Inspiring Conversations with Carrie McKinnon of 28ish

Today we’d like to introduce you to Carrie McKinnon.

Carrie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started with a linguistics degree and a burning desire to move to another country. That led me to Casablanca, Morocco, where I opened my first business in 2013 after living there for three years. I poured all of myself into that business. I trained executives and other corporate and government clients to communicate professionally in English and master the soft skills they need to perform their roles correctly.

Through research and daily work with my clients, I became determined to find the best habits and systems to help my clients and myself reach our goals. In my deep dive into habit formation, I noticed a pattern in how I show up in the world. That pattern was a 28ish day cycle that had me either more or less productive, health-focused, inclined to work, creative, communicative, and everything else. I discovered that it was all linked to the phases of my menstrual cycle. From there, I decided to seek further training and dedicate myself to menstrual cycle awareness. This led me to create The 28ish mobile app, which links your hormonal cycle to your phone calendar and has a mood and behavior tracker.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My road has included many obstacles. I’ve had to learn so many new skills and am still learning daily. Having a technology start-up, as a woman, is a massive challenge. Fighting for the advancement of biotechnology in femtech is a road fraught with a daily struggle to protect menstrual health data and continue to fight to improve solutions for hormonal health issues. One of the biggest things I run into is that most other menstrual health apps focus on the clinical experience of the cycle. My app is not about that. It is about discovering your cyclical nature and aligning with the superpowers in every part of your cycle. So many women and girls I speak to have internalized negative messaging about their cycles. 28ish is on a mission to change that.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about 28ish?
28ish is a cycle-syncing app designed to help women track their menstrual cycles and use that information to effectively plan and manage their daily responsibilities. Users can optimize their productivity and well-being by better understanding their menstrual cycles.

The 28ish app provides personalized insights and resources to help users achieve their goals and maintain their well-being while navigating their menstrual cycles and responsibilities. We’ve designed our app to be user-friendly and engaging, focusing on user-centered design and data privacy.

In addition to the mobile application, 28ish hosts workshops exploring the cyclical nature of women and people that bleed. We have a variety of congratulatory first-period and menopause cards. We have a podcast where we interview women from all over the world about their work in the hormonal health space, and we discuss their relationship with their menstrual cycles.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://28ish.com/
• Instagram: @28_ish
• Facebook: @28ish
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/28ish
• Youtube: @28ish
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@28_ish