As a female founder of a health company, I help woman improve their health with food. During the new product development process, I researched hormone health issues among women. And I quickly learned that I wasn't the only one struggling with PMS… it's a universal problem.
Kristel De Groot
As a business owner I realised besides solving this with powerful plants and herbs, there was also something immediate I could shift within the organisation. I came up with the idea of introducing ‘Moon Days’ and decided to implement this new policy across the organisation.
Moon Days are for female identifying employees. They can take 1 day per month (a Moon Day) when they have their period. It’s a day where ‘you do what you can’. For one person this means cancelling all their meetings because they don't want to talk to anyone, for some it means taking half or a full day off, or when you have that super important meeting, like a board meeting, being able to share how you feel with the people at work so they can support you.
Period cramps, brain fog, emotional swings like frustration, sadness, anxiousness, depression, tiredness, complete exhaustion… These are just some of the words that female employees at my company use to describe their period. However, women don’t want to talk about their period pain and sometimes don’t even like the idea of using a Moon Day, because they don’t want to be seen as weak. We taught ourselves to power through, take pain killers, and to simply pretend to just be fine. And we became really really good at that.
This is still happening while we speak in the year 2022 all around the world... I believe a working relationship should be based on a foundation of trust. In my company, we learned that not everyone is using Moon Days. Not all women need them every month, not all women experience period pain, but the women who do are grateful that there is that space to pause. So that during others weeks of their female cycle, their hormones can create their super powers - unlimited energy, powerful creativity and extra focus.
Introducing Moon Days is a way as a company to build trust. To be an employer of the future, not the past. I came to the realisation that the workplace has been designed by man for man - many many years ago. We women entered that pre-existing workplace. In order to make a workplace truly inclusive, periods are a topic we have to start talking about. The Moon Day policy is a framework for women and men, to make it easier to talk about periods at work. The Moon Day policy and breaking the period taboo can’t happen unless we all start being ok talking about periods and accepting that they exist. If you want to empower women, empower their period. Let’s break this taboo. Be bold, be a leader, be truly inclusive and create this new normal together. Period.
About Your Super
The company was created when de Groot’s partner and Co-Founder Michael Kuech was diagnosed with cancer at age 24 and together with her Orthomolecular Nutritionist Mom and Aunt she developed superfood and vegan protein mixes to help boost Michael’s immunity and overall health. The direct-to-consumer business was founded in Berlin but quickly spread to 6 continents and in 2018 the headquarters were moved to Venice, California. Kristel had always been very conscious of health and loved superfoods, so to help Michael build up his immune system and restore his strength she began making smoothies and superfood blends. After his energy levels increased and he began feeling stronger, they knew they had to share the power of superfoods with the world. They started working with nutritionists to create powerful superfood and plant protein mixes, and Your Super was born.
All the mixes contain 5-6 naturally dried superfoods. Every ingredient is grown, harvested, 3rd party tested, and packaged 100% sustainably. The ingredients are certified organic, Non-GMO certified, Glyphosate-Free, plant-based and gluten-free.
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