00;00;02;11 - 00;00;38;12
Unknown
Women. Before we dive in today, I need to name something important. This episode, along with all episodes that you will hear until our winter break in mid-December, was recorded before my birth prior to mid-August. Since then, our family has walked through the unimaginable. Our son was stillborn and we are in deep mourning as the shows air, you'll hear and see me pregnant, which now feels incredibly painful and weird.
00;00;38;14 - 00;01;11;29
Unknown
Given that you are holding the sacred knowledge of what came after. So please forgive the dissonance. These stories still deserve to be shared and heard. We welcome your prayers, your loving thoughts, and your support as we navigate this spiral of such deep grief. I hope you find resonance and nourishment in this conversation today. Thank you. When a woman wants sovereign support, it can seem impossible to find.
00;01;12;01 - 00;01;35;29
Unknown
Where are the midwives? The birth photographers, the chiropractors, the childbirth educators and the healers that really get it? Well, we are all finally in one place. I'd like to introduce the match or birth directory. Free Birth Society's newest offering to support the birth liberation movement. It's the first of its kind. Do you serve women? Get listed. Do you want support?
00;01;35;29 - 00;02;04;23
Unknown
Become a member. We envision a world where networking, the sovereign birth paradigm, is easy and abundant for all. Join us. Just go to WW birth directory. Com. Welcome to Free Birth Society I'm Emilee Saldaya and this is where we break the spell of medicalized birth. Remember what's been forgotten and rise together into our birthright to live birth and mother as sovereign women.
00;02;04;24 - 00;02;33;18
Unknown
Welcome, Nikki. Oh. Thank you. We did it. We'll see. Whatever it takes. You know, 35 minutes of tech troubleshooting to wind up back on zoom. Mercury in retrograde. All right. Okay, I want to hear it all. So this is a little bit, you know, for my listeners of an unusual episode, obviously we primarily have free birth stories, which, hey, maybe one day you'll be back with one of those.
00;02;33;20 - 00;03;21;16
Unknown
But I wanted to have you on to get to know you, because I think you're cool and hear about these just really exciting, important you companies that you run, that you have birthed into the world. And also, you know, this, this kind of I'm going to call it a character arc, you know, story that's underneath some of your life, from what I can tell peripherally, is that you have stood in the fire of female leadership in the liberal woke, you know, modern day culture, and you have gone through the cancellation attempts and you've gone through the the business hardships of that and also the public chaos of that.
00;03;21;16 - 00;03;32;29
Unknown
And you've lived to tell the tale. And I would say are standing stronger and more clear and more powerful than ever. Would you agree?
00;03;33;02 - 00;04;00;06
Unknown
I mean, yeah, I feel, you know, in any experience of challenge, you kind of learn so much about yourself and what you're capable of with not only withstanding, but like retreating within yourself. And it's just like, oh, yeah, like what? What are my values? Who are my people? Like, what do I care about? And then you start to you, I think going through anything challenging, you find a deeper center afterwards.
00;04;00;06 - 00;04;23;00
Unknown
So it's like, you know, like any hero's journey, everyone, every single person on the planet goes through a version of their hero's journey where they, you know, enter the adventure. Then they refuse the call, then they take the call. And then in that adventure, so much happens. And on the other side of it is so much growth, learning and more love.
00;04;23;02 - 00;04;51;03
Unknown
Yeah. And I think what is what I, what I resonate with, you know, that I think is important for more women to hear about and consider is this, this choice, this discovery process which I hope to get into with you of, you know, often due to challenges like you're going to share the choice and discovery process to learn how to source from within, learn how to really know who you are inside out.
00;04;51;04 - 00;05;19;10
Unknown
Because otherwise, if you're going to do anything cool, if you're going to be in the public arena and inevitably get critique or get your ass kicked, the like that to me is actually being canceled is to believe that your validation and that you're worth and that your truth comes from the public arena, for sure. And you know, my spiritual teacher is she talks about, you know, just these analogies.
00;05;19;10 - 00;05;36;29
Unknown
And I, we share that a little bit before we started recording. But the idea of like someone just saying, like, your hair is blue, you know, I mean, I'm wearing blue, but my hair is not blue, but and it's like your hair is blue and you're like, you can either believe like it's my hair blue, like, because you're saying it's blue.
00;05;37;01 - 00;06;01;19
Unknown
I guess it must be, even if you. It's not blue. Or you can say, no, my hair is not blue. You can think it's blue, but my hair is not blue. And that's okay. Like it's what you take on and what you choose to. And it's like, I think Margaret Thatcher said, you know, other what other people say is none of your business, you know.
00;06;01;20 - 00;06;47;01
Unknown
And so yeah, I've, you know, again, it's not it's not an easy path to take when you're, you know, a human being who genuinely wants to be liked, like every human being wants to feel belonging. Every human being wants to feel understood, wants to feel liked. When you experience something where you're deeply misunderstood, where you're attempted to be, you know, unblock in a way, in many ways, when you when you're attempted to, you know, again, be told that your hair is blue, you know, there is a part of you that that has to again adjust to the remembering of who you are and what is true, because there's so much noise that could get in
00;06;47;01 - 00;07;20;21
Unknown
the way. And so and it's like your hair is blue and you should be hung for that, right? Your hair is blue and it's bad. And we don't accept that. And we don't like that. And we want everyone to believe your hair is blue and no one should be friends with her because her hair is blue. You know, it's like the consequences of the projection of the hair being blue is so layered and intense and and could should you believe the lie that your hair is blue or the projection, you know, could really lead to to real life ruining 100%?
00;07;20;22 - 00;08;06;03
Unknown
And, you know, you see lots of people who are, you know, like wonderfully sensitive and fragile, but but also, you know, that that that can really destroy their sense of well-being in and sort of an external, external way. And I think that's why cultivating a deep, deep inner field is such an important piece. And I think, you know, from my experience of going through, like these deeply challenging, you know, rites of passage, you know, I had to build a deep toolkit of, you know, of of how to pull these tools out when people are telling me my hair is blue, you know, and so so tell us about tell us about that.
00;08;06;05 - 00;08;32;29
Unknown
You know, take us, take us. Just give us, you know, whatever kind of summary that you want to, you know, about about this. I'm assuming thinks was your first company, but I don't actually know that. No, it was my it's my second company. My first company is that. Yeah, I built New York City's first gluten free farm to table pizza restaurant on, which is still open today, 20 years later.
00;08;33;04 - 00;08;57;19
Unknown
Oh, shit. So you you built that and then sold it? No, I still have it. I still. Yeah. And. Yeah. And it's in the heart of the West Village. It's like Jon Bon Jovi's favorite restaurant. Paul McCartney, Meryl Streep, it's like Greenwich Village. And it's like, you know, it's like all the celebs favorite, you know, healthy like and free, like farm table pizza joint, you know, restaurant.
00;08;57;21 - 00;09;23;05
Unknown
Yeah. And so I really learned about people, you know, when you're hungry, when you walk into your store and they're like gluten free. Yuck. You know, or like whatever. Or when people again have projections of what they believe food and pizza should be, especially in York City. Pizza people. Yeah. You know, like I had to really learn how to jujitsu.
00;09;23;07 - 00;09;48;21
Unknown
You're not fighting, but you're playing with, you know, all the different types of energies that show up in your space and in your gluten free space, like gluten free pizza restaurant in New York City, you know, and someone's like, I'm ordering like I'm ordering a pepperoni, or we didn't have pepperoni, but I'm wondering, like a, you know, free range tikka masala pizza and and a solid pizza, I remember that's so clear.
00;09;48;22 - 00;10;08;00
Unknown
I had to take him to China masala pizza at my restaurant. They're the best because I have Indian and and I had my grandmother's masala recipe anyways. And and so this, this, this, you know, hangry customer would come in and like, I ordered a Tiger missile and a China masala. And I was like, well, I literally just took the order.
00;10;08;00 - 00;10;29;06
Unknown
You ordered two China masala pizzas. Like I literally he's like. And I was like, I'm happy to make you to China masala pizzas right now. Like if people just bring their shit. And so like what, what I learned from that experience and I'm still I'm also a very sensitive and I'm still quite a very porous person in many ways.
00;10;29;07 - 00;10;47;18
Unknown
Aren't we all? And I think that's what makes great creatives good creatives, because they take in a lot of, you know, the external are able to kind of marinade with it and then bring it out in its own sort of creative expression. But I would take it on. I was like, you know, I would just be so like traumatized by these experiences.
00;10;47;18 - 00;11;12;21
Unknown
But then I'm over time, they're just like, it's not me. It's not, it's not mine to own. It's theirs to own. It's their own shit. It's their own projection. It's their own stressed out. I don't know what happened to maybe his family. Maybe something happened. Like maybe he's taking it out on me, like you eventually learn. And so I think my dojo of entrepreneurship in so many ways of people learning was just being in the restaurant.
00;11;12;21 - 00;11;35;08
Unknown
I think everyone should work in the restaurant business at some point. Just, wow, you learn so much. So when I started thinks, you know, and again, I spent many, many years standing outside my restaurant handing out little pieces of pizza, just being like healthy pizza, organic pizza, gluten free pizza, and seeing if anyone would, like, come over and eat it.
00;11;35;08 - 00;11;53;21
Unknown
And the only times they did when I was like, delicious free pizza, people would come in and take it and then as or like bite that. I would be like, did you know what's gluten free and farm to table? And we support local farms and create like local, you know, because back then local farm to table seasonal, all that stuff wasn't hard back then.
00;11;53;22 - 00;12;15;23
Unknown
Like subway sandwich was like the like like the healthy place. And so like I was uphill in 2005, like going against all these subway and whatever. And so I learned a lot about how to talk to people, how to meet people where they are in like it's like gluten free, farm to table. All those words didn't resonate back then.
00;12;15;23 - 00;12;41;06
Unknown
Now they do. But back then they didn't. But like yummy, delicious free did. And so it's free. It's gluten free. Yeah it's free. It's free of gluten. Yes. And so I, I really learned that like trying to get trying to punch people in the face with a new idea or trying to get them or push them isn't going to work.
00;12;41;06 - 00;13;10;18
Unknown
Now as entrepreneurs, we're already like type like ASAP white like already, just like want to, you know you to see my way, you know and and that often it's like you have to, you know, like you have to delight them into a new way. You have to allow them to discover it for themselves. You have to do it through the arts, through creativity, you know, all these different ways and not through knocking them over the.
00;13;10;19 - 00;13;37;16
Unknown
Yeah, with something, it's like, you know, do you know that like eating gluten in America is like totally bad for you because the way the gluten is being processed is making you so inflamed, no one's going to listen to you on that. And so anyways, early, early on, I learned how to meet people where they are. So then when I started thinks the period proof underwear company, I really learned that, you know, it kind of a thesis around changing culture, which was a best in class product like our pizza was truly the most delicious gluten pizza.
00;13;37;18 - 00;14;01;00
Unknown
Forget gluten free, you bite into it. The most delicious, explosive like, flavorful pizza that happens to be local farm to table, you know, gluten free cauliflower crust, whatever. Delicious. So best in class product. And then the second prong is accessible relatable language. So it had to be funny. Has to be, you know, like like like like you're texting your best friend.
00;14;01;01 - 00;14;22;25
Unknown
Like like I said, like meeting people where they are language wise, like, oh, you're talking to me. You're not talking to like, it's not too academic, clinical, medical, technical like like heady. You know, it's it's just texting your best friend. Like, how do you talk your friends like that's how we accessible relatable language and then artful from a design esthetic across every touchpoint.
00;14;22;26 - 00;14;55;05
Unknown
The interior of my restaurant was really beautiful, was really inviting, you know? So at thinks is when I started things, really applying so many of those lessons at my restaurants, you'd think that they're not transferable. But so many of these skill sets that you gain in different industries are deeply transferable into new industries, you know? And so when I started things, I was like, okay, like, I want to make sure it's a best in class product that the underwear, actually, you can bleed into them and feel super protected, super safe.
00;14;55;06 - 00;15;23;25
Unknown
They're beautiful. They're sexy. Either look at like my high waist underwear. I wear them even just for fun when I'm not eating because I love them, you know? And they're, you know, they're they're artfully designed. And our website, all of our esthetic was really beautiful. Now, as I sold the company eight years ago, it's slowly deteriorated steadily. But when we launched, it was beautiful, artful, like I had like fine artists working on the project and it was like truly iconic art that we presented to the world.
00;15;23;27 - 00;15;46;03
Unknown
A period proof underwear concept that people fell in love with because of the artfulness, because of the relatable language, and because the product really liberated. Women talk about free birth, like free bleed. You know, there was this like deep, deep like, oh my God, I can free bleed into my underwear like the Liberation. I have to stick something in my vagina, which, by the way, tampons cause cramps and caused so many different things.
00;15;46;03 - 00;16;09;16
Unknown
All that bleach leaching into your vaginal canal with the most, you know, like juicy part of your body. Like in the absorbent part of your body. Like. Anyways, I can talk all day about it, but really, really transforming people and bringing people into this new way of going, you know, of experiencing your period every month. And of course, like when you bring something new into society, people want to push back.
00;16;09;16 - 00;16;31;00
Unknown
People want to resist. Again, people don't want to answer the call in the hero's journey of like transforming your own belief system around your own period, around your own. Like the shame period. Before I started, people put their tampons in their sleeves and they would, like, slink away to the bathroom kind of quietly and not one. Now it's like I've got my period and I'm so proud of it.
00;16;31;00 - 00;16;53;17
Unknown
And now women can't shut up about the prints. They're putting it on their face. But back when I started, it was totally, how dare you? You're so uncouth, Mickey. You're talking about. You know, you're saying the word, period. You're just trying to be like, get attention. You're this or that. You're just like every stick in stone and you're just like it anyways.
00;16;53;17 - 00;17;21;29
Unknown
And so, you know, like you're already blew up. It blew up. Our subway campaign blew up as well. We had this grapefruit. This had grapefruit that was banned from the subways because the subways said we couldn't say the word, period. It was a very, very wild thing. And we were like, you can put breast augmentation at grapefruits to represent like, they had this little prunes and this girl and a sad face and these big grapefruits and this girl and smiley face, and it was like breast augmentation ads.
00;17;21;29 - 00;17;40;19
Unknown
And that was totally fine. But when you're using the same grapefruit to represent a woman's vagina, but like in a from a period perspective, that was taboo, that was unwelcome, you can't talk about it. And so we put a we did a big press piece about it, and that story went viral. And that's what really put us on the map.
00;17;40;20 - 00;18;01;14
Unknown
Right. That's a project in motion. But, you know, at the time we were growing so fast. You talk about blowing up. And it was my first, you know, my restaurants, like, we know I had a number of employees across two restaurants, you know, and then three restaurants. But but yeah, but it wasn't like, you know, like this level of like velocity of having to hire.
00;18;01;14 - 00;18;29;29
Unknown
And so I think the local versus like, I mean, this was worldwide, right. Well, we were hiring locally in New York. And so, you know, like one of the as a movement. Oh yeah. Global movement 100%. It was really cool. Like one one really like potent, poignant moment of mine, you know, with with things specifically was when I remember walking down the street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, this is when like, you know, no one knows about your project, no one knows what it is or even explain period proof underwear.
00;18;30;00 - 00;18;49;02
Unknown
Like, what is that? What the fuck? And I remember, like, walking down the street in Williamsburg and ran into my friend who's Indian, and he happened to be walking with his cousins who were both in town from India, from Delhi and, and I. And he was like, oh my God, tell my cousins what you're working on. It's really cool.
00;18;49;06 - 00;19;05;06
Unknown
And I was like, okay, like, let me explain. Like, you know, like get, you know, talking like having to explain like what period underwear is. And I explained I was like, oh yeah, I started a company called things. It's like underwear that you can bleed into on your period. I know it sounds kind of interesting, like, wait a minute, wait a minute.
00;19;05;06 - 00;19;25;09
Unknown
And I was like, I was like, what? I'm Indian. I can I can do the accent and half Indian and and they were like, oh, you know, they pull out their butts, apps and eds and in their WhatsApp threads, all their girlfriends were talking about things. And I got India because our story had gone viral. Oh, yeah, all over the world.
00;19;25;10 - 00;19;43;23
Unknown
And so and it was a moment like I literally had to fight back tears. It was like one of those moments where I was just like, it's real. I, you you I didn't have to explain it to you. Like, I will never, ever, ever, ever take for granted those moments where people are like, I love my Toshi. Like it changed my life.
00;19;43;24 - 00;20;05;19
Unknown
Like, you know, or like Burning Man. People would run up to me and pull their pants down, or they wouldn't even be wearing pants because that Burning man, you're wearing your underwear out and they'd be wearing things and they're like, this is my like, sexy outfit thing, you know? And so it was it was just like, yeah, you know, like it's it's like a musician where someone's like singing your song, you know?
00;20;05;20 - 00;20;28;27
Unknown
Totally, totally. I'm about to get into my collection of things and postpartum. Yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah. And so I love that. Yeah. And so it was just one of those moments we were just like, okay, like we're doing something awesome and we're changing culture and and you know, and what comes with that is like extreme types of people that want to like join, which is great.
00;20;28;29 - 00;20;50;22
Unknown
But when it's like feminist AF and it's like, you know, like kind of like a bit extra woke, you know, it's like there is pieces to that that are like, you need that for culture ship for like to really go from the patriarchy to somewhere in the middle. There needs to be some pendulum swing to their side before it comes to the center.
00;20;50;28 - 00;21;18;20
Unknown
I do feel like, you know, I happen to be in the eye of the storm of the pendulum swing, not by on purpose, but just like period feminism movement. Like, oh, I'm just like, oh, I'm just trying to help women. Period. Better and like whatever. But it it it became this thing. And then it was sort of like kind of fun to be on this ride of like period as a movement, like I, you know, it was really cool with your product at the center.
00;21;18;21 - 00;21;51;10
Unknown
Yeah. And it was just like, I'll take it, you know, but and it really was a movement, like it really did change people's feelings about themselves. Like, I really consider a lot of these products could be like acupuncture points of change, which is why it's really cool. It's like it talks about a period. It's a change in how you create a new product, but then it brings up the conversation of a period or going to the bathroom pooping like the number of my customers who are like for Toshi, who are like, oh yeah, we talk about poop all the time after installing our bidet.
00;21;51;10 - 00;22;11;09
Unknown
And I'm just like, wow. Like that's, you know, and then they're like, well, then what else do we talk about? Then they started talking about all other kinds of taboo subjects that they weren't money, like sex, like relationship, like all the taboo things. It started with a little like opening of the door, of talking about poop, talking about period.
00;22;11;12 - 00;22;35;14
Unknown
So yeah. So then we kind of like, grew so fast and again, attracted a certain type of person. And I take full responsibility for being like, I don't need to hire senior leadership. I don't want to pay senior leaders $150,000 a year. And, you know, I'm a young entrepreneur. I didn't really quite grok, like hiring like a bunch of juniors who were super feminist and woke without a lot of leadership, you know?
00;22;35;16 - 00;22;58;10
Unknown
And I was in over my head because I was just like, trying to steer the ship, you know, in a certain direction. And when we realized when I sort of realized that it was like overrun by too many woke feminists. Nightmare. Yeah. And again, bless them all, like, you know, like, grateful for the work and for the passion.
00;22;58;10 - 00;23;20;00
Unknown
And it wasn't necessarily great for the culture, particularly for, for me, because I didn't want to say stuff like strangled by my bra and like, fuck Trump. Even if like, we believe whatever we believe. Like I didn't meet back. This is, by the way, as your brand, I know, and this is like, you know, like and as a brand, I was like, no, we're we're positive.
00;23;20;00 - 00;23;38;11
Unknown
We're like, we're classy. Yeah. Like. And I say, like, what I learned from my restaurant experience is like, you don't shove things in people's faces. You don't get negative. You inspire, you create art, you create love. You create this like, oh, it's so much fun over here. Let me bring people I want to I want to check. Not like the making people shaming and feel bad.
00;23;38;16 - 00;24;03;23
Unknown
So I ended up firing some of these women and and and and and there was some crazy shit that went down after that. Like some of these people came after me with some crazy stories and, and again, like, everyone was so, like, riled up and wound up in the story of, like, being part of this movement and, you know, and I again, like, like I don't want to just be like, they're horrible people there.
00;24;03;24 - 00;24;32;27
Unknown
They were like passionate young, woke just in like not much experience right in the world yet. And so they didn't understand what the level of like when you're saying certain things it doesn't bode well for a brand. But for them, when you're when you're young and like super righteous, righteous, you think that the way it is. And how does the the trans stuff play into the timeline of this in terms of your involvement?
00;24;32;29 - 00;25;01;13
Unknown
Yeah, that was really that was like, again, this whole this whole movement of, of that, that culture that was a part of the I was all part of that. And, and, you know, like we did want to serve everyone with a period whether you're, you know, a trans, a trans man who has a period or if you're we want it's periods for all like, you know, and that is true like we did want to serve everyone but it like it again the wokeness got out of out of hand.
00;25;01;13 - 00;25;25;26
Unknown
And so you know again as a young you know like again like I don't want to again shame myself for, you know, for not knowing how to properly sit in a room and let someone go in a very like, you know, it's like, hey, today's your last day. I'm so sorry. You know, and maybe, yeah, done in a more palatable way.
00;25;25;26 - 00;25;51;28
Unknown
And maybe I didn't write or whatever, but like, I didn't, you know, like, I just didn't expect that to kind of ripple into a four year legal battle and all this stuff and then like, having to, like, save my good name while I was pregnant with hero, and I was pregnant, and while my board was trying to take my company from me because we went to like 50 million in revenue.
00;25;51;28 - 00;26;12;06
Unknown
And so my board was using this wild story to take to have me to step down as CEO so they can take the business. It was a very, very, very wild time. And so I kind of just retreated and I was just I was pregnant with here. I was so afraid of like what was going to happen. I was so I was so much stress on my body that I just was like, I take universe.
00;26;12;08 - 00;26;34;28
Unknown
God got it. Like if it wasn't the media, my board and these crazy like always like people like in a lawsuit. Yeah, like coming out like it was too many pieces that I was like, I'm waving the white flag. I'm taking a backseat. So what did you do? So I just ran for four years. So you fought that appropriately?
00;26;35;00 - 00;26;53;21
Unknown
We thought that and all the whole thing was thrown out and whatever. And the company settled with her separately because they got what they wanted. They got the company. It was like a whole. I wasn't part of that at all. But like I was. You sold thinks I ended up selling things because I was like, I'm out. I'm not part of this anymore, so I need to sell it.
00;26;53;21 - 00;27;12;07
Unknown
I need to sell my equity. Like I don't believe. I don't trust anyone in this space anymore. And so, like, while it was my baby and I birthed it, raised it, man. You know. Yeah, it was very, very, very, very hard. But it also just sounds like it was it got to such a climax of yucky. It's like it did.
00;27;12;07 - 00;27;40;26
Unknown
It was just like money power, like, you know, like all of that. And and the and the universe is. This isn't your dharma. Like this isn't what, where you belong. And I learned about so much about, like, you know, at the time, you know, as, like anything else. It's like you people are like, want to talk about your company and you're like, yes, you know, and then I'm, you know, after that, I was just sort of like, you know, it's not it's not about me.
00;27;40;26 - 00;28;12;06
Unknown
It's about the project. I don't want the target on my back because people want to take people down. And so it's like, let's just draw the focus. When I built tushy, it was no one even knew practically that I started twitchy and built it like. And, you know, I brought in like white male CEO and like, I brought in, I just was like, let me just play the patriarchal game that clearly, you know, women still texts you part of because, you know, again, like the number of women who voted for Trump, like it was just there's everyone is deeply indoctrinated.
00;28;12;06 - 00;28;36;12
Unknown
The patriarchy seeing women in power is still very challenging for so many people. And so there is this like change. And so I kind of was like, all right, rather than me being really hurt and I'm set and challenged by this, this, this, this what happened to me play. Let me meet people who they are. Again I learned like let me let me meet a the world where they are, which is people like people.
00;28;36;13 - 00;29;00;11
Unknown
Nobody really challenges like a white male CEO. Like if I, if a white male CEO sounded like, hey, today is your last day, I'm so sorry. They would have been like, you're a fucking bitch like you. I'm going to thank you. I understand you're right. You're right sir. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so there was a sort of like, you know, and I and so like, there is this double blind gender bias, like I did a whole deep, deep research on gender bias, like just the gender biases.
00;29;00;11 - 00;29;17;00
Unknown
And there's called this like double blind gender bias when like a man's considered assertive, a woman's considered aggressive like the same level of the same thing. Again, I didn't want to play that game of like, I'm gender bias. Like, you guys are being so extra mean to me world. It's just like, that's the that's the world that we live in.
00;29;17;00 - 00;29;34;24
Unknown
So how do I meet the world where they're at after that experience? Like what did I learn? And so I learned okay. So like let me put a guy in place and let me build equity like I did with things. And now after like I've invested in over 30 companies, 95% are women led or at least one women owned.
00;29;34;24 - 00;30;02;08
Unknown
And so now I'm able to actually like instead of like, like putting my pink head on and marching and not actually like making shapes. I'm making change from inside out and from from from from the, the the actual energy that talks right now, which is the financial energy in this moment until we until the shift happens. Right. Is the timeline between you walking away from thanks and Toshi launching into the world?
00;30;02;10 - 00;30;33;23
Unknown
Yeah. So interestingly enough, I had started thinks in 2014, co-founded with my twin sister and friend Antonia, and it really took off in 2016. Things did, I started, I got the idea of Toshi, you know, when my ex-husband gave me a bidet and it changed my life and I wasn't. I call my husband and we're still very good friends, and we shared a beautiful son together.
00;30;33;25 - 00;31;07;25
Unknown
And when my when he got me a bidet, that was 2014. So I really I, you know, I put a I raised my first capital in 2014 for tushy as well and put a few people in place in 2015, 2014, 2015 just to start start that. And that was just sort of like set it and forget it. And so when 2016, 2017, when I stepped down in 2017 from things we'd like, blew up in 2015, 2016, 2017 went from zero 50 million, over 120 million, 25 million valuation, you know, whatever.
00;31;08;00 - 00;31;31;18
Unknown
Wow. Step down and and really stepped into tushy in 2017. And Toshi really started taking not that long of a know of 2017. Well, I stopped to have my baby in 20 2017. I had hero in 2017, July 2017, and then I wrote my book, disrupter the first two months of his birth, and I had so much to say.
00;31;31;18 - 00;31;52;05
Unknown
I just was like, I had so much inside of me that I had to say, and I had to cease emergency C-section because I was holding on so tight, because I was so, like, tight. So I labored for 38 hours and dilated only one centimeter. So I have to, like, have an immersion. I was just really, really like, just like the maternal hunkering down.
00;31;52;05 - 00;32;10;02
Unknown
So I but also you were in the system where they manufacture this stuff. You and I should really unpack your birth privately before this, before this pregnancy because. Yeah, yeah, but I feel fully cleansed. And I do want to talk with you about 100%, but I do feel like been seven years. My body is fully cleansed, like I'm ready again.
00;32;10;03 - 00;32;33;11
Unknown
Like I feel like seven years takes seven years for all of your cells to turn over. Yes, but your stories are still alive and locked in, right? So the body. Great. But. But like the story that you like, what you just said is so worth just some. Yeah, that's totally fair. I would be so delighted to. I'm very.
00;32;33;12 - 00;33;09;03
Unknown
I'm always interested in all more healing the better, right? I never understood people who don't want to look at their blind spots or look at their challenges and don't want to heal. Like I just it doesn't make any sense. I think. I think it's it can in my mind, it can only mean such a, such a low thermostat setting of survival mode, because you really have to feel, to some degree resourced and in a way even secure and safe to be willing to do that.
00;33;09;06 - 00;33;42;05
Unknown
Right. And a lot of people, I mean, the people I think of who I would like judge as that, who just like won't look at their blind spots. And the common denominator is so much in internal instability, insecurity, you know, survival mode like back up against the wall. They're not even aware of it. Right. But you have to be pretty resourced to be internally resource to be willing to expand because it means having your ass kicked and nothing you thought you knew is true.
00;33;42;05 - 00;34;12;28
Unknown
And like, you know, it's it's pretty grueling, which you can take that on in a sense of play, which obviously you have, but that can only mean that like to me only suggests how resourced you are. And, and, and then your thermostat setting gets higher and higher, right? Yeah. For sure, for sure, for sure. And the one thing I also, you know, just looking back on, on the whole experience and just like one thing I can truly own is like, you know, we're all still working on our tone.
00;34;12;29 - 00;34;31;07
Unknown
You know, our tone of voice actually wrote a whole blog post about it last night, about tone and how, like, when we can take on a tone of voice that's like super uplifting and super loving and we can take a tone that's like condescending or sort of like dismissive, right? There's definitely different tones that we can take on as people.
00;34;31;07 - 00;34;55;05
Unknown
And I think as like Shakti, as like goddesses who have different sides of us, they are all welcome and they're all available. But it's like, how do we fine tune certain tones when we're in business and as leaders in business? And I can really own that. When I was very stressed, very overwhelmed, so much going on, my tone was, you know, a bit snappy and, you know, again, like, I can atone for all of those things.
00;34;55;05 - 00;35;15;07
Unknown
And I also, you know, we also change culture. And sometimes, like, you look at all these male like crazy leaders who are just assholes and their people are like celebrating them. And here I am being like, my tone could have been a little bit better. I can't with that. Whatever. But like it's true. Like there is a double bind gender bias for sure.
00;35;15;07 - 00;35;40;09
Unknown
And I can also own what I can own and so like right. And so like it's not it's not like I'm not just giving away like everything else and not taking taking responsibility because that's also something that we all can do for ourselves. It's not just tell. Blame everyone and everything for the way things are. Which is why for me, when I built tushy, I was like, okay, when I raise money, I'm going to go with a white guy together again.
00;35;40;09 - 00;35;59;02
Unknown
So it's not as challenging. But I'm still, you know, I'm still going to I'm going to put a CEO in place, even if I'm pretty much kind of the CEO behind the scenes. But I didn't want, I didn't I was at the time, I was too afraid to take the seat again. And so there was still a lot you weren't afraid of being like, usurped.
00;35;59;05 - 00;36;21;03
Unknown
But given what had happened previously, I still. Oh well, what I learned, I became the chairman of the board. I control the company board. So, like, there was no chance that they could use. No one could. I am the board. And so no one could actually do anything. Can ever, ever again. For across all my companies, there's no ability to only once bitches I know.
00;36;21;04 - 00;36;42;00
Unknown
Yeah. So tell us, for anyone who doesn't know, tell us what to she is. Yeah. So tushy is is such a beautiful mission to first of all, save millions of trees. But it's a modern bidet that washes your butt clean after you poop. And so it's a simple bidet that you attach your existing toilet and turns any toilet into bidet in less than ten minutes.
00;36;42;00 - 00;37;02;08
Unknown
And literally, like we have as a company, we've saved over 10 million trees. We've built toilets for families, for 60,000 families in India who don't have access to clean toilets. Father in India grew up for a period of of his life not having access to a clean toilet, and as a 75 year old man still sometimes has nightmares about running, looking for a clean toilet, it's like, you know.
00;37;02;09 - 00;37;24;24
Unknown
And so the fact that we have built clean, I didn't even know that story until after we built the 60 toilets for 60,000 families in India. It was like this ancestral healing that happened. Like inside that I was like, I want to support the global sanitation crisis. Like, this is something that really means something to me. And I only found out after that my dad still has these nightmares about he didn't even know he didn't have access to clean toilets before.
00;37;24;29 - 00;37;51;22
Unknown
Anyways, it was magic. But yeah, we've we've we've funded research and forestry projects all over South America. Like it's really cool and the bidet like we've, you know, really shifted like the gross dry white being and smearing poop around and literally cutting down trees. Like trees literally take in carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, like all these toxins in the air and transforms it into oxygen for us to breathe.
00;37;51;22 - 00;38;16;04
Unknown
And we're cutting them down and wiping our asses with them. Like, think about that. Think about that. It's to the tune of like over 15, 20 million trees per year. The Canadian boreal forest is being decimated to be cut down like these old growth forest trees that give this auction, that's a carbon sinks of the world, literally chopped out to wipe our butts and doesn't even properly clean us.
00;38;16;04 - 00;38;36;06
Unknown
It is so crazy when you think about the lack of consciousness. And again, I'm not trying to shame or blame. This is just the world that we've grown up in and we've been believed in and taught and like just just shoved and like believed to be true, that this is the way it is. And it's like, no, this is not the way it is.
00;38;36;07 - 00;39;03;20
Unknown
Like they're like, let us actually examine what we're doing. And by the way, we're smearing poop that's causing UTIs, hemorrhoids, yeast infections, bacteria, all those things because you're smearing Cooper and you're sitting on that fecal matter which basically travels from your butt to your vagina, and then that goes and infects your insides and causes all kinds of stuff versus a precise stream of water that washes your butt clean after you poop, which is what you clean everything in your life with water.
00;39;03;23 - 00;39;25;05
Unknown
It's just like, you know, except for the dirtiest part. I clean my dishes with Charmin toilet paper. It's like, imagine like cooking a raw chicken. You have like a raw, salmonella filled chicken on your fucking cutting board. And then you, you wipe it with dry and then you put it away and you're like, that's clean. That's literally what you're doing.
00;39;25;08 - 00;39;45;14
Unknown
It's so gross. And so we've basically made it affordable so everyone can have an under $100 experience of washing, instead of wiping and clearing of all those elements while saving trees and saving your dignity and, you know, being good for your boyfriend and your partner. Yeah. And so. Yeah. And so and then for post pregnant pregnant post pregnant.
00;39;45;14 - 00;40;27;28
Unknown
It's such a huge, huge, huge, you know, like alleviation of pain. And it's so like relaxing to have that there. And so yeah I wish I wish more women would install them in the pregnancy because obviously end of pregnancy that makes sense. But once you've birthed and you're so swollen and, you know, potentially torn and, and you know, the hemorrhoids and, you know, it's just it's just kind of hard core down there for at least a while for most women to be able to first of all, I mean, the Perry bottle, like, sucks if you have something like this, you know, Perry bottle, you have to fill it up.
00;40;27;28 - 00;40;56;24
Unknown
It's like this little plastic thing, you know, blah, blah. But this replaces that. And also, I know that people use it to spray out the cloth diaper before they throw the cloth diaper in the what's it called, the wash, which is also a pretty cool use of it. Well, I bring we can talk about that for a second after with my when I'm working on next and why that's not yeah yeah thing either for cloth cloth I bring is just.
00;40;56;25 - 00;41;22;04
Unknown
Yeah I have some sort of please just like fix my brain around this. I have some sort of thing that's like a block about this bidet on the toilet. Like, obviously it's pulling from potable water. It's the same water pressure teeth with. It's from the wall. It's from the wall. So it is basically it's the same into the toilet at all.
00;41;22;06 - 00;41;39;13
Unknown
You know, it's not going into the toilet at all ever. Water or the tank water. It literally pulls. So it comes with splitter and a hose. So like if this is the wall, it comes off the wall and then it splits off from the wall directly to the bidet. So it's literally from the wall to the bit. It's never it's.
00;41;39;15 - 00;41;58;15
Unknown
Yeah, I was like making her toilet, maybe a tank or something. Yeah, I don't know. The tank or the bowl lets me be very clear. Yeah. Not the bowl from the wall. Yeah. Same teeth with. It's the same type. Or like you put that water and drink that water. It's the same water. It's coming directly to the bidet.
00;41;58;15 - 00;42;15;28
Unknown
And the bidet self cleans itself twice before every use. So it has a self-cleaning function that rinses it. So if your partner or your family or other people use it, it self cleans itself twice before every use and it's pulling from the wall, not from the bowl of the tank ever. And it is, as I'm sure someone's thinking this.
00;42;15;29 - 00;42;41;07
Unknown
It is like actually powerful enough that it can cleanse the butthole, and no extra wiping of anything afterwards is needed. It's the. So no, no, you're using 80% less toilet paper in Italy. They use towels. We have but towels as well. And so you can. Yeah, but you still use a little bit to pat dry 80% less or 90% less.
00;42;41;07 - 00;43;14;24
Unknown
And yes, it's a precise stream for your butt. And it also controls the the pressure as well. We also have warm water bodies as well. And we have bidet seats as well, just like the Toto's but way, way, way more affordable and American designed. And so yeah, it's it's been such a labor of love over last decade. But I'm, you know, after giving birth to hero, my son, I, you know, again like became aware of all of the waste and all of the stuff that's being needed to consume to have a baby.
00;43;14;24 - 00;43;32;15
Unknown
And that's when I started my new project hero. Yeah. Before we go to hero. Yeah. The last thing I want to say is I didn't appreciate bidets. My home came with one. Like in our master. It's a it's a normal toilet. And then it's like the old school. Next to it is the bidet. You know it. And I never used it.
00;43;32;15 - 00;43;50;29
Unknown
Didn't give a shit about it. And then after I had my son, I had hemorrhoids. And, you know, they got so vicious to the degree that, like, the wiping was hell, like it was not on the table. And so I, like, looked at this thing. I was like, oh my God, I have a bidet. And Johnny, like, hooked up the water to it, whatever.
00;43;50;29 - 00;44;23;21
Unknown
And it was life changing. It was life changing. It like actually made it able to heal. Yes. You know, like it was completely life changing. And so all the doctors, all the doctors are like, are like, you know, if you have hemorrhoids, any type of infection like that. Also anal fissures are caused by wet wipes. Most when you're using wet wipes, they have, even if it's like 1% water wipes, that 1% literally is full of toxic chemicals, or even point 1% is full of toxic chemicals.
00;44;23;21 - 00;44;46;05
Unknown
And when you're wiping and wiping with that, over time it starts to create lacerations in your butt crack, and then you have to get anal fissure operations. And all of that could be avoided by just like having a bidet like. And it depends. Yeah, it's just great. Well, yeah. People, you know, some people are set in their ways and they're very indoctrinated.
00;44;46;06 - 00;45;04;05
Unknown
You know, I think my listeners are pretty open minded, you know, and it's like the best of both worlds, obviously. Like, I lived in India when I was 19 and I was mostly yeah, I've been there a couple of times, but I lived there in the north in some of the most poor places where, I mean, I never saw one toilet ever.
00;45;04;05 - 00;45;37;14
Unknown
It wasn't really until I went to the South that I even saw a toilet. But but yeah, like being crashed. What are you doing there? Just like, you know, living and dying. Very. You know. Yeah, I went we went to Burning Man, my sister and I, and she and I, after just my my blood sister, she and I, after an epic night together, life changing night, the sun was rising and we were like, we got to go one way to India.
00;45;37;16 - 00;45;57;25
Unknown
And so we did like three weeks later, we went one way to India and we did our thing together for a while. We did like we went to Yogi Bhajan property in an on off in Punjab and, you know, did the Kundalini yoga thing for a while. And then she took off with her partner at the time to Thailand, and I just stayed.
00;45;57;26 - 00;46;22;23
Unknown
I just like couldn't I was not ready to leave. And you know, you did. You do what you do. That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah, it was amazing. Totally. Also like side note, I mean, perfect time to go in my life as a young woman who grew up quite, like, affluent and, you know, into boarding school and like, in the, in the athletic world and stuff in, in America.
00;46;22;23 - 00;46;53;03
Unknown
And I went to India thinking that I hated my country. You know, I was 18, 19. I thought that America sucked even though I grew up traveling and stuff, too. But but then you go live in India, which you know, is, oh my God, like such a such a deep, deep, special part of my heart. And yeah, I mean, I can't possibly articulate all the stuff it gave me, but and has continued to give me over, over my adult life.
00;46;53;03 - 00;47;16;29
Unknown
But it also helped me understand parts of the world and the systems and the lack of systems and just some basic, basic appreciation for my country began to bloom. That I just. Yeah, I can't even articulate it right now. I know it's something. Right. When you travel and you come home, you're like, wow. Like we're so free.
00;47;17;00 - 00;47;51;03
Unknown
We're so lucky. We do have, you know, we have so much, like, so much cleanly. It's clean, like it's safe, you know, and it's yeah, there's so much appreciation and obviously the inverse, like the rawness and realness of India cannot be matched. You know, I've been to lots of places and I've never experienced like the heart and rawness that is held by those people.
00;47;51;05 - 00;48;11;24
Unknown
Yeah. Anyway. Loved it. Spent a long time there. Went back before I became a mom again to just like, yeah, get stripped again and see what was what was, you know, you know, I was I was talking about that. Oh. Because in northern India at that time, which was a long time ago, I never even saw a toilet.
00;48;11;24 - 00;48;49;07
Unknown
And it was gross. Like it was obviously just holes in the ground. It was just spigots, you know, there was no toilet paper, there was no soap like it was. It was it was like, you know, porous shit. Bourdain you know, not not tushy. You on your toilet bedding. But my point of bringing this up at all is that I think that's what we're like up against with the, the, the cultural like the class and, you know, the class system of that to do that is even like is poor and gross and dirty.
00;48;49;07 - 00;49;11;12
Unknown
And there are some examples of maybe where I would agree with that. Which is funny though, because also in like the Richie of the richest, there's always bidets, right? You know. Yeah. Right. But when you make it. But can you make a very luxurious experience in everyday homes? I think we want to democratize that for sure, which is so cool to see it in millions of people's homes now.
00;49;11;12 - 00;49;35;17
Unknown
It's really cool. Okay, tell us now about but like obviously I want to hear about the diapers and I have them on my little baby area. I'm so excited to to do them. But also I really want you to touch on the wipes. Yeah, I never really thought about that. And I'm totally down to ditch our wipes because I got in your little present package.
00;49;35;17 - 00;50;14;12
Unknown
I got wipes and I hadn't even thought about those. So to make sure you also just speak about that for sure, you change my mind for sure. Well, so there's there's obviously all kinds of different types of wipes that exist. Right. And so like from a lens of like wet wipes, even the 99.9% wipes, that point 1% is so has so much toxicity in order to keep it like the preservation preservatives, to allow for those things not to stick together and to get all moldy like it needs a lot of toxins, even in a smaller small scale, which will eventually, over time, erode your skin and especially putting on your baby's skin.
00;50;14;14 - 00;50;36;16
Unknown
It is a no no. Like our our first iteration, we first unbleached wipes that exist actually for for hero, my next company as like one of the part of our the main thing and they're unbleached which is like also that's another thing. It's like bleached with toxins. It's just like it doesn't bode well. It just it supports more diaper rash basically, which isn't ideal thing.
00;50;36;16 - 00;50;53;28
Unknown
So the our next iteration of our wife's are actually unbleached dry wipes with a really cool dope spray container that you can just spray water with it and that's it. And so and they're throwaway and then you yeah, you put it in the diaper and you throw it away just like you know. Yeah I'll tell you we'll, we'll talk about that.
00;50;53;28 - 00;51;14;25
Unknown
So the pack of wipes that I got, I haven't opened them. Are they wet. They're wet okay. Yeah. So the ones and there's R's have aloe in them just so that there is a soothing element to it. And again like our next iteration will be like dry wipes with a spray bottle of water because most people did want wet wipes.
00;51;14;25 - 00;51;33;12
Unknown
And so ours has the least amount of wrap in it like it's the least out there. It's the only unbleached wipe out there. And it's it has aloe properties, which is has aloe in it, which makes it more soothing for the baby. But ultimately, like our next iteration will be the dry. So there's absolutely zero. You're doing away with the wet.
00;51;33;14 - 00;51;59;18
Unknown
Yeah. Oh okay. Yeah. Because I think what you're going to be up against obviously, you know, this is going to be the getting women to do the extra step. I'll tell you what though, you would think. But then you think about like, you know, Blue Apron or you think about like the, the just add an egg. There's this whole campaign where like the cake, you know, people would make cake mixes.
00;51;59;18 - 00;52;33;12
Unknown
It was like it wasn't, but it was it was the other cake mix company that they were just like, put the cake mix in water and just mix it and bake it, and then you have a cake. And moms would be like a little ashamed and embarrassed. And so then they created a new formula. Just add an egg and then you mix it and then you bake it, and then sales went up 10,000%, whatever, because the moms felt like they were part of baking the cake, and they felt like they were part of something bigger than just like putting the mix in in water.
00;52;33;12 - 00;52;51;04
Unknown
And they just felt a little like, you know, and so the way we feel about it or Blue Apron, like when you're buying like instead of takeout, takeout, you get all the ingredients and you just put it in your pan and it takes three minutes, but you feel like you cooked your family at dinner versus and you're equating that to the mushroom packet.
00;52;51;06 - 00;53;15;11
Unknown
Yes. So so I feel like when. So just to give it so should I just explain what here. Totally. Okay great. So basically when I had my son hero, we went through 6000. Each baby goes up to 6000 diapers in their lifetime. And every baby, every diaper takes 4 to 500 years to break down. And so those numbers are just crazy.
00;53;15;11 - 00;53;36;02
Unknown
The very first disposable diaper is still in a landfill somewhere. Like the number of diapers that end up in a landfill every year could circle the earth 33 times. Like, those numbers are astronomical. And it's like, and you zoom out one step further, you look at the global plastic crisis. 91% of plastic is not being recycled. It's being incinerated, put in landfills, put in our oceans, literally in our bodies.
00;53;36;02 - 00;54;01;28
Unknown
Now to the tune of like, credit cards, you know, and it's like annually, like we're having to now, like, literally cycle out microplastics out of our bodies. It's really a crazy thing. And so you really think about the waste that we're creating and what we spend all this time like, you know, Prime festering our baby, then having our trimesters and then and then having the baby and then birthing the baby because we want to have them, you know, give them great life.
00;54;01;28 - 00;54;22;06
Unknown
And then all of a sudden, you're leaving them with billions and billions and billions of pounds of plastic and trash and waste. We haven't thought about the end of life. And so I tried the cloth diapering thing. I put the mask on. I did the whole thing while I was recovering from my C-section. I did the vinegar and all my washing machine where every one of my clothes smelled like vinegar.
00;54;22;06 - 00;54;55;28
Unknown
I tried to send it out. I did everything, and it just was like for a woman who's working, it just didn't work for my system. And the number of washes, the number of amount of water, the amount of like, it was just like, not bleep, but like like vinegar. It was just so much. And the actual when we when you actually talk to physical therapists who are for babies like postnatal therapists, they say like those, those, those diapers are so big and bulky that it actually doesn't support the baby to learn how to actually walk as well when they're wearing something super light.
00;54;55;28 - 00;55;19;04
Unknown
And so there's lots and lots and lots of issues with cloth diapering. When you think you're doing something that's good for the planet, it actually is not that great for the planet in the end, because most parents who start with those cloth diapers don't end up using them the whole time. They end up switching to regular diapers, and then they end up, you know, having to wash and wash and wash it anyways.
00;55;19;04 - 00;55;44;12
Unknown
It's just not attendance. Yeah. But conversely, I mean, if you are water independent, like we're on a well and we have the same 12 diapers, cloth diapers that we've used for coming into three, three babies, I don't do the vinegar. I've not had that experience. Like it's pretty chill. And the way that like, I mean, I guess there's all sorts of them.
00;55;44;12 - 00;56;11;04
Unknown
But yeah, I think that the fact that these have a disappear act, a disappearing act is for sure, ultimately for sure puts them at the top like, well, so, so so what we so what. So when when I really looked at the amount of diapers we're using, when I tried the cloth I bring, I was just like, there is a better system here that needs to happen for parents, for moms, you know, to and for the babies.
00;56;11;04 - 00;56;33;25
Unknown
Most importantly, where it's not a bleach diaper with a toxic bromine blue line with the wetness indicator, which is the they only allow it in adult cosmetics, that line that goes from yellow to blue. They don't even allow that adult cosmetics. But because the diaper industry is so unregulated, they just said that there and they use it as a marketing ploy to basically be lazy, change the diaper faster.
00;56;33;26 - 00;56;50;26
Unknown
No. As soon as someone drops little baby drops, a little pee goes from yellow to blue. It signals a parent to change a diaper, even when the diaper should last up to 12 hours anyways. And so I have a lot to say about that line, which is so toxic and I don't suggest any parent use a diaper with that toxic blue line anymore.
00;56;50;26 - 00;57;16;17
Unknown
It is toxic. So what we created was we really, really looked at the entire diaper industry. We looked at what actual what actual materials exist right now. And we realized that there are no unbleached diaper on the market. Zero. We. So we set out to create the world's first unbleached diaper. So if you actually see the inside, it's like kind of like it's like a tan versus white.
00;57;16;17 - 00;57;42;14
Unknown
And like the diaper industry believes that like white equals clean, white equals safe where it's like, no, the less processed equals clean, the less processed equals safe. And so you and they're the first. Yeah. They're the first under the softest diaper truly in the markets. The first unbleached cotton back sheet. It's the softest inside. And actually from an absorption it's like three times more absorbent than like all leading eco brands.
00;57;42;14 - 00;58;09;11
Unknown
It's five times drier than every diaper brand, including the most luxury brands, and made with 50% less plastic than all of the the conventional brands. And so it's the lightest, the softest and the most high performing. And the best part is they come with these little, little packets that house our friendly fungi. They're actually we actually re the shape into these little become these with these little packets that make me think of ramen packets.
00;58;09;13 - 00;58;26;14
Unknown
Are they so cute? Yeah, they are inside. These packets are friendly fungi that are culinary grade, so they're super safe. You can actually eat them, but don't eat them, but you can eat them. You don't even have to open this pouch. So when you change the diaper, that's the baby. Yeah. The baby poop literally acts as a fertilizer.
00;58;26;14 - 00;58;40;26
Unknown
And the pea then. So when you're changing diaper, you literally it's one inspired step. You drop this little pouch inside the diaper. You close the and throw in the fresh. That's it. There's nothing else. You don't have to open it. You literally just take the whole patch dissolvable pouch. You drop it in the diaper, you throw in the trash.
00;58;40;26 - 00;59;03;00
Unknown
And a couple of weeks, those little friendly fungi literally fertilized by our babies pooper pee will start to wake up. And the whole vision is that it will break the diaper down in under a year. That's our whole vision. Wow. Our first step is that it's going to start in this little packet, so parents can get used to it being like fungi, like it's so friendly.
00;59;03;00 - 00;59;20;01
Unknown
It's so safe. There's nothing it's safer than the diaper itself, by the way. It's it's culinary grade. You could eat it, don't eat it, you could eat it. But so the next version is we're going to have them directly in the diaper. Right. So and it's bio sap, it's safer than the sap and the diaper. The super polymer.
00;59;20;02 - 00;59;39;13
Unknown
Our bio sap is safer than the sap that's currently the diaper. So we're going to basically reinvent all absorbent products in the end that have so that anytime an absorbent product ends up in a landfill, they'll buy or degrade. And hopefully, I think for this to like go mainstream, that thing has to be to be in the diaper.
00;59;39;15 - 00;59;55;09
Unknown
It just has it's going to it's going to. But first version is we want to just get parents to be like, this is friendly. Let me teach. It makes it to you how it works. Put it in the diaper and there is something nice. The parents who love our product, they love they kind of they have, they like it.
00;59;55;11 - 01;00;24;19
Unknown
They enjoy. They feel like they're like, I'm a superhero, mom. Like they feel like they're at least contributing to the, you know, the regenerative cycle. It's, you know, I mean, I don't I don't like the idea of it, but I will do it because it's a very, very cool and important. Like it's not a big deal to add it, but I'm just like picturing you're in the back of the car with the tailgate down and the baby screaming, and there's shit everywhere, and you have to find that fucking little packet somewhere in your diaper bag.
01;00;24;22 - 01;00;40;24
Unknown
So then you start it. You do it at home. At first you set them for sure. Yeah. And then on travel, we do have these little travel boxes that make it super easy. And it's it'll become a habit. It's like you pull out the wet wipes with it. It's just like you're wet wiping out. It's literally it becomes a habit.
01;00;40;24 - 01;00;58;13
Unknown
It's not like it's a whole thing. You literally take a thing and put it like it's just it's nothing. It's like, you know, and I get it like, this is where me baby. But I've done it so many times already with babies that it's just, it feels like it's so much. But it's not, it's not. It's actually I like that the wipes go in it so that it all dissolves.
01;00;58;15 - 01;01;16;17
Unknown
It all just goes together. And the wipes, actually, because they're wet, will start to dissolve it. But we're, we're, we're updating it even better with our dry wipes. That's even better food for the fungi when it ends up in the inside the diaper when it closes. It's like the first food for the diaper to start, for the fungi to start to wake up are the wipes.
01;01;16;17 - 01;01;37;00
Unknown
And so yeah, there's so much that's so exciting about creating a regenerative product. Like we we one of the worst situations like of a of an individual consumer. It's the number one household plastic waste item number three waste item in a landfill literally a diaper. And parents are throwing it away all day long. And and it's not that.
01;01;37;00 - 01;01;51;08
Unknown
It's just like it just you just don't think about it until you're like. Until you pull out that trash bag full of diapers and you're just like, Holy shit. This is insane. And the alternative is cloth diapers and doing all that. And yes, you can do both. Like this could be for your travel. That could be for that.
01;01;51;09 - 01;02;11;19
Unknown
Like there are different ways to use it. One of the things that we're also excited about is that we've already led three EQ classes. Elimination communication classes to teach parents about elimination communication. Most parents have no idea what that is, teaching parents how to get learn the cues of their baby so they can get them out of diapers as fast as possible.
01;02;11;20 - 01;02;35;15
Unknown
You can be out of diapers in under a year, like people don't even know that like 9 to 12 months, your baby could be out of a diaper. And yet, because you're just overriding the cues and the cuz like babies, either hungry, sleepy, uncomfortable or they need to eliminate, you know, that's like one of the key things. And so like you learn after a meal or when they wake up that they should go straight to the potty and start to learn the cues.
01;02;35;15 - 01;03;07;04
Unknown
And you make a sound like when they're peeing or boop, boop, whatever when they're pooping. And then they start to, like, answer with Andrea Olson, the good for free. We're talking with this. We I did this interview with this woman yesterday from easy, easy. What's her name? I don't know that one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyways, I should know her name, but yeah, we just did an interview yesterday and she's she, she's like, she had her third kid and her first kid.
01;03;07;04 - 01;03;25;01
Unknown
She didn't do EC. She learned about EC and her second kid and she was like, oh my God. My kid was out of diapers by the time he was walking. Andrea is like the EC woman. Like her company is on Amazon. She sells the bats, go diaper free, is her company. She'd be a great platform to to now.
01;03;25;02 - 01;03;46;10
Unknown
Sure. Yeah. I would love that EC and I will. Yeah we did we did we do that. And and I've even met moms I don't know how to do this. I have no interest in this. But I've met moms who've never put their babies in diapers. I love that. Isn't that amazing? Yeah. I mean, look, look, we're here to offer all the options, right?
01;03;46;11 - 01;04;04;25
Unknown
If you're going to want to use if you're going to use a disposable diaper, use hero diaper. It's the only unbleached diaper. It's 50% less plastic than literally than any of the leading brands. It is like the most high performing and a return to Earth with fungi. Like if you're otherwise use cloth, get out of diapers as fast as possible.
01;04;04;25 - 01;04;35;29
Unknown
But if you're going to pollute the planet and narrative, use a repetitive mushrooms in it. Yeah, and they're made in Canada. They're made in Canada. Our current sap is literally until our bio enters is from Japan. It's the number one the most like the least toxic. You can put the least amount for the most high performing, which is why like we've we've literally removed all the trash that all these big diaper companies are competing with each other to be like, we have three extra layers that make it better for this.
01;04;36;01 - 01;04;54;10
Unknown
And we're like, no, we put just the right amount of plastic to make it high performing, but that plastic gets returned to the Earth with the help of our friendly fungi. And so we can, unlike bamboo diapers, which, by the way, are so greenwash, they don't work. And they're actually it's like made of it's a, it's a bamboo that's been manufactured into a plastic and it's bleached.
01;04;54;11 - 01;05;13;12
Unknown
It's a horribly green washed product. And I just that's why we didn't use any bamboo in our diapers because we're like, we looked into it and we were like, this is not this is such greenwashing bullshit. And so ultimately, like, again, we are here for regeneration. Like we're I'm a mom, like, I don't. This is something I don't need to be doing.
01;05;13;12 - 01;05;32;24
Unknown
But I really, really care about changing culture. And what's so cool about this for me is that we get to literally teach parents how to become eco forward parent leaders as part of joining our hero's journey. So we're going to teach you herbalism 101 like potions for postpartum. We're going to teach you how to grow a little garden.
01;05;32;24 - 01;05;50;21
Unknown
We're going to teach you how to grind your food. Instead of having to buy all those squeeze packs. We're going to teach you all these different types of leadership training on how to become a leader of your micro ecosystem, which is becoming a parent of your home. Like you become a leader of your micro ecosystem and you don't have real leadership training.
01;05;50;21 - 01;06;10;28
Unknown
So we're going to give you that training for free. So it's just it's going to be super, super fun, save a lot of money doing that and save so much money you're going to like. Yeah. So so anyway. Were you just like laying in bed one night and we're like mushrooms eat plastic. No. How did this I. Craziest story.
01;06;10;28 - 01;06;33;20
Unknown
It's the craziest story. My son gave me the idea. He was two years old. I was literally sitting in my bed, actually looking out the window, being like, wait a minute. Breast milk is liquid gold and therefore baby poop must be fertilizer gold. And right now we're wrapping up this potential for potential energy, this fertilizer, mama breast milk juju in plastic.
01;06;33;20 - 01;06;53;16
Unknown
And we're not harnessing billions of pounds of this for for good. And we're using pig poop and cow poop to fertilize our food, but we're not using our own baby. Our own breast milk like, powerful, mother led, potent juju for like. And we're just wrapping plastic. Like what the like. Wow. Like there's I was like, what are we doing?
01;06;53;16 - 01;07;23;08
Unknown
I'm like, what if we can literally take that? Like, what if the baby poop can potentially fertilize something that can grow and eat the plastic of the diaper? Like what? What could that be? Literally in that exact moment when I was like, what could be the poop? Fertilize to eat the plastic? My son, pro hero, comes running into my room and points to a book in my nightstand and saying while saying Pacha, pacha, which means Earth and Pachamama.
01;07;23;08 - 01;07;54;04
Unknown
And I was like, I look and I pull out this book, and this book is called Patras Pajamas Pacha. And this book is about this young girl. By the way, this book was given to me like two years prior or a year and a half to two years prior by a woman at a conference. You know, you get given books and you, like, have them in your library downstairs and whatever it was brought somehow, magically, miraculously, this book for children was brought up to my bedroom in my nightstand, one floor up to my bedroom nightstand in the back, and and I and I'm like,
01;07;54;07 - 01;08;19;25
Unknown
So here's like, Pasha and I look and this book is in my bedroom nightstand, and I pull out this book and it's called. And he's like any Mother Earth. I pull out this book and literally start reading this book. And on page 31 it says, there are certain types of fungi that can break down plastics. Nice. You're like, baby, you just got a diaper brand named after, you know, but like, that's the kind of that's the kind of listening.
01;08;19;28 - 01;08;39;19
Unknown
Oh, yeah. Why? Like, ayahuasca was invented. Was created by a by a by, like, literally like, you know, a person just sitting in nature and just tuning in to nature and just listening and being like, you take this plant and you take this plant and you cook it this way, and you and they grow nowhere near each other.
01;08;39;22 - 01;08;59;01
Unknown
Yeah, that's one of the craziest parts. It's crazy. And then also like all it's like, you know, I went to the Amazon rainforest for, for a couple for a couple of weeks and literally spent that time with the indigenous people who've never been to the modern world. There's no roads, there's nothing. And literally I spent two weeks there and they literally I'm like, oh, you have the sunburn.
01;08;59;02 - 01;09;14;21
Unknown
They ran up the mountain, they ran up in the forest and they like, got a bunch of leaves and they like, put them on. And then like, you're peeled within like a couple of like you're just like. And you're burnt and you're back to normal. I'm just like, there's some I mean, it's magic. They, they're like, oh, you want you want to support this.
01;09;14;21 - 01;09;38;28
Unknown
And then they just run into get the thing and they, they and then they just it's raw like the whole thing is it's amazing. So much attunement that we've like lost. Yeah. You know and I just yeah. Like I'm, I'm so excited to relearn how to attune with nature, how to attune with our children who are divine, literally divine conscious beings who can give you the answers if you're listening.
01;09;39;00 - 01;10;02;10
Unknown
Elimination communication is actually about attunement. It's about attuning to your baby and really, really feeling into their cues and where they have to go to the bathroom. You're using way less that you're like, you're tuning in. And I think that's also an amazing, amazing part about this time of life, of becoming a mother or becoming a father. It's like that one way doorway from maiden to mother, from from bachelor to father.
01;10;02;10 - 01;10;36;25
Unknown
And it's like an acupuncture point of change where you get to retune to something bigger than yourself. You're going from like an IMI consciousness to an us we consciousness. It's a very, very different, different time. And so I really am excited about this movement of mothers like mom, we're calling mom, movement of mothers, where it's like to really move society forward into an eco forward, parent leadership like way, you know, forward where you're and you're not going to just stay like that when you have a baby.
01;10;36;25 - 01;11;00;17
Unknown
But hopefully for the rest of your life, you learn these tools, these skills and gardening on permaculture ecology, like braiding with nature, fungi like you're learning so much you're not going to go back, you know? So that's what we're we're hoping for. And I love the work. Be proud of what you're contributing versus completely asleep. Yeah. You know exactly.
01;11;00;17 - 01;11;20;23
Unknown
So and there's got to be some level of convenience to ultimately we do live in a world that's modern and like yes like for for many women. Like you can do the cloth I bring and bless you even if there are some challenges. It bless you, you know, for the for the modern waste it's just not a real option.
01;11;20;23 - 01;11;38;13
Unknown
And so like what are the options will at least choose a regenerative option that didn't exist. Do you just get on like a subscription for it? Yeah. You can we call it the Hero's Journey? Yeah, the monthly bundle. Or you can get it once. You can just get it once and try it. You know, you can also gift it to your friends.
01;11;38;13 - 01;11;56;19
Unknown
Gifted to those. We have a gift subscription or gift option as well. Like to friends. But yeah like it's just once you're in the hero's journey, you enter a whole journey with us to help solve the global plastic crisis. We're going to give you monthly updates on where our fungi are, what our fungal research is doing, how we're going to get them into the diaper.
01;11;56;19 - 01;12;12;15
Unknown
We just live cams in the landfills. Yeah, we're going to do like, so many cool things that you're going to learn so much about. Also becoming an eco for apparent leader, all for free. Like it's going to be part of a unit leadership training for free, like as part of joining the journey because we're so excited about it.
01;12;12;15 - 01;12;35;17
Unknown
So yeah, there's so much to be. Yeah, there's so much look forward to. And yeah, I'm really excited about the idea of also just for rebirthing and like, again, like remembering our capacity to hold and to be able to do things into attune to ourselves. We've lost. I mean, it's all a domino, you know, ripple effect. Well, for our last baby, we used nest.
01;12;35;18 - 01;12;58;16
Unknown
We did cloth at home and did nest out and about, and we were happy with them. But they're so hard to get. We've they're like, really, really I don't know what's up with their supply situation, but you can't like barely get them anymore. So before you and I started talking, Johnny and I were like, we're not sure what we're going to do because I'm not going to like, chase a product we need.
01;12;58;19 - 01;13;25;22
Unknown
And so this is perfect. I'm excited to try hero out with our little one coming any day now, and put that little ramen packet in there and you'll feel good about my life. Turn my back on. I'm going to send you a tissue. Do you have one? We don't have one because we have a bidet. But we would put that one in our other address and I will send you a Toshiba day.
01;13;25;23 - 01;13;44;07
Unknown
You're going to love it, because then the kids will put it in the kids bathroom. And you're going to be there all day night, I tell you. Yeah, exactly. All. Yeah, it's the best. Well, it is more convenient to have it on the actual toilet because in our setup, like shimmy. But it makes no sense. Like it makes no sense.
01;13;44;09 - 01;14;03;21
Unknown
It is weird. Actually. They were so dumb. It's like you're poopy, but you might be dripping. I don't know, it's like, what the fuck? Like it makes no sense. It is weird. Why do we do that? I yeah. Okay, well, we'll put in the show notes stuff to both of these websites. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. I loved hearing about all this, and I'm just so proud of you.
01;14;03;21 - 01;14;26;10
Unknown
And thank you for your perseverance and conviction and and knowing your hair's not fucking blue and, you know, just staying the course and being open to, you know, what life wants of you. You're killing it. I mean, we're, we're we're we're just on the goddess's path. That's it. You know. Yeah. But it takes, you know, it takes two to tango.
01;14;26;13 - 01;14;45;09
Unknown
The goddess wants us all on the path. But you're saying. Yes. Yes, yes. Well, I'm excited to continue to again braid with you, too, and, like, see where we can do. I mean, I know that there's, you know, again, there's so much up leveling we can do with each other in collaboration. I'm excited for that too, for sure.
01;14;45;11 - 01;15;09;23
Unknown
All right, women, I hope you enjoyed the show today. You can support this podcast by donating to it through the link in the show notes below. And of course, leaving an awesome review on whatever platform you listen on. The more reviews, the more visibility the show gets. So let's spread the good word of free birth. Don't forget, you can watch all of my podcast interviews on YouTube and see the women as they tell their birth and power stories.
01;15;09;23 - 01;15;30;26
Unknown
And you will also find our viral free birth collection of epic raw Birth videos on our YouTube channel. So make sure you're subscribed. We always have a lot going on at Free Birth Society, and you can find out about all of it at Free Birth Society, and I am at Free Birth Society on Instagram. Please opt in to my newsletter below so that you don't miss a thing.
01;15;30;27 - 01;15;56;24
Unknown
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01;15;56;25 - 01;16;02;26
Unknown
This is the living revolution and I am so grateful to be in it with all of you. Till next time.
