Meet The Women Behind Gen M
Discover the founders of this incredible organization
GenM is on a mission to make menopause a better, more positive experience for everyone. That’s why INNOVO has signed the GenM pledge by becoming one of the 48 Founding Members of GenM to revolutionise attitudes towards menopause. But who exactly is behind this game-changing brand?
GenM co-founders Heather Jackson and Sam Simister are two women who discovered, during their own experience with menopause, that women going through this time feel “alone and invisible” due to lack of knowledge and awareness.
“There are 15.5 million perimenopausal and menopausal people throughout the UK, and it’s abundantly clear that they are underserved, and deserve much better,” Jackson told marketing website, The Drum. “There are 48 symptoms of menopause, yet most women can only name between three and five. So let’s be honest, if women don’t even know the symptoms of their own menopause, how can we expect men to? How can we expect organisations to? How can brands create products that cater to them, and market those products accordingly so that women know what is available to them?”
Ms. Simister had been working in the corporate world throughout the late 1980’s and 1990’s and realised that corporate sexism was pervasive and toxic in the employment culture of the time. When she started experiencing menopause, she felt alarmed and frustrated by the lack of solutions for her symptoms. She got angry and instead of throwing her hands up, she channelled her anger into filling the gap with purpose, by creating a one-stop site that curates the best resources for women, brands and all members of society looking to educate and create a safe space around menopause.
“Both Heather and I are experienced, solution focused business women. I am not so sure that it was inspiration that led us to create GenM, more desperation (with humour),” Ms. Simister told women’s site We Are The City. “The menopause isn’t a gender issue, it’s a societal one and from our experiences, brands, retailers and manufacturers were failing to signpost midlife women to menopausal friendly products already existing across their categories and portfolios.”
Ms. Jackson is a serial entrepreneur with a speciality in diversity training and leadership. In an interview with Nicki Williams, she describes that when she turned 50, she was emotional and didn’t feel like herself. She took every test and visited every doctor. It turned out she was going through perimenopause and had no clue about it. “I was uneducated about perimenopause and it’s scandalous,” said Ms. Jackson. “Doctors don’t know enough, but what’s more scandalous is that we’re entering the biggest milestone of life unprepared and uneducated and emotionally and physically, we’re not ready. That’s the scandal. I want to change all of that.”
We can’t wait to see what these women do next.
