From the every silver lining has a cloud file, the pill, a savior for reproductive management, has downsides. Hello Me, a new brand from entrepreneurs and BFFs Julie McClure and Elizabeth Goldspink, focuses on addressing those downsides while not undermining the upsides of the pill for millennial women putting off motherhood.
The brand is launching with Top Up Tonic, a 30-day supply of capsules with ingredients such as magnesium, zinc, selenium, iodine, probiotics, and vitamins B, C and E chosen to fortify bodies that are nutrient deficient due to the pill. Pill-induced nutrient deficiency isn’t a small issue since 11 million Americans are on the pill, and seven in 10 women have quit or considered quitting the pill due to problems from it like bloating, weight gain, headaches, depression, anxiety, sluggishness, nausea and indigestion.
“We were looking for opportunities and products that don’t currently exist that would enhance the quality of life for female millennials. We both realized that we went through a lot of changes in our 20s and 30s from the birth control pill. I had migraines and anxiety from it,” says McClure. “We wanted to create a solution that would be easy for women.”
With the market prior to Hello Me lacking a product designed specifically to combat the unwanted consequences of the pill, Goldspink, a naturopathic doctor, points out many women turn to multivitamins to boost nutrient levels or remedy chronic health concerns they may be dealing with that don’t require medical care. But she’s adamant average multivitamins don’t rival Hello Me’s impact on the vitamin deficits hormonal birth control engenders.
“A lot of women take multivitamins, and they think a multivitamin replenishes them of all the things they are low in and that it’s highly customized, but that’s not the case. They contain a whole bunch of stuff you don’t need if you have a reasonably good diet, and they have a ton you do need in non-therapeutic doses and formats that aren’t absorbable. For millennial women taking the pill, it would be insufficient for them to take a multivitamin to cover their bases.”
“A lot of women take multivitamins, and they think a multivitamin replenishes them of all the things they are low in and that it’s highly customized, but that’s not the case. They contain a whole bunch of stuff you don’t need if you have a reasonably good diet, and they have a ton you do need in non-therapeutic doses and formats that aren’t absorbable,” says Goldspink. “For millennial women taking the pill, it would be insufficient for them to take a multivitamin to cover their bases.”
Hello Me is kicking off with a direct-to-consumer approach, but retail is in its future. McClure identifies Sephora, Credo, Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters as retailers on its distribution wish list. She adds California and New York are important geographic targets. Online, a bottle of Top Up Tonic is $29.95, a price that amounts to about $1 a day for customers, and purchasers of a three-month supply receive free shipping.
Although Hello Me’s first product is a supplement, the brand isn’t intending to stick solely to supplements. A more traditional beauty product is in the works. No matter the product, however, the brand is expected to direct its merchandise toward millennial women on the pill to have a clear point of difference and audience of 18- to 35-year-olds.
“Our goal is to be leading edge in terms of formulation with products that allow people to look and feel their best. It’s a lifestyle brand that crosses health, wellness and beauty.”
“Our goal is to be leading edge in terms of formulation with products that allow people to look and feel their best,” says McClure, noting Hello Me’s social-media motto is #backtome. “It’s a lifestyle brand that crosses health, wellness and beauty.” She continues education is essential to help consumers understand Hello Me’s concept, but suggests no stigma around the pill persists among its core customers to render that education difficult. McClure says, “Women today are empowered to embrace who they are and all the aspects that make them healthy, including their sexual health and taking that into their own hands.”
McClure and Goldspink met at a naturopathic medicine school on a mission to improve the health of others. Goldspink went on to practice and a decade ago founded Papillex, a nutraceutical company with an herbal treatment for human papilloma virus or HPV, and McClure started cold-pressed juice line Be Nourished in 2010 and later became managing partner at Paterson Partners, an investment firm concentrating on early-stage companies. As they progressed on divergent career paths, they harbored a dream to team up on a business that’s been realized with Hello Me.
“We are very compatible in terms of our skill sets. Elizabeth is the science expert, and I’m on the business and strategy side. We are able to delegate tasks, and divide and conquer them,” says McClure. “We are fortunate that we have been friends for 10 years. We know each other very well, and it’s fun for us. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Over the next year to 18 months, McClure’s and Goldspink’s objective is to expand Hello Me’s assortment to grow the brand’s presence in the health, wellness and beauty categories, and quickly amass digital sales. Long term, McClure says, “It’s about building a great brand that people relate to that’s enduring, and that they will be loyal to.”
