Bodily - What Healthcare Forgot. Bodily Will Deliver.

Ramon Vela: [00:00:00] Welcome back everyone. This is Ramon Vela, and like I said, I have this amazing guest that I can't wait to dive into their story to the brand.

So please welcome ~Tova~ Tova Hame, who is founder and CEO of Bodily. Welcome to the show. 

Tovah Haim: Hi, Ramon. Thank you for having me. 

Ramon Vela: Well, I appreciate your time and I know that you're busy, you're running the company, so my listeners and myself were really, truly,~ uh,~ appreciative of you spending a little time telling us a little bit about not only just the journey of the brand, but your journey and just really helping us understand why you do what you do and why this is, why this product is so important.

And that's actually one of the things that I, I love to stress to people that. People like you, founders, business owners, they bleed, sweat and tear over [00:01:00] their product. And it's very difficult thing to do. ~Uh, ~it looks easy when you see the fi, the final product on the retail shelf or on a online, but it's really difficult to do.

~Uh, ~and on top of that, I, I, I do, I want people to know who you are so that they can not, not less, not just see a faceless corporation,~ uh,~ you know, when they're thinking about a product or that they see on the shelf, but they realize there's real people behind these companies and they really care. And so, with that said, I love to ask a question, and it's a gratitude question.

And I think from my perspective, it's a great way to get to know someone by understanding what they're grateful for. So, if you don't mind, Tova, share a moment or a memory when someone did something for you that just made you feel grateful because it meant that they believed in you, your vision, or your potential.

Tovah Haim: Yeah. ~Um, ~yeah, so I,~ uh,~ when I decided to start bodily, I didn't, I mean, I didn't know that it was bodily when I decided to [00:02:00] start it. I knew that there was something that was wrong. There was something that was missing that it needed to be dealt with. It needed to be addressed, that it was impacting people.

And,~ uh,~ and so there was like a, a, a real reason,~ um,~ it was, it's holding women back. Like there's a real reason that I felt like this, this had to happen. ~Um, ~and, and I knew that I could really use the product and I could have really used the information. So I, I felt very convicted that something needed to be done, and I wasn't sure what it was that needed to be done.

I spent months and months and I think I spent like seven months in research mode, just deep, like getting my arms around. How is it that something's not being done here? What, what is like the full nature of this problem? And I was like spaghetti at the wall trying to figure out like, how do I address it?

How do I address it? And, and I started to kind of get a sense of what I wanted to [00:03:00] do,~ uh,~ how I wanted to address it. I knew what I needed to do, and then I started to talk to people about it. And I would get, I would say like mostly I got just overall very discouraging responses. The, the responses were often like, hmm.

Yeah, I wonder if there's, and then they would kind of talk about some other totally unrelated space or opportunity, like trying to like kindly tell me that this was not a good idea. ~Um, ~and you know, I'd tell people like, I think I'm gonna, I'm, I'm starting something. It's gonna be addressing postpartum and breastfeeding.

'cause I think that women really need help here. And I, I would just get like a lot of silence. And it was after, you know, you spend that much time and I started to get like discouraged. I started to feel like I. I don't know, questioning. And,~ um,~ and I was speaking with, with a friend and, you know, it started to like, you know, not tell as many people what I was doing.

I was speaking to somebody and they were like, oh my gosh, [00:04:00] you have to meet my friend Brooklyn. And,~ uh,~ and you know, she's like very, very passionate about this as well. ~Um, ~and they were referring to Brooklyn Decker and I was like, okay, Brooklyn Decker is passionate about postpartum. That's amazing. Yes, I'd love to meet Brooklyn.

And so I went and I met Brooklyn after this, like just so long of, of people not believing. And I go into this meeting and now I'm like, have some views on what I wanna do. And I'm explaining it to her like, here's the nature of the problem. Women are just, they're not being helped. And you know, it's really holding us back.

And this is what I think that I wanna do. I wanna create these resources. I want them to be researched back. I wanna have this box. That's all the things that no one wants to tell you that you really need in the recovery from childbirth. And I start explaining what's in the box. And she stopped me in the middle of my sentence, and she was like, Tova, I'm sorry, I don't want to interrupt you, but I have to tell you, I've been making this box, [00:05:00] I've been making this box, and I've been sending almost exactly what you're describing to my friends.

And she described what she puts in there, and she told me that she would put like a little hot pink cross out of,~ uh,~ like, you know, ma masking tape and ~uh, ~and like label all the things. And it was the first moment, it was more than just the first moment that somebody believed. It was so much more like she believed and she saw the same thing that I saw.

She saw the same solution. She believed that something needed to be done. And, and she basically, from that meeting, she was like, I'm, I'm in. Let's do it. And she became my first investor, and then her husband, Andy Roddick became, you know, the, to the two of them together, became our first, my first I. And it went from, it went from just like a sad, lonely, discouraged place where nobody wanted to hear it, [00:06:00] and everyone was telling me to go in a different direction to just feeling very validated and,~ um,~ and, and have being given the confidence to go and pursue this.

~Um, ~and it was just a massive turning point. And she. Has been, you know, she's, she's an advisor, she's an investor. She's so much more than an investor, and she's just been, yeah, she's been incredible. And I am massively grateful for her and for her seeing it and believing in it and being a part of it. ~Um, ~I definitely, I, I don't think that, I'm sure that I wouldn't, I wouldn't have been able to do it had it not been for that, that moment and her support.

Ramon Vela: Wow. I, I really appreciate you,~ um,~ you know, telling us that, or sharing that story with us, and that really goes to the heart of the question, and it's, it's, someone sees something in you that, you know, believes in you because of your passion, because of, you know, you know, the, the [00:07:00] love you have for solving this problem and, and all of that.

Because, you know, for those out there listening who are not in the entrepreneur or startup world, I. You know, when someone invests in you, of course they're investing in, they, they look at the business idea and they look at the plan, they look at the reason why and all of that,~ um,~ and whether it's a solid idea and so forth.

But what they're really doing, let's just be honest, is that they're, they're, they're investing in you. They're saying she understands the problem, we understand this problem, but we think that she has the ability to execute on that idea. And for me, you know, that is really a huge sort of transfer of belief, right.

And that's, you know, that's where the gratitude comes from. 'cause they, you know, they believe in this idea. It validates that part of it was you, but also they validate that they think that you can execute on this. So I That's pretty special. 

Tovah Haim: Yeah, I, I mean, it, it. The, those, those people whos being an, being an entrepreneur is like so [00:08:00] lonely sometimes, and there's so many people, there's so much rejection involved in it.

There's so many people who are gonna say, no, it hasn't been done before. That's the idea, right? You're starting something that's new and so there's gonna be people who are gonna say, I don't believe. And having some people in your court who do and who just have. Any, any amount of conviction that you have to keep you pressing on it means like so much.

'cause there was, there's so much additional rejection that you face after that. Yeah. And to have somebody to come back to you to be like, no, no, you're on the right path. Keep going, keep on keeping on. It's, it's like it's massive. So massive. 

Ramon Vela: Yeah. No, that's, it's a great example. Thank you for sharing that.

And there, and actually, based on what you said, there's a lot of stuff to unpack. ~Um, ~and I'd love to kind of unpack that a little bit as, as we kind of, ~uh, ~it's a good segue to talk about the rest of the journey. ~Um, ~pause Before we do that, hey, I just wanna let you know, Tova, would you mind moving just [00:09:00] slightly to the right.

There you go. ~Um, ~sorry. It, it, no, no, no. It's okay. I'm just, it is easier when we do cut clips and things like that on social media. Totally. If you are in the middle there and it, it kind of works with all the social platforms and so forth. ~Uh, ~I that was, that was about it, but thank you though. Everything else is perfect.

~Um, ~and,~ uh,~ okay, so let me pause unpause 1, 2, 3. So based on what you just said, I, I heard some things in there that I thought were really interesting. ~Um, ~but before we do that, I, now I'm really, really curious. So you, under, you, you solved the, there was a problem. You saw that there was a need,~ um,~ and you were doing this research like seven months or whatever that was, ~uh.~

What's, what, what was, what was your background? I'm just wondering like, how far of a leap did you have to make,~ uh,~ in order to kind of like get into the space and learn about this? Did, did you already have a background in either brands or a background in women's health [00:10:00] or anything like,~ uh,~ anything like that?

Tovah Haim: Yeah. ~Um, ~sort of, and mostly not. So I, I spent the first half of my career in,~ um,~ in private equity. I was working in big buyout, private equity,~ um,~ investing in infrastructure assets. So like I. We were buying railroads and airports and container terminals, and I was investing in midstream natural gas, which like, could not be further from consumer or women's health or anything like that.

~Um, ~but it was incredible,~ uh,~ like training ground for,~ um,~ just,~ uh,~ you know, rigorous analysis and data-driven decision making. And,~ um,~ as well as like, you know, sizing markets,~ uh,~ which was part of what I needed to do when I decided that there was something that needed to be done here. ~Um, ~but just keep, keep on with the, with the background.

So, you know, first half of my career in private equity,~ um,~ I was investing in midstream natural gas, which was like [00:11:00] intellectually challenging. ~Um, ~and, but also not pa I wasn't passionate about it. And I decided,~ um,~ at some point that, you know, I, I would like. Pull all-nighters. I pull like three all-nighters in a row.

I mean, I was just like wor, every single weekend I was working, I can't count the number of weddings that I missed. Like it was just very, very full on. And I was like, I can't. Pour my everything into something that I'm not passionate about. Life is too short and,~ uh,~ and I, I need to do something that's gonna fulfill me in all the ways.

And so I decided to leave that path and become an operator. ~Um, ~and so I was at Ralph Lauren,~ uh,~ and then,~ uh,~ I went into startups. ~Um, ~and so this is where it's like slightly relevant. So I was in startups, I was the CFO at a couple of high growth startups. ~Um, ~I was the CFO. So I was doing like something very specific.

I was not doing all of the things at all. And I [00:12:00] did not think that I was gonna start a company, but it was when I was in that experience that I was pregnant with my first,~ um,~ and, you know, the, the company needed to raise money and I was the CFO. So that was my responsibility. And I was like. Okay, let me learn all the things that I need to learn in order to get back to the office as quickly as I could.

~Um, ~and so I went to the internet, and the internet was like, you're good. Don't worry about it. Just focus on the baby. The baby's really the thing that needs all of the focus and the attention. You're, there's nothing for you to do. ~Um, ~and so I, I was like, okay, great, because I need to get back to the office after I have the baby, like within two weeks.

And that seems like that's very reasonable because all I need is a long extension cord apparently, and then I'm gonna be great. And so I, I went and I had the baby and ~um, ~and it basically launched me into this succession of preventable crises where I. Learned,~ uh,~ [00:13:00] through trial and error, which made no sense whatsoever, but I learned just by hitting things head on,~ uh,~ all of these like physiological experiences that happen in women's bodies.

~Um, ~can we pause? Sorry. Sure. Pause. ~Uh, ~I'm, I'm like launching into why I started Bodily and I'm realizing that this may not be the direction that you want me to go in. 

Ramon Vela: No, no, no. Uh uh. Please continue. ~Uh, ~this is a, it was a natural segue, so don't worry about it. Yeah. ~Uh, ~I mean, I'll, I'll,~ uh,~ I'll break in when I, when I ask something, but No, feel free to just continue.

Tovah Haim: Okay. 

Ramon Vela: All right. Yeah, no, no. Feel free to do that. ~Uh, ~let me unpause this though. ~Uh, ~unpause. 1, 2, 3, go. 

Tovah Haim: So I experienced this like succession of what I like to call preventable crises. ~Um, ~and you know, essentially,~ uh,~ I, I was hit with all of these very dramatic things that happen to your body that are totally [00:14:00] normal, but nobody had told me about before.

And so when your body does something that's very, very extreme, it generally indicates to you that there's a problem. And if nobody tells you about it ahead of time, then like you definitely think it's a problem that needs to be dealt with immediately, which was what I thought. And so I, you know, thought that I was dying when really my body was just doing very normal things and the nurse was like, ah.

This is just normal. Like, it's okay. And I was like, oh my God, because I thought that I was hemorrhaging. And I'm glad to hear that that's, you know, that I'm not hemorrhaging and I'm not dying. But like, if this is just normal, why didn't you tell me about this ahead of time? You could have saved me that experience of panicking reasonably.

Mm-hmm. ~Uh, ~and, and I could have just like, you know, experienced that,~ uh,~ with the preparation that we all deserve. And I didn't have that. And I didn't have that over and over and over again. So [00:15:00] expectations weren't set. And so I would encounter all of these things that your body does, and I would feel like I was dying or something was really wrong.

I didn't have the products that I needed on hand ahead of time because nobody told me about it. So I went on this like. Scavenger hunt through the internet. The internet is like, I got nothing for you. I was like, what? How do you have nothing for me? Something needs to tend to what is happening right now.

And so I'm like in the bowels of Amazon searching for products and I find these like highly medicalized products,~ uh,~ which are solutions and I need solutions. So I get them. But now I'm kind of head to toe in these like non solution solutions that don't let me feel like a person. And I had thought that going back to work after two weeks was reasonable.

And so that the expectation that I set and so I needed to go back to work. While I'm layered up with all of this stuff, totally not [00:16:00] ready to, everyone around me has no idea what's going on because we are all, you know, not finger wagging, ignorant, but ignorant. We didn't know. We literally didn't know. I went into this experience and I had no idea.

It's not reasonable that somebody who wasn't going through that experience would know if I didn't even know. ~Uh, ~and so, you know, it basically just ended up in this crazy situation where I was back to work within 10 days of having a C-section. I was like head to toe in products that didn't enable me to feel good.

I didn't feel good buying them. They didn't feel good on, I didn't feel good consuming them. I was constantly thinking that I was dying, but my body was just doing normal things. And I was like, what is this? This doesn't make any sense if this is normal. How is it that the internet doesn't know about it?

This isn't niche that I had a baby. Like that's how humanity [00:17:00] continues itself. We have been doing that since the beginning of humanity. How is this a surprise? If we're good at anything is gotta be this, but we aren't. We had no information, there was no support, there was no awareness, there were no products.

And I went like six months forward into this. And I was like pumping in an IT closet and I was wearing something that looked like a medieval torture contraption and felt like one, and people were walking in on me and I was like, oh my gosh, this is really hard. And I am like walk through multiple walls, person with no problem.

And I am feeling ground to a halt. And I was a CFO, which meant that I was able to be like, I'm just gonna unilaterally decide that I'm gonna pump in this hour and no one's gonna bother me. I didn't have to ask anyone if I was working in name like pretty much anything else. You know, if I'm a [00:18:00] nurse, if I'm a teacher, if I'm like a, you name it profession, I can't just unilaterally decide, don't bother me right now.

And I had the ability to do that and I was finding it so hard. Wow. And I was just like, how is it possible that this isn't holding women back? There's no way. Sorry. 

Ramon Vela: No, no, no. I love your passion. And, and so that actually brings up even more,~ uh,~ important. The, the, the, the, the thing you brought up earlier, which was you were telling people and they were sort of discouraging you a little bit, or at least they weren't very positive about this.

And just based off what you just said, right? This passion, and I love this passion that you just displayed,~ um,~ every woman who gives birth goes through what you're going through. Yeah. And so this is not something that's unique to you. ~Uh, uh, ~no. And every, everyone can, everyone, anyone on the listening right now who's given birth to, who has children and so forth, [00:19:00] they understand or have had similar experiences or can definitely relate.

And so I'm wondering at this, at this point. ~Um, ~what were those things that people were discouraging you about? Like what were the things that people said, oh, that may not work. Or was it because the topic is taboo and maybe we kind of like to just not talk about this kind of things? You know, like the, like the, the things that happened to our bodies, you know, ~uh, ~when you have give birth or,~ um,~ was it because they felt like no one would buy it?

Like it's not a viable product, or what, what were the, what were the things that people said? Because it, it feels to me that if 50% of the,~ um,~ population or so, you know, maybe more ha goes through this and is experiencing this, then how come there, why wouldn't there be a potential market which can potentially be huge?

Tovah Haim: Totally. 

Ramon Vela: What, what, why, what were the reasons that people gave you? What, what, what pushback did you ever [00:20:00] get? I'm just curious. I mean, I couldn't 

Tovah Haim: believe some of the questions that I received when I went out to go raise my first round. I, I was very shocked at some of the questions that I received. I, I had questions like,~ um,~ if this is a market, then why isn't anyone doing it already?

And I was like, when was that ever a good question for a venture capital person to ask like, what, you would not start any, any companies if that was a valid question. ~Uh, ~and, but, but I think that, you know, there's the, the, the answer is that women are the ones who are experiencing this problem. This, it's not a problem.

This is just, this is just like the physiological fact of life. This is just what happens to our bodies and the recovery from childbirth. It's not problem, but we are the ones who experience that. ~Uh, ~and so we are the ones who know about it. And when you exist in this cultural context where, you know, leading into that experience, when I was [00:21:00] pregnant, when I was pregnant, people were, were like, oh, like there was just so much like, let me hold the door for you.

Oh, let all kinds of like, you know, coddling and support, no talk about this whatsoever. Nobody showed up to the baby shower with like adult diapers or anything else that like, might have been helpful actually, but all of that, once you get on the other side of it and you experience it, those are signals that, that it is a signal that nobody said anything.

And it's a signal that women internalize as. Oh, well, maybe I shouldn't, maybe I shouldn't talk about this. Maybe this is not something that we talk about. And so there, there are all of these self silencing, there are cultural signals that lead to self silencing, and ultimately that is taboo. That's what that, that's basically what's being described.

~Um, ~but it is, it's a taboo subject. And so we don't talk about it. And, sorry, go ahead. No, 

Ramon Vela: no, no. Please. ~Uh, ~and I'm [00:22:00] wondering also, and and please tell me this, because I, I, I, I don't, I obviously, I, my, my wife gave birth, but,~ uh,~ but I don't, I can't, I don't, you know, I don't know what's, what's going through your mind during that time.

But I'm also wondering is, you just said it right now, and I believe you, 'cause I, I remember my wife getting all these gifts too. All the gifts are geared towards the baby. Yeah. So that in itself seems like it's also a signal because then it's telling, it's telling you. That it's not appropriate for you to, or it's not like you're secondary, you as the mom are secondary.

The baby comes first. Exactly. So that further, you know, makes you feel like, oh, well, maybe like, so I'm a little bit less important. I don't have to, like, the focus shouldn't be on me. I, I should be focusing on the child, not on my, my health. And so therefore you kind of push things back too. You, you know, you push the issues even further down, right?

Like you try to bury them a little bit. 

Tovah Haim: There, there aren't, we're, we're [00:23:00] not giving each other the necessary cultural signals that we should tell each other about this ahead of time, or that it is not just proper but necessary for you to get support and ask for support and receive support. All of the cultural signals are heading in the wrong direction, and so we receive those cultural signals.

In general, I think that a lot of things that are unique to women's bodies are things that we don't really talk about, so you already have that sort of cultural context and then it gets all of these little reinforcements, and so women are the ones who know about it. We self silence ourselves. That's how nobody told me ahead of time that this was gonna happen.

The internet doesn't know about it because women are all, we're all keeping it into ourselves. There are not many female entrepreneurs. And then you add to that, that less than 2% of venture capital goes to female founded companies. And that's [00:24:00] how you have a,~ uh,~ an experience and a market that is dealing with something that is non-discretionary, that is critical for women to actually deal with.

Like if you are bleeding vaginally profusely, which is what normally happens in the recovery from pregnancy, you need products to deal with that. You can't be like, oh, I'm not gonna deal with that. You must, there's no avoiding that. So this is one of those categories where. You must deal with the things that are happening to your body.

And in spite of that, there's not companies pending to this. It is all about the fact that this is culturally taboo. There's not a lot of female entrepreneurs, there's not a lot of capital to go to female entrepreneurs. And that was one of my epiphanies and I did the sizing of the market and found that this is a huge market.

This isn't, that women aren't willing to spend. And so, yeah, I did find in those conversations, those like discouraging notes was I think that people just felt like, well, wait a second, nobody even talks about this as being an [00:25:00] issue. It, how, how is it a market that needs to be addressed if we're not hearing that?

People are saying it needs to be addressed. ~Uh, ~and, and I think that, you know, again, that's all of that, that cultural taboo, that's women, you know, not being enough women entrepreneurs, not getting enough support. That's ultimately what I needed to break through. And what I found was. That women very much understood and immediately understood.

When I would tell one of these stories, there'd be like a lot of like vigorous head nogging and like, and like, ha ha ha. Yeah. I experienced exactly that. Women are all in the know on it. And I also found that men who had sisters or partners or wives who, who had babies, they also knew. Mm-hmm. And so when I spoke to men who were aware, they were like, oh yeah, my wife went through that.

And yeah, she really did need support. And I actually ended up having [00:26:00] a lot of male investors,~ uh,~ in spite of all of those initially discouraging conversations. 

Ramon Vela: Wow. And, and, you know, ~um, ~something else you said that I thought was really interesting is,~ uh,~ when you, you, you. When you scour the internet for products that can help you, and you said that many of them sort of seem,~ uh,~ very medical medically or medical centric or things like that.

And,~ um,~ and that, that, that also, that made me think that in terms of providing a solution, one of the things in terms of providing a solution, one of the, one of the features, or I dunno what you wanna call it, but one of the things that, that would be included in, in a pot, in a potential,~ uh,~ better solution that's than what's out there, is to create an environment that where they feel,~ um,~ understood and where they don't feel.

Bad, or maybe there's probably a better word, but just they don't feel like, you know, they, they, they feel like the solution is, is, [00:27:00] is speaking to them and also making it seem okay to have these issues. So like the packaging, I'm imagining just putting my branding hat on. I'm imagining the, the packaging should, should not look so medical, right?

It should look more welcoming and educational and kind of like, hey, like this is not abnormal. Like this is, you're, you're not, you know, this is perfectly normal. This, you know what I mean? Like, this just another product, but it's, the packaging shouldn't scare people by making 'em think like, oh my God, it looks so, you know, it's like a plain white box with, you know, simple lettering.

I, I don't know. I'm just saying it just feels like you have an opportunity to make this,~ uh,~ when you, the, the packaging and the, and the than the wording just really just more, much more welcoming. I 

Tovah Haim: mean a hundred percent. This is, this is like, I think, I don't know if it's half of what we do, but it's a very large part of what we do.

So we're, we're basically going very, [00:28:00] very deep into research,~ um,~ doing like, ~um, ~literature reviews of clinical research together with medical professionals because the products that we're making are ultimately their medical products. These are products that are dealing with the physiological realities in your body.

And so they need to work, they need to respond to the physiological reality in your body. So they come from research and we design them together with medical professionals. But because of this cultural context where we are getting all of these signals that like, you shouldn't talk about this, and there's this kind of solitude in dealing with all of these experiences now.

But I will say this is something that we are. This is something we're trying to change. This is like half of what we're doing, and I have seen change over the years that we've been doing this, but part of what we do is we take those products that fundamentally work because they come from clinical research and we design them with medical professionals, but we make them look and feel like normal consumer products.

Like it's important that it looks [00:29:00] cute, it's important that you want it, and it's important beyond even those things, it's important that, you know, the images that we show are of confident women, women feeling confident and of like. Average women not, we don't use professional models. ~Uh, ~we use women who are in postpartum from our community who represent, who look like and represent like average people like you and me and everybody in the male curve.

You know, like that's who we show because there's all of these, there's all of these signals that we're taking in that are telling us, you know, to hide it, to keep it to yourself and all of that. And we just wanna show like, yeah, you're, you might have rolls and there's squished, and there's spider veins and there's stretch marks, and you're gonna be engorged and sos this woman who has red lipstick on and is feeling fierce.

And [00:30:00] so can you. It's okay. You're okay. We're trying to communicate that through all of our signals and our language. A hundred percent. I think it's a big part. It's a big part of what women need to break free from all of this,~ um,~ cultural context that we're in. 

Ramon Vela: Yeah. And, and I, I can definitely,~ uh,~ see that.

And for anyone out there who wants to take a look at what we, what we are talking about and what we will be continuing talking about, you can go to it's bodily.com. So it's ITS and then bodily, B-O-D-I-L y.com. It's bodily.com is the website. And of course, we'll talk more about that in a second. ~Uh, ~so what have been the challenges?

~Um, ~obviously communication, fighting against cultural norms, those, or, you know, those kind of things have been,~ uh,~ are obviously the big ones. You know, a, a big part of it. ~Um, ~and I know that, I think it's been, [00:31:00] I mean, I. You, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like there's a lot more, there's a lot more, the trend is, is trending towards being able to talk more about these things as well.

Correct. I mean, there's just more conversations going, I've noticed other brands trying to address the same, you know, similar, similar issues. And so I think, I think that's trending in a better direction,~ uh,~ than it was before. But obviously there's still a lot of challenges. Just even from a CPG standpoint.

Have you, have you found,~ uh,~ like manufacturing to be difficult? Have you found, I mean, is there any, like, maybe regulations, I don't know, is there any other challenges that you've been, you've come across that you know, that,~ uh,~ have really stumped you or, you know, maybe you didn't think about or hadn't had anticipated?

I mean, I'm not sure there's a ton of 'em, but you know, any ones that you wanna call out. 

Tovah Haim: Yeah, I feel like living in a startup is just constantly like battling challenges and chasing opportunities. ~Um, ~but ~uh, ~yeah, I [00:32:00] mean, gosh, when we, when we launched, we launched one month,~ uh,~ before COVID hit. And so, ~um, ~we, we launched, I wanted to be agile.

I wanted to be like lean in inventory. So we had like, you know, 70 units of inventory and COVID hit and our supply chain shut down by like Jan 15 of 2020. Our supply chain shut down fully and we were not able to get any more inventory. And because we had just launched,~ uh,~ our factories, which were good factories serving much bigger.

Less risky clients than us who just launched. They, I think, appropriately prioritized other people. If they had, you know, scarce resources, they served other folks and we were sitting on the sidelines for an entire year. Wow. We could not get inventory for all of 2020. ~Um, ~and I will say,~ uh,~ you know, [00:33:00] and I think it ended up being beneficial because,~ uh,~ that was a, those were really challenging times.

People were like moving all over the place. There was so much going on. ~Um, ~but it also gave us an opportunity to look at our site and be like, okay, did we launch with our best foot forward on the site? That's something that we can actually address. And we, it was, by the way, it was like me and one person.

But so we like, looked at our site and cleaned things up and did the things that we were able to do while we were waiting to get our inventory. And then in 2021 we finally got inventory, were able to launch. We sold out in three days of our first shipment, which I thought was going to last us many, many months.

We got the next shipment, which was supposed to last us a year, and we sold out of that in three weeks. ~Uh, ~and then our next product came in. We sold out of that in three weeks, and then we had no inventory again. But this time it was because [00:34:00] we had incredible momentum, but COVID was still going on and we were stocked out for three months.

Wow. Which then basically flung us into,~ um,~ supply chain resiliency and needing to do something that you don't typically do at that stage of the, that early stage of a business. We basically built in redundancy in supply chain because,~ um,~ basically because of COVID. ~Uh, ~and, and I think it's ultimately served us really well, but it, it was definitely a lot, a lot, a lot of work.

~Um, ~but it's been helpful because it enabled us to get like more competitive pricing on our products and achieve better margins earlier on. ~Um, ~so I think that was. COVID was a pretty, pretty big challenge for us. 

Ramon Vela: Yeah, I can imagine. And I'm wondering, what do you think was the key for you? Like you mentioned that you kind of, during that, that year where you couldn't have products, you [00:35:00] were,~ uh,~ optimizing the website and probably creating content and things like that.

~Um, ~and then when it, when you did have product and it sold out,~ uh,~ quick, faster than you thought, and I'm wondering what do you, what do you, what do you at,~ uh,~ attribute that success to? Was it because for that year you were just maybe educating people and creating content or building a community or what, what do you attribute to that success where, you know, when you were able then to now to have product things started moving for you?

Tovah Haim: You know, I think that that women, I. Have always wanted to be served better mm-hmm. In these areas. And,~ uh,~ and they just weren't being. And so, you know, we showed up and we sent our product to editors,~ uh,~ as one does. And the editors are women, many of them women who have had babies. And they were like, [00:36:00] what?

And so we immediately were placed like top placements in all kinds of media publications. And that was kind of all that we needed. Like once women saw there's a better solution. It just went super fast. ~Uh, ~and, you know, we, we sold out. But I, I feel like,~ um,~ yeah, I think women just, were always looking for solutions.

It's just that they weren't being served great products. 

Ramon Vela: Mm-hmm. And, and, you know, ~um, ~I wanna talk about the products in a second. 'cause I now, everything you, after everything we've just talked about, it's like, I'm, I'm really curious, and I'm sure the listeners are really curious to hear more about the actual products.

~Um, ~but before we do that,~ uh,~ you've had this amazing experience. And by the way, when you said that you didn't have, you didn't have a lot of experience and the ccp, you know, that the, the building of the brand per,~ uh,~ part of it, which, but the CFO Yes. And the operator. ~Um, ~that is, I hear that from so many other founders.

They're [00:37:00] like, that's like every, you know, like almost, I would say like 80% of the, of the, maybe 90% even,~ uh,~ the founders that I interview didn't have any idea. Of. The thing they ultimately are doing, they didn't have any idea how to do it when they started, you know, they had to research it, whether it was, you know, creating a beverage, an alcohol beverage, or a non-alcoholic beverage, or a, you know, t-shirt company, like the classic true, classic people or, you know, everything in between.

It's, you know, people have this idea and they really, they have an idea and it's like a, becomes a burning desire and they just can't let it go. And, and so they're, they're motivated to take action and, and move on that. And so if you ran into. ~Uh, ~another person who's at a younger stage than you,~ uh,~ or earlier stage than you in terms of building a business,~ uh,~ another woman entrepreneur.

What would you share with them,~ uh,~ whether it was a, you know, women's health space or, or whatnot? [00:38:00] What would you share with them? What, what would you, is there anything that you, that could apply to them and, and what they're doing that would maybe save them some money, save them some headaches, or at least just prepare them, you know, just for the, for the journey ahead?

Tovah Haim: ~Um, ~my gosh. I mean, and no advice to save them some money because you are gonna make mistakes and you are gonna burn money and you actually just need to assume that you will and reserve for it, because that's gonna happen. ~Um, uh, ~yeah, I don't know. I think that,~ um,~ I think that it is actually really essential to have a couple of people in your corner who.

Believe in your vision and who believe in you and are willing to give you real feedback along the way Also,~ um,~ because. You know, there's you, the, the staying true to your vision I think is really, is really essential and also sometimes really [00:39:00] hard. ~Um, ~because you get, you get feedback from all kinds of directions and feedback is essential to get, that's how we like grow as people.

~Um, ~and also in business, you get feedback through your data and through, you know, how the market is responding to it. And you, you need to pay attention to that and you need to internalize it and you need to make changes and you also need to have clarity in your vision and stay true to it while internalizing that feedback.

And I think that sometimes it can be easy to, or I don't know if it can be easy to be led astray, but it can, it can be difficult to stay really true to it. ~Um, ~and so I find that I. Going back to those supporters and those key people, like mentors and advisors and just talking it through,~ um,~ is really helpful to kind of find that center again.

And the reality is, is when you're starting a company, [00:40:00] you're, you're, you're doing it because you're, you've identified an issue, you've identified something that's missing and that's special. And you, you have to stick to that while adapting and taking in the feedback. And that balance is just so hard. So yeah, I find having, having those people in your court to help you keep center while internalizing feedback,~ um,~ has proved to me to be essential.

Ramon Vela: Hmm. And, and the, the opposite of that is that. It is common also for on, unless you have that, those core group of people who can kind of keep you centered, you know, and ~uh, ~and help you see cl have you have clarity and so forth. The opposite of that is I see a lot of founders who chase the shiny objects, right?

Like, oh, I just heard about this. I should apply [00:41:00] this to my business, or I should do this, or I should change, and or they listen to people,~ um,~ who may not have the best, you know, ~uh, ~their best interests at heart. And so they give 'em advice and, and then you, then you find yourself sort of like changing your formulation or changing this or that, or kind of like you, you know, you said, you know, staying true to your vision, right?

It's whole so hard because you have a lot of people coming at you. So you really do need to find those people who I. Who not only have great business advice, but also, you know, have your true interests at heart and want to see you succeed. ~Um, ~and he can give you that kind of,~ uh,~ you know, unbiased advice around that because it's so easy to kind of start chasing and going down all sorts of different rabbit holes.

So, yeah. I, I a hundred percent,~ uh,~ get it and thank you for sharing that. So l let's,~ uh,~ let me remind people where to go. Again, it's the website is it's bodily.com. It's [00:42:00] bodily.com, and you can find out what we're talking about. So, Tova, we've had this really wonderful conversation thus far, and I think pe we've covered a lot of things, but I love your passion and I think people listening are thinking like, wow.

It's like, I love how she's describing this. I love how she's talking about this. And, you know, if they're,~ uh,~ if they've, you know, have. Partners or if they've given,~ um,~ children or, or thinking about having children, they're thinking about this and thinking like, wow, this is so, so wonderful that this conversation's being talked about.

~Um, ~where for those folks who are interested, where does someone start in the journey of bodily? 

Tovah Haim: Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, part of what we do is, you know, with, with my experience, I didn't know what to expect. I didn't understand what was happening with my body,~ um,~ which was scary. I didn't know what the [00:43:00] solutions were.

~Um, ~and I didn't know how long it was gonna last. And, and, and then I also didn't have the products. And so what we are trying to do at Bodily is to, you know, help with those, with those areas. And so we do this very deep research with like medical researchers and also, you know, partnering with medical professionals.

We create these articles that are coming from this really deep research written with ob, WANs, IBCLCs, doulas, midwives, the whole lot so that you can understand what to expect ideally before it happens. You know, when you need to be concerned and when your body's gonna do. Insane things that are actually totally normal and you don't need to be concerned.

And then what you can do about it. ~Um, ~and sometimes it's like get some sleep or take a Tylenol and sometimes it's some product that we might be able to help with and we're gonna tell you the [00:44:00] solution. Even if the solution is like, you know, yoga, well, we'll tell you. ~Um, ~so you can come and you can get all of that information.

We organize it in a bunch of different ways. We have like a timeline that you can go through so you can. Understand the chronology of experiences that people generally have. ~Um, ~and then,~ uh,~ on our site you can also come and,~ um,~ and get,~ uh,~ and get products that are gonna help. So we have a product called the Care for Birth Box,~ um,~ that I referenced.

You know, Brooklyn Decker was our first investor and she was sending these out and this was basically the same as what I was gonna put together. So we partnered on it. We first called it the Trust Me Box,~ um,~ and then we decided to call it the like, like, trust me girl, you need this. But then we decided to call it the Care for Birth box.

~Um, ~but so this box is curated with, you know, OB gns and midwives and I-B-C-L-C and Brooklyn, and me putting like a dose of love in there. And the idea is that this is something that you can gift someone at the baby shower and you know, the care for birth box, it does have [00:45:00] stool softener in there, and it does have gigantic maternity maxi pads because those are the things that you really need.

And so it's this like. Show of love as well as starting to change that cultural narrative that we were talking about that like is what has enabled this whole situation to happen. You can show up with it and it's beautiful and it has little guidebooks. You can give a guidebook to your supporters so that getting support is as easy as just handing them a book where they have like little tasks that they can do now they know what they can do to help.

~Um, ~so we have all of those products we have. You know, nursing bras that look and feel like normal brass. We have hands-free pumping brass. ~Um, ~and we recently launched a product called the Lactation Latte that is now available in Target. ~Uh, ~and so you can, you know, come to our site, you can go to Target and get,~ um,~ get our products.

And ultimately what we are trying to do is just to help [00:46:00] women to feel great in their bodies. And that's through knowing what to expect and having things on hand that enable you,~ um,~ enable you to feel good. 

Ramon Vela: Well, I am, I am thoroughly impressed by just the different products that you have on there. And one of the things that stood out to me when I go to the website, which is it's bodily.com, is it's really true to your, the vision that you sort of described since the very beginning of this conversation where.

You wanna talk about you, you don't, you don't wanna keep things in, in the, in behind closed doors, or you don't wanna make people feel like they can't talk about it, or it's, it's just this individual thing that you have to suffer by yourself. But you know, you wanna talk about these things even if they're uncomfortable.

And one of the things I was going through the website and looking,~ um,~ at the navigation buttons and so forth, and, you know, you talk, it seems like you're covering like every [00:47:00] possible, you know, ~uh. ~Area or Yeah, area that someone might need something like,~ uh,~ in terms of products, but also in terms of just knowledge and so forth.

And you even, you know, you talk about pregnancy loss and, you know, miscarriages and things like that are just so, ~um, ~I don't know if they're happening more often, but it just feels like I hear about it more, much more often. Or maybe people are talking about it more. ~Um, ~I know my, well, thankfully 

Tovah Haim: people are starting to talk about it.

Ramon Vela: Yeah. Yeah. I, I, my wife had a miscarriage and I, I just know so many people who have had miscarriages and it's just, but, but it's a, one of those things where you just like, you know, like you said, more people are talking about it. It's, maybe it's not happening as, as there's no increase, but maybe it's just that people are talking about it and it's so important to talk about it.

Tovah Haim: It's common. I mean, one in four pregnancies ends in loss and at at different stages of loss must. Much of it is early on, but we don't talk about it culturally. And [00:48:00] the reality is, is that a lot of ev, everyone's experience with loss is different. And there's a range of experiences and they're all your own.

And if it's your experience, of course it's obviously valid. But many people are experiencing where they went into a pregnancy, they really wanted that pregnancy. And you experience a miscarriage and it is really painful and traumatizing and, and very, very challenging experience. And we, again, have all of these cultural signals where we wait to tell people that we're pregnant until 12 weeks.

Which by the way, the rationale for that is that most miscarriages occur inside of 12 weeks, which is. Like that just means that you are holding yourself back from getting support. If we don't talk about, like, if I don't know that you're pregnant, then it becomes so much more difficult for you to [00:49:00] tell me that you lost that baby.

And that is like a, a, a grief filled experience for so many people when you really need support and those, those cultural practices and then the signals and all of that reinforcement, it just tells us like, there's something wrong with my miscarriage and there's nothing wrong with your miscarriage. It's natural.

This, this just happened and if you can't share it, then I can't support you. And people are just suffering in silence and it's so awful. So yeah, we're trying to change it and we're trying to say like. We need to support each other. We need to talk about these things. It's difficult to talk about loss, whether it's pregnancy loss or any loss in your life.

Like people are generally a little hand handed about how to talk about it. Here's some things you can say, here's some things you can do. It's okay. You're okay. And, you know, yeah, we're, I think it's really important that we, that we talk about these things. One of the things we say is, you know, you, you can't have empathy [00:50:00] if you don't have awareness.

And so we're trying to drive awareness. 

Ramon Vela: Yeah. I, I like that. ~Um,~

that, that reminds me,~ uh,~ of mindfulness. So I, I, I can appreciate that, that saying. And when I'm on this website, of course, you know, I, I have not been pregnant, but I've, I've had, you know, we've had three children, so I have a little bit of understanding on this, but it feels like you have. Like everything a person would need.

Like this is truly like when, when you go to the website, everyone and you, you,~ uh,~ go to the, the,~ uh,~ main page. The first thing you see is a resource for women's bodies and health. And I feel like you really have,~ um,~ you really have,~ uh,~ achieved that because it feels like. There's everything you might need, whether it's,~ uh,~ from the bras into and panties and you, you have these,~ um,~ boxes, the care for birth boxes, you, as you mentioned, you have,~ um,~ let's see.

There's another one that I saw here, the Schedule C-section. Post-surgical 

Tovah Haim: [00:51:00] Belly band. Mm-hmm. The C section box. 

Ramon Vela: Yeah. I mean these, and again, this goes right to what you were talking about, which is let's not try to hide things and make people feel bad. Let's talk about these things as if they're part of,~ uh, uh, ~like they're natural and they happen.

And so you, you, you, you don't wanna hide things and make people feel bad. And c-sections obviously are,~ uh,~ very common as well. You've got so many other things here. You've got,~ uh,~ as we talked about, you have this Care for Miscarriage box. You've got,~ um,~ care for Stillbirth Box, which is another issue that people don't talk about.

It feels like you've have a lot of things covered. Here, and I'm sure there's probably more, you have this organic lactation latte, and then you have this, what is that? ~Uh, ~the postpartum recovery latte, one of these you mentioned are available on target. Walk us through that organic lactation. What, what does that,~ uh,~ recipe or formulation look like?

Tovah Haim: So, you know, I, I found in my experience that,~ um,~ actually a, a friend showed up,~ uh,~ shortly after I [00:52:00] had my first, and she brought over lactation cookies and I had no idea that this was a thing that existed. And somebody else brought me lactation cookies and I was like, oh my God, this is amazing. I'm gonna eat five to seven cookies a day.

Fabulous. First couple of days I was like, this is great. And then like two weeks in, I was like, oh my God, I feel so gross. I can't consume this many cookies every day, day after day. ~Um, ~and so, you know, it kind of came from that. But there, these lactation cookies, lactation products, there are basically some herbs,~ um,~ that are,~ um,~ just natural remedies that have been used for like thousands of years.

~Um, ~in some cultures that have,~ uh,~ that, that basically have lacked inogenic properties. They're called gala logs,~ um, um, ~Maringa Ari goat through,~ um,~ even oats. ~Uh, ~and so basically these herbs, if you are lactating,~ um,~ can help to increase,~ uh,~ production milk production. ~Um, ~and so you know that they taste really [00:53:00] bad, their herbs, and so people put them in lactation cookies because you put butter and sugar on top of it, and then you can't taste the yucky tasting herbs.

~Um, ~and, and I wanted something that was healthier that you could actually have every day and still feel good. ~Uh, ~and so we basically,~ um,~ took these herbs and we put it in a delicious, creamy latte that masks the flavor. You just taste like spiced vanilla yumminess,~ um,~ or cacao. I literally give these drinks to my kids.

They, they think it's dessert. ~Uh, ~they're so, so good. And you can add it to your coffee as like a creamer. Yes, you can have coffee, by the way, when you are breastfeeding. ~Um, ~there's an article on our site if you want more information to feel very good about that decision, although every decision is yours.

~Um, ~but the lactation latte, you can just have it on its own, on its own as a hot drink, as a cold drink, add it to oatmeal or whatever, and it helps to increase milk production without overloading with butter and sugar every day. 

Ramon Vela: Wow. That's basically what it's, and, and,~ uh,~ and I have,~ uh,~ and I have heard of these lactation products, [00:54:00] but what I love about this is kind of, it goes back to what we talked about earlier, which is trying to create products or present products in a way that don't make people feel like this is taboo.

Like this is just a normal product. This is something that, that you could buy. It looks like it's something else you would buy for, you know, for just anything. And putting it into a latte, I think is, is pretty cool because it just makes you feel like, oh, this, you know, like I'm used to eating lattes, right?

So this would just like a, a normal thing that I would do because I have seen in other areas where the products are very me medical. Looking. And so it kind of intimidates you to, you know, to,~ uh,~ try different products. And even like some of the clothing that you have here, I, I know there's medical versions of this, and they're not appealing whatsoever, right?

Like, they're just, they, they make you feel like you're, like, there's something wrong with you. Which, you know, ~uh, ~you, you wanna make people feel comfortable, especially around this. If, if, if we're going to do, if we're going to eliminate the taboo that is surrounding these [00:55:00] topics, we have to just make it feel natural.

We may need to make it just feel like every day. Right? So, and it 

Tovah Haim: is natural. It is natural. I, it's like just gotten into our heads that it's something that we need to not talk about. But this is, this is just literally what happens to the human body in the recovery from creating new humans, which is pretty critical to humanity.

Ramon Vela: Yeah. And so on the website you have,~ um,~ navigation buttons around pregnancy, postpartum, breastfeeding, pregnancy loss. ~Um, ~you have obviously the shopping,~ uh,~ button. You have an about button. ~Um, ~you have,~ uh,~ I believe what looks like some,~ um,~ stories that you're sharing there of other people and other,~ uh,~ folks who,~ uh,~ there's videos and so forth.

Is there anything else on the website or anything about the brand,~ um,~ that you wanna call out? Like if, you know, we're, I'm thoroughly impressed by just like, the very nature of all the products that you have and how thorough those are. And then of course, you've got this great, [00:56:00] you know, ~uh, ~knowledge base of things around pregnancy, postpartum, breastfeeding, pregnancy loss, et et cetera.

But is there anything that you wanna call out or anything that you just are just very proud of in terms of the brand that you're doing,~ um,~ that you wanna make sure listeners are aware of? 

Tovah Haim: Yeah, I think that there's,~ um,~ there's probably two things. You know, one, one is, ~um. ~The, the research that starts everything that we do.

And, and two is the models. So on the first one, research,~ um,~ you know, when we decide to move into a space, when we decided to move into postpartum,~ um,~ and address, address that space, we like put together a list of all of the micro experiences that you could experience physiologically, and we go. Really, really deep, like hours and hours and hours of reading primary source clinical research.

We don't read articles that other people have written. ~Um, ~we [00:57:00] want to make sure that we are going to the science and to the medical research directly. We synthesize that information and we, you know, sometimes you'll read clinical research reports that are like somewhat contradicting one another, and so it's actually important to read a, a body of them and kind of like extract and synthesize the takeaways so that you can provide the best solutions possible, which is both education and, and product.

~Um, ~and so all of our products start from this very deep clinical research that we do together with medical professionals and design our products together with them, which I think some people don't realize because they like, you know, buy our bra and they're like, oh my God, this is the most comfortable thing ever.

And it's so cute and I love it, and I take a picture of myself in it, which blows my mind by the way, from like when we first started and people were like, nobody even [00:58:00] needs these products to, you know, now women are just like, I'm. Badass and I'm gonna take a picture of how incredible my body is like to be a part of that is so awesome.

~Um, ~but some people look at our products and experience them and, and just see that part and may not know that there's actually all of this incredible research that goes behind it. ~Um, ~so that's one thing that I'm really proud of. 'cause we, you know, we don't, we don't need to,~ um,~ manufacture problems to manufacture products.

Like there's enough problems or just experiences in women's bodies that are not being dealt with. That I can just serve only great solutions to those experiences,~ um,~ and feel like I'm doing a great job. So that's what we try and do and the research helps us stay really true to that. That's one. And then two is our models.

And this, you know, I referenced this before, but it was [00:59:00] really important to me when we were moving into this that, you know, you, you're unfortunately, women just don't have realistic expectations going into postpartum for all the reasons that we talked about. And your body's like, you know, it takes your uterus eight to 12 weeks to contract.

Down to a non-pregnant size. And so you might look five months pregnant for the first like two months postpartum, and that is totally normal. And your body swells. You experience edema. And so in addition to your uterus, you know, being en enlarged and needing to contract down, it's really quite an amazing thing that our uterus expands to 500 times its pre-pregnancy capacity and then shrinks back down again.

But if you don't know that, you're just like maybe mad that you've got a belly for a long time and still look like you're pregnant and then you're swollen because this is what [01:00:00] happens to the body and it just takes time to lose that water weight. And if you don't know those things, you come at a postpartum and you're looking at yourself and you're like.

My body is banged up in so many ways and I don't recognize myself and I don't feel good about this and nobody's talking to me about it and I don't know that it's normal. And then if I show you images of women who are like rare examples of our species, which is what most professional models are, who are like real people also, they're also examples of the species, but they're like kind of definitionally rare examples.

If I show you just that. Then it takes someone who's already might be not feeling great and reinforces it. And I want women to just like, appreciate this craziness that your body just did. It's really incredible. And so we use models from our community. They who are like, follow us on Instagram and they're, you know, in, in our, they [01:01:00] receive our emails, we put out calls and Instagram and in our emails for models.

And these like incredible, courageous, fierce women raise their hands and they're like. I'm six week postpartum and I'm gonna get in my bra and underwear and stand in front of a camera and show you my beautiful body, which is incredible. ~Um, ~but I, I also am really proud of those women who come forward and do that, and being able to show women these examples of all different bodies with all different types of banged up, beautiful postpartum selves and all of that just being totally normal and where we are.

Ramon Vela: Yeah. And, and, and, you know, it's so, it's so, ~um, ~as you were saying that, I went back to the website and I was looking, looking at the website and,~ uh,~ that's definitely something you should call out because I think it's, if you, if you haven't already. ~Uh, ~because,~ um,~ it's such a subtle thing, right? Like you, you, you [01:02:00] want, you want to do this and you don't, you don't necessarily wanna,~ uh,~ call it out too much, but at the same time, it's very, it's something to be proud of.

And it's also something that you should call out from a brand perspective because you go to like a other websites maybe run by conglomerates and so forth, and all their, all their,~ uh,~ images are, are using what we normally might think we see, you know, like the traditional models and so forth. But I, I love that about the brand.

~Um, ~there's so much the. When I look at this, it looks so comprehensive, but I'm sure there's more that more products you guys can create, more things you can create. What do we, before we end this, this conversation, 'cause I wanna be respectful of your time. What can we expect in the future? Is there any new products, new form factors, new, new services that you're going to provide?

Because it feels like there's so much opportunity. 'cause there's so many different things you can do in this, in,~ uh,~ arena. There's just like, it's endless [01:03:00] what, what products and services you can provide. 

Tovah Haim: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, on, on, on one hand there's like, there, there are really exciting opportunities and I like never lose sight of the fact that it's just like, it's like sad and shameful that these opportunities are the white spaces that they are 'cause we deserve better.

~Um, ~but that's what we're trying to do is, is, you know, ser serve women in the ways that we deserve. So, you know, essentially. If there is an experience that is,~ um,~ unique to women's bodies and, and common, and in spite of it being common experience in women's bodies, we have insufficient information and lackluster products or just underserved products in general, then like those are the spaces that we will go to because we deserve better.

~Um, ~so, you know, outside of [01:04:00] continuing to service the spaces that we are in. Breastfeeding postpartum, pregnancy loss and pregnancy, and trying to serve those spaces comprehensively with the information that you need so you know what to expect before you experience it. What's happening when you are, and what you can do about it with products that enable you to feel great and that you feel great about buying.

~Uh, ~we are gonna, you know, take that,~ uh,~ and,~ um,~ and service women in other places,~ uh,~ where we need it. 

Ramon Vela: Well, there's so much work to be done, and like I said, you, you already have created such a, a great resource, you know, for folks and it's just so many different products that people, people can,~ um,~ can utilize.

So I really do feel like you, I, what I love about your brand is that it's sort of like, ~um, ~it's sort of in a way it's like, it's great to have, this is for me, like this, like the ultimate, this is like, I. This makes me jealous of people like yourself in that [01:05:00] you have a business and you know, of course it's a business.

You run it like a business, et cetera, and you, you want it to be profitable and ongoing and so forth because you're providing this great service. But at the same time though, you are also helping. People with a real problem, real solution. ~Um, ~and that just makes, must make you feel good when you hear stories, when you hear people share about how, you know, wonderful that they found your website or they read this blog post, or they feel like they have a community and people that that, that they can relate to,~ uh,~ especially if they've been suffering in silence.

So to me that's, I like that, like that's the best business where you can have a real solution,~ uh,~ build a business, make some money, but also really provide,~ uh,~ just an amazing service. So you are definitely what I refer to is in our show, is a product worth buying, a brand we're supporting. So thank you for what you're doing and thank you for spending time with us.

~Um, ~it's amazing. You know, one thing we didn't talk about is your [01:06:00] social media handle and where people can, can find you. Like if Yeah, if they want to go. If retailers, any partners, obviously the website or marketplaces. 

Tovah Haim: Yeah. Yeah. So you can come find us on Instagram at it's bodily.com and we'll, or sorry, it's at it's bodily,~ um,~ where we talk about, you know, the things that go on in our bodies and make,~ um,~ make a space for women to share their stories and experiences.

~Um, ~so you can find us there,~ uh,~ you can find us on our website, it's bodily.com. You can find us now in Target,~ uh,~ our lactation latte recently launched,~ uh,~ nationwide in Target. ~Um, ~and you can find us on Amazon. 

Ramon Vela: Great. ~Um, ~so thank you so much for, for having this conversation. I feel like, I mean, I feel like we've talked about so much in such a short, pro, short amount of time, but this is fantastic.

Thank you. Like I said, I think you guys are a product. Thank you. We're buying a brand, we're supporting,~ uh,~ and everyone out there we have just had. Tova Hame, who is founder and CEO of bodily. We, we [01:07:00] mentioned the website, it's bodily.com. We're gonna have that link as well as the,~ uh,~ social media links on our podcast description, which you could find on Apple, Spotify.

Pretty much anywhere you listen to podcasts, you should be able to find it. Beyond that, everyone, I always say,~ uh,~ be safe, be sane, be healthy. And one way of taking care of your health, especially if you just had a child,~ uh,~ or planning to, is going to the website. Take a look@itsbodily.com. Start reading up because some of the things, obviously you're not gonna hear from your doctor or from other folks, but you, you will hear a very honest, straightforward conversation on the website about,~ uh,~ childbirth and all the different aspects and stages and so forth.

So go take a look. Probably the best thing to do is sign up for the newsletter, that way you keep up to date on new products, on new promotions, on new blog posts and all, all, all sorts of other things, I'm sure. So go check it out. I think you think you'd be,~ uh,~ [01:08:00] pleasantly surprised beyond that. Everyone.

One last thing. We all have been going through something very difficult with the pandemic and then of course the economy and geopolitical wars and politics and tariffs and just like nonsense craziness. ~Um, ~all of the above. So let's do ourselves a favor and just let's just be a little kinder to each other.

Let's just remember that everyone is going through something. It could be what we talked about today, a pregnancy loss, an issue, whatever. Let's just, everyone's going through something. Let's just be kinder to each other, and I know we can make this human experience a better one. Beyond that. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for listening to another episode of the Story of a Brand,~ and we're done.~