It wasn’t too long ago that menstruation was subject to strict taboo. From blue liquid in commercials for tampons and pads (with wings) to the very real problem of young girls getting their first period and assuming something was horribly, horribly wrong because nobody had bothered to talk to them about what their bodies do, periods were not discussed. The merest acknowledgment that periods exist could provoke the most extreme reactions—anger, disgust, accusations of impropriety—encouraged in large part by media assuming male audiences. But this taboo has real and ongoing consequences, mystifying the most natural thing in the world and cloaking our bodies in a veil of secrets. Misconceptions around menstruation can and have been weaponized against women: accusations that anger is the result of “being on the rag” and not worth further consideration go right alongside years of ignored pain and assertions that it's all in their head for those with conditions like endometriosis. In both cases, the fact of menstruation becomes an excuse to dismiss and ignore our experience of our bodies and our mental states.
Carinne Chambers-Saini
And now, with the overturning of Roe v. Wade and still-roiling arguments about access to reproductive care, we need more than ever to demystify our dear Aunt Flo. To that end, I sat down with Carinne Chambers-Saini, Founder and CEO of Diva, which manufactures and markets menstrual cups, about entrepreneurship, womanhood, reproductive rights, and how her company is responding to these ongoing issues.
Liz Elting: Hi, Carinne. Thanks for sitting down with me today. Now, the elephant in the room in any conversation about women’s health right now is abortion, but before we get there, I wanted to talk a little about you and your business. Can you tell us how you got started, how you created the DivaCup, and what it was like co-founding a business with your mother?
Carinne Chambers-Saini: My mom, Francine Chambers, is someone I have always looked up to. I wouldn’t be where I was today if it weren’t for her influence on me in choosing my current career path. During my years growing up, she never shied away from talking to me about menstrual health, and without those conversations, I wouldn’t have been inspired to change conversations around periods. Her advocacy for women’s health has truly inspired me to follow in her footsteps of breaking down societal barriers.
One of my mom’s dreams was to see better, safer, and more sustainable period care options fill the shelves of menstrual care aisles, and after I graduated from university, we decided to join forces and create Diva and the DivaCup. We both had big dreams of transforming the almost non-existent menstrual care category and knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but what we ended up creating was special so we never gave up. Now, 20 years later, our products are sold in over 40 countries and we’ve made over 80 million periods better and more sustainable, worldwide.
Elting: What advice do you have for other entrepreneurs creating and taking a new product to market? Is there anything you wish you had known in those early days?
Chambers-Saini: There are so many things I wish I had learned a lot sooner! I wish I took work-life balance more seriously in those early days. It is so easy to become completely invested in your growing business that you forget to rest and take a break. When you’re building something from nothing, you really have to do everything yourself, but you must carve out time to rest and recuperate—otherwise, you’ll pay for it down the road. As Diva has grown, we’ve really made sure that our staff log off, take a break, and have a life outside of their job. We are always getting a lot of work done—we just don’t need to run ourselves ragged working around the clock. This more balanced culture comes from how we did things early on and learning from those mistakes. I also wish that I had invested in personal development sooner by taking courses and getting leadership training. It can feel impossible to find the time, but I wish I had prioritized this earlier on.
Elting: I can absolutely relate to the work-life balance struggles of starting a business. What obstacles did you face, not only for being a woman, but for starting a business centered around meeting the needs of women and people who menstruate? As a founder myself, I’ve spent years encouraging women to start businesses and seize control of their futures, but so many systemic obstacles remain, including reduced access to startup capital. How did you rise to face these challenges, for the edification of other women beginning their entrepreneurship journey?
Chambers-Saini: We faced obstacles at every single turn. In the early days of Diva, the buyers for the menstrual care category were all gray-haired men who would turn red at the mention of periods. And there was, in general, so much resistance towards a reusable menstrual product. It defied the whole purpose of the category, which was to sell you single-use products every cycle. You can imagine how many tough crowds we faced.
My mom was amazing in those rooms. Buyers couldn’t look us in the eye, and it was so uncomfortable. But Francine would bounce a DivaCup across the table, or start juggling them, and they couldn’t help but laugh. It was an amazing ice-breaker that really allowed us to get down to business and tell them about our innovation. But even then, there was just so much rejection. We had buyers tell us they would never say yes to a menstrual cup, that our product was disgusting, that no one would ever use it and so on.
Obviously, they came around. These days, buyers don’t need to be convinced that a reusable menstrual cup is a viable alternative to disposables—it’s a given. We brought that innovation to the masses, and it was hard-won.
Elting: There was a time not too long ago when talking openly about our periods was unheard of. What role has fighting for period equity and normalizing period conversations played in your business? What hurdles have you faced and how did you overcome them? What surprises did you face launching a menstruation product company nearly two decades ago?
Chambers-Saini: Fighting for period equity and normalizing period conversations is a core part of who we are at Diva. Conversations around periods have been steeped in shame and stigma for ages. But doing what we do at Diva, we simply must talk about periods, not only as they relate to our existing products and future innovation, but as an employer of many people who menstruate.
We introduced Paid Menstrual Leave last year, in part to help destigmatize periods in the workplace—in our own workplace. Eligible staff are entitled to one paid day off per month so they can take care of themselves on the worst days of their period. This ensures them that they have space and time to tend to their bodies and return to work feeling ready to face the day. Based on a recent survey, we know that the vast majority of Diva staff are comfortable with taking their menstrual leave—many people even update their Slack status to the blood droplet to let their colleagues know why they’re not at their desk. I love seeing that!
Elting: That’s fantastic! I talk a lot about how, for me, the real purpose behind entrepreneurship isn’t simply about making money, but about making a difference. About building something bigger than myself with the power to leave the world better than I found it. So I was thrilled to see that impact work is something you’ve made central to your business. Can you talk a bit about the impact work Diva is doing, how you connect your business with making a difference, and also share any advice for other entrepreneurs looking to incorporate advocacy work and meaningful change into their businesses?
Chambers-Saini: Making a difference has always been at the forefront of our brand’s mission at Diva. We take pride in our commitment to donating DivaCups and educational materials, as well as making financial contributions to organizations that align with our values and mission. At Diva, we address not only menstrual equity by supporting organizations that are expanding access to period care products, but we are also focused on internal initiatives, such as paid menstrual leave to ensure that all Diva employees are cared for and feel valued.
In 2018, we published our first ever Impact Report, which was a major career highlight for me. Being able to see the difference we have made each year through these comprehensive reports is truly an amazing experience. Our latest annual Impact Report was released this spring and outlines all the ways we are giving back to the community, as well as how we are taking action and advocating for menstrual equity. Over the course of the last 20 years, Diva has donated over $3 million in product and financial gifts to community organizations, and in 2021–2022, we partnered with over 90 community organizations, including PERIOD., No More Secrets, and SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change.
We have also been extremely committed to education around periods and menstrual equity, so when the feature-length documentary Pandora’s Box: Lifting the Lid on Menstruation was released, we made sure to organize free screenings around the world. In January 2021, we made the documentary available for free on YouTube in English, French, and Spanish.
My advice for other entrepreneurs who are hoping to incorporate advocacy work into their business is to start small and be focused on what you already know. Listen to the community that you’re hoping to serve—they know what they need most. I would also consider becoming a B Corp. Their framework has been incredibly helpful for Diva’s advocacy efforts over the years.
Elting: This interview series is focused on women’s entrepreneurship, but it’s impossible to have a conversation about women’s health—particularly at this moment in history—without discussing abortion. Obviously, the overturning of Roe v. Wade is on many of our minds, with abortion laws changing almost daily in one state or another. Clinics are shutting down, states are already considering measures to outlaw abortions even out of state, with the laws so unclear, doctors are voicing uncertainty around how they can treat conditions like ectopic pregnancy, for which the treatment is abortion, and in one horrifying case, a 10-year-old rape victim was denied an abortion. At the same time, we’re seeing compliance in advance: doctors afraid of providing even non-reproductive healthcare that might involve abortion-inducing drugs have begun refusing to fill needed prescriptions on their own. I know Diva has put together a working toolkit to guide your company’s response to this crisis. Can you tell us about that?
Chambers-Saini: When we learned that the Supreme Court was potentially considering overturning Roe v. Wade, we knew we had to make our stance on the subject crystal clear to our community. Silence is no longer an option. As we awaited the final decision, Diva developed a toolkit to share with like-minded brands, which included educational resources and calls to action. At Diva, we believe that abortion is healthcare. It’s as simple as that. Our goal with this toolkit was to ultimately let our community know that Diva stands in solidarity with women and people with uteruses. Everyone deserves the right to bodily autonomy.
Elting: Even more broadly, how can organizations continue to ensure access to reproductive healthcare, especially in states that now ban procuring or helping to procure such care? What role can companies like yours play in this fight?
Chambers-Saini: I think that companies have a responsibility to support the health and happiness of their employees, and not just at work—companies should ensure that their internal policies and their office culture are supporting their employees in such a way that they are able to enjoy rich, personal lives as well. Amidst the news coming out of the U.S. Supreme Court, we’ve seen many companies step up and offer reproductive health support for their employees, which is a step in the right direction.
For us at Diva, we will continue to support reproductive health organizations through our impact program and offer information and resources to our community. As a company focused on wellness and menstrual health, it’s a long-held commitment that we will continue to be vocal about.
Elting: There has been a great deal of animus and dust getting kicked up over the place of trans people in these issues, which is something that Diva, as a menstrual product company, is certainly confronting. Much of this incendiary debate revolves around the use of terms like “menstruators” or “people with uteruses” alongside “women” in marketing these products and services. How is Diva responding to the growing presence of transgender men in the public sphere, such as Elliot Page, who may in fact still menstruate and need access to relevant reproductive products, services, and spaces?
Chambers-Saini: It’s important that everyone who menstruates sees themselves represented by the brands they purchase. It can be very dysphoric for trans and non-binary people to not just have their period, but to shop in the period aisle. A DivaCup can be really helpful in these situations because you don’t need to purchase it every month.
We recently published an incredible comic series by trans artist Clae Lu called, “Menstruation Situation.” Clae was one of the recipients of our BIPOC Creator Fund, and we were so thrilled to share the work they produced as part of this partnership. In “Menstruation Situation,” they talk about their relationship with their period and teach us the basics about gender-inclusive periods—it’s a sweet personal story—you can find the full series on our blog. Ultimately, acknowledging and supporting a multitude of experiences and identities only expands the community. Being inclusive is not at the exclusion of anyone else.
Elting: Wonderfully said, inclusion isn’t a zero-sum game, and I’ve always said that we must rise together; we can’t achieve equality if we don’t all achieve equality. These are scary times for anyone worried about getting pregnant. Can you leave us with some words of hope or encouragement?
Chambers-Saini: These battles have always been hard-won. It’s so, so devastating to be facing this fight once again, but we can’t back down. Keep fighting. Keep talking. And if you’re able, support your local reproductive health organization. They are on the ground every day helping real people.
The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
