[Part 3] Celebrating Women in Leadership: A Chat With Elaine

Our final woman leader feature for this #IWD2021 series is Elaine, the founder of Enya!

Featuring Elaine with Enya Premium and Enya Basics

Enya provides their community with premium feminine hygiene products at their convenience through their easy subscription plan. But they are so much more than just a period care company.

They kickstarted a powerful movement and created a safe space for women to have conversations about menstrual health and removing the social stigma associated with these topics. That’s just as important as their brand vision of making personal care accessible to all women. Learn more about Enya’s story here!

Now, let’s dive right into Elaine’s perspectives on women leadership and confidence!

 

Hi Elaine! Could you tell us a little about you and your brand?

Enya is a period subscription company that focuses on providing quality organic period products at an affordable price. What makes it exciting is our subscription model to cater to frequent purchasing for necessities.

We started off with only one product – A premium box with a mix of both day and night pads, and then introduced a variety of other period care essentials – pantyliners, overnight pads, heating patches.

 

This year’s IWD theme is Women in Leadership. How does this theme relate to you and your brand?

To lead is to take charge, and own up to anything that you decide to do because you trust yourself.

We always have big brands telling us how we should look, what we should get. We started producing the first batch of products solely by asking a very simple question – what kind of period products do women want? Collecting direct feedback from friends of friends and students everywhere to create the first Premium product.

From the start we wanted our customers to take the lead and trust what their body is telling them that they need, not what commercials advertised. And ultimately, take charge of what you want in a product.

 

Our campaign theme is Confidence. In what ways can you relate your brand, products and customers to the theme?

I think that in any consumer products we purchase, we look for an element of Confidence, because it makes us feel good. Even though our service is subscription, our products are FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods).

For both of these segments, we hope to fulfill an unforgettable experience when customers receive their products every month (without ever forgetting to buy them!), and period products that ticks off all the boxes of what a pad should be.

Featuring Enya Basics

 

Share about why you would like to advocate for this year’s IWD 2021 theme!

Essentially I think women make great leaders because they’re attentive, smart and empathetic. These are values that we need when addressing products or services that concerns performance, functionality, packaging and consumer behaviour, most importantly, someone who has walked a mile as a consumer before. For Enya to come aboard with Weavve to advocate this theme would be spot on!

 

Do you have any personal experiences to share with regard to being a woman leader?

Yes, there are unavoidable challenges everyday, just like how start-ups are. Because we are growing, and our team is lean, we are able to pivot and be agile very easily.

Watching interviews with Indra Nooyi of Pepsi.Co, Emily Weiss of Glossier, and sometimes Ali Wong (yes, the comedian) helps pick up my momentum. I’m very grateful I receive a lot of mental and emotional support from friends, families, business partners and of course the Enya team. It will never be what it is today without all of them.

Featuring Izara Aishah and Elaine with Enya Premium

 

What advice can you give to women out there that are aspiring to be leaders in their fields?

Just start - The solutions and great people will come along as you climb further. Never lose your momentum, read a lot and always surround yourself with like-minded people that you can trust.

 

What do you hope to achieve through the IWD 2021 campaign with Weavve?

I absolutely hope that for any campaign that we do together with Weavve, we are able to remind everybody again that there are direct-to-consumer brands that do listen to what consumers have to say. With Weavve especially, and all the partners aboard to realise this initiative, we also hope to inspire people to make conscious choices when selecting products that have long-term benefits.

 

Thank you so much for celebrating International Women’s Day with us!

Head over to our interview with Adelia about her entrepreneurship journey and building self-confidence here

Head over to Beckie’s interview here where she shares about the importance of having a community and empowering women to empower their own communities

 

Weavve Home will be collaborating with the E-Magna community comprising of NUS alumni keen on innovation and entrepreneurship on projects that support the development of women in the textile industry, and that contribute to sustainable goals where technology can be applied to create value for others.

All images credit: Enya