A Founder's Diary - Tampons and metal? ??

Welcome to A Founder’s Diary! Every night, I grab a cup of peppermint tea, light a candle, and journal about my day. This newsletter is a summary of those thoughts and pages.

In this edition, you'll read about:

• The recent study that found arsenic, lead, and other metals In tampons
• Our upcoming pop-up store at Stackt Market
• Prime Day sale
• Nature therapy
• And more!

So let's dive in!

What We’ve Been Working On: Preparing for our pop-up at Stackt Market! ??

For the past few weeks, we've been preparing for our pop-up shop coming up at Stackt Market! We'll be there from July 30-Aug 5 and we've planned a number of fun activations with other brands (stay tuned to next week's newsletter to see the list of activations and promos!). We did the pop-up last year as well and we found it was a great way to introduce the brand to new customers who were visiting Stackt (a high foot traffic area in Toronto especially in the summer) and to give the opportunity to existing customers or followers of the brand to see the products in-person. Many people who visited the pop-up last year shared that they'd been following us on Instagram for months but hadn't tried the product and after hearing more details from the founders and seeing the product in-person, they were convinced to buy! It showed us the importance of having an omni-channel presence and providing opportunities for your customers to interact with your products and see your brand values and education come to life in-person.

This year, we'll also have our organic pads available for sale and we're excited to see how the sales on this SKU goes. If you want to see the details for Stackt and our upcoming promos, make sure you're following marlow on Instagram as we'll be releasing the schedule there first!

Follow Marlow on Instagram

What we've been working on: Getting ready for Prime Day! ??

Twice a year, Amazon runs a huge sale called Prime Day. It's their annual deal event exclusively for Prime members, featuring two days of epic deals on top brands and small businesses. This year, prime day is from July 16-17 and during this time, we'll also be going on sale - all of our Marlow products will be 20% off! Ahead of the sale, we wanted to ensure our Amazon listing was up to date to ensure we could take advantage of the increased traffic. We added new keywords, updated our product descriptions, images, A+ content, and more. We also increased our ad spend budget for this day. If you've been interested in trying Marlow, now is the best time! It's also the perfect time to stock up for the next few months at a deal price!

Shop Marlow on Amazon

My Learning: Pay attention to your industry and trends ??

Some of you may have seen the flurry of articles that came out this week about a study from UC Berkeley that found toxic metals such as arsenic, lead, and mercury in tampons from 14 different brands. The articles have created a huge spike in search volume for alternative tampon brands. We saw a huge increase in customer emails, DMs, and sales from consumers interested in switching to better for you tampons. Our tampons are specifically tested for metals such as lead and arsenic, to ensure they are safe before we bring them to market. The third party lab we use certifies that every part of the tampon is tested against a list of over 1,000 substances according to OKEO-TEX Standard 100.

While the study shares some concerning information, it's also important to note that the article itself states that further research is necessary to understand how much of these metals can actually be absorbed by the body. Additionally, experts like Dr. Jen Gunter and Dr. Andrea Love weigh in on this topic and share their opinion about how the study was designed, the controls, and how some of these metals naturally occur in soils. I encourage you to read their posts and blogs on their views of the article to get a full unbiased perspective.

Overall, I think the broader message and lesson of this past week is to dig deeper into the products you're using and understand what you're putting into your body. It's about advocating for a higher standard for women's health and for transparency from brands to disclose their ingredients and how their products are made.

For me, it was a reminder to pay attention to the media and news for anything that is relevant to your brand and industry. We never would have expected an article like this to come out but it resulted in a busy week full of customer DMs and social media posts that were relevant to us!

Read the article

Mental Health / Wellness - nature therapy! ??

Nature therapy sometimes referred to as ecotherapy, forest bathing, or grounding is based on the idea that being in the natural environment can provide a calming, positive effect on your mental health. This is definitely the case for me. Nothing is more calming than looking into water, hiking in a forest, or sitting by a campfire. I grew up going to an overnight summer camp for over 10 years and this solidified my love of nature and being outdoors.

In the summer, I love finding any way to be outside. Whether it's going for a bike ride, walking on a trail, playing beach volleyball, or going camping, I'm truly happiest when I can find time to be in nature.

This past weekend, I went camping in Killbear Provincial Park with friends I grew up with at summer camp and it was such a nice way to disconnect. It's also such a nice annual tradition for us to stay connected even though we aren't at summer camp anymore.

This week, I encourage you to get outside. It can be a simple walk around your neighbourhood or standing in your backyard for 5 minutes, letting the sun wash over your body. You'd be surprised at how much this can reduce your stress and improve your mood!

Personal Life: the marlow boyfriend is now the marlow fiancé! ??

On a personal note, recently, my partner and I took a trip to East Africa and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. We trained for 2 months and were so excited to finally go on our journey and successfully summit the mountain! At the top, Khalid also surprised me and proposed! It was a beautiful moment and the adventure of a lifetime that I will never forget. After that, our families joined us to do a safari and spend some time together. It was a great way for our families to connect even further over this special occasion.

What I've Been Reading/Listening To ??

I love reading and recently I've read some awesome books that I'd love to share with you:

• It's On Me - the Millennial Therapist by Sara Kuburic: Sara is an existential psychotherapist, USA Today columnist, and Instagram's popular "Millennial Therapist. I loved this book because it discussed how to find your true self, to discover your values and life philosophy, and how to lead an intentional and meaningful life.
• First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston (and a Reese Witherspoon Book Club Book): a mystery and page turner, I read this in one sitting and couldn't put it down - it's that good
• Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle: a BookTok light read perfect for a beach day or backyard day

That's all for this week. Thank you for being here and reading my journal. If you ever have any feedback or thoughts, reply to this email! Otherwise, until next time ??

~ Nadia

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