08.03.2022
Episode 213: Jamie Norwood, Co-Founder of Stix
Summary
Due to serious changes in our government concerning body autonomy we felt it was urgent to bring someone onto WHERE BRAINS MEET BEAUTY™ who is on the forefront of providing safe and accessible reproductive and vaginal health products to women around the country. Jamie Norwood is the co-founder of Stix, a company that prides itself on supplying women with the products they need in a convenient, discreet, affordable and judgement-free way.
In this chat we discuss Jamie’s journey to success, how her company’s products and charitable efforts has helped women during vulnerable times and how a distinct, pivotal moment changed her life forever!
Transcript
| Jodi Katz | Hi, everybody. Welcome to Where Brains Meet Beauty. Our guest today was originally scheduled to be on our show during our upcoming Health quarter. So fourth quarter this year is themed Health for our show. But, given recent changes in our government around body autonomy, we felt it’s urgent to have this conversation today. So today, we welcome someone who’s on the forefront of providing safe and accessible reproductive health products to people. It’s my pleasure to introduce the founder of Stix, co-founder of Stix and member of Forbes Next 1000, Jamie Norwood. Welcome to Where Brains Meet Beauty. |
| Jamie Norwood | Thank you so much for having me. That was a very kind introduction. I’m excited to be here. |
| Jodi Katz | Jamie, my team is super jazzed that we’re having this conversation today because I absolutely want to learn from you, so a lot of them are listening in today. And this is a career journey show, so we’re not really here to talk about products and marketing and trends and world forces, government forces. But I know we will end up doing that. So I want to start in this career journey space, though, just for a few minutes. This is my favorite question that I get to ask our guests. Go back to your 11-year-old self and think about what do you want to be when you grow up? |
| Jamie Norwood | I love that question. I, for the longest time when I was a kid, I think probably until like middle school, I wanted to be a dentist. So, very different. And then when I grew up a bit more, like middle school, high school, I wanted to be a journalist. Did neither of those things, though. |
| Jodi Katz | Okay. So why do you think dentist was appealing to you in those early years? |
| Jamie Norwood | Honestly, so I had a very cool dentist as a child. She would paint my nails when I was getting my teeth cleaned. And I think I just really liked going. And I don’t know. I guess I just was drawn to it. Not so much anymore. |
| Jodi Katz | Your dentist would paint your nails? That is the coolest thing ever. |
| Jamie Norwood | Actually, it was the dental hygienist who would paint my nails, so that’s maybe what I wanted to be. But yeah, it was very cool. |
| Jodi Katz | That’s so interesting that you mention this because my kids remember when they were little, those first years of going to the dentist, the hygienist would paint pictures on their teeth. It was a way to get on, I don’t know, whatever needed to be on the teeth. But they would say, what do you want me to paint? Do you want me to paint hearts or rainbows or unicorns? And they believed her, of course. And a little raw, but they were tricked all these years because they remember believing it. And those moments for making a dentist chair feel safe and comfortable, it’s amazing how much that’s lingered for you. |
| Jamie Norwood | Yeah, yeah. It’s a bit of a lesson, I think in customer experience, maybe. But yeah, luckily—or not luckily. It’s a great thing to do. But my interest in dentistry and medicine and all of that was quickly over. |
| Jodi Katz | Okay. And then what made you feel inspired about being a journalist? |
| Jamie Norwood | I was on the newspaper in school. That was always my—I didn’t play sports or anything like that. That was kind of my extracurricular. So I loved that. And I think I’ve had time. It was very glamorous to work at a magazine. And in lots of movies, the main character in the movie worked at a fashion magazine or an arts magazine, so I wanted to one day work on a magazine. Yeah. And I got to college and started doing internships, and I can tell that, but eventually got my way to startups. |
| Jodi Katz | Did you ever see the movie 13 Going on 30? |
| Jamie Norwood | Yes. I’m sure that influenced me a lot. |
| Jodi Katz | I can watch that movie on any day. I turn back into, I guess, a tween when that movie comes on. I love it so much. |
| Jamie Norwood | Yeah, no, me too. I’ve seen, for Halloween, a lot of people will wear her dress that she wears in that—you know the dress that she does the Thriller dance in, so. |
| Jodi Katz | Such a great movie. Okay. So, your passions for dental hygiene and journalism faded away. Were you one of those people in college that were like, “I absolutely know what I want to be at this point, and I’m working towards that goal,” or were you feeling just a little bit lost with that future? |
| Jamie Norwood | I think somewhere in between. I was on my college newspaper and kind of continued the journalism thing and did an internship at a magazine, and then I think everyone—not everyone, but a couple people who I really looked up to at that internship were like, “Do not start a career in journalism right now. Trust us.” And I listened. So I think once that was set aside—I was an English major, so I didn’t have a major that really had an obvious path. I think at the time, I thought, okay, I’m an English major. I have to be a writer or a teacher. And then eventually got an internship at a startup and realized that there was this whole other path that I could take. But no, I was not 100% sure of what I wanted to do. |
| Jodi Katz | Before I move on to my next questions, I want to say hi to Rushoo and Mrs. Ricker and Alina and Hannah and MrsLevine and ChristyLay and Gijunker. So lots of people joining in to listen in. And Molly. And oh my God, people just keep coming and coming. Hi, JaneButler, and hello to Imnotchic, and Medhatter. So, I love these journey stories because I was somebody who really had no idea. I went to college, I was around people who were very specific in their goals and then sought them out. And I just sort of floated. The universe pushed me in a direction. That’s where I went. What about that startup experience was exciting for you, and what do you remember learning the most out of that job? |
| Jamie Norwood | Yeah. I remember really being drawn to the energy of a small team and everyone kind of working on a common goal. Like I said, I never played sports, so it was kind of the first time that I got that dynamic. And I liked the idea of building something kind of from the ground up. In a lot of ways, even though it is very far off from journalism, it kind of reminded me of that newsroom environment, everyone kind of working later together and stuff. So I think that is kind of what led me there. And then I actually did a fellowship program called Venture for America after graduation that helped me kind of have a community and path with working at a startup. |
| Jodi Katz | I’m hearing you a little squeaky and twisted. Are you hearing me clearly? |
| Jamie Norwood | I hear you okay. |
| Jodi Katz | Okay. |
| Jamie Norwood | I could try taking off my headphones. |
| Jodi Katz | Nope. No, we want those headphones. Every once in a while, I’ll let you know if there’s anything. And our fans will let us know too, I’m sure, if something’s not quite right. Okay. So this startup vibe, for some people, it’s really hard for them. They need a job where there’s just not—it’s like the opposite energy. They crave structure and solid footing and a very well-oiled machine where they do one job. What in your heart do you think made you love this and crave this? |
| Jamie Norwood | That’s a good question. I think I really like being creative in my work. But I’m not a designer. I’m not a creative. And I like that working in an unstructured environment kind of lets you solve problems in your own way. And I really liked that I could get a lot of hands-on experience, leadership experience, at such a young age. I worked at a startup after college, and I was able to have a team and manage people at 24, which I think is just absurd now. I’m like, why did they let me do that? But I think it just gives you opportunities that you wouldn’t otherwise get at a bigger company. But I definitely understand the desire to work at a bigger company. I’ve never worked at a company with more than 30 people. I think one day, I would like to. It would be interesting to have a more well-defined role and team and resources. |
| Jodi Katz | Did you get to know the entrepreneur founder of that business? |
| Jamie Norwood | Yeah, a bit. We didn’t work super closely together, but definitely were often in meetings together and got to kind of hear him do his thing. And it was definitely motivating. |
| Jodi Katz | Did you ever think at that time, “That’s gonna be me some day?” |
| Jamie Norwood | I don’t think so. I think I couldn’t think that far. Yeah. I always thought it would be fun to do my own thing, but I didn’t know—I always thought that that would be more of a hobby, like putting on—I don’t know. I did a lot of extracurricular stuff in college. And in my early twenties, a friend and I threw this big food and music festival in Baltimore where I lived. And that was an experience actually running my own thing and getting that kind of hands-on business experience. I mean, we sold kind of tickets and stuff, but at the time, I didn’t think that that could be a job. |
| Jodi Katz | Okay. So then what shifted in your life? Because now you run a business. |
| Jamie Norwood | Yes. |
| Jodi Katz | Now you’re an entrepreneur. So what happened? |
| Jamie Norwood | So, I think when I graduated college and started my first job at a startup, it was a very small early stage company based in Baltimore. And my co-founder now, Cynthia and I, were coworkers there. And I think there, seeing the company grow and working so, so closely with the founders, we were all the same age. We were pulled in to so many different decisions. We were kind of like, “Well, if they can do it, so can we.” And at the end of the day, we felt really passionate about the mission of that company, but we just were really excited about women’s health, and had this idea. And honestly, it kind of started as a side project/hobby. It’s kind of dorky. We were like, wouldn’t it be fun to join a pitch competition and think about this business? And we weren’t—I think both of us were very surprised when we decided it was time to do it full-time. |
| Jodi Katz | Okay. So let’s examine that time period, because there’s many, many people listening and who will listen to this after it’s live, who are in that space. They’re working at a business, whether it’s a startup or an established business, and they’re with a friend, and they’re thinking about this big idea that feels like it’s a white space and seems adventurous. And they do make it a hobby. When did it go from hobby to, you know what? It’s time. What was that journey like? |
| Jamie Norwood | Yeah. For us, we had a very distinct moment, which I think is kind of unusual, and it was lucky. So it’s like a mix, of course, all the things. But we had ordered samples. We did a pitch competition. I think we won $3,000 from the pitch competition, which at the time, we were like, oh my God. We’re starting a business. We ordered samples of pregnancy tests, spun out a Shopify website. And then we did another pitch competition a couple months later, and in the audience was—someone came to us, and he was like, “I’m an angel investor. I invest in companies founded by women. I really like what you’re doing.” And my co-founder Cynthia was like, “Do you want to get breakfast tomorrow?” And I remember being like, “I can’t believe she just asked him that, right on the spot.” And he said yes, and we got breakfast with him, and he wrote us our first check that day. Yeah, so that was like—our heads were spinning. And we were like, okay, we have to do this now. So I remember, Cynthia and I are like two sides of the same coin. So she had very practical—she was like, “Okay, we’re going to launch a wait list and get 5,000 sign-ups, and then we can quit our jobs.” And I was like, “No, we’ve got to quit our jobs now. We’ve got to do it.” I was just already thinking ahead. And then we met somewhere in the middle. Once we had enough traction and the check, we decided we—it wasn’t like—I thought this would be a risk, but it wasn’t an unfounded risk, if that makes sense. |
| Jodi Katz | Okay. Before we move deeper into this story, because I love this moment and I want to know what everybody ate for breakfast that day, I want to say hi to Leegraff, and Themodernmujer, and JillZersky, and TheMilkdealer, and MrsFishing, Gabs, UmaPatel, JulieandMikecococare, and Itsshammies, and KristenLurb, and MadisonWhittaker. I think that gets us up to date a little bit, although more people keep coming in. Hello, Sarrags. Okay. Take me back to breakfast, because this is all so bold, right? Two people who didn’t think they were starting a business. And this is amazing. |
| Jamie Norwood | Yeah. |
| Jodi Katz | Do you remember what you ate at that breakfast? |
| Jamie Norwood | Honestly, okay, no. But I do remember, and this is embarrassing, but I was so nervous. I was like—I vomited the night before the pitch competition and before breakfast. And I don’t—I’m not like a nerd. I mean, I’m as anxious as the next person, but after that, I was like, I really have to investigate this. What’s going on? I was just so nervous. It was so new for me. And Cynthia is much more—she did theater in high school, she was a good public speaker, it comes more naturally to her. I was up there shaking. And now she does all the pitching. I don’t even do the pitching. |
| Jodi Katz | Okay. So Jamie, your partner Cynthia was bold enough to ask this person for breakfast. |
| Jamie Norwood | Yes. |
| Jodi Katz | You then go off and vomit. No, sorry, you vomited first. You did the pitch meeting. She asked the angel investor for breakfast. Next day, you wake up, vomit, and then attend this breakfast, which set you off on a trajectory to build this business. |
| Jamie Norwood | Yeah. And it was kind of like a movie moment. Okay, the investor, he’s this wonderful man named Bill Scott. He’s no longer alive, which is very sad. And we got to know him pretty well over the last few years. And after he left breakfast, his assistant was still there. And she literally said to us, and we sent this to his family once we heard that he passed, but assistant said to us, “Bill’s going to change your life. He does that for people.” And we were like—it was a really kind of chills moment. And he really did. And yeah, it was so important for us to have him bought in so early, because he then had—he at the time was a VP at PayPal, I think. Yeah, PayPal. He helped build Venmo. And he had a lot of other angel investor San Francisco type tech people that went on to invest in Stix, so that was very special. |
| Jodi Katz | Did you tell Cynthia that you vomited twice? |
| Jamie Norwood | Oh yeah, no. We were staying together. We were sharing a bed. And I was like, “What’s wrong with me?” Yeah. She was probably with me in the bathroom. |
| Jodi Katz | I love that you shared this with us because it’s such a human thing, right? And that’s the whole purpose of this show, is to humanize our industry. And we are not robots, right? |
| Jamie Norwood | No. |
| Jodi Katz | The path to success is littered with vomit. I mean, that’s the truth. And I’m grateful that people listening to this show will hear this honest account of what it’s like to be up against your dreams, right? You’re really in this moment where success is right in front of you, and it’s scary. |
| Jamie Norwood | Yeah. It was a very pivotal moment. Yeah, it was wild. |
| Jodi Katz | So, I want to understand from your perspective as someone, I guess, now you know you have a weak stomach when it comes to being right in front of success. And I think it’s important to talk about this a little bit more. I have this, I guess, philosophy or approach to my entrepreneurial journey where there’s a real tension for me between reaching my goals in my career and then living the rest of my life, that I also have ambitions and happy places for. And there’s a tension that I call a seduction. This growing my business is so seductive. It calls to me, right? At 4:00 in the morning, it calls to me. When I’m out for a walk, it calls to me. When I’m eating breakfast. It’s always there. And I know, because I’ve proven this to myself, the more I work, the more success happens. But I don’t want to only just work, right? |
| Jamie Norwood | Yeah. |
| Jodi Katz | So, in this early stage of your business, and I’m sure there’s a lot of growth happening at this particular moment, are you feeling seduced by success? |
| Jamie Norwood | Mm, yes. I think that I definitely don’t have the answer there. I agree. You can always be working. There’s literally always something to do. There’s always something going wrong. But then at the same time, there’s a lot of stuff going right. Cynthia and I tried to—now that we have a team, I think we need to do a better job of this—but set kind of normal work hours. But the hard thing is, then you’re thinking about it when you’re not working. And right now, I’ve kind of just accepted personally, I’m at a time in my life where work just is one of the most important things, and that’s just how it is right now. And it won’t always be that way, I think. I don’t know. |
| Jodi Katz | Well, it’s interesting because in that first job, you were really attracted to that newsroom quality and the working late in the night together. That’s appealing, but not always, you know? |
| Jamie Norwood | Yeah. |
| Jodi Katz | I mean, in my early jobs, that was just a right of passage, right, being together 9:00, 10:00 at night. Was it hard? Sure. I accepted it. I don’t know that that’s really what I want for my team now. I really actually would prefer that they’re not working past traditional work hours. But there is an energy that comes from those moments that’s also seductive, I think. |
| Jamie Norwood | Yeah. I think that it’s also hard being remote and with Zoom, because I have—and The New York Times just did a piece about work friends. I don’t know if you saw that. But it was about the importance of having work friends. And I loved that about my first job. And that was before the idea of working remote was—I remember one day, I asked if I could, and they said no because I had the [inaudible] [00:25:33]. It was very much, you go in person, Monday through Friday. But some of my best memories, and I made such close friends through that experience, not necessarily working late, but being together, deciding to go get a drink after work. Just like, you have this relationship with your work friends that I think is so special. So it’s a little sad, I think, that Zoom has changed that. But at the same time, I also love the flexibility that working from home gives me. And I think it’s done wonders for my personal life because I have just so much more time. |
| Jodi Katz | Yeah. I love this idea of being creative about work friends. It’s something we’re trying to do in my business. My business has never been in the office five days a week. I mean, for 15 years, we’ve been operating as a virtual business. But there’s times when we are together. And I see the value, especially for the younger people on my team, in building those relationships. And they love to work together and collaborate and see each other, and then they love to go out for dinner and drinks and whatnot together. So my responsibility to them is give them the tools to make great work, but also give them the tools to make great relationships, because that makes the work better too, right? |
| Jamie Norwood | Yeah. |
| Jodi Katz | So, we just have to be crazy creative about what that is. We’re doing a Candytopia event next month with the team. |
| Jamie Norwood | Oh, fun. |
| Jodi Katz | And just like, we have to make moments where being together matters. But there’s pros and cons to both. I think we have to remember that both are important. |
| Jamie Norwood | Yeah, definitely. |
| Jodi Katz | Okay. So I want to switch gears a little bit here. I would imagine that recent news and recent laws and all of this stuff with body autonomy and reproductive rights has really changed the way that you’re responding to your customer and the customers that are finding you. So can you give us a little sense of what’s changed in the business, given the fact that there’s a lot of people who are in real crisis right now? |
| Jamie Norwood | Yeah. So, we are a reproductive and vaginal health company. So, we provide products and education for people who have questions about their body or who are experiencing something difficult. Maybe it’s a yeast infection, they’re not sure what it is, or they think they might be pregnant and they don’t want to be. These are very vulnerable moments. And it’s become clear to us over the past year, two years, that emergency contraception and contraception in general is a bad experience and needs a bit of a revamp. If you think about buying the morning after pill in a drugstore, it’s often locked up. It’s over $50 in price. If you live in a small town, that can be really uncomfortable. So, we started working on our own emergency contraception about a year ago. And then in the past six months or so, it’s become very clear where the Supreme Court was heading with Roe v. Wade and what was going to happen. And we wanted to not just make a statement about it, but put kind of our actions behind our words. So, what we did is we launched Restart, which is our morning after pill. And we also launched a donation bank, which is kind of our effort to address a lot of the inequities in reproductive care and access. So we launched this big campaign where anyone could donate a dose of emergency contraception to someone who needed it. And then on the flip side, if you need a dose and you don’t have access, you can request one for free. So, it was a really amazing response. Just the weekend of the announcement or the week after the announcement, we had over 7,000 free doses redeemed. And we do a great deal of education also on why these products are important. |
| Jodi Katz | And what are you hearing from your customers, new and existing customers, in terms of what they need right now? |
| Jamie Norwood | Yeah. A lot about—I mean, a lot of people are just really scared. And I think that—or they’ve told us that they’re looking at these products differently. Maybe someone who wouldn’t normally keep a morning after pill and a pregnancy test on hand, and now they live in a state that doesn’t have full reproductive access, they’re going to need these products, or a friend is going to need these products. They’re just so important. So, just wanting to be prepared in a new way and being just kind of hypervigilant about taking care of our health. And honestly, just like, I think a lot of people—we’ve been working on this product for a long time. We’ve been kind of very, very closely following the news. And even for us, hearing the decision felt super jarring. Having it be real and be in the headlines and seeing people respond is so devastating. And I think for our customers and our friends and our community, it’s 10 times more devastating. So just kind of being there and listening, and letting people know that we’re doing something about it. |
| Jodi Katz | Before we move on, I want to say hi to NelsVy, HelenMarie, and Muchin, and BeingNonnie, and TaramaFultonStyle, and DearDahlia, MaryRose, and Nicole, and Jaylie, thank you for joining. So I’m curious, you run a business. This is a direct to consumer business. There’s a lot of operational elements here. Can you ship these products anywhere now, or are you limited? |
| Jamie Norwood | Yeah. So we can ship Restart to all states. There are no laws against it currently. We’re keeping a close eye, and the Supreme Court said they’re going to vote on contraception in the future, so they probably will. But right now, it is legal, and it’s an option. And that’s something we really want to shout from the rooftops, is that the morning after pill is not an abortion pill, and it’s still legal. So you can still get a morning after pill. All it does is prevent pregnancy before it happens. So you’re not terminating a pregnancy. So it really is something that no matter your political beliefs, people can really get behind and support keeping this product accessible. |
| Jodi Katz | Okay. So can we do a little education on the do’s for Restart? When do you take it? What kind of impact does it have? What do you feel or not feel? |
| Jamie Norwood | Yeah. So, Restart is an over the counter emergency contraceptive. It has the same active ingredient as Plan B, if you’ve ever taken that or you’ve heard of it. And what it does—and you take it within 72 hours of unprotected sex or birth control failure. And basically, in the simplest terms, what it does is it delays your ovulation. So it prevents sperm from meeting egg. It has the same effect as if you were to wear a condom or take the birth control pill. It’s just preventing fertilization. So, it is entirely safe. There is no limit on how many times you can take it. There’s a lot of misconceptions about emergency contraception. When I was in college and in school, I was told that if you took it more than three times, it wouldn’t work anymore, or that it could make you really sick. Our medical advisory board has said confidently that it’s as safe as taking the birth control pill. It can make your next period a little bit lighter or heavier, but that’s about it. |
| Jodi Katz | And you have to take it within 72 hours, which is why having them on hand is giving people a lot of comfort, right? |
| Jamie Norwood | Yes, definitely. And we also have a number of shipping options. So in certain cities, you can get restart from our site within two hours, which we’re really excited about. And then we also offer overnight delivery as well. But now is a time that a lot of people are honestly just stocking up and just being prepared in a new kind of way. |
| Jodi Katz | Oh, which begs the question, what is the shelf life? How long do these stay, I guess, fresh? |
| Jamie Norwood | Yeah. You can keep them for about two years. |
| Jodi Katz | Okay. So in our office when all this news broke, of course I felt pretty helpless as a leader of an organization of mostly women. And we did do—we ordered some emergency contraceptive to keep in the pantry for anyone to take— |
| Jamie Norwood | That’s so nice. |
| Jodi Katz | … whether they need it or a friend needs it, because there’s helplessness, right, that happens. So we thought, this is something that’s easy that we can provide easy access to, so let’s do that. Just like we have Motrin the cabinet, so now we have emergency contraception. |
| Jamie Norwood | Yeah. That’s amazing. I love that you did that. I think that’s setting a really good example for other workplaces. Also, you just took the words out of my mouth. What I’ll say all the time is if you keep Advil in your cabinet, you can keep a pregnancy test and emergency contraception. We need to treat it like a part our health because it is. |
| Jodi Katz | Right. And I do think that there’s just tons of misconceptions and fear-mongering around—these products have been around for a really long time, but there hasn’t been—I guess there hasn’t been a marketing need to really take these bad rumors and set them straight, right? But now there’s clearly a need because the consumer is demanding education and support here. |
| Jamie Norwood | Yeah. People just have higher expectations now, as they should, especially when it comes to their health. So, education is definitely a big part of what we’re doing and trying to work on. |
| Jodi Katz | Well, Jamie, I’m glad that we were able to rush schedule this interview because people need to hear it and need to hear from entrepreneurs from you who are on the front lines and talking to the customer every single day about what she needs and her fears. But this part of our recording is now over, because we’re going to move into what we call our after show, which becomes a little more fun. So we’re going to stay in the education lane, but Esperanza, our producer, is going to come back into the show, and we’re going to do a little game with you. So, for those of you who joined us mid-show, welcome to Where Brains Meet Beauty. Today we have Jamie Norwood, co-founder of Stix, as our guest. And if you miss anything, you can find the full episode on our feed after the show. So please watch and listen. It’ll be really insightful. And what a great entrepreneur story you have, Jamie. I mean, I’m going to be telling my whole family this story. This is incredible. |
| Jamie Norwood | Thank you so much. |
| Jodi Katz | I think it’s so important for people to hear the honest truth about what it’s like to walk up to your dreams. Okay. So now we’re moving into the phase of our exclusive IG Live content. Welcome to the after show, Where Brains Meet Beauty podcast, where we play a game, and our guest answers fan questions. So if you do have questions that you want Jamie to answer about her journey or her products, please drop them in the stream below. If we can’t get to all of them, we will send them to Jamie after the show, and we’ll put them on our Instagram stories with her responses. So, thank you, Esperanza, for joining. Today’s game is about myth-busting, so a good topic for us, Jamie. We were just talking about this. So for our game today, we’re going to use this opportunity to get educated on reproductive health, contraception, and early pregnancy. And we have some statements, Jamie, and you need to let us know if they are true or false. |
| Jamie Norwood | Okay. |
| Jodi Katz | Okay. Are you ready to play? |
| Jamie Norwood | Yeah. |
| Jodi Katz | Okay, Esperanza, you’re up. |
| Esperanza Rosenbaum | Hey. Okay, so our first question, or our first statement is, all forms of contraception are equally reliable. True or false? |
| Jamie Norwood | That is false. |
| Esperanza Rosenbaum | Okay. |
| Jodi Katz | Can you give us some insights as to what you know about the different forms of contraception? |
| Jamie Norwood | Yeah. So some of them, like a long-acting reversal contraception, like an IUD or the arm implant, if you guys have those or know people who do, those are very reliable because there’s no chance for user error. And then contraception, there’s a lot of different ones. Condoms are contraception. The pull-out method is contraception. Natural family planning is. Basically anything that you’re in control of, there’s more of a chance for error. With the birth control pill, you can obviously miss a day or take it at a different time. But yeah, they vary in percentage of effectiveness. |
| Esperanza Rosenbaum | Perfect. Thanks. That’s awesome. The second statement is, there isn’t an ideal time of day to take a pregnancy test. |
| Jamie Norwood | That is also false. There is. Your urine has the highest potency of hCG, which is the pregnancy hormone, first thing in the morning before you drink any water. So, we recommend taking a pregnancy test first thing in the morning. Of course, you can take it later in the day. It’s still going to work. But it will be less accurate if you’re early in your pregnancy. |
| Esperanza Rosenbaum | Cool. Thanks. That’s super useful. Our next statement is, other than a missed period, symptoms of pregnancy don’t usually appear until week five or six of pregnancy. |
| Jamie Norwood | Don’t usually appear? |
| Esperanza Rosenbaum | Yeah. |
| Jamie Norwood | Okay. I think that is true. There are early symptoms, but I don’t think they’re noticeable or usual. |
| Esperanza Rosenbaum | Yeah. |
| Jamie Norwood | But I could be wrong on that. |
| Jodi Katz | That’s what makes all of this so complicated, right? All of these trigger laws, saying you can’t have an abortion after four weeks. You wouldn’t know! |
| Jamie Norwood | Yeah. I mean, yeah. I’ve heard a lot of stories where it’s like, “Well, I was extra tired or feeling a little nauseous, but didn’t think anything of it.” And then you miss your period. But it is five weeks, six weeks is so, so early. Most people don’t even think to take a pregnancy test by that time. |
| Esperanza Rosenbaum | Right. I can imagine if you’re a regular, you wouldn’t even think that you’ve missed you’re period. Yeah. |
| Jamie Norwood | Totally. And we have a bunch of customers, a large percentage of customers that subscribe to pregnancy tests from Stix because their periods are irregular, or they don’t get a period. And if they didn’t test, they would have no way of knowing. |
| Esperanza Rosenbaum | Totally. So our last statement is, there is not much average people can do to support those who need access to emergency contraception or abortions. |
| Jamie Norwood | That is false. There is stuff you can do. There are a ton of great abortion funds and organizations you can donate to locally, especially if you live in a red state. We also have our Restart Donation Bank, where you can donate a dose directly to someone who needs it. So there’s definitely a lot of stuff to do. And even if donating money isn’t an option for you, I think there are a lot of ways to get involved. At Planned Parenthood, you can be a volunteer. I’m sure local abortion funds have a need for volunteers, or drivers, or all sorts of things, so yeah. |
| Esperanza Rosenbaum | Awesome. |
| Jodi Katz | I love that as a business, you made donating to others so easy. It’s quite unusual, I think, for a product brand, but essential, right? Like I told you, when I heard the news, as a business owner, what am I going to do, right, to be able to support a business like yours and get products into people’s hands who need them is—it’s super empowering and amazing. |
| Jamie Norwood | Yeah. It was a very rewarding thing to work on. And I’m very proud of everything the team put together. It was also not last minute by any means, because we’ve been working on it for a while, but we really rushed to get it out in time once the Supreme Court decision was leaked. So, definitely very proud of everyone. |
| Jodi Katz | Well, Jamie, thank you for playing along. That was so informative. |
| Jamie Norwood | Yeah. |
| Jodi Katz | Thank you, Esperanza. |
| Esperanza Rosenbaum | Thank you. |
| Jodi Katz | So our last segment here, Jamie, is fan questions. So thank you to all of our fans who submitted them in advance. And here’s question number one. Are you ready? |
| Jamie Norwood | Yes. |
| Jodi Katz | Okay. What advice would you give other young entrepreneurs at the start of their careers? |
| Jamie Norwood | I would say that you should work at an early stage startup if you can, in any capacity, whether it’s an internship, or freelancing, or full-time, to kind of learn what that’s like before doing it on your own. I think that’s the most I’ve ever learned in such a short period of time, and also to ask for help. |
| Jodi Katz | Ah, that’s a good one. I like that. Okay, question number two. Who was your childhood role model? That’s a good question. |
| Jamie Norwood | Oh. That is a good question. Who was my childhood role model? I don’t have an obvious answer. I definitely really looked up to my mom. And my sister’s 11 years older than me, so I had kind of her to look up to too. So I’ll go with them. |
| Jodi Katz | I love that. Okay, last question. This is going into a little bit of a different direction. What are your three makeup or skincare essentials? |
| Jamie Norwood | Oh, fun. I just got influenced from a TikTok about this French retinol product, A414 or 212 or something. I’ll follow up with you. But it’s a cream or a gel retinol that you use as moisture, and I love it. I love the Kosas concealer for under eye coverage. And I just got a keratin treatment for the first time. A313, thank you. A keratin treatment for the first time, and it has been a lifesaver this summer in New York with the humidity because I have curly hair, so. |
| Jodi Katz | Oh, that’s awesome. |
| Jamie Norwood | I love that. |
| Jodi Katz | Well, Jamie, thank you for being with us today. You are our 213th episode. So that’s super cool. I’m grateful to you for your time. And I wish you luck as you build this business. And we’re going to be cheering for you from the sidelines. |
| Jamie Norwood | Thank you so much. This was so fun. Thanks for having me. |
| Jodi Katz | For sure. And I want to ask our listeners today to check out our previous interview. Last week, we recorded with celebrity makeup artist and founder of Mally Beauty, Mally Roncal, so you should definitely watch that interview. It was super fun. She actually gave us a whole bunch of secrets. She was, I don’t know, just really willing to reveal tons of secrets last week. So you can listen to that on the Instagram channel or wait for it to be downloaded as a podcast on your favorite app. And then we’ll be returning to our Artistry theme with three new episodes coming soon. So August 1st, 2:00 PM Eastern, that’s Brandon Brown, CEO of GRIN. He’ll be joining us to talk about his journey and his service that connects brands with artists on social media. And August 3rd, it’s a double day of estheticians. We have Kim Bogash, esthetician from HydraFacial, at 3:00 PM, and Joanna Check, celebrity esthetician and founder of Our Own skincare line at 4:00 PM. So estheticians all day on the 3rd. And thank you all for watching. |
| Jamie Norwood | Thank you so much. |
| Jodi Katz | And you cannot go anywhere, because now we’re back in the green room, and we need to get that file for you. So everybody gets to watch what happens now after the show recording ends. |
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