Female Entrepreneurs Re-Educating The Narrative

For generations, Hollywood studios' classic American business tale highlighted stereotyped male sensibilities, hunches, and perceived fortitude to achieve success. Hollywood may have created the glossy version of life imitating art, but the residual has longstanding impacts on droves of female entrepreneurs working to break through independently and without apology.

Women have continuously fought for an equal playing field. Yet, even in the wake of successful female CEOs and entrepreneurs, a recent Forbes article points to many welcoming the end of the ‘Girlboss’ labeled era once and for all.

The issue is a woman executive and entrepreneur is constantly spotlighted as female in success and failure in a lopsided fashion to their male counterparts. As a result, many women find themselves fighting against an image not shaped by them.

According to Kristen Syrett, a linguistics professor at Rutgers University, “It’s reminding everyone that there is a style of being a boss: that there’s being a boss and then there's the girl boss. And no matter how hard you work, you’re still a girl—you’re a girl in a man’s world.”

This man’s world-shaping, buoyed by decades-old media-driven subtle stereotypes, is being chipped away by each new female business that launches, grows, and collectively changes the narrative. With collaborative efforts and consciousness adaptations, gender may finally take a back seat in business conversations of the future.

Part of the connected effort is in education and opportunity on global fronts, such as the World Bank’s Female Entrepreneurship Resource Point addressing learning and funding opportunities. The World Bank indicates that the number of women operating their own businesses is increasing, contributing $3 trillion to the global economy. However, women continue to face huge obstacles that affect their businesses, including a lack of capital, strict social constraints, and limited time and skill acquisition for some.

Changing the gender narrative is a global entrepreneurial undertaking frequently led by women finding solutions to their specific needs. For example, according to an Entrepreneur article on women entrepreneurs addressing women-only problems, businesses launched in female hygiene and wellness often take place because they recognize the issues more directly and can relate to shared experiences.

For some women, these needs go beyond gender, emphasizing environmental concerns and sustainability concepts that raise the consciousness and importance of their products.

One such individual is Shallan Ramsey, CEO, founder, and inventor of MaskIT, a disposable menstrual hygiene bag that uses premium plant-based biofilm for practical applications missing from the market. Among numerous accolades, Ramsey had been named "Top 13 Mindful Brands Making a Difference in 2022" in Success! Magazine, and is the recipient of the “Game Changer” Tom Holce Entrepreneurship Award.

Her product is purposefully manufactured in the U.S. with the idea of job support for local families. Added to her consciousness is the mindfulness of avoiding certain relaxed environmental policies that increase carbon emissions with overseas shipping models.

Below are takeaways from a very enlightening and informative interview about how a single mother of three found the time and energy to subtly build an empire based on practical female needs and worldly concerns.

Impetus for Product

Rod Berger: Talk about what led you to come up with the idea of MaskIT?

Shallan Ramsey: Looking back, every single job I ever had contributed to giving me the skills I needed to be a business owner and entrepreneur. But for me, it was mainly a necessity. The paper waste, plumbing issues, and unhygienic environments from home to hospital and public restrooms indicated a significant issue that needed addressing.

Why can't there be something for tampon removal that could be placed on your hand and inverted to contain everything and seal it shut? So, I started to create prototypes. I looked online for disposal bags and ordered all of them. But there was nothing out there that even came close to what I wanted.

Various forms of paper and plastic bags existed, which I believe must have been thought of by men because they resembled repurposed popcorn sacks.

When you remove a menstrual pad, it's sticky on one side, making it virtually impossible to put inside any paper plastic bag without it sticking. Nothing met my expectation, so I started market research and learned that 20 billion tampons and pads go to U.S. landfills yearly.

In my mind, I knew I needed a soft, flexible film that could quickly invert, shut, block odor, and not leak. But I wasn’t going to do anything with my idea unless I could find an environmentally friendly way to accomplish my goals. I did not want to be a contributor to 20 billion single-use plastics going to landfills every year.

I worked on my technical drawings and writings for a patent and designed prototypes by hand. I spent about six months researching all types of flexible films and learned more about plastics than I ever wanted.

I asked questions about biodegradable plastics and understood that some companies use oxo-degradable plastics with a chemical additive into the polyethylene to break down more quickly, which causes smaller fragments that remain for up to 1000 years.

After six months of extensive research, I finally found 100% plant-based biofilm for the product. Technically, the film is certified compostable, but we don't market the product that way. But for me, it was peace of mind because I was not adding to the problem.

Development Backstory

Berger: Walk us through the story of how the product went from concept to manufacturing.

Ramsey: Finding the plant-based biofilm felt good, and I knew what the market size could potentially be. However, I also knew 95% of startups fail, and the odds were against me.

Why not me, I thought. Time goes by either way, so I might as well try. That was my attitude.

I wanted to keep manufacturing in the United States. I felt if my idea benefits any economy, it should be my own. Of course, keeping everything in the U.S. is complicated, but I was determined to find somebody in the U.S.

Finding a manufacturer was a long process of NDAs and exploration. I was told ‘no’ around 100 times but kept trying. Finally, one year after I filed my patten, a gentleman in Southern California called me, willing to give it a try.

I was thrilled and sent him the biofilm, drawings, and videos. He made a sample run. I arrived at his facility excited to see the creation, but parts of the design didn’t work for one-handed inversion and seal. I was devastated and felt bad for the time he spent.

Dejected, I picked up one of the samples with a slight manufacturing flaw in the bottom gusset. I asked if the offset could be made larger and consistently duplicated. The manufacturer said the machinist would arrive in the morning, and he would see if it could be done.

Miraculously, the machinist custom-made a sub-assembly for their machine to create the gusset mistake consistently and larger. The trial run worked, and MaskIT was born.

Launch and Growth

Berger: With manufacturing in full swing, what was the environment during the initial launching, and how has MaskIt grown in recent years.

Ramsey: It went from direct to consumer in October 2014, launching on Amazon with an added wall-mounted dispenser with angel investor assistance by 2016 to exist in public restrooms.

The glove-like aspect of MaskIT can eliminate touch point blood contamination throughout the restroom because everything's sealed inside in its individual bag. It protects custodial staff, and people are less tempted to flush, preventing plumbing problems.

We knew we could be in every household and public restroom, but we had to start somewhere in terms of public facilities. So, we focused on airports because we knew they had unique problems with people getting off planes and using the restroom all at once. We also contacted universities because of their high demographic of menstruating women. And ultimately, we found fortune 500 companies recognize the value it pertains to their employees.

Fast forward to today, we are in over 75 airports throughout the country, 100 universities and colleges, and multiple major Fortune 500 companies.

Absorbing Outside Factors

Berger: Covid-19 had a devastating impact on so many companies. How did you weather the storm and position yourself for the future?

Ramsey: When Covid-19 arrived, schools closed, employees and students were sent home, public facilities were abandoned, and the public restroom model obviously took a hit. The good news is we had established a pretty good baseline of refill reorders, and it's a real blessing that we have so many markets where the product is applicable.

I was understandably very nervous, but the direct-to-consumer sales had been building independently without outlaying marketing and advertising. It has been incredibly resilient.

In 2020 we saw the direct-to-consumer take off. Further expansion occurred in 2021, and momentum is gaining in 2022. The public restroom facilities solution side has come back, and with all the direct-to-consumer growth, we're in a good position for this to be the year we really take off. We’ve been essentially bootstrapping and very excited about the next phase.

Shallan Ramsey might officially be the founder of MaskIT, but it is fair to contend that she, more broadly, represents a new generation of female entrepreneurs unabashedly focused on innovations meant to serve her fellow woman. She and others involved in alternative solutions to female hygiene and wellness are recognizing issues with a shared mindset to make improvements for all.

Like so many successful women in the field of business, one day, hopefully soon, the idea of gender will be lost in the discussion in describing success stories. Soon, when we hear of their feats, we may simply respond, “Entrepreneur and game changer.”

Interviews have been edited and condensed for clarity.