Celebrating International Women’s Day 2022

Today is International Women’s Day and the theme this year is #breakthebias. International Women’s Day is an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of women across the globe and to highlight the incredible progress being made in achieving gender equality. This year’s theme of breaking the bias challenges us to imagine a world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination and to think critically on how collectively we can create more diversity, inclusiveness and equality in our communities.

It’s also a day to reflect on the gaps that continue to persist across our communities and consider how we can collectively and individually continue to make a difference. International Women’s Day celebrates the power of the individual and the change that each one of us can create through our thoughts, actions and aspirations. 

To celebrate and learn more about how women are changing our world, we sat down with women-led organizations who are helping to create real change through e-commerce and who exemplify what it means to #breakthebias each and every day.

We spoke with Michelle Jacobs and Sally Mueller from Womaness - two women who are leading the charge in opening up the conversation around menopause and women’s health. The two came together to create Womaness, a women’s wellness brand that’s on a mission to serve the underserved woman going through menopause and break open the conversation around the middle-aged woman’s health.

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Sally and Michelle had been lifelong friends and after uncovering what Michelle deemed “a lack of quality products, meaningful education and a celebration of the woman”, the two came together a few years ago to create Womaness. With deep knowledge and experience in the CPG and cosmetic spaces, the duo was well equipped to build a brand capable of making a real difference in the world. Fast forward a few years and Womaness has made it’s name by being the first modern menopause solution for women by donating each year to the Mayo Clinic to empower more research and education around menopause and contiuously having conversations around women’s health and the challenges. Sally and Michelle exemplify what it means to create real change and #breakthebias in the ecommerce world. 

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ARMRA is another female-led organization making huge strides in the world of health and wellness. ARMRA is the brainchild of Dr. Sarah Rahal, MD - a double board-certified pediatric neurologist with expertise in environmental and functional medicine. She trained at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York. And prior to founding ARMRA, was Assistant Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics and Director of Pediatric Headache at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital.

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Dr. Rahal is a constant seeker of knowledge, research, and what lies beyond the status quo. After years of clinical work in the hospital and running a busy pediatric practice, Dr. Rahal was alarmed by the boom in chronic diseases she saw across young patients. She uncovered the troubling role modern environmental factors like pollutants, pesticides, refined sugars, processed food, and unregulated chemicals in home and body products played in dictating negative health outcomes.

Her foundational approach to medicine led her to a deeper appreciation of the importance of restoring balance to the immune system, the unrivaled power of the body to repair itself, and the urgency of equipping the body with the right nutrients to do so. After years of research and development of ARMRA's technology, Dr. Rahal launched the company in 2020 with a mission to minimize the modern environmental impact on human health.

ARMRA empowers people to show up fully in their lives. Dr. Rahal continues “As a woman founder I'm often asked by other women how I started and built my business. I hope that our origin story, as a woman-led brand and one rooted in science, inspires more women to tackle entrepreneurship or follow their mission and purpose in whatever arena that may be. With resolve, resourcefulness, and just enough disagreeability, you are limitless.”

In keeping with the theme of women’s health and wellness brands, we discussed all things women’s health and confidence with Rosella LoChiro from Stix, a female-founded, no-judgment health brand with products and insights that let you feel confident about the decisions you make for your body. 

Stix is led by Jamie Norwood and Cynthia Plotch, two women who have significant experience in the DTC world and shared awful experiences buying their health essentials. It was this intimidating and typically uncomfortable experience of buying pregnancy tests and other health essentials at the drugstore that led Stix to take on the mission of empowering confident health decisions for their customers.

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Stix approaches all of the experiences they help women through in an incredibly open-minded way and thinks of these experiences (even those non-ideal such as UTI symptoms) as “problems that happen to you, not problems with you” as Rosella states. Stix also has an entire digital resource library called Real Talk, which includes a variety of writers and medical reviews who discuss all of the answers to “Your Most Googled Health Questions” and much more. To continue approaching women’s health in an agnostic, confident way, Rosella is excited to bridge the gap between Stix’s physical products and their digital resources and information.

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Our conversations with fearless women leaders from all across the ecommerce and subscription space are inspiring and show us how even the smallest actions and thoughts can create real change and help all of our communities #breakthebias. The entire team at Smartrr is excited and inspired to continue driving change, having the uncomfortable conversations and creating a better, more equal world.

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