Two moms, and friends, came together to make launch the first business, “Pinkie” of its kind.
Meet Fiona Simmonds and Sana Clegg, the founders of the eco-friendly puberty brand Pinkie. Simmonds and Clegg are the mothers of seven children between them – five of which are girls – and built Pinkie, the only small-sized, organic pads designed to fit teens and tweens, because they wanted to help girls make puberty less complicated. Read more about Pinkie here:
Can you share your experience with your daughters and the thought process that drove you to create Pinkie?
We have 5 daughters between us, and when we went to the feminine care aisle at our local drug stores to show our 11-year-olds a pad that would fit them, we discovered there were no organic pads small enough to fit a 5th grader! We both grew up in the 90s, and still, there had been no innovation for this ignored group of menstruators who needed period protection at a young age. And, thus, Pinkie was born!
What was the process to create Pinkie?
We worked deliberately on our brand mission and the pain points of Gen Z and Gen Alpha’s menstruators; we knew this white space was missing a modern voice. We wanted to create a puberty brand that spoke to young girls and what was important to them: sustainability, reliability, pride, empowerment, and community. We created Pinkie’s ethos around those words! Pinkie pads are organic, biodegradable, and toxin-free. They are packaged in patent-pending slip-out wrapper pouches (so opening a pad is not a battle with a stretchy, sticky plastic wrapper)! We also designed our packaging to stand out on shelves so dads and non-menstruators can quickly find them on a busy fem care shelf. We then launched our TikTok, website, and Instagram to carry our message: make puberty less complicated!
We took our product to all-girls schools in NYC, and the nurses could not get enough! The middle school girls started hoarding Pinkie pads from the school bathrooms, and we couldn’t keep them in stock! We knew we were on to something. The girls had spoken – they loved Pinkie because it was a pad made exactly for them! This was what this generation wanted – something bespoke for their particular needs.
How Is Pinkie Building Their Social Media Community?
We’ve been personally taking the brand viral on TikTok with #periodhacks that might be obvious for some viewers, but for most of the world, these are tips that aren’t so apparent. Not every kid going through puberty has a parent or guardian they can talk to about their body’s changes. Fiona has utilized the Pinkie Pad’s TikTok as a safe space for questions, comments, and overall period and puberty advice.
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Do you have any final thoughts you want to share?
Pinkie is here to make puberty less complicated! We hope to expand into everything puberty in the future with Pinkie: natural deodorants, natural supplements, razors, etc. We want our customers to think of Pinkie when they need a product to make the prickly road through puberty a little less bumpy. Most importantly, we want to offer community and education around these topics. The Pinkie #stripesquad is a close-knit group of customers and supporters here for questions, support, and general commentary surrounding puberty and having children going through puberty. We don’t claim to have all the answers, but we do proudly claim that we are part of a wider solution to normalizing periods, taking away shame from periods, blood, puberty, and to stand, pinkie linked with pinkie, with all the girls going through their first period! We see you, hear you, and are here for you – Pinkie promise!
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