but just get up and

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Speaker 1: like there will be better things for you.

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Speaker 2: What's going on? Everyone? Emily A Badi Here.

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Speaker 3: You are listening to episode three hundred and nineteen of Hurdle,

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Speaker 3: a wellness focused podcast where I talk to inspirational people

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Speaker 3: about everything from their highest highs and toughest moments to

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Speaker 3: essential tips on how to live a healthier, happier, more

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Speaker 3: motivated life. We all go through our fair share of hurdles.

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Speaker 3: My goal through these discussions is to empower you to

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Speaker 3: better navigate yours and move with intention so that you

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Speaker 3: can stride towards your own big potential and of course

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Speaker 3: have some fun the way. I hope you're ready to

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Speaker 3: get comfortable with the uncomfortable and that today's guest is

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Speaker 3: going to talk.

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Speaker 2: About the menstrual cycle.

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Speaker 3: And that's because Amanda Calavreese is the co founder of

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Speaker 3: a brand called Sequel. Sequel has designed spiral tampons to

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Speaker 3: create a longer flow path for more even fluid absorption aka,

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Speaker 3: this is a tampon that's not gonna leak on you.

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Speaker 3: I know, I know, we have to get comfortable with

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Speaker 3: these words like tampons and cycle and period talk, but

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Speaker 3: it's something that all of us are dealing with going

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Speaker 3: through navigating. No one likes to leak, and that was

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Speaker 3: a problem that Amanda and her co founder were trying

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Speaker 3: to solve when they were both super active back at Stanford.

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Speaker 3: She talks to me about this journey today and the

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Speaker 3: hurdles that were involved with bringing what was once a

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Speaker 3: class project into the world as a full on, direct

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Speaker 3: to consumer product. Amanda also shares insights with me from

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Speaker 3: her time on the USA Life Saving Team and opens

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Speaker 3: up about how her experience as an athlete really informed

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Speaker 3: the decisions that she makes regularly as an entrepreneur. Again,

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Speaker 3: it's time to get comfortable the uncomfortable, because there are

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Speaker 3: so many phenomenal takeaways in this episode, which we like

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Speaker 3: some of the others as of late, recorded in Paris,

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Speaker 3: So thank you to Athleta for providing us the space

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Speaker 3: at their power of she hub with that, make sure

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Speaker 3: you're following along with Hurdle over on social It's at

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Speaker 3: Hurdle podcast. I am over at Emily Abadi and if

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Speaker 3: you're not yet subscribed to the weekly Hurdle newsletter, what

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Speaker 3: are you waiting for? It's absolutely free. You can do

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Speaker 3: so by clicking on over to the show notes and

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Speaker 3: get that in your inbox every single Friday.

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Speaker 2: With that, let's get to it. Let's get to hurdling.

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Speaker 3: Today. I'm sitting down with Amanda Calabres. How are we

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Speaker 3: doing today?

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Speaker 1: We're doing great. Two weeks in Paris, I'm still soaking

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Speaker 1: it all in.

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Speaker 2: A little different than San Francisco for you.

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Speaker 1: Definitely a different pace.

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Speaker 3: Here, yeah, but enjoyable, nonetheless incredible.

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Speaker 1: It's chaos, but it's beautiful chaos.

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Speaker 4: I'm positive that I've laid the framework for this in

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Speaker 4: the intro, but I would love it if you could

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Speaker 4: talk to us a little bit about your company, Sequel.

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Speaker 2: What are we working with here?

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Speaker 1: We at Sequel have reengineered the tampon for the first

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Speaker 1: time in eighty years. It's by women. It's by women

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Speaker 1: who were athletes. And if I didn't allude to this before,

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Speaker 1: but the tampon has not been re engineered in eighty years,

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Speaker 1: you might be interested to know that the tampon was

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Speaker 1: originally designed by a man.

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Speaker 2: Oh well, then, like.

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Speaker 1: Every other thing that was made for us, right, it's

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Speaker 1: like a man was like, this is the perfect solution.

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Speaker 4: Yes, of course, of course. And so tell me a

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Speaker 4: little bit about your background. I know that you went

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Speaker 4: to Stanford and it was there that you came up

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Speaker 4: with this idea for a final project. That's right, okay,

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Speaker 4: So talk to us about where you even got the

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Speaker 4: idea for this.

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Speaker 1: So the idea for SQL started way before I even

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Speaker 1: got to Stanford. My co founder and I we both

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Speaker 1: played high level sports. So she played d on lacrosse

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Speaker 1: in a white skirt. But I have been competing for

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Speaker 1: the US national life Saving team for at that point

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Speaker 1: seven eight years. I was wearing my red, white and

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Speaker 1: blue bathing suit in these competitions all over the world

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Speaker 1: and was at the top of my game. Had dreamed

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Speaker 1: of competing in this uniform, but I could never feel

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Speaker 1: comfortable in it, and truly comfortable, because I was always

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Speaker 1: worried about my period products failing. I was also a

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Speaker 1: lifeguard in New York, sitting on those big white East

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Speaker 1: Coast lifeguard chairs. You're one of a few women at

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Speaker 1: the beach. You're on your period. You're sitting on the

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Speaker 1: lifeguard stand and you're supposed to be there paying attention

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Speaker 1: watching people in the water, But in the back of

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Speaker 1: your mind, you're thinking, am I going to get up

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Speaker 1: off of this white chair? And is there going to

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Speaker 1: be a red spot when I get up? And I'm

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Speaker 1: going to be mortified? And so this distraction was key

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Speaker 1: in driving my co founder and I to say, you

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Speaker 1: know what if women didn't need to be distracted when

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Speaker 1: they were using period products? What if we actually had

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Speaker 1: something that was reliable. That was what led to the

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Speaker 1: Class Project to say can we build better period products?

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Speaker 1: And when we surveyed the landscape for female athletes again

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Speaker 1: and again, you know, I my tampon is failing me

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Speaker 1: before it's full. I even when it's not failing me,

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Speaker 1: I'm running down the field. Half of my brain is

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Speaker 1: focused on the ball and half of my brain is thinking,

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Speaker 1: am I going to have an accident today? And I'm

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Speaker 1: asking my teammates can you check me? Can you check me?

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Speaker 4: So it's so interesting the stigma that comes with something

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Speaker 4: that literally every woman goes through.

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Speaker 3: Right, It's like, I'm so worried that it's going to fail.

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Speaker 3: I'm so worried that's going to show and as if

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Speaker 3: your cycle isn't uncomfortable enough as it is already, right,

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Speaker 3: like all the things that happen to our bodies, the bloating,

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Speaker 3: the headaches, the cramps, et cetera. And then it's like

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Speaker 3: and there's additional layer of guilt, shame, worry, et cetera.

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Speaker 1: And I think that is such a big part of SEQL,

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Speaker 1: is that mental load that we carry on our periods.

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Speaker 1: It's like, we have all of these symptoms, we have

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Speaker 1: all of these products, we have all of these things

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Speaker 1: that we're managing. And that's physically managing, right, then there's

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Speaker 1: also the mental load and the mental just baggage that

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Speaker 1: we're carrying with us. We're we're kind of how going

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Speaker 1: through these hormonal ships, and we're also trying to use

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Speaker 1: these products that were you know, never built by us

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Speaker 1: and for us in the first place.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 4: Okay, So before we talk more about the evolution of

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Speaker 4: starting a company from scratch, which no matter what you're doing,

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Speaker 4: whether you're creating a wearable product like clothing or you're

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Speaker 4: creating something like SQL, it truly blows my mind all

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Speaker 4: the things that have to go into that process. But

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Speaker 4: before we get there, I want to talk about the

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Speaker 4: life saving team, because this is such an interesting thing

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Speaker 4: that I don't think that a lot of people really

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Speaker 4: have an awareness of. So out of all of the sports,

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Speaker 4: how are you like, you know what I want to do,

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Speaker 4: It's the life saving So yeah.

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Speaker 1: I want to be at the beach. That was I

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Speaker 1: want to be a competitive lifeguard and have to explain

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Speaker 1: it for the rest of my life perfectly. So I

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Speaker 1: was just in love with the ocean. I grew up

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Speaker 1: at the beach in New York. It's very common for

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Speaker 1: you know, you want your kids to be safe at

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Speaker 1: the ocean. You want them to be able to be

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Speaker 1: okay going to the beach and not having to worry

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Speaker 1: about your kids. And so my parents put us in

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Speaker 1: the Junior lifeguard program. It's an amazing program where you're

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Speaker 1: teaching kids ocean safety skills and it's also teamwork and

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Speaker 1: resilience and you know, facing your fears when the ocean

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Speaker 1: is huge and you're little nine years old and they're like,

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Speaker 1: get out there, you can do it. And I love

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Speaker 1: the program.

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Speaker 2: It was.

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Speaker 1: It was empowering for me as a really tiny, tiny

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Speaker 1: human being and being able to face those big giant

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Speaker 1: waves as like this small human was so empowering. But really,

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Speaker 1: my best event and what actually brought me to the

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Speaker 1: US team was this race called Beach Flags. It's a

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Speaker 1: sand sprinting event. So you know, part of the junior

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Speaker 1: lifeguard program is competing. It's how we keep the lifeguards

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Speaker 1: at the adult level interested to stay fit and train.

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Speaker 1: It's also how we keep the kids interested in coming

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Speaker 1: back weekend after weekend because everyone loves friendly competition. My

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Speaker 1: event is the Beach Flags. It's kind of like a

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Speaker 1: you go, It's kind of like a track meet, right,

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Speaker 1: you have track and field, you have ocean and beach events.

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Speaker 1: I was a beach specialist. Now I love swimming. I

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Speaker 1: was a great board paddler for many years. But the

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Speaker 1: thing that I latched onto was you lay down in

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Speaker 1: the sand. You are laying You're laying pronated, you have

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Speaker 1: your hands out, your elbows out to your side, and

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Speaker 1: they give you a commit You're facing the opposite way, right,

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Speaker 1: you have to get up and run the other way.

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Speaker 1: And you're laying down and everyone else is laying next

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Speaker 1: to you, and they say, now in the hands of

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Speaker 1: the starter competitors, ready, heads down and then they blow

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Speaker 1: a whistle and it's reaction time and you have to

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Speaker 1: get up, turn your body around, sprint twenty five meters

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Speaker 1: and dive for a stick in the sand a hose.

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Speaker 1: If you don't get one, you're out, and they go

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Speaker 1: down one by one by one, elimination style, until you're

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Speaker 1: going head to head with the final girl. And again,

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Speaker 1: Tiny Little Me was like really fast, popping up, getting around.

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Speaker 1: I was fast, and I loved the mental aspect of it.

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Speaker 1: It was like chess, right, You're laying down in the

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Speaker 1: sand and you're thinking about, Okay, how can I position

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Speaker 1: myself on this sand chess board to get the best flag,

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Speaker 1: to be in the best position, and you're running its

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Speaker 1: endurance and sprint endurance, so you're running like you know

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Speaker 1: sometimes in a day you can do twenty twenty five

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Speaker 1: of these races.

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Speaker 2: Wow.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, And it's very intense. It's like you're head to

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Speaker 1: head with the other girls and great camaraderie as well.

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Speaker 4: And then I mean that's only the beginning, right, because

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Speaker 4: this was like when you started to fall in love

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Speaker 4: with the different aspects that.

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Speaker 2: Went into being on this team.

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Speaker 4: But that's only one component of the greater picture of

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Speaker 4: what it looks to compete at that level.

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Speaker 1: That's right. I competed for so many years as a

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Speaker 1: junior and I did all the events it was. I

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Speaker 1: paddled the board, I swam in the ocean, and I

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Speaker 1: loved I loved my club team in New York, our

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Speaker 1: team of lifeguards and athletes. We did the program junior

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Speaker 1: life guard program together all summer. We would go to

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Speaker 1: the Nationals together. We were a small town competing against

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Speaker 1: you know, La County and competing against the Florida teams

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Speaker 1: that were huge, and we were this tiny little team

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Speaker 1: and we were small but mighty might here. That's the

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Speaker 1: theme here. Yeah, And ultimately I was selected for the

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Speaker 1: youth national team for the first time when I was

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Speaker 1: in high school. Was a lifelong dream for me. My

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Speaker 1: my babysitter growing up who was on the national team,

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Speaker 1: and I was like, I want to be like her,

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Speaker 1: and so I actually was in France. I competed in

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Speaker 1: the South of France when I was a senior in

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Speaker 1: high school. I ended up getting fourth in the world

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Speaker 1: in the beach flags at my first Junior Worlds. And

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Speaker 1: from there I was selected to the open team and

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Speaker 1: I competed on the US team for nine years.

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Speaker 2: Wow, nine years.

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Speaker 4: That is Yeah, it's absolutely remarkable, and it's just it

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Speaker 4: is funny because, as you said, I'm sure every single

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Speaker 4: time that you mention it, you get so many of

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Speaker 4: the same questions what goes into it?

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Speaker 2: What are the events? But I was like, well, we

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Speaker 2: need to elaborate.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so many questions, but I do. The thing that

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Speaker 1: is the coolest for me to talk about is that

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Speaker 1: it is it has such a simultaneous humanitarian mission to

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Speaker 1: it because we all are trained as lifeguards were you know,

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Speaker 1: we're coming to somebody else's home. We're very often flying

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Speaker 1: across the world to compete, and there's always a humanitarian

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Speaker 1: and volunteer component to the competition.

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Speaker 2: So give us an example of what that looks like.

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Speaker 1: So when we go to when we were in Japan,

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Speaker 1: we competed for two days and then the third day

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Speaker 1: all of the teams, the Australian team, the French team,

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Speaker 1: the New Zealand team, US we gave some lessons to

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Speaker 1: Japanese school children that were brought to the beach to

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Speaker 1: work with the lifeguard cards that we're visiting from all

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Speaker 1: over the world. We did the same thing in New Zealand.

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Speaker 1: We actually went into the schools in New Zealand and

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Speaker 1: taught an ocean safety class for all of these students

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Speaker 1: and they were like, oh my god, you're from America.

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Speaker 1: Are you Baywatch?

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Speaker 3: I'm not, I am not, but like kind of sort

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Speaker 3: of actually yes, yes, Oh my gosh.

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Speaker 2: It's so remarkable.

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Speaker 4: So now bring us up to speed with the evolution

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Speaker 4: of this project and how one of the judges at

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Speaker 4: this competition actually became one of your first angel investors.

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Speaker 1: That that is I think one of the cooler parts

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Speaker 1: of this story is that you you build something with

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Speaker 1: so much passion, but it comes together in this class project.

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Speaker 1: And we all know how class projects go. We're like,

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Speaker 1: we want the we want the best for them, and

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Speaker 1: then they never move forward out of the presentation. But

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Speaker 1: we did the final presentation this It was for a

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Speaker 1: very similar design to what we have now, was for

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Speaker 1: this spiral tampon. That was going to be a more

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Speaker 1: flu mechanically efficient design for the tampon, changing these vertical

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Speaker 1: channels to something that was going to more hopefully more

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Speaker 1: evenly absorb menstrual fluids, so that there was a helping

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Speaker 1: it have a longer time to leak was the idea

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Speaker 1: that is very much so the idea today. We did

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Speaker 1: our final presentation and this venture capitalist. We were at Stanford,

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Speaker 1: so they always brought v season to judge the projects.

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Speaker 1: He came up to us after and said, you know,

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Speaker 1: if you end up pursuing this outside of the class,

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Speaker 1: please let me know. I want to help you. I

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Speaker 1: want to be along for this journey and I would

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Speaker 1: love to hear an update, you know.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, six six eight months from now wild And I

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Speaker 3: noticed you said he yeah, which is super interesting, right,

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Speaker 3: because I would be led to assume that it may

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Speaker 3: be hard to have male vcs or male dominated vcs

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Speaker 3: really get on board.

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Speaker 2: With your product because they can't.

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Speaker 3: Relate to the use cause clearly right, right, And it

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Speaker 3: is so much of venture capital dollars are not held

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Speaker 3: by women, and so we needed to you know, we

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Speaker 3: have some incredible women on our cap table. Mar Hirschinson

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Speaker 3: just a legendary investor on our cap table, so lucky,

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Speaker 3: but to get some of these men to invest in

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Speaker 3: our company, we needed to You can't build empathy because

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Speaker 3: they've never had a period, but you need to try

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Speaker 3: and build sympathy for.

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Speaker 1: The need and show them what a logical solution this is.

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Speaker 1: And so this investor immediately connected with the story that

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Speaker 1: we told in the class presentation. I think that was

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Speaker 1: something that he liked so much about SQL from day one.

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Speaker 1: It was the storytelling component. It was if you can

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Speaker 1: tell this story really well to me, you can tell

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Speaker 1: this story to hundreds of thousands of people and bring

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Speaker 1: them on as your customers and your supporters.

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Speaker 3: Right, So, so many people listening to this right now

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Speaker 3: might be like, wow, great idea like tampon made without

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Speaker 3: the vertical lines.

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Speaker 2: Right, we like absorption, we like leak protection.

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Speaker 3: Awesome, But how do two women who have never had

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Speaker 3: to mass produce anything, don't know anything about starting a

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Speaker 3: company except maybe what you've learned in your classes. At

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Speaker 3: this point, you're also, I mean, you're in college, like

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Speaker 3: you're young. Talk to me about how you even begin

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Speaker 3: putting this into motion.

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Speaker 1: Well, the first thing is that you you don't drop

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Speaker 1: out of Stanford.

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Speaker 2: You do not drop.

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Speaker 1: Out of college. Do not drop out of Stanford. I

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Speaker 1: felt like that was such a bad At some point

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Speaker 1: people were like, I'm a dropout, and my co founder

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Speaker 1: and I were like, this is a highly technical product, right,

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Speaker 1: this is a regulated medical device, and we are at

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Speaker 1: one of the greatest institutions for innovation in the world,

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Speaker 1: and for every challenging aspect of our product, there was

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Speaker 1: an expert on campus for it. Right, So we want

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Speaker 1: to understand, we want to find a way to test

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Speaker 1: the fluid mechanics of our theory. Let's go find a

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Speaker 1: flood mechanics professor who specifically understands the motion of fluid

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Speaker 1: through a fibrous membrane, which is.

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Speaker 4: I'm sorry, I just need to like take a bet

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Speaker 4: and just say that the fact that there are humans

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Speaker 4: in this world that have a specialty like that just

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Speaker 4: remind you of the myriad of interest areas everywhere.

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Speaker 1: The depth of humans, right, Like, there is so many

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Speaker 1: things to learn and discover, And I really felt at

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Speaker 1: Stanford it was such an incredible amount of breath in

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Speaker 1: human experience as well. But we leaned on those experts

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Speaker 1: and there were so many experts in founding and starting

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Speaker 1: companies there. I mean, there's an incredible program at Stanford

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Speaker 1: called the Biodesign Group, and they specifically work on innovations

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Speaker 1: and advancements in medical devices and making sure that we're

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Speaker 1: taking the most amazing doctors, students, product designers, mechanical engineers

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Speaker 1: and equipping them with the medical tools and resources and

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Speaker 1: experts so that they can build life saving products for

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Speaker 1: human beings. And that was also a program that we

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Speaker 1: leaned on heavily to say, you know, we're two undergrads,

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Speaker 1: like we're both twenty one, and we've never had, you know,

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Speaker 1: formal prior work experience. What does it look like to

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Speaker 1: go through the FDA and is this something that we

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Speaker 1: can do?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and that's only the beginning, right, because then you

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Speaker 4: also needed to as we started chatting about talk to vcs.

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Speaker 4: That requires a lot of courage, it requires a lot

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Speaker 4: of confidence, It requires being organized. Would you say that

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Speaker 4: those are skills that were very natural to you or

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Speaker 4: traits that you needed to develop over time?

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Speaker 1: I think that we're always learning and growing. And I

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Speaker 1: look back at myself five years ago when we were

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Speaker 1: raising our first round of capital, and I'm I'm amazed

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Speaker 1: by the growth. And I think that's really important to

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Speaker 1: time to time, look back at where you were five

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Speaker 1: years prior, two years prior, and just appreciate your growth

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Speaker 1: over time. I think that's so important. But I do

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Speaker 1: think that being an athlete for so many years and

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Speaker 1: there were times that I could train with my team

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Speaker 1: in New York. There I did. I lived in Australia

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Speaker 1: for a little while, competing with a team there. But

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Speaker 1: for the majority of my time as an athlete, I was,

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Speaker 1: you know, working on my own training plans, and I

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Speaker 1: was working out alone, and I was waking up super

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Speaker 1: early to get out there and on this really tight

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Speaker 1: organized schedule of like, you know, wake up early, get

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Speaker 1: my training and do my homework, go to class, and

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Speaker 1: that structure an organization from training because being an entrepreneur

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Speaker 1: is very lonely, and I'm so lucky to have my

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Speaker 1: co founder because otherwise it would be even lonelier. But

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Speaker 1: having that experience training alone as an athlete helped prepare

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Speaker 1: me for this very solitary but incredible journey as an entrepreneur.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: I mean two things that I'm hearing you say.

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Speaker 4: The first thing that I'm hearing you say is that

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Speaker 4: you are a very self motivated person. And so the

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Speaker 4: getting up early in the morning, the making your own

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Speaker 4: training schedule, those things empowered you and helped you remember

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Speaker 4: how capable you are when it came to this new venture,

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Speaker 4: despite how much newness there was involved, Right, Yeah, and

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Speaker 4: then the second part of this is something that I

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Speaker 4: really want to dive in on, which is the loneliness.

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Speaker 4: Like you said, you do have a co founder, but

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Speaker 4: there are a lot of aspects of creating something, regardless

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Speaker 4: of what it is, that can feel very lonely. And

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Speaker 4: so how do you manage that even to this day,

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Speaker 4: How do you manage doing things on your own when

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Speaker 4: sometimes you'd rather not.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I again so thankful for my co founder because

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Speaker 1: at least you can look at the person sitting next

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Speaker 1: to you and says, us against the world, we can

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Speaker 1: do this. But again being you know, we started this

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Speaker 1: right after college. So our friends from college we moved

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Speaker 1: to San Francisco. We had friends from Stanford that had

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Speaker 1: moved up. But they were like, I'm not free tonight.

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Speaker 1: I have drinks with my work friends, and she and

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Speaker 1: I are like work friends.

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Speaker 2: You're my work friends.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm like, we're work friends, Like we hang out

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Speaker 1: all day. We can go to drinks and be work

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Speaker 1: and then we've been together for twelve hours. That was

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Speaker 1: really hard adjusting socially. And I think they're's professional development

401
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Speaker 1: and then there's personal development. And I think professionally I

402
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Speaker 1: developed so quickly. It was like learn fast on your feet,

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Speaker 1: like super fast and loose. You're like learning all these skills,

404
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Speaker 1: juggling everything, and then personally you're missing out on the

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Speaker 1: again like work drinks with friends, or you're missing out

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Speaker 1: on that office culture, and it's you and your business

407
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Speaker 1: partner just alone against the world. And so personally, I

408
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Speaker 1: really had to go out of my way. And I'm

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Speaker 1: not a shy person, but I can definitely get, you know,

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Speaker 1: like some social anxiety, like we all can. And I

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Speaker 1: really had to hone that skill of putting myself out

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Speaker 1: there and saying yes to things. Even when I wanted

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Speaker 1: to be home in my pajamas, in my bed and

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Speaker 1: just curled up. It's like, Okay, I need to go

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Speaker 1: and do this and meet people.

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Speaker 2: And yeah, yeah, and meet people. I relate to that.

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Speaker 4: I mean, whenever I am lucky enough to be home

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Speaker 4: in Brooklyn, I love being home, and I become such

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Speaker 4: a homebody and I have to remind myself, you don't

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Speaker 4: live here to stay home all the time, right, Like

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Speaker 4: you live here to be out in this city and

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Speaker 4: to meet people and to network and all of those things,

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Speaker 4: and of course genuinely spend time with my friends and

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Speaker 4: my family and the people that I hold close to me.

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Speaker 4: So I can really identify with that, and especially what

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Speaker 4: you said about the level of inherent social anxiety that

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Speaker 4: we all have. Right, It's not as though, okay, I am,

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Speaker 4: I am a bit extroverted, but I can definitely fall

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Speaker 4: into this introvert bubble, especially when you are in the

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Speaker 4: place where you're energy dealing all the time, when you're

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Speaker 4: the person that's interviewing and et cetera, and you in

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Speaker 4: your shoes going out and talking to people at different

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Speaker 4: companies and constantly pitching your product, and it's like, sometimes

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Speaker 4: you just need to beat.

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Speaker 1: Energy dealing is just that is the best way to

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Speaker 1: describe the every day because you're constantly putting yourself out there,

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Speaker 1: and if you're constantly giving, how are you filling your cup?

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Speaker 2: Right?

439
00:24:03,359 --> 00:24:08,200
Speaker 1: So I think that to combat the loneliness, it's actually

440
00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:11,720
Speaker 1: a mix of putting myself out there and like you

441
00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:14,640
Speaker 1: don't want to get your cup too empty, but making

442
00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:18,800
Speaker 1: sure that you're balancing that time for yourself you can recharge,

443
00:24:19,040 --> 00:24:22,320
Speaker 1: but then also getting getting out there. Yeah, So for me,

444
00:24:22,520 --> 00:24:26,119
Speaker 1: recharging is being in the ocean and surfing and feeling

445
00:24:26,119 --> 00:24:29,240
Speaker 1: connected to the ocean, So making sure that I have

446
00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:32,080
Speaker 1: that time to or even just go for a swim

447
00:24:32,119 --> 00:24:37,080
Speaker 1: and submerge, put my face underwater, and then I'm good.

448
00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:37,880
Speaker 1: I'm good.

449
00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:39,399
Speaker 2: I'm recharged, recharged.

450
00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:42,919
Speaker 3: But even though you have these tools in your toolbox

451
00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:45,840
Speaker 3: that help you recharge, that doesn't mean that you aren't

452
00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:49,840
Speaker 3: actively and regularly combating burnout. So when you do get

453
00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:53,360
Speaker 3: to that next level spot when you are like, wow,

454
00:24:53,560 --> 00:24:56,840
Speaker 3: I just feel like I am beyond what do you do?

455
00:24:57,320 --> 00:24:57,520
Speaker 2: Then?

456
00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:00,720
Speaker 1: Yeah? I think I think having a therapist this is amazing.

457
00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:07,240
Speaker 1: Having somebody to just listen but also be there constructively,

458
00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:10,840
Speaker 1: to be a soundboard. I think that's really important. When

459
00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:17,320
Speaker 1: I am feeling burnout, I'm very externalizing, like external processing.

460
00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:19,760
Speaker 1: My friends would laugh they heard me say that, it's

461
00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:22,919
Speaker 1: so true, like I'm such an external processor. But just

462
00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:25,920
Speaker 1: sitting with my closest friend, you know, those friends that

463
00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:28,120
Speaker 1: you can sit there and like like, let's hang out,

464
00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:29,680
Speaker 1: and then you just sit there next to each other

465
00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:30,160
Speaker 1: on the couch.

466
00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:32,159
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, and you're both staring at your own phones.

467
00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:34,760
Speaker 4: You're not actually talking about It's just nice to be

468
00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:36,000
Speaker 4: in community with someone else.

469
00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:38,040
Speaker 2: You may also feel the same way that you do right.

470
00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:41,400
Speaker 1: Oh, you're like doing your nails and you're like by yourself,

471
00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:43,119
Speaker 1: and you're like, I don't even need to talk to you,

472
00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:47,560
Speaker 1: but I'm recharging. And I have a few of those people,

473
00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:53,840
Speaker 1: very special human beings in San Francisco that this one

474
00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:56,680
Speaker 1: friend that I have, she somehow knows when I'm teetering

475
00:25:56,720 --> 00:26:00,120
Speaker 1: on the edge of burnout, and she always happens to

476
00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:02,520
Speaker 1: text me and is like, Hey, what are you doing tonight?

477
00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:04,159
Speaker 1: And I'm like, I'm.

478
00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:06,040
Speaker 2: I'm like whatever your doing.

479
00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:07,760
Speaker 1: Yeah.

480
00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:09,520
Speaker 2: So special to have those people.

481
00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:14,399
Speaker 3: Taking a break from today's show to talk to you

482
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483
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485
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486
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487
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488
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489
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490
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492
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494
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497
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498
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499
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500
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501
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502
00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:32,480
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503
00:27:32,359 --> 00:27:36,640
Speaker 3: L mnt dot com slash hurdle to get a free

504
00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:46,399
Speaker 3: Element sample back with your purchase. Today we talked a

505
00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:49,040
Speaker 3: little bit about all the resources you had at Stanford

506
00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:51,240
Speaker 3: when it came to developing your product. But I'm sure

507
00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:54,200
Speaker 3: that your initial concepts are your initial prototypes.

508
00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:55,719
Speaker 2: Do we call it tampon a prototype?

509
00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:56,280
Speaker 1: Yeah? We do.

510
00:27:56,359 --> 00:27:59,639
Speaker 3: Okay, I'm sure that your initial prototypes there were some

511
00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:03,360
Speaker 3: ways and some like not exactly wins. So what were

512
00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:07,680
Speaker 3: the biggest hurdles in the beginning of the product development

513
00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:07,960
Speaker 3: for you?

514
00:28:08,680 --> 00:28:11,919
Speaker 1: Yeah? One of the hardest things for a medical device

515
00:28:12,200 --> 00:28:15,560
Speaker 1: is that you have to submit the final manufactured form

516
00:28:15,800 --> 00:28:21,280
Speaker 1: to the FDA, and so for tampons, that's incredibly difficult.

517
00:28:21,800 --> 00:28:24,639
Speaker 1: The reason that tampon hasn't changed in almost eighty years

518
00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:28,720
Speaker 1: is because of systemic monopolies that exist throughout the supply chain.

519
00:28:29,160 --> 00:28:31,360
Speaker 1: So if you start all the way at the beginning,

520
00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:35,120
Speaker 1: there is one factory in the entire world in Switzerland

521
00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:39,920
Speaker 1: that pretty much has a monopoly on the manufacturing of

522
00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:44,280
Speaker 1: tampon making machines, and so it starts there, and then

523
00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:48,000
Speaker 1: there are very few factories outside of your tampax playtechs,

524
00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:51,800
Speaker 1: et cetera. Very few factories outside of those that even

525
00:28:51,840 --> 00:28:54,800
Speaker 1: make tampons at scale. And in order to submit to

526
00:28:54,840 --> 00:28:57,479
Speaker 1: the FDA, you have to create that product at scale

527
00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:01,080
Speaker 1: because it needs to be to be testing the product

528
00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:03,520
Speaker 1: that you're going to be putting onto the market. So

529
00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:07,120
Speaker 1: and that's for safety, that's for regulation, it's for all

530
00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:12,120
Speaker 1: of those things. And so we it was incredibly difficult

531
00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:16,600
Speaker 1: to get from Okay, this works when I like, test

532
00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:19,560
Speaker 1: it and administer fluid. I made this. Took me ten

533
00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:22,360
Speaker 1: minutes to make five tamlons, right like took me forever.

534
00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:27,560
Speaker 1: Now how do I create machinery? How do I make

535
00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:31,360
Speaker 1: sure it's defensible and patentable? How do I manufacture that machinery?

536
00:29:31,960 --> 00:29:34,840
Speaker 1: And then how do I plug it into the existing

537
00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:37,600
Speaker 1: monopolies that exists, put it onto a machine that already exists,

538
00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:41,600
Speaker 1: and make one hundred and fifty spiral tambons per minute?

539
00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:45,440
Speaker 1: How a lot of a lot of manufacturing travel. Like

540
00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:51,320
Speaker 1: my co founder is an absolute unbelievable person that has

541
00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:55,160
Speaker 1: traveled all over this earth looking at machines, going to factories,

542
00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:58,120
Speaker 1: making sure that we had the right fit from a partner.

543
00:29:58,840 --> 00:29:59,920
Speaker 1: And it took a long time.

544
00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:02,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, took years, Oh my god.

545
00:30:02,080 --> 00:30:06,960
Speaker 4: And it's just such an overwhelming thought to say, this

546
00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:09,320
Speaker 4: is what I want and I literally don't have a

547
00:30:09,560 --> 00:30:11,520
Speaker 4: clue where to start.

548
00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:13,920
Speaker 2: It's all research, it's all that groundwork.

549
00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:16,880
Speaker 4: So in all of that traveling to all the different plants,

550
00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:20,280
Speaker 4: where's the funding for that coming from? Is that already

551
00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:23,120
Speaker 4: with you having backing to create your product?

552
00:30:23,360 --> 00:30:24,360
Speaker 1: That's exactly right?

553
00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:26,920
Speaker 3: Okay, Yeah, so even before you got to this point,

554
00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:29,400
Speaker 3: you had to meet people and convince them that this

555
00:30:29,560 --> 00:30:31,479
Speaker 3: was an idea worth putting dollars behind.

556
00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:35,360
Speaker 1: Totally. We had to get because there's so much upfront

557
00:30:35,480 --> 00:30:35,840
Speaker 1: R and D.

558
00:30:36,360 --> 00:30:36,560
Speaker 2: Here.

559
00:30:37,240 --> 00:30:40,800
Speaker 1: We had to raise the money first off of this

560
00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:46,280
Speaker 1: incredible vision that we had, which was period products that

561
00:30:46,440 --> 00:30:52,040
Speaker 1: were finally reliable and designed by women that moved their bodies.

562
00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:54,719
Speaker 1: Yeah right, and that was the vision, and we had

563
00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:58,320
Speaker 1: to tell that story. We raised. We've raised just over

564
00:30:58,360 --> 00:31:02,120
Speaker 1: five million dollars in capital in order to fund so

565
00:31:02,320 --> 00:31:06,360
Speaker 1: much of this research and development, but also bring in experts.

566
00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:06,600
Speaker 2: Right.

567
00:31:06,880 --> 00:31:12,040
Speaker 1: We have incredible engineers from xpng X Johnson and Johnson

568
00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:16,080
Speaker 1: that are just masters in this category.

569
00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:18,760
Speaker 2: Yeah. Wow, It's truly remarkable.

570
00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:21,320
Speaker 4: And I do want to talk a little bit more

571
00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:25,959
Speaker 4: about the process of raising money. So for those that

572
00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:30,640
Speaker 4: are completely unfamiliar, why don't you detail how that works

573
00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:33,760
Speaker 4: and what happens when either an angel.

574
00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:37,239
Speaker 2: Investor or a VC say we want in.

575
00:31:37,840 --> 00:31:42,680
Speaker 1: Yeah, so, I mean such a funny anecdote here. Okay,

576
00:31:43,560 --> 00:31:48,720
Speaker 1: we had just started the company and we were working

577
00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:53,520
Speaker 1: with the Stanford start X Accelerator, incredible organization. They were

578
00:31:53,600 --> 00:31:55,840
Speaker 1: teaching us how to fundraise. You know, do the meetings,

579
00:31:55,880 --> 00:31:57,480
Speaker 1: take the meeting, how do you pitch, how do you

580
00:31:57,520 --> 00:32:00,880
Speaker 1: tell your story? How do you show growth and profitability

581
00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:03,920
Speaker 1: over time? How do you build a pitch deack. What

582
00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:06,400
Speaker 1: is like what does the email exchange look like? Right,

583
00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:09,240
Speaker 1: there's so many minute things that like how do I

584
00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:13,920
Speaker 1: even talk to somebody over email and facilitate an investment?

585
00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:16,880
Speaker 1: That's even that's a whole thing that they don't teach

586
00:32:16,920 --> 00:32:18,280
Speaker 1: you in the Stanford class.

587
00:32:18,560 --> 00:32:19,040
Speaker 2: But we were.

588
00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:21,520
Speaker 1: Learning that and we were emailing with one of our

589
00:32:21,520 --> 00:32:25,640
Speaker 1: first investors and and he said I'm in and we

590
00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:31,440
Speaker 1: said when and he was like, send me the paperwork

591
00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:33,600
Speaker 1: from your lawyers. We were like, okay, we have lawyers.

592
00:32:33,600 --> 00:32:37,400
Speaker 1: We can We got that lawyer. The lawyer like you

593
00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:38,120
Speaker 1: have the lawyers.

594
00:32:38,120 --> 00:32:40,080
Speaker 5: Someone had to someone I would have had to learn that,

595
00:32:40,160 --> 00:32:41,520
Speaker 5: like I would have had to learn that I needed

596
00:32:41,560 --> 00:32:44,440
Speaker 5: lawyers on standard to secure the investment. And it's just

597
00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:47,280
Speaker 5: I think that this is why it's so crazy, right,

598
00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:50,680
Speaker 5: because so many people say things. You hear it on

599
00:32:50,840 --> 00:32:52,640
Speaker 5: like something like how I built this all the time.

600
00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:54,640
Speaker 5: It's like and then we got our first investor and

601
00:32:54,640 --> 00:32:55,840
Speaker 5: it's like you just did it like that.

602
00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:58,400
Speaker 1: No, you have to be honest about this stuff, Like

603
00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:03,600
Speaker 1: we literally we had the lawyers because of we had

604
00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:06,280
Speaker 1: amazing mentors at Stanford who were like, not only do

605
00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:12,040
Speaker 1: you guys need like business like council, corporate council, but

606
00:33:12,120 --> 00:33:14,040
Speaker 1: you need a patent lawyer. And then all of a sudden,

607
00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:18,240
Speaker 1: we have two lawyers and we're like, that is more

608
00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:20,000
Speaker 1: legal than I thought I would have in my life.

609
00:33:20,040 --> 00:33:24,480
Speaker 1: And so we have our two lawyers and the next

610
00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:26,920
Speaker 1: step is, you know, okay, I send you the paperwork,

611
00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:31,160
Speaker 1: I signed the paperwork, send me your bank details. And

612
00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:33,600
Speaker 1: we were like, the way that you just said that

613
00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:36,320
Speaker 1: you have and you have to be honest about these things.

614
00:33:36,360 --> 00:33:39,120
Speaker 1: I think so often your people are not. We were like,

615
00:33:39,200 --> 00:33:42,520
Speaker 1: oh my god, we need to facilitate the investment. Obviously,

616
00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:45,760
Speaker 1: we need a bank account. So we're in the Marina

617
00:33:45,800 --> 00:33:48,040
Speaker 1: District in San Francisco and we're like sitting at a

618
00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:50,120
Speaker 1: cafe and we're like doing these emails. This email comes in.

619
00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:53,200
Speaker 1: We're like, we need to go now. We need to

620
00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:55,840
Speaker 1: go get a bank account now. And we ran to

621
00:33:55,880 --> 00:33:59,160
Speaker 1: the Wells Fargo on Chestnut Street and we walked in

622
00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:02,000
Speaker 1: and we were like, can we open an account right now?

623
00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:05,080
Speaker 1: And they were like it is three pm on a Friday,

624
00:34:05,200 --> 00:34:08,640
Speaker 1: like way to hold a beat. We're like, we need

625
00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:12,600
Speaker 1: this needs to happen right now, and they were like okay,

626
00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:17,000
Speaker 1: and then thank you well, and we switched chees VB.

627
00:34:17,160 --> 00:34:19,520
Speaker 1: But then we then we had a bank account, and

628
00:34:19,560 --> 00:34:22,279
Speaker 1: then we could bring in the money and facilitate that.

629
00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:25,040
Speaker 4: And so what we haven't said yet though, is for

630
00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:30,160
Speaker 4: this investment to happen, then what does this person get

631
00:34:30,160 --> 00:34:30,800
Speaker 4: in return?

632
00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:33,680
Speaker 1: Right, So this person gets to own a piece of

633
00:34:33,719 --> 00:34:38,759
Speaker 1: our company. And so that's a really significant relationship, right,

634
00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:42,080
Speaker 1: Like you're this is this is a marriage. You're married

635
00:34:42,120 --> 00:34:45,800
Speaker 1: to this person for the life of your company, which

636
00:34:46,360 --> 00:34:51,920
Speaker 1: many companies exist standing alone for decades and sometimes companies

637
00:34:52,360 --> 00:34:54,640
Speaker 1: obviously grow to the likes of the ones that you

638
00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:58,319
Speaker 1: hear about on TV and I can invest in on

639
00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:03,840
Speaker 1: the public markets and they exist for generations. And so

640
00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:07,520
Speaker 1: this person is really you're entering this relationship, long term relationship,

641
00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:09,920
Speaker 1: and they're owning a part of what you're building. And

642
00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:12,680
Speaker 1: you want to make sure that that person is aligned

643
00:35:12,680 --> 00:35:15,600
Speaker 1: with your vision and is also going to be supportive.

644
00:35:15,239 --> 00:35:18,799
Speaker 4: Right, because I'm sure that there are so many instances

645
00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:23,319
Speaker 4: of people getting almost blinded by the opportunity to have

646
00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:27,000
Speaker 4: investment or to have dollars and they're not doing that

647
00:35:27,640 --> 00:35:34,440
Speaker 4: groundwork relationship building, that essential research to make sure that

648
00:35:34,520 --> 00:35:37,320
Speaker 4: this is someone you quote unquote want to get married

649
00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:42,399
Speaker 4: to right. Yeah, So for you, were there certain either

650
00:35:42,560 --> 00:35:45,640
Speaker 4: characteristics or certain things that you were looking for in

651
00:35:45,680 --> 00:35:46,960
Speaker 4: your initial investors.

652
00:35:47,640 --> 00:35:51,200
Speaker 1: We first and foremost like the thing that we needed

653
00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:54,440
Speaker 1: to even engage in the conversation is that do you

654
00:35:54,600 --> 00:35:56,280
Speaker 1: understand that this is a problem?

655
00:35:56,600 --> 00:35:56,799
Speaker 2: Right?

656
00:35:56,880 --> 00:35:59,440
Speaker 1: Do you believe that there should be a solution for

657
00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:02,400
Speaker 1: this problem? You know, we were in San Francisco. You know,

658
00:36:02,440 --> 00:36:05,200
Speaker 1: if you want to go invest in tech, that's great,

659
00:36:05,280 --> 00:36:08,600
Speaker 1: go invest in software, But we are building a physical product.

660
00:36:08,719 --> 00:36:11,560
Speaker 1: It's going to take a long time, but it is

661
00:36:11,600 --> 00:36:15,000
Speaker 1: going to impact millions of women. And that was I mean,

662
00:36:15,040 --> 00:36:18,640
Speaker 1: that was the entry. And then once you feel aligned

663
00:36:18,680 --> 00:36:22,560
Speaker 1: and feel good that you are moving towards the same vision,

664
00:36:23,200 --> 00:36:25,480
Speaker 1: then it's like, what have you done in your career

665
00:36:26,239 --> 00:36:29,920
Speaker 1: that you could bring to the table here and advise

666
00:36:30,040 --> 00:36:34,239
Speaker 1: me and be strategic? Gone, right, You've invested in one

667
00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:39,480
Speaker 1: investor has worked with many medical device companies. Amazing. You

668
00:36:39,520 --> 00:36:41,680
Speaker 1: can help us work through the FDA paperwork, You can

669
00:36:41,680 --> 00:36:45,200
Speaker 1: help us hire experts here that we have investors that

670
00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:50,920
Speaker 1: are incredible consumer founders. They work in products right, beauty,

671
00:36:52,160 --> 00:36:55,600
Speaker 1: food and beverage. They know how to brand a product.

672
00:36:55,600 --> 00:36:59,440
Speaker 1: They know marketing, so you have to get We've learned this,

673
00:36:59,520 --> 00:37:02,960
Speaker 1: you don't have to it. We've learned over time that

674
00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:05,360
Speaker 1: you want to get a myriad of experiences so that

675
00:37:05,400 --> 00:37:07,080
Speaker 1: you have different voices coming to the table.

676
00:37:07,120 --> 00:37:09,000
Speaker 2: You know what this reminds me of. It reminds me

677
00:37:09,080 --> 00:37:10,040
Speaker 2: of a learning.

678
00:37:09,719 --> 00:37:14,800
Speaker 4: That I have had over the years when, especially within dating,

679
00:37:15,320 --> 00:37:17,160
Speaker 4: you're going on a first date, you're going on a

680
00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:19,759
Speaker 4: second date, and your first thought is like, oh, I

681
00:37:19,760 --> 00:37:21,479
Speaker 4: want them to like me, but like, do.

682
00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:23,760
Speaker 2: You even like them? Right?

683
00:37:23,800 --> 00:37:26,560
Speaker 3: And sometimes you'll go on a first date and you'll

684
00:37:26,640 --> 00:37:28,120
Speaker 3: leave and you'll be like, wow, I wonder if they

685
00:37:28,200 --> 00:37:30,719
Speaker 3: liked me, and you don't do that inner debrief. I'm

686
00:37:30,760 --> 00:37:33,680
Speaker 3: like no, but I like that they are a morning person,

687
00:37:33,719 --> 00:37:35,920
Speaker 3: and I like that we have some mutual interests, and

688
00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:38,000
Speaker 3: I like the way they speak about their family, and

689
00:37:38,040 --> 00:37:40,880
Speaker 3: it seems like we have similar values. But we glaze

690
00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:43,080
Speaker 3: over that because we're such people like we want people

691
00:37:43,120 --> 00:37:44,040
Speaker 3: to like us.

692
00:37:44,480 --> 00:37:48,879
Speaker 1: We are inherently such people pleasers, and I am the

693
00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:50,360
Speaker 1: biggest people pleaser.

694
00:37:50,480 --> 00:37:50,879
Speaker 2: Get it.

695
00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:54,960
Speaker 1: But fundraising is just like dating. Yeah, And the moment

696
00:37:55,040 --> 00:37:59,520
Speaker 1: that you reframe your strategy but also your thought process

697
00:37:59,560 --> 00:38:03,239
Speaker 1: and move from I want to make sure that I

698
00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:06,600
Speaker 1: feel good about this before I move forward. You don't

699
00:38:06,640 --> 00:38:09,560
Speaker 1: want to be marrying somebody because they like you.

700
00:38:10,600 --> 00:38:12,120
Speaker 2: That is not nice.

701
00:38:12,160 --> 00:38:16,280
Speaker 1: But they also need to like you to be mutual.

702
00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:18,840
Speaker 1: But you want to make sure you feel confident to

703
00:38:18,920 --> 00:38:21,839
Speaker 1: say I feel really good about.

704
00:38:21,480 --> 00:38:23,520
Speaker 2: This, exactly, exactly.

705
00:38:23,640 --> 00:38:26,600
Speaker 4: So all right, we've talked through getting your first investors,

706
00:38:26,640 --> 00:38:28,759
Speaker 4: we've talked about the R and D that goes into

707
00:38:28,760 --> 00:38:32,399
Speaker 4: the product development. Where are you when you get the

708
00:38:32,600 --> 00:38:35,280
Speaker 4: first legitimate sequel tampon?

709
00:38:36,280 --> 00:38:40,279
Speaker 1: So we were My god, this was one of the

710
00:38:40,280 --> 00:38:46,640
Speaker 1: coolest moments of my life. We had flown to a factory,

711
00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:51,160
Speaker 1: my co founder and I, and we delivered the machine,

712
00:38:51,280 --> 00:38:55,120
Speaker 1: our patented process to them, and they put it onto

713
00:38:55,120 --> 00:38:58,680
Speaker 1: the machine. And it took a few hours for the

714
00:38:58,719 --> 00:39:00,320
Speaker 1: engineers to put it onto the machine. And so we

715
00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:03,279
Speaker 1: went away and we were in some meetings and they

716
00:39:03,280 --> 00:39:05,399
Speaker 1: brought us back out onto the factory floor a few

717
00:39:05,400 --> 00:39:08,880
Speaker 1: hours later, and we're wearing like full like hairnets and

718
00:39:08,880 --> 00:39:12,160
Speaker 1: we're like steel toed shoes and trench coats and we're

719
00:39:12,200 --> 00:39:16,640
Speaker 1: walking out and going to the machine and they are like,

720
00:39:17,239 --> 00:39:19,840
Speaker 1: they don't say anything. They didn't prepare us for this moment,

721
00:39:20,239 --> 00:39:23,160
Speaker 1: and they just pressed the automation button and then all

722
00:39:23,160 --> 00:39:25,200
Speaker 1: of a sudden, the first tampon comes off the line,

723
00:39:25,560 --> 00:39:27,640
Speaker 1: and the line is huge. It's like the machine is

724
00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:30,319
Speaker 1: like the size of a massive room, and it you

725
00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:32,360
Speaker 1: can watch it go through the process and we're like, Okay,

726
00:39:32,600 --> 00:39:34,319
Speaker 1: it made it through that step. It made it through

727
00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:37,000
Speaker 1: that step, It got to our step, made it through that,

728
00:39:37,120 --> 00:39:38,960
Speaker 1: and then you can watch it get the wrapper put

729
00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:41,440
Speaker 1: on it, and so then you like pick up this

730
00:39:41,520 --> 00:39:45,279
Speaker 1: little tampon in it's wrapper off the thing, and it's like,

731
00:39:45,320 --> 00:39:48,480
Speaker 1: I feel like it's like Willy Wonka and Charlie's in

732
00:39:48,480 --> 00:39:51,839
Speaker 1: the chocolate factory and he like pulls the chocolate bar

733
00:39:52,080 --> 00:39:54,520
Speaker 1: off the line and like you like unwrap it and

734
00:39:54,520 --> 00:39:58,520
Speaker 1: you're like, it's real, it's real, it's real. And it

735
00:39:58,640 --> 00:40:03,040
Speaker 1: was such a defining moment for us. It was incredible.

736
00:40:03,320 --> 00:40:05,640
Speaker 1: And then from then we knew that that unlocked we

737
00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:09,120
Speaker 1: could submit our product to the FDA, which took a

738
00:40:09,160 --> 00:40:12,480
Speaker 1: while and delayed gratification to actually launch the product, but

739
00:40:12,920 --> 00:40:15,240
Speaker 1: that was the defining moment of like, oh my god,

740
00:40:15,360 --> 00:40:15,840
Speaker 1: we did.

741
00:40:15,719 --> 00:40:17,680
Speaker 4: It, Yeah you did it, Yeah you did it. Such

742
00:40:17,680 --> 00:40:19,239
Speaker 4: a special Willy Wonk a moment for you.

743
00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:23,760
Speaker 3: So in then bringing it to market, where can people

744
00:40:23,800 --> 00:40:26,919
Speaker 3: at this point purchase SQL tamp runs so they.

745
00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:30,000
Speaker 1: Can get the tampons on our website. We just launched subscription,

746
00:40:30,400 --> 00:40:33,960
Speaker 1: so exciting. Yeah, so we were selling our boxes on

747
00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:38,760
Speaker 1: our website It's triseql dot com. And then we are

748
00:40:39,040 --> 00:40:44,480
Speaker 1: hoping to expand pretty quickly into other specialty retail looking

749
00:40:44,520 --> 00:40:48,080
Speaker 1: to get out there really quickly. But just for right

750
00:40:48,120 --> 00:40:49,320
Speaker 1: now our website.

751
00:40:49,400 --> 00:40:53,600
Speaker 4: Are you thinking of this as mostly a DTC product

752
00:40:53,680 --> 00:40:55,759
Speaker 4: or are you thinking of this as something that's also

753
00:40:55,800 --> 00:40:57,239
Speaker 4: going to be on the shelf one day when I

754
00:40:57,280 --> 00:40:58,120
Speaker 4: walk into Target.

755
00:40:58,400 --> 00:40:59,960
Speaker 1: We need to be on the show.

756
00:41:00,280 --> 00:41:00,400
Speaker 2: Yea.

757
00:41:00,960 --> 00:41:02,040
Speaker 1: We want to meet everyone.

758
00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:04,279
Speaker 2: So I want to meet everybody, want to be in

759
00:41:04,320 --> 00:41:05,279
Speaker 2: every sandbox.

760
00:41:05,400 --> 00:41:07,600
Speaker 1: I want to be there when you need a tampon

761
00:41:07,760 --> 00:41:11,080
Speaker 1: after soccer practice and you're walking into CBS. I want

762
00:41:11,160 --> 00:41:13,640
Speaker 1: you to say, my tambons are here. I'm going to

763
00:41:13,640 --> 00:41:14,600
Speaker 1: get them right.

764
00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:16,160
Speaker 2: So you have that brand recognition.

765
00:41:16,280 --> 00:41:19,600
Speaker 4: That is something that is also like wildly crazy because

766
00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:21,480
Speaker 4: that brings us to another part of the conversation that

767
00:41:21,520 --> 00:41:24,640
Speaker 4: we haven't touched yet, which is the branding. There's such

768
00:41:24,640 --> 00:41:28,680
Speaker 4: a long process into creating the actual physical product. But

769
00:41:28,920 --> 00:41:30,919
Speaker 4: when it comes to the branding, what would you say

770
00:41:30,960 --> 00:41:33,760
Speaker 4: has been one of the biggest learnings that you've had

771
00:41:34,120 --> 00:41:37,880
Speaker 4: in creating a specific packaging, a specific logo that appeals

772
00:41:37,920 --> 00:41:38,680
Speaker 4: to your consumer.

773
00:41:38,880 --> 00:41:42,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, the branding part was so much fun because I

774
00:41:42,680 --> 00:41:45,560
Speaker 1: felt like part of it could be a manifestation of

775
00:41:45,600 --> 00:41:48,480
Speaker 1: myself and my co founder and we're you know, we're

776
00:41:48,520 --> 00:41:51,719
Speaker 1: not girly girls, like I love dressing up, but like

777
00:41:51,760 --> 00:41:53,839
Speaker 1: I love to I grew up as a surfer. I'm

778
00:41:53,880 --> 00:41:56,560
Speaker 1: like covered in sand all the time. My co founder

779
00:41:56,560 --> 00:41:59,879
Speaker 1: played a million sports. She's like always scraped up from

780
00:42:00,080 --> 00:42:03,759
Speaker 1: some running lacrosse or soccer or whatever. And so we

781
00:42:03,840 --> 00:42:08,720
Speaker 1: wanted to build something that felt like that duality of

782
00:42:09,080 --> 00:42:11,759
Speaker 1: a woman, right Like. We wanted to have branding that

783
00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:18,120
Speaker 1: was powerful and that was not super pinks and pastels,

784
00:42:18,200 --> 00:42:21,359
Speaker 1: and we wanted it to feel strong, because that's that's

785
00:42:21,400 --> 00:42:23,520
Speaker 1: when I feel my best. I'm super strong. And so

786
00:42:24,360 --> 00:42:28,080
Speaker 1: the branding and even down to the name, we wanted

787
00:42:28,080 --> 00:42:31,040
Speaker 1: to say, you know, this is the next chapter for

788
00:42:31,320 --> 00:42:32,040
Speaker 1: the tampono.

789
00:42:32,160 --> 00:42:34,160
Speaker 2: Can we talk about the name? I like, I don't.

790
00:42:34,280 --> 00:42:36,520
Speaker 4: I tried never to interrupt someone, but you just said that,

791
00:42:36,600 --> 00:42:39,319
Speaker 4: and I was like, yes, yeah, the name, Yeah, it's

792
00:42:39,320 --> 00:42:42,279
Speaker 4: a great name. But what was the process, Like, did

793
00:42:42,280 --> 00:42:45,480
Speaker 4: you have a whiteboard that you had twenty two hundred

794
00:42:45,520 --> 00:42:45,840
Speaker 4: names on?

795
00:42:46,000 --> 00:42:48,920
Speaker 1: You said that, and I'm like, I can picture the

796
00:42:48,960 --> 00:42:51,480
Speaker 1: whiteboard in my brain right now with all the red marker,

797
00:42:51,560 --> 00:42:53,920
Speaker 1: the green sharp like it was just ridiculous. We had

798
00:42:53,920 --> 00:42:57,719
Speaker 1: a million names, and we didn't want to go in

799
00:42:57,760 --> 00:43:00,200
Speaker 1: the direction of all the x's right that you see

800
00:43:00,239 --> 00:43:02,800
Speaker 1: on the shelf. And then there was the more feminine

801
00:43:02,880 --> 00:43:05,839
Speaker 1: four letter words that you also see on the drugstore shelf.

802
00:43:05,880 --> 00:43:08,080
Speaker 1: Now at that time they were D two see launching,

803
00:43:08,160 --> 00:43:11,520
Speaker 1: they were very feminine, and we wanted again to be

804
00:43:11,760 --> 00:43:14,920
Speaker 1: that strong like, we wanted it to have meaning. So

805
00:43:15,040 --> 00:43:18,239
Speaker 1: for us, it was, you know, sequels the tampon two

806
00:43:18,280 --> 00:43:21,600
Speaker 1: point zero, it's the next chapter in women's health. It's

807
00:43:21,640 --> 00:43:24,719
Speaker 1: the next chapter of the tampon. And whichever direction we

808
00:43:24,800 --> 00:43:27,440
Speaker 1: go next for our successive products, it's the chapter that

809
00:43:27,480 --> 00:43:28,440
Speaker 1: those products deserve.

810
00:43:28,719 --> 00:43:28,959
Speaker 2: Yeah.

811
00:43:29,120 --> 00:43:32,560
Speaker 3: Yeah, at what were other close to final names.

812
00:43:32,320 --> 00:43:35,680
Speaker 1: Close to final names? So I'll tell you our class project.

813
00:43:35,440 --> 00:43:40,960
Speaker 4: Okay was Tampro Tampro very silly, a little silly, very silly, okay,

814
00:43:41,200 --> 00:43:43,800
Speaker 4: and then we went from tampro to tempo.

815
00:43:44,280 --> 00:43:46,800
Speaker 2: Oh oh, so it was cool. Tempo is cool.

816
00:43:47,080 --> 00:43:50,359
Speaker 1: It was cool, a little too similar to some other things, but.

817
00:43:50,719 --> 00:43:54,040
Speaker 2: All right, feel good about sequel. We love sequel.

818
00:43:54,200 --> 00:43:56,920
Speaker 3: No, this is like, truly, it's so inspirational to sit

819
00:43:56,960 --> 00:44:00,960
Speaker 3: next to someone who has not only started something of

820
00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:03,640
Speaker 3: their own and started from scratch, but really put in

821
00:44:03,719 --> 00:44:07,120
Speaker 3: the work. And as someone who creates a very different product,

822
00:44:07,440 --> 00:44:09,920
Speaker 3: I can say that I really relate to so many

823
00:44:09,960 --> 00:44:13,000
Speaker 3: of the beautiful aspects of your journey, and I think

824
00:44:13,040 --> 00:44:16,560
Speaker 3: it's such a testament not only to how self motivated

825
00:44:16,640 --> 00:44:19,600
Speaker 3: you are, but also just the strength of tenacity that

826
00:44:19,640 --> 00:44:22,280
Speaker 3: you have inside of you to show up and say

827
00:44:22,440 --> 00:44:25,040
Speaker 3: I'm here to create something and it's something that you need.

828
00:44:25,520 --> 00:44:28,239
Speaker 1: But that's that's what it every time we show up,

829
00:44:28,360 --> 00:44:31,719
Speaker 1: whether we show up to a pilates class, whether we

830
00:44:31,800 --> 00:44:34,040
Speaker 1: wake up to show up to go for a walk outside.

831
00:44:34,040 --> 00:44:36,680
Speaker 1: For me, it was waking up and showing up to

832
00:44:36,800 --> 00:44:40,240
Speaker 1: be fierce and competitive and showing up on the line

833
00:44:40,280 --> 00:44:43,520
Speaker 1: and being like I am ready to I'm ready to win,

834
00:44:44,080 --> 00:44:47,759
Speaker 1: right Like, that's the same tenacity that I now get

835
00:44:47,760 --> 00:44:48,400
Speaker 1: to put into this.

836
00:44:48,680 --> 00:44:50,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, how does it feel?

837
00:44:51,160 --> 00:44:53,520
Speaker 1: It feels, I mean, after two weeks in Paris, it

838
00:44:53,560 --> 00:44:58,120
Speaker 1: feels exhausting, but it feels it feels fulfilling in the

839
00:44:58,160 --> 00:45:01,920
Speaker 1: same way that you know it felt to win all

840
00:45:01,960 --> 00:45:05,160
Speaker 1: those years ago. Every time I won in my life

841
00:45:05,200 --> 00:45:08,400
Speaker 1: guarding races, it was fulfilling for that phase of my life.

842
00:45:08,680 --> 00:45:12,160
Speaker 1: But this is what is fulfilling for me right now.

843
00:45:12,719 --> 00:45:14,919
Speaker 4: What do you think the best piece of advice has

844
00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:18,040
Speaker 4: been that you've been offered as a female founder in

845
00:45:18,080 --> 00:45:18,680
Speaker 4: this chapter.

846
00:45:19,480 --> 00:45:21,920
Speaker 1: Don't be afraid to slow down and also don't be

847
00:45:21,960 --> 00:45:23,719
Speaker 1: so hard on yourself. I think those two go hand

848
00:45:23,719 --> 00:45:26,080
Speaker 1: in hand, right, right, Like you want to run a

849
00:45:26,160 --> 00:45:28,239
Speaker 1: million miles a minute, you want to do everything, you

850
00:45:28,239 --> 00:45:31,600
Speaker 1: want to take every opportunity you but you can't clone yourself.

851
00:45:31,640 --> 00:45:35,480
Speaker 1: You're only one person, and you need to make sure

852
00:45:35,520 --> 00:45:37,640
Speaker 1: that you don't burn out and that you're being nice

853
00:45:37,640 --> 00:45:40,080
Speaker 1: to yourself. And be nice to yourself is slowing down

854
00:45:40,160 --> 00:45:42,640
Speaker 1: and like taking a beat and being like I can

855
00:45:42,719 --> 00:45:45,840
Speaker 1: lay in bed today and that is not a reflection

856
00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:47,040
Speaker 1: of my motivation.

857
00:45:47,280 --> 00:45:47,560
Speaker 3: Right.

858
00:45:48,160 --> 00:45:53,600
Speaker 1: And then there's the other part where it's don't be

859
00:45:53,680 --> 00:45:55,960
Speaker 1: hard on yourself, like don't blame yourself if you don't

860
00:45:56,200 --> 00:45:59,279
Speaker 1: make it somewhere, or give yourself some grace if you're

861
00:45:59,640 --> 00:46:02,160
Speaker 1: you know, you're running two minutes late, Like it's okay.

862
00:46:02,360 --> 00:46:04,759
Speaker 1: Like people are forgiving and people are kind.

863
00:46:04,760 --> 00:46:08,640
Speaker 4: And the right people will stay right, the people that

864
00:46:09,080 --> 00:46:11,840
Speaker 4: typically have a problem about something as small as what

865
00:46:11,880 --> 00:46:14,960
Speaker 4: you just exemplified, that that oh you're running two minutes late,

866
00:46:15,040 --> 00:46:16,080
Speaker 4: Like that's not your person.

867
00:46:16,320 --> 00:46:16,640
Speaker 1: Yeah.

868
00:46:16,680 --> 00:46:20,040
Speaker 4: And so it's just so beautiful to not only see

869
00:46:20,080 --> 00:46:23,240
Speaker 4: this grace in action, but then also to think about

870
00:46:23,280 --> 00:46:25,120
Speaker 4: all of the steps that you had mentioned and all

871
00:46:25,160 --> 00:46:27,680
Speaker 4: the stuff you didn't know, and yet you were able

872
00:46:27,680 --> 00:46:29,600
Speaker 4: to give yourself that grace so that you could get

873
00:46:29,640 --> 00:46:33,040
Speaker 4: to where you are now. It's all building blocks, right,

874
00:46:33,160 --> 00:46:36,360
Speaker 4: It's all one thing after the next, and it's brought.

875
00:46:36,120 --> 00:46:37,240
Speaker 2: You to this pretty great place.

876
00:46:38,160 --> 00:46:39,839
Speaker 1: I'm so thank you. I'm so thankful for it.

877
00:46:40,600 --> 00:46:43,440
Speaker 4: Before we completely put a bow on this, I do

878
00:46:43,480 --> 00:46:46,440
Speaker 4: want to ask you a little bit because, as everyone

879
00:46:46,480 --> 00:46:49,440
Speaker 4: knows that has been listening, we're in Paris. You have

880
00:46:49,480 --> 00:46:52,880
Speaker 4: a relationship with Athleta that you had been working with

881
00:46:52,920 --> 00:46:55,239
Speaker 4: them a little bit here this week. So as a

882
00:46:55,239 --> 00:46:59,120
Speaker 4: female founder that is coming to market now, is that

883
00:46:59,160 --> 00:46:59,840
Speaker 4: mind blowing for you?

884
00:46:59,840 --> 00:47:01,520
Speaker 2: How? How did it happen. How are you feeling.

885
00:47:01,920 --> 00:47:07,799
Speaker 1: It's amazing, It's amazing and I do feel such a synergy.

886
00:47:07,960 --> 00:47:12,160
Speaker 1: I met the team, I met the executive team here

887
00:47:12,280 --> 00:47:14,960
Speaker 1: and we sat down in San Francisco where they're headquartered,

888
00:47:14,960 --> 00:47:18,200
Speaker 1: where I was living, and this was like eight weeks ago,

889
00:47:18,560 --> 00:47:21,719
Speaker 1: and we sat down and we said, Okay, how can

890
00:47:21,760 --> 00:47:24,920
Speaker 1: we work together? And they said, we're going to the

891
00:47:24,920 --> 00:47:28,680
Speaker 1: Olympics in July. Can we do this? And of course,

892
00:47:28,840 --> 00:47:30,520
Speaker 1: of course we can do this. Of course we can

893
00:47:30,560 --> 00:47:34,600
Speaker 1: make it happen. Right. This is so huge for us.

894
00:47:34,640 --> 00:47:37,080
Speaker 1: This is one of the biggest things that has happened

895
00:47:37,080 --> 00:47:39,600
Speaker 1: for us. And I'm so thankful for the athletic team

896
00:47:39,640 --> 00:47:43,799
Speaker 1: for just rolling with a tiny startup like us. Make

897
00:47:43,880 --> 00:47:46,640
Speaker 1: you trying to make everything work in the logistics and

898
00:47:46,640 --> 00:47:51,640
Speaker 1: the puzzle pieces, and just being so welcoming and so supportive.

899
00:47:51,800 --> 00:47:54,600
Speaker 3: Yeah, what does that partnership actually look like for you?

900
00:47:55,120 --> 00:47:55,359
Speaker 2: Yeah?

901
00:47:55,400 --> 00:47:58,799
Speaker 1: So here in Paris, we've been able to pass out

902
00:47:58,960 --> 00:48:03,440
Speaker 1: samples product out to the many people that are interacting

903
00:48:03,680 --> 00:48:09,000
Speaker 1: with Athletics Paris Activation. It's incredible brand alignment for us

904
00:48:09,000 --> 00:48:14,280
Speaker 1: with the power of She and having this brand moment

905
00:48:14,360 --> 00:48:17,279
Speaker 1: for us to align ourselves with such a powerhouse in

906
00:48:17,360 --> 00:48:21,239
Speaker 1: terms of female empowerment and so sampling this whole week

907
00:48:21,320 --> 00:48:25,560
Speaker 1: and showing up in their space. But we have some

908
00:48:25,640 --> 00:48:27,000
Speaker 1: really fun plans for the future.

909
00:48:27,040 --> 00:48:28,720
Speaker 2: Oh really fun plans for the future.

910
00:48:28,840 --> 00:48:31,160
Speaker 4: Okay, I won't spoil them now, but I'm excited for you,

911
00:48:31,719 --> 00:48:34,560
Speaker 4: and I can also relate with this exciting moment, having

912
00:48:34,560 --> 00:48:37,640
Speaker 4: the opportunity to be in Paris for such a big

913
00:48:37,640 --> 00:48:39,759
Speaker 4: moment in sport and then also have the backing of

914
00:48:39,800 --> 00:48:40,680
Speaker 4: such a major brand.

915
00:48:40,880 --> 00:48:42,640
Speaker 3: It's a once in a lifetime thing right now. If

916
00:48:42,640 --> 00:48:44,840
Speaker 3: someone goes to your Instagram page, they see a woman

917
00:48:44,960 --> 00:48:48,080
Speaker 3: that is a female founder. They also see someone who's

918
00:48:48,080 --> 00:48:51,400
Speaker 3: extremely active. But beyond that, Amanda, when you look in

919
00:48:51,440 --> 00:48:53,640
Speaker 3: the mirror, what is it that you see looking back

920
00:48:53,680 --> 00:48:53,920
Speaker 3: at you.

921
00:48:55,280 --> 00:48:57,840
Speaker 1: I think I said this before, Like one of my

922
00:48:57,880 --> 00:49:00,160
Speaker 1: biggest lessons was don't be so hard on yourself. And

923
00:49:00,200 --> 00:49:02,279
Speaker 1: I think me in the past would have been like

924
00:49:02,719 --> 00:49:05,879
Speaker 1: critiqued every little thing, and you know, you're not fast enough,

925
00:49:05,920 --> 00:49:09,360
Speaker 1: you don't look you don't look athletic enough, you're not whatever.

926
00:49:09,440 --> 00:49:15,920
Speaker 1: But today I am finally so proud of the things

927
00:49:15,920 --> 00:49:19,920
Speaker 1: and experiences that my body and my brain have allowed

928
00:49:19,920 --> 00:49:22,759
Speaker 1: me to do. I think identifying as an athlete for

929
00:49:22,840 --> 00:49:26,160
Speaker 1: so long made me just look at myself and just

930
00:49:26,160 --> 00:49:28,520
Speaker 1: see a body in the mirror. But today I look

931
00:49:28,560 --> 00:49:31,640
Speaker 1: in the mirror and I see my brain and my mind,

932
00:49:31,719 --> 00:49:34,840
Speaker 1: and I'm so I'm proud of myself.

933
00:49:35,160 --> 00:49:36,800
Speaker 2: Ah, my heart, my heart.

934
00:49:36,880 --> 00:49:39,800
Speaker 4: Well, we know that huge piece of advice to be

935
00:49:40,480 --> 00:49:43,239
Speaker 4: gentle with yourself, to have some grace. But right now,

936
00:49:43,280 --> 00:49:45,680
Speaker 4: as I close out the pod, I ask you, knowing

937
00:49:45,800 --> 00:49:47,920
Speaker 4: what you know now, when we think back to the

938
00:49:48,000 --> 00:49:50,400
Speaker 4: beginning of the journey, the hurdles that you faced along

939
00:49:50,440 --> 00:49:54,759
Speaker 4: the way, securing funding, making a patented machine, so many

940
00:49:54,800 --> 00:49:57,640
Speaker 4: steps to this process. When we look back on that time,

941
00:49:58,280 --> 00:50:01,520
Speaker 4: involving so many hurdles, knowing what you know now, what

942
00:50:01,560 --> 00:50:03,160
Speaker 4: advice would you offer yourself?

943
00:50:03,320 --> 00:50:05,759
Speaker 2: Then it goes.

944
00:50:05,680 --> 00:50:08,360
Speaker 1: Even further back to that when I was competing as

945
00:50:08,400 --> 00:50:12,120
Speaker 1: a junior lifeguard, there were there were like six years

946
00:50:12,160 --> 00:50:14,880
Speaker 1: there that I never won a national title, and I

947
00:50:15,239 --> 00:50:17,919
Speaker 1: won for the first time at eleven. The next time

948
00:50:17,960 --> 00:50:23,680
Speaker 1: I won beach Flags, I was seventeen. And that's a

949
00:50:23,800 --> 00:50:27,399
Speaker 1: long time to just like second place, third place, fourth place,

950
00:50:27,440 --> 00:50:29,800
Speaker 1: fifth place, Like you're just get and you got to

951
00:50:29,840 --> 00:50:31,560
Speaker 1: get back out there and you got to try again,

952
00:50:31,600 --> 00:50:36,240
Speaker 1: and to try again year after year and come up short.

953
00:50:37,800 --> 00:50:40,800
Speaker 1: The best advice I would give is just keep getting

954
00:50:40,840 --> 00:50:43,720
Speaker 1: on the starting line because I waited and I waited,

955
00:50:43,760 --> 00:50:48,040
Speaker 1: and I was manifesting and working really hard, and then

956
00:50:48,160 --> 00:50:51,319
Speaker 1: finally all the pieces came together for me to win

957
00:50:51,400 --> 00:50:55,359
Speaker 1: my first National Open national title at seventeen. And I

958
00:50:55,360 --> 00:50:57,400
Speaker 1: think that was exactly how it was with SQL. It

959
00:50:57,440 --> 00:51:00,400
Speaker 1: was like, you know, hurdle, hurdle, hurdle, and it's like,

960
00:51:00,440 --> 00:51:02,440
Speaker 1: what are you going to do when you hit a hurdle?

961
00:51:02,719 --> 00:51:04,560
Speaker 1: If you fall, you get back up. If you clip

962
00:51:04,560 --> 00:51:08,560
Speaker 1: the hurdle, you keep running, and so like it's it's

963
00:51:08,680 --> 00:51:10,960
Speaker 1: horrible when you're on the ground, but just get up

964
00:51:11,000 --> 00:51:13,040
Speaker 1: and like there will be better things for you.

965
00:51:13,320 --> 00:51:15,600
Speaker 4: There will be better things for you. With hard work

966
00:51:15,719 --> 00:51:16,880
Speaker 4: comes great reward.

967
00:51:17,040 --> 00:51:17,239
Speaker 2: Right.

968
00:51:17,960 --> 00:51:19,520
Speaker 3: I'm so happy that we had the time to do

969
00:51:19,560 --> 00:51:22,759
Speaker 3: this today, Amanda. For those that don't follow along with

970
00:51:22,800 --> 00:51:25,040
Speaker 3: you or seql just yet, give us the lowdown. Where

971
00:51:25,080 --> 00:51:25,640
Speaker 3: can we find you?

972
00:51:26,040 --> 00:51:30,320
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can find SQL at triseql on Instagram, TikTok

973
00:51:30,440 --> 00:51:33,200
Speaker 1: or website is triseql dot com. And then you can

974
00:51:33,200 --> 00:51:36,480
Speaker 1: find me at ap calibrese on Instagram.

975
00:51:36,560 --> 00:51:41,040
Speaker 4: I'm over at Emlaybody, and at Hurdle Podcast. Another hurdle conquered.

976
00:51:41,440 --> 00:51:42,479
Speaker 4: Catch you guys next time.