Today we’d like to introduce you to Catherine and Lauren Lee.
Hi Catherine and Lauren, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Lauren: We started Semaine Health for selfish reasons. Both Cath and I suffer from endometriosis and spent years taking over-the-counter pain meds, trying birth control, getting surgeries and taking days off work due to pain. Luckily my husband, Matt, is a scientist and was working in a pathology lab. On the side, he was reading up on how plant-based ingredients can help with period pain. So he started experimenting with ingredients and within less than three months I had my first pain-free period.
Catherine: After I heard how Lar felt, I tried it out and had the same experience. I was blown away by how effective it was. That was the point when we thought it could potentially be a product because Lauren and I knew we were far from the only ones experiencing painful periods. In fact, 80 percent of all women will experience painful periods – it’s insane there aren’t more products available to help with that pain. Fast forward two years and we launched Semaine Health with its first supplement, PMS & Period Support.
Lauren: We launched online on March 1, 2020. The timing, oddly enough, ended up being a blessing because so many people were at home, in front of their computers, experiencing more painful periods due to the stress of the pandemic and quarantine. And big companies were pulling back on online advertising, which made it so much cheaper than it is today.
Catherine: Since launching in 2020, we’ve introduced four more products and are available at Walgreens nationwide, HEB grocery stores in TX, Thrive Market, and Target.com.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Catherine: We always tell people that running a startup has the highest highs and the lowest lows. First of all, we’re in the women’s health space – and specifically focused on the “unsexy” side of things like periods, unbalanced hormones, urinary tract health and menopause. Because so many of those issues are stigmatized, a lot of people including investors, consider our market to be niche. These are issues that half of the world’s population is facing, but we have to spend a lot of time convincing others that these issues matter. Another low for us was the iOS update in 2021 where users could opt out of tracking. It hit everyone hard – small businesses like ours and large corporations. It took us over a year of reworking ads, trying out influencer programs, and seeing what would stick until we got back to the levels that we had pre-updated.
Lauren: Sometimes it’s really hard to not let those struggles get to you. Everything can feel so personal when it’s your business and that gets exhausting. But we always focus on the great goal: helping as many people as possible find solutions to health issues that are taboo. When we hear from customers saying our supplements changed their lives, it makes all the struggles melt away.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Catherine: Neither one of us knew anything about consumer product goods when we started Semaine Health. My background is in economic development and working within local government. Everything I do for Semaine today has been learned over the past few years. I work on the customer service/outreach side of things as well as operations. Figuring out fulfillment and logistics was a huge learning curve and I’m still on it. But I’m so proud of the amazing connections we’ve made from influencers to all the talented female startup entrepreneurs we’ve met in Atlanta.
Lauren: My background is in graphic design. I was a creative director before going full-time with Semaine. About a year into doing this full-time, I realized as the CEO that I wasn’t getting enough time to work on our vision. I spent most of my days working on content. I’m incredibly proud that we’ve grown enough to hire a content creator, so I can focus on more of the big-picture issues of Semaine.
What does success mean to you?
Lauren: Specifically with our business, I define success by the efficacy of our products. As a supplement company, we’re not required to run third-party clinical trials, but the quality behind our products has always been a priority. From those trials, we have proof that our supplements work. On top of that, hearing from customers and how much our supplements have helped them makes me feel like we’ve made it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.semainehealth.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/semainehealth/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/semainehealth
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@semaine_health
