Nadia Ladak
November 22, 2022
Earlier this month, David Meltzer’s 2 Minute Drill aired an episode exclusively featuring JA alumni contestants from six JA locations:
JA Austria alumnus Amin Faziani, founder of Preswipe
JA Uruguay alumna Andrea Herrera, CEO of Quiral
Junior Achievement of Northcentral Ohio alumnus, Gavin Williams, CEO of FinLit
JA Canada alumna, Nadia Ladak, co-founder and CEO of Marlow
UF Sverige (JA Sweden) alumna Sara Tengvall, founder and CEO of Belreis
The six contestants each had two minutes to pitch their businesses to David and a panel of judges: Jayson Waller, entrepreneur, investor, business growth consultant, author, and host of podcast "True Underdog"; Rory Cutaia, founder and CEO of Verb Technology Co.; and Rob Gill, founder and Director of EPIC Financial Strategies. In the end, Nadia Ladak won over the judges with her pitch for Marlow, a tampon company that’s revolutionizing menstruation products. We sat down with her to learn more about Marlow and her experience with JA.
JA Worldwide: Hi Nadia, congratulations on winning US$50,000 on the special alumni episode of 2 Minute Drill! Tell us a bit more about who you are and what Marlow does.
Nadia Ladak: Hi! I am the co-founder and CEO of Marlow, a menstrual-wellness brand that launched the first-ever lubricated tampon experience. We want to empower menstruators to take charge of their menstrual health with comfortable products and reliable education. Inserting tampons is not always the most comfortable process, especially on the first and last day of a period when the flow is lighter. For some, this process is even more uncomfortable including first-time menstruators, individuals with medical conditions such as vaginismus, and those with higher levels of vaginal dryness. We combine 100 percent organic cotton tampons with a water-based lubricant to create a smoother, more comfortable insertion process. The products can be purchased on our website and are also delivered on a subscription model so that you never run out of products. Beyond our innovative product, our mission is to reduce the stigma around menstrual and sexual health. We’ve built a community of over 50,000 menstruators through easily digestible education and online conversation. With this, it is our goal to begin to normalize menstrual and sexual health as key aspects of overall wellness.
JA Worldwide: How did you come up with your business idea?
Nadia: Marlow started in our fourth year of university as part of an entrepreneurship capstone project. Our professors asked us to identify a problem that we were passionate about solving and, after reading an article about how the modern tampon hadn’t changed significantly in the last 90 years, my friends and I (who are now my co-founders) were immediately drawn to the menstrual health space. We started to dive in and realized that there were several problems to solve, including the limited product innovation, overly feminine and outdated marketing, and lack of community, conversation, and education. The primary issue we decided to tackle was the painful insertion of tampons. My co-founder shared that she had a lot of pain when inserting tampons. She’s an active individual and a swimmer and felt that pads, her only alternative, limited her in her daily active lifestyle while on her period. She went to the gynecologist to try to find a solution, only to be told to “spit” on her tampon. We were shocked and knew there must be a better way to solve this problem, which led us to creating the first-ever lubricated tampon.
JA Worldwide: How did the JA program in Canada influence your entrepreneurial journey?
Nadia: JA gave me an early taste of what it was like to pursue entrepreneurship. I got to learn about all the aspects of starting a business in a low-risk environment, supported by mentors. Now, being a mentor myself, I’m so excited to give back and inspire other students to love entrepreneurship and solve problems that they’re passionate about.
JA Worldwide: What are your big dreams for the future?
Nadia: Our north star is to build the category-defining brand in menstrual care to ensure that no menstruator is held back because of their period. We want to empower menstruators to live life on their own terms and to have access to reliable education and the knowledge to take charge of their menstrual health. We want to continue to push the standards for products and create comfortable solutions. We believe lubricated tampons will become the “new normal”. Imagine if from the start, lubricated tampons were introduced to the market, it would be silly to use a dry tampon when smoother and more comfortable options existed. So, similar to how Kleenex became synonymous with tissues, we want Marlow to be synonymous with the new normal of lubricated tampons, allowing individuals to actively participate in their lives, regardless of the time of the month.
Watch the JA Alumni episode of 2 Minute Drill—and all the other episodes, too—for free on davidmeltzer.tv.