https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/8hxm7s/our_kindra_final_-_7_18_21_406_PM9st7g.mp3
EPISODE SUMMARY:
With an impressive career in the entertainment industry, working for huge corporations such as MTV and Mattel, Catherine Balsam-Schwaber is an entrepreneur who is using her experiences to help and better the lives of midlife women. With her company, Kindra, Catherine creates and sells products targeted specifically for women struggling through perimenopause and menopause, offering them safe, estrogen-free options to alleviate and soothe symptoms. In today’s episode, we spoke to Catherine about Kindra, some of the most common and debilitating symptoms of menopause, Kindra’s supplements, and how women have responded to Kindra’s products. First, we asked Catherine about how Kindra came to be. She explained that after working for MTV, Mattel, and NBC Universal, she wanted to expand her career and give back to the community of women she’d forged over her career. After hearing about the struggle midlife women face when trying to find products that are marketed for them, she partnered with Procter & Gamble to form Kindra. Through Kindra, midlife women can find products that help ease various perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms that work. We then asked what issues are the primary focuses of Kindra’s products, and Catherine said that Kindra focuses on four of the most common and debilitating menopausal symptoms: sleep deprivation, fatigue, hot flashes, and vaginal dryness. For vaginal dryness, Catherine spoke to us about how symptoms can manifest in women in a variety of ways. Some women experience itchiness, constant discomfort, painful sex, fissures, burning, and bleeding. Since lubricant is not a long-term solution to dryness, Catherine emphasized that is important for women to find a product that will soothe the area, for vaginal dryness is an ongoing issue. Kindra offers both a lotion and supplement to help combat dryness.
When asked about sleep deprivation, Catherine talked about how Kindra’s Sleep Enhancing Dietary Supplement helps insomnia by targeting night sweats, an issue that often keeps women up throughout the night. It is not just the night sweats themselves; often the anticipation and fear of night sweats can keep a woman up for hours on end. Kindra’s supplement works to alleviate night sweats while also offering a low dose of melatonin that does not give users a hangover. We then spoke about the reasoning behind Kindra’s products all being estrogen-free, and Catherine said that for her, it was important that a wide range of women are able to use her products. Some women either cannot use estrogen products or want to start with more natural products, so by making their products without estrogen, they can be used by a larger audience. To know which products to use, Kindra offers a quiz on their website for customers to take before purchasing products. We also spoke about Kindra’s Core Supplement and Energy Supplement, which can be used for women in all stages of perimenopause or menopause to help with hot flashes, brain fog, mood stabilization, and energy.We then asked Catherine about Kindra’s website, and she spoke to us about Kindra’s journal. On Kindra’s website, customers can read not only blog posts from Kindra employees but guest posts from experts on menopause and midlife to educate themselves. Currently, Kindra’s products can only be found online through the Kindra website, and Catherine said she prefers online shopping, since the ability to have products shipped to one’s home is important, especially right now. She also appreciated that through her website, she can have a stronger, more open conversation with her customers. Finally, we asked Catherine about what kind of reviews she has received for one of Kindra’s most popular products, the Daily Vaginal Lotion. Catherine said that out of all of the reviews, one of the most common phrases used throughout them is “godsend”. She also told us that many women have said that using the lotion has helped make sex less painful, which in turn has helped improve their sexual and romantic relationships. For anyone who has questions about Kindra, Catherine said the easiest way to contact them is through their email, the chat option available on the website, or the customer service phone number.
Catherine Balsam-Schwaber
Catherine Balsam-Schwaber is known as a dynamic, results-oriented leader with a track record of delivering exceptional results in high pressure environments. She has extensive experience in business transformation with complex multi-platform products, strategy, marketing, creative leadership, revenue growth, media +advertising, subscription/OTT/DTC,c ommunications and ecommerce.
Catherine is the CEO of Kindra, an innovative self-care company for women in menopause. A life-long advocate for women’s health, Catherine joined Kindra to break down the stigma surrounding menopause care and support and empower women in mid-life through Kindra’s science-backed formulas and community-building initiatives.
Prior to this role, Balsam-Schwaber was General Manager of NBCUniversal’s Bluprint where she led the business evolution and expansion to a digital subscription lifestyle learning destination featuring a breadth of categories that champion self-expression, wellness, performance arts and more. In this role she drove the integrated business strategy to successfully launch this rebrand and streaming business platform.
Before Bluprint, Balsam-Schwaber served as Chief Content Officer for Mattel. While there she launched Mattel Creations, a global platform for content creation and distribution, digital development and media to connect consumers with the company’s brands in meaningful and innovative ways.
Balsam-Schwaber previously served as Senior Vice President at the NBCUniversal Content Innovation Agency where she directed the cross company strategic marketing group with a unique role as consumer connector, content creator, portfolio-wide revenue generator, creative think tank and insights + innovation lab all rolled into one. There she conceived and executed award winning multi-platform content and marketing campaigns to deliver outstanding ROI for partners and change the way
brands go to market and connect with consumers.
Previously, Catherine was Senior Vice President of Marketing for iVillage, where she led all marketing initiatives, brand strategy, cross-channel partnerships, and internal relationships across NBCU for the largest online content driven community for women.
Before joining NBCUniversal, Balsam-Schwaber was Vice President of Integrated Marketing for MTV Networks, where she drove content initiatives ranging from branded entertainment to short-form programming and product placement. Prior to MTV, Balsam-Schwaber served as the Vice President of Marketing Partnerships & Programming for Rock the Vote, and was an Executive Director in Program Development & Ideation with Time Warner Global Marketing Solutions. Notably, Balsam-Schwaber began her career as a Staff Assistant in the Clinton White House, which led to her position as the Technical Assistant on Rob Reiner’s film The American
President. Balsam-Schwaber earned her bachelor’s degree at Brandeis University and went on to receive her Masters of Business from New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of business. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their twins.
In this episode, we discuss…
- [0:01] Introduction
- [0:20] Guest Introduction
- [3:36] Start of Interview
- [4:49] Kindra
- [8:47] Deciding Kindra’s Main Focuses
- [10:41] Vaginal Dryness
- [16:23] The Sleep Enhancing Dietary Supplement
- [19:28] Kindra’s Estrogen-Free Products
- [24:13] The Core Supplement
- [29:59] Kindra’s Website
- [31:08] Where Customers Can Find Kindra Products
- [32:40] Customers’ Reactions to Kindra Vaginal Lotion
- [35:31] Closing Thoughts
- [37:56] Outro
Useful Resources:
Kindra I [https://ourkindra.com/]
Kindra Journal I [https://ourkindra.com/blogs/journal/]
Kindra’s Instagram I [https://www.instagram.com/ourkindra/]
Kindra’s Facebook I [https://www.facebook.com/groups/OurKindra/]
Kindra’s Pinterest I [https://www.pinterest.com/ourkindra/_shop/]
Catherine’s LinkedIn I [https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-balsam-schwaber-42331b1/]
Kindra Products
The Daily Vaginal Lotion & Applicator I [https://ourkindra.com/collections/all/products/the-daily-vaginal-lotion-applicator]
The Core Dietary Supplement I [https://ourkindra.com/collections/all/products/the-core-dietary-supplement]
The Sleep Enhancing Dietary Supplement I [https://ourkindra.com/collections/all/products/sleep-enhancing-dietary-supplement]
The Energy Boosting Dietary Supplement I [https://ourkindra.com/collections/all/products/energy-boosting-dietary-supplement]
Day-to-Night Booster Bundle I [https://ourkindra.com/collections/all/products/day-to-night-booster-bundle]
Full Regimen I [https://ourkindra.com/collections/all/products/full-regimen]
The Aurora Applicator I [https://ourkindra.com/collections/all/products/the-kindra-applicator]
Rise & Shine Regimen I [https://ourkindra.com/collections/all/products/rise-and-shine-regimen]
24-Hour Relief Regimen I [https://ourkindra.com/collections/all/products/24-hour-relief-regimen]
Awake Duo I [https://ourkindra.com/collections/all/products/awake-duo]
Intimate Relief Bundle I [https://ourkindra.com/collections/all/products/intimate-relief-bundle]
Sweet Dreams Duo I [https://ourkindra.com/collections/all/products/sweet-dreams-duo]
The Targeted Approach Bundle I [https://ourkindra.com/collections/all/products/the-targeted-approach-bundle]
Ready for Anything Bundle I [https://ourkindra.com/collections/all/products/ready-for-anything-bundle]
The Hot Flash Knock Out I [https://ourkindra.com/collections/all/products/supplement-super-bundle]
Can’t Get Enough? Find Us Here!
Website I [http://hotflashescooltopics.com/]
Mail I [[email protected]]
Instagram I [https://www.instagram.com/hotflashesandcooltopics/]
Facebook I [https://www.facebook.com/hotflashescooltopics]
Twitter I [https://twitter.com/CoolFlashes]
Pinterest I [https://www.pinterest.com/hcooltopics/]