International Women’s Day was created with the aim of becoming a global movement to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements by all women. It also highlights the efforts being made toward gender equality. As a company with 100% of our team comprised of women, we celebrate women and champion women in leadership every single day, and stand to support this years IWD messaging of:
This year at SUBOO we want to utilise our platform as an opportunity to educate and inspire you, our community, to join us in moving forward in efforts to achieve equality. With this in mind we couldn't help but shine the light on four women within our community who inspire us in all facets of life from business to family.
For our second journal of the series we virtually sat down with the Lindy Rama-Ellis, Balinese-Australian entrepreneur. Lindy is undoubtedly busier than ever, juggling family as a mum to four children, Stella, Rocco, Frankie and Goldie and her entrepreneurial spirit & career, having recently embarked on an exciting new business, Fig Femme - a new breed of intimate-wellness that supports self-confidence and encourages women to take control of their individual health needs.
In this Q&A we dive deep with Lindy and discuss a range of topics from what IWD means to her, insight into her new business and advice she'd give to fellow female entrepreneurs.
What does IWD mean to you?
IWD is incredibly important to me. Raising three daughters, I want to ensure that they grow up with as many rights as the next person no matter what profession they decide to embark on. It still baffles me how in my home country of Australia, the wage gap is STILL so vast, and the number of women in higher management roles so disproportionate. I guess this was another reason I started FIG; I want my girls and of course Rocco, my son, to understand that women are equals in the home, workplace and society as a whole. We all deserve equal opportunity
What's the journey behind Fig Femme - where was the idea born to launch a range of intimate care products?
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Such a great question. The idea really came to me 15 years ago when I first had my daughter Stella. After a long labour, the bliss of holding Stella was incredible, but the feeling of immense pain 'down there' and the frozen condom the nurse told me to put in my underwear was not. I started thinking there has to be something more and questioning why this had never been considered. Can I perhaps add-in that if it were men experiencing this pain, I am sure there would be 100's of remedies on the market to assist.
Over the years, I often spoke with family, friends and even my daughters about what we do to our Vulva and why we do them. I'm talking, shaving, waxing, IPL, tight synthetic underwear and non-organic tampons just to name a few. I was continually asking myself why we continue to treat that area of our body with such disdain. Why do we treat our face, arms, bottoms, feet and elbows to specifics creams and masks but our Vulva skin - which goes through so much - gets wholly overlooked… and that's really how FIG began.
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How do you find balance amongst your busy life with both family and running your own business?
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Again, an excellent question, and it's one that I am continually working on. I have one hard and fast rule in that I like to get to the gym at least 5 times a week (this is with or without kids who will often join me). I find that with four kids, a lot of my time is committed to them, so making sure I put aside those hours is really important. Another thing I try to stick to is the school pick up. On the way there I make business calls and check in with staff, on the way home I like to get the down-low on my kids’ day, and I often find the kids are more open to a good chat on the hour (which can sometimes become two hours) commute home.
Other than that, I really try hard to hold meetings in the morning with time for emails and tasks in the afternoon and evening. If I don't do this my day can be taken up with back to back meetings, and I find my tasks get away from me. I should also mention that Adam and I like to get out for dinner, just the two of us, at least once a month. Again, this is a luxury I am incredibly grateful for but one good thing about having children 13 years apart (Stella 15 and Goldie 3) is their babysitting skills.
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If you were to pass on some advice to other female entrepreneurs looking to make a break what would it be?
Just do it!! Honestly just go for it even if you can only work on it on weekends or during your children’s naps if you have an idea that you are passionate about and feel that it has legs go for it (if even if it doesn’t but it brings you joy) just do it.
For those entrepreneurs that are looking to make a lifestyle change and are quitting their jobs or investing significant amounts of money, I would really recommend speaking with a good Accountant and Legal team; you want to know that stuff is sorted as you start to grow also, if you can, start small.
With FIG I had three products in the pipeline but had to launch with one - our hero the Restore Vulva Mask - only due to cash flow and being 100% self-fund. It wasn’t for another few months that I could launch our Refresh Self Foaming Wash and Revive Hydrating Mist. We still have another three products ready to go, but we are mindful of sitting on large amounts of stock.
What has been the most rewarding part of starting Fig Femme?
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Honesty there has been so many, but my number one has probably been creating products for women with the right ingredients that actually do what they say. While doing competitor research, I found that most femme care products - readily available at your local supermarket and chemist - are cheap, and are cheap because of their ingredients. They’re often synthetic formulations with foreign ingredients that don’t work for a female body.It was really important for me to have as few ingredients as possible (while still ensuring we created something that worked) and pull it all together in chic packaging so that we no longer felt we needed to hide these products at the back of the bathroom cabinet.
Another huge highlight has been reading some of FIGs reviews, it has made me so happy to hear of all the women (and some men) who have tried our product and found relief for the first time. We have had so many lovely notes from new mothers, teenagers who are experiencing their first period through to women in menopause, it is such a diverse section of our community, and I just love that FIG has been able to reach so many.
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What inspirational woman inspires you?
Eeeek, how do I choose? There are so many women in my life that inspire me, but probably the first to come to mind are my Mother and Grandmother. Both are incredibly strong women who have raised families while working (both teachers). They are wise, generous, caring and have shown incredible strength in the face of adversity. I’m so grateful that my children have such incredible role models within the family.
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Here are SUBOO we deeply thank Lindy for allowing us to showcase her voice and help us spread the message of International Women's Day and standing with us to #ChooseToChallenge.
Our Gesture To Our Community
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1. 14% OF PROFITS DONATED
In efforts to raise awareness we have rounded up the gender pay gap to extend 14% of all profits from today until 8th March (IWD) to 100women.org - an organisation aimed at creating a world where all women and girls can live safely with access to health, education and economic freedom.
2. 14% OFF STOREWIDE
In efforts to raise awareness we have rounded up the gender pay gap to extend 14% OFF Storewide to our community f
rom the 4th March until 8th March (IWD), in efforts to start conversation and raise awareness of this pay gap in our society.
Please apply code: WOMEN14 at checkout to redeem.
Support our fundraising efforts and Shop Lindy's looks from our latest Odyssey Collection:
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3. EMPOWER OUR COMMUNITY
Using our platform we want to inspire you with four women in our SUBOO community via our SUBOO Journals this week with our IWD series.
The women we are proudly showcasing include:
Stay tuned as our IWD series continues this week.
