Won’t You Be My Neighbor? with Cherie Hoeger
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This week, June gets sucked into a platinum tanning membership and Jess transforms her garage into a Chuck E. Cheese. The girls make an impassioned public service announcement about their shared hatred of meal planning and celebrate their love of neighbors! Then, June and Jess chat with the CEO of Saalt Cherie Hoeger about solving period poverty by making reusable products accessible. She tells us about her life-changing Saalt menstrual cup and how it can make you forget you even have your period! And remember Deep Divers, you have everything you need within yourself (but if you don’t, ask your neighbor).
Keep up with Cherie’s work on Instagram at @saaltco and check out Saalt’s revolutionary period products here.
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Transcript
SPEAKERS
June Diane Raphael, Jessica St. Clair, Cherie Hoeger
Jessica St. Clair 00:10
Hi, I’m Jessica St. Clair.
June Diane Raphael 00:12
And I’m, June Diane Raphael.
Jessica St. Clair 00:14
And this is The Deep Dive. We’re about to do what women have done for centuries. We are crowding around the fire with our generous hunches. We got babies hanging off our tits, and we’re going to share with you our fears, our joy, our tips on how to stay alive.
June Diane Raphael 00:32
Now Jess, we’re heating a call that no one has made.
Jessica St. Clair 00:37
Not a soul.
June Diane Raphael 00:37
But you’re invited to listen.
Jessica St. Clair 00:39
Absolutely because we make one promise and one promise only we will not Google a thing because frankly, we’re too damn tired. Please get ready to go on The Deep Dive.
Jessica St. Clair 00:57
June, you got your full face on.
June Diane Raphael 00:57
Hi, Jessica.
June Diane Raphael 01:01
I haven’t even you know our new producer Jamila told she I came on and she said I love the hair and love the makeup and I said wow things I haven’t even seen myself on Zoom. So I don’t even know what I’m giving you right now?
June Diane Raphael 01:14
Like Meryl you’re giving me Marilyn Monroe the bleach blonde that I’ve been craving.
June Diane Raphael 01:26
You know, I know you want a level of blonde from me where every hair in my head falls out.
June Diane Raphael 01:34
I want you Playboy Mansion. That’s what I want.
June Diane Raphael 01:37
I don’t care. I know you do. I know you want that platinum on me but like I won’t have hair.
June Diane Raphael 01:43
Well this is getting me closer. Whatever.
June Diane Raphael 01:46
You closer.
Jessica St. Clair 01:47
Yeah, this is what I need. Thank you.
June Diane Raphael 01:49
Thank you. Well, you know we’re still in the throes of summer too. So I’m not as far as my eyes can see I don’t see Halloween I’m still, I just committed the other day to a monthly tanning package for very pale white ladies out there especially as we’re approaching the the cooler months of the year. This was a commitment I made to myself and I you know by the way I was dazzled by one of the women who both tapped me and then checked me out at this place that I went to and she just had the warmest personality as soon as I walked in she called me babe everything was babe this was babe that, you know she was so put your lotion on here babe looking good babe, come stuff on here babe , how’s it feel babe, you know the routine mangling everything she held me emotionally through that experience, and then she fucking up sold me.
June Diane Raphael 01:50
You can call it an upsell or you can call it a commitment to celebrating an uplifting women.
June Diane Raphael 03:07
Okay. Thank you and she said you can cancel at any time that’ll chestnut like knowing me I’ll never cancel you know you’ll charge me to the day I die.
Jessica St. Clair 03:15
Sure.
June Diane Raphael 03:15
You know you’ll charge me in the whole so anyway but she she really pitched in she said it’s less this guarantees you want and a month.
June Diane Raphael 03:16
If we don’t have this kind of maintenance, this is what we’re returning to, is maintenance and I was I spent the weekend with my family the St. Clair side and god dammit they were telling me stories about my grandmother that were fucking making me die laughing but I will tell you that generation was about maintenance they had their weekly salon date where they got their little gray beard.
June Diane Raphael 03:55
Set that is set.
June Diane Raphael 03:57
Got it set and forget and it was a ritual you know all the ladies you know or an Albert Street would get together and they go some only one person maybe had a car and would drive them like willy nilly you know to this lawn.
June Diane Raphael 04:13
Yeah there’s a ritual too. It well I’ll tell you what happened so I was sold a bill of goods about I’m going to come in once a month and I’m now you know some sort of like sugar and bronze platinum member or whatever my status, there you know I love it the title I love the title. Wonderful app and when I sign in now I see my little title and it does scratch an itch but I said okay, I’m gonna go once month that’ll be nice for me. That’ll be a nice thing for me and I’m not paying as much, I did the math quickly in my head. So yeah, this is this is a savings that I’m pretty sure makes sense. And then, you know, went back a week and a half later and I said I’m back. And she said, well, but you are on a once a month schedule.
Jessica St. Clair 05:05
Now I need it every week. That’s the that’s the problem.
June Diane Raphael 05:09
That’s the problem. Just so now I’ve gotten myself into a real pickle with these towns because I now I’m like, well, once a month is no longer enough. I said, is there another package for me? Like, well talk to me about the unlimited.
Jessica St. Clair 05:24
Whoa, there’s an unlimited? Unlimited tans?
June Diane Raphael 05:30
Now, I did ask. I said, Can I take next month’s tan and roll it forward?
Jessica St. Clair 05:36
This is the, this is a Moneyball math. I don’t know. What here’s the thing. For the deep divers listening once something I’m going to film myself doing because the same card we’re becoming the same person both physically and mentally. But I had the same thought, which is I got to get the word out the tanning in the summer. Sure, but it’s most necessary during the year. And of course, you’re going to outsource it. I’m going to do it in home. And this is a hack that actually works.
June Diane Raphael 06:07
And I know, I know. You’re gonna force me to put it on my institution of higher education. The Deep Dive Academy.
Jessica St. Clair 06:15
I know I’m gonna have to it’s gonna seem like I endorse it.
June Diane Raphael 06:17
But actually, let me be clear. I do not endorse home tans. I have tried them a number of times.
Jessica St. Clair 06:23
You haven’t tried it my way. Try it Mike’s way. Try it Jersey Mike’s way okay. All right.
June Diane Raphael 06:30
Jessica, I don’t, I am a platinum member at Sugar and Bronze. Like I’m not going to stop or put your finger down.
June Diane Raphael 06:40
For the institution I’m going to I am going to apply, with my myth, the tan on you.
June Diane Raphael 06:47
On me?
Jessica St. Clair 06:48
Yes. If you allow it. My body is really the one who gets gets out in the academy more but yeah, like I would like to I’d like to just get in there.
June Diane Raphael 07:04
I’ll allow it.
Jessica St. Clair 07:04
And you know, the mid I use is like, dirty like I don’t I don’t keep my things nice. What they do the job. But people need to understand you do not use the foam on your face. I’m using the Clarence Otto Bronx Gel on the face. But the body is a different story. And we have to keep up our tans during the winter months.
June Diane Raphael 07:24
Well listen, speaking of things going rotten. I had a really tough moment last night. And you know, for all of our Deep Divers who take on dinner as a concept as a idea. You know who take on the responsibility of dinner. Dinner haunts me, Jess.
Jessica St. Clair 07:45
I know. I ordered a planner out on Instagram, a meal. The meal planner. If you just sit down.
June Diane Raphael 07:57
On a Sunday. […] meal plan. I’ve never meal planned once in my life.
Jessica St. Clair 08:02
Never every time that at 430 rolls around. It’s like a shock to me that we have to eat. This isn’t the time to be figuring things out.
June Diane Raphael 08:12
Jess, 4:30 is like, that’s my drop. Like that’s why I really really struggled. And I do like to cook but I’m like I it’s the worst time for me.
Jessica St. Clair 08:22
If we could do dinner at noon, for me.
June Diane Raphael 08:27
That’s my best hour.
Jessica St. Clair 08:29
Me too.
June Diane Raphael 08:30
I got diminishing returns as the day goes on.
Jessica St. Clair 08:33
I don’t know what to do. I don’t have an answer. So of course they’re
June Diane Raphael 08:37
like I thought I was getting ahead of the game. And at around two I thought let me see, let me think what would be right. And I thought I want to do like a potato gratin.
June Diane Raphael 08:51
That’s gonna involve cream that’s going above a grey or cheese there’s so many items that you’re going to have to get involved at once.
June Diane Raphael 09:00
I know. And then I so I said I could don’t have any potatoes. I thought can I run to the market and I realized I couldn’t I said you know what I’m gonna Instacart so then I Instacart it again happy to have them on as a sponsor despite what I’m about to say I instacarted my order and I thought okay, it needs some cheese and some heavy cream and it’s potatoes so I need some sage or whatever I was putting on. And now the clock is ticking you know and that clock and people are getting hungry and children are coming home and they’re hungry and and then I thought you know what? I’ll wait for the potatoes. I’m gonna wait for the potatoes. I can do this. I can do hard.
June Diane Raphael 09:50
No.
June Diane Raphael 09:52
Turns out I can’t do hard things because the potatoes arrived. And when I tell you they were miniature, I mean, there was one tiny, like, they were like, medium sized.
June Diane Raphael 10:04
They’re called baby potatoes. And that’s not what you ordered.
June Diane Raphael 10:07
No, no, it wasn’t. And then I thought, okay, abort, it’s time to make a rice bowl. We’re gonna put an egg in it. We’re gonna put a veggie burger in and we’re gonna put avocado and we’re making a rice bowl. I’m toasted sesame seeds. Like I had the whole new plan. Okay, but I’m so frantic because I’m like I do you know what, I’ll roast these potatoes. Those potatoes go in. So I’m just like, I guess we’re having rice and potatoes. Fine. They will be asleep by and I put the rice in. But I’m so frazzled. We have a rice cooker. I am put that amount of water in there.
June Diane Raphael 10:47
I know how many times have I started crunchy rice just like it’s toasted.
June Diane Raphael 10:54
So then the rice is on. And I’m like great. Great. And now I’m like I’m gonna put avocado put some lemon on. Okay, potatoes are going okay, this isn’t so bad.
June Diane Raphael 11:11
It is so bad.
Jessica St. Clair 11:12
It is so bad. And then the rice goes off and I look at it and it’s when I say it’s rock hard.
June Diane Raphael 11:28
Like you’re gonna have to throw out the rice cooker now because it’s.
June Diane Raphael 11:30
I know, and like if I put another cup of water in there at this point.
June Diane Raphael 11:35
No.
June Diane Raphael 11:39
Upsetting about cooking is, a fix like that should be possible and yet it never is.
June Diane Raphael 11:46
This like cooking once this buckless You should have made a midnight spaghetti is what you should have done but.
June Diane Raphael 11:52
So anyway, just was really distressing to throw it all the rice I made dressing. Well and then something really actually very concerning happen. So then I found some like frozen tortellini. Sounds like I’ll make this and there were some pestos make this for me in […].
June Diane Raphael 12:12
Third Meal, so exhausting. And your kids are like, now their blood sugar is dangerously low.
June Diane Raphael 12:20
And they’re smacking up a storm. So it’s like, I’ve gone through all this work. And in the back of my head. I’m like, they’re not gonna eat it kind of damn thing.
June Diane Raphael 12:30
They’re into the Z bars. Now. I know what.
June Diane Raphael 12:33
Z Bars time baby its z bar time. And little muffin time. Okay.
June Diane Raphael 12:41
It’s Bobo time, baby.
Jessica St. Clair 12:46
Yeah, it’s Danimals time tonight. Okay, so I see this happening when I’m like, I can’t even compute that. So then I’m like, they’re not gonna fucking eat this tortellini and pesto. I’ll make them some. We have mac and cheese. […]
June Diane Raphael 13:09
Woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Jessica St. Clair 13:13
Then I throw in their mac and cheese. I didn’t even look at it, throw it and throw it into bowls heated up in the microwave. We’re all sitting down and Paul and I are having pesto tortellini, pasta and roasted potatoes. Don’t Ask, Don’t ask. Okay. You’re looking at and go for seven. Because at some point, I was like, I’ll take the roasted potatoes and I’ll make Afritada. The last thing we need to be doing for dinners.
June Diane Raphael 13:48
Okay, so let me sit down Jess. And then, you’d have to look in Mario Batali, like doing that Spanish you got like making a Spanish tortilla.
June Diane Raphael 13:59
So then I sit down. And I say bon appetit. And the kids take one bite and they go and I was like, what? And then Gus is like it’s too I cheesy. And Sam’s like, yeah, I don’t like that. So I’m like, and now Paul and I are both like, What do you mean you don’t like it?
June Diane Raphael 14:26
And they’re getting a laugh three hours later. They’re just trying to give bed baths?
Jessica St. Clair 14:32
What do you mean you don’t like […] the same mac and cheese the same thing you guys always eat? And they’re like, We don’t like it. We don’t like it and I might eat the cucumbers. And then Paul goes Let me mix it up. I mean, the two of us are […] mix it up. And then […] with it goes. Oh he goes it’s bad. It’s bad. What do you mean? It goes it’s bad milk? It’s sour. It had been now, Paul. So what happened here is Paul had just made mac and cheese like a night before and which is what I thought I was surfing. Little did I know there was a rogue container of old mac and cheese.
June Diane Raphael 15:24
Wait, this wasn’t just like bad milk. This was like, cultured, like it had been cultured.
Jessica St. Clair 15:31
That’s right. And because I was so frantic, I felt so hard.
June Diane Raphael 15:36
Really badly.
June Diane Raphael 15:38
And you know, I kept on saying like, I’m sorry, guys. I’m sorry. And, and they were like, nobody said it was okay. You know, nobody was like, oh, that’s all right, mom. Like I was just like, can someone.
June Diane Raphael 15:50
Everybody was a bad mom.
Jessica St. Clair 15:52
Yeah.
June Diane Raphael 15:52
You’re a bad mom.
June Diane Raphael 15:54
And then like they were still hungry. So I was like, try the tortellini and they ended up liking it. But then there was no more for me to eat. So I was like, I’ll just eat roasted potato. Oh, my God, this all comes back.
June Diane Raphael 16:10
So Jess, I don’t know what to tell you like dinner is in Deep Divers. Don’t you dare come at me in my DMs about meal planning.
June Diane Raphael 16:20
If you meal plan, I don’t want to know you. And I hate you. And honestly, keep your fucking mouth shut.
June Diane Raphael 16:30
Shut the fuck up.
Jessica St. Clair 16:32
Shut the fuck up. If you have one of these dry erase meal planning boards, and you fucking chop up your veggies on a Sunday. Now, the ultimate meal planner, of course is Cameron Diaz who Matt McConkey and I follow religiously her book, her body book. She does she said she’s always cooking up a brown rice and, and some wonderful beans that she uses as the base for all of her meals.
June Diane Raphael 17:02
I don’t want to hear about it just and I don’t want to know a meal planner. And if anyone I know is listening, who has become a meal planner, since I’ve met them. Don’t ever bring it up to me.
Jessica St. Clair 17:15
You know who cooks a wonderful dinner every night,
June Diane Raphael 17:17
Danielle? I knew that. And I and I know she’s a meal planner too.
Jessica St. Clair 17:23
The wonder, because you can’t cook something good without planning.
June Diane Raphael 17:29
It was killed my whole family last night. Okay? No joy my friend. No joy.
June Diane Raphael 17:55
It’s not in our DNA. Irish people are, we are subsistence farmers, you know. And when I was with my family from South Philly and they broke out the scrapple. What scrapple is scrapple is a delicacy in Philly. That is the scraps. It’s scrapple. And it’s sliced. You see it’s in a block. And I kept saying they’re like, come on, hon, try a little bit. I go no, what’s in it? What the name says scrapple.
Jessica St. Clair 18:22
That’s disgusting. But this is what a nd then it turns out several of my uncle’s go into Jersey Mike’s. And they asked for something off menu.
June Diane Raphael 18:40
I didn’t know that was possible at a.
June Diane Raphael 18:42
All we know as a culture, is hoagies, and they go in and say give me the number seven. But I want you to replace it with this. Take it from this extra hot peppers. Like it’s like and I said guys, this is embarrassing. And some of their wives have to sit in the car. They will not go into the Jersey Mike’s with them because it’s so horrifying and embarrassing. So this is our culture. We can’t break from this. You know.
June Diane Raphael 19:10
This is a generational chain and tie that will not be broken. It’s like it will not be.
Jessica St. Clair 19:20
No.
June Diane Raphael 19:21
And I hear people. I hear people say like, oh, it’s Tuesday. It’s Taco Tuesday isn’t even that I’m like I’d loved I’d love to just mentally plan that. But that’s far that’s also far away.
June Diane Raphael 19:33
How easy would it be if every night you’re eating the same thing? Like every night? Tuesdays we do this Wednesdays we do this? Yes. meal planning as a concept makes sense. We just spent 55 minutes talking about it. It’s not in our reach.
June Diane Raphael 19:47
We have to know our limitations. I was actually scared to tell you this story,Jess because I thought you were a meal planner.
Jessica St. Clair 19:56
No.
June Diane Raphael 19:57
So what’s happening to you at 4:30?
June Diane Raphael 19:59
Panic, depression or despair, anger. The Dan also doesn’t plan. So both of us just throw it back in each other’s faces.
June Diane Raphael 20:13
See, […] you guys sort of each take a night though. Oh, I thought you talk.
June Diane Raphael 20:22
No, it’s a shock to both of us that five o’clock is come and somebody has to eat. And it’s like and BB, you know is just like, oh, at my friend’s house, they made sushi and I’m like, good go live over there. But something I did do and I sent you a video of it was hoping you’d bring it up so wouldn’t have to brag about it.
June Diane Raphael 20:42
I’m still processing it to be quite.
June Diane Raphael 20:46
I turned okay. I had organizer Jordan from an unorganized home, which is his new company, which everybody needs to check out at an organized home. Come in and clean out my garage. Now, no one understood someone’s like, Oh, you just cleaning out your garage, yeah, but in my mind I had that was phase one. What I knew was that I was going to transform my garage into a Chucky Cheese. And I did for baby’s birthday. And it’s permanent.
June Diane Raphael 21:18
Okay, Jess is not kidding, when she says is a Chucky Cheese. I genuinely was like, Oh, this is for a birthday party and like a some sort of accompany has come over to deliver these items to her garage, and they’ll be taking them in a giant truck.
Jessica St. Clair 21:35
There is a Pop-a-shot.
June Diane Raphael 21:37
Which you know, Pop-a-shot are like my favorite thing. Like I could spend so much time with a Pop-a-shot.
June Diane Raphael 21:43
You’re gonna come over, and we’re gonna have drinks and just gather around my garage because there’s an air hockey table, Pop-a-shot, there’s mini golf, and ping pong. And now it lives in down there. And string lights. And this is all because of Jordan and the organizer. He can also do it virtually This is not a commercial for him. But it has changed my life. Because here’s the deal, guys, this is important. I want you to pay attention. I have been longing for a backyard. It’s all I think about. It’s all I dream about. We all know this, right? This is my dream. This is my secret because.
June Diane Raphael 22:17
Our new listeners might not know this. This is this is, Jessica’s we’re putting it out into the universe. This is what she wants.
June Diane Raphael 22:23
I want to backyard. But what happens when you’re striving for something is you can get into a scarcity mode where you’re like, I won’t be happy until I have this thing. And instead I said, I’m gonna make where I am the best. And Biddy was having this epic birthday where I took six children to Little Tokyo. Wow. And gave them money to go on a supermarket sweep of Little Tokyo. Do you know how fuckit stress down was he posted himself outside the door to catch a straggler if they tried to escape? It was crazy. I set them loose in a in a Japanese grocery store. I couldn’t find any of them. They were like, there were they were holding up fish heads. It was crazy. I was like, This is the craziest thing. Then there was a sleepover. And, and the there were two boys and four girls, the boys were there for like to like 8:30. But they were down there Chucky Cheese and get up and going bananas. And it was the best party. She said, this is the best party. This is the best day of my life. Because you know what? These kids have had a lot of birthdays robbed from them. And I said not on my watch. We’re gonna go nuts. And the parents got love and were hilarious. They were like, well, first of all, they were like, if you had gotten a beer keg we would have we would have hung out in this garage. Because these are like games that we played. I don’t even think you know what, I am also getting a Ms. Pac Man Machine that’s coming. I already ordered that today.
June Diane Raphael 23:54
Amazing. Stand up. Yes, yes. And no, it well,
June Diane Raphael 24:01
But one dad just said couldn’t have been three hours and walked away. Like you could have just had a three hour party but it was it was like 14 hours long.
June Diane Raphael 24:12
Can I tell you something I’m so proud of you. Like that’s so special and beautiful and a core memory. It is a core, core memory. And, you know, I got so many responses after I talked about last week like some of the caregiving I do and how much pride I take in it. Of course despite serving my children moldy mac and cheese, that was fuzzy was when I looked back at it but, but there is such a, that’s such a beautiful thing you did and like these things, they don’t just happen like that. It’s care and time and energy and also you deciding, like I have the space,
June Diane Raphael 25:02
we think we don’t have what we need. And we were you and I were just talking about this yesterday. We have everything we need, right here. In ourselves in our community, we have it. Because actually, before I bought all of these items, my neighbor, has all of these things in his garage. So he wheeled them over. This is why I was like I said, Do you guys have you guys have a pop-a-shot at keeps me up at night, I hear like, oh, let’s get ready to rumble. And like, think they’ve got something over there. And he wheeled it all over and set it up. And I was so moved. I always have nice neighbors, you know what.
June Diane Raphael 25:47
You’r neighbors are everything people, they’re everything.
June Diane Raphael 25:50
And here’s the quickest way this is just a hot tip. We’re gonna wrap it up because we have an incredible conversation about to happen. Just a hot tip on neighbors. Sometimes in in this new world, where we are all focused on our own little homes and our own stuff and getting ours and carving out our piece and, and holding on to what’s ours. Sometimes our neighbors aren’t comfortable opening up to us. And the easiest way to do that is to knock knock knock on the door, send a text and say can I borrow this? Do you have this? I need a half a stick. Wish I had asked for potatoes yesterday. I need this wood. And so because once we do that, and it’s fun, it’s fun to be communal, then they feel comfortable doing that with us.
June Diane Raphael 26:53
Well, you know, Lila was my neighbor. And, Lila was my neighbor. And in fact, she gave me as a joke. Measuring spoons, because I used to be in the middle of a baking project, which she told me to please stop. And I would say I don’t know where my measuring spoons are. So I would go and get one. That’s how we became friends.
Jessica St. Clair 27:13
That’s really special.
June Diane Raphael 27:14
I tried to poison her in the middle of chemo by making her an olive oil cake. waking her up at 9pm to give her a slice. Something I do, do though, which I love. If I’m getting cookies, like when I got Paul cookies for doing that thing for me for the launch. I’ll get an extra three. And I’ll put it in a little bag and I leave it outside of their door with no note.
June Diane Raphael 27:38
Well our neighbors to the left Courtney and Sean who you know of course.
June Diane Raphael 27:41
Love all them.
Jessica St. Clair 27:42
From pickleball, they’re always dropping off cookies anytime someone’s birthday is here’s an extra piece of cake. Here’s uh you know, always. That’s fun. That’s a great assignment, you guys. And this is that’s a great assignment and let’s hear about it like drop off something to our neighbor.
June Diane Raphael 28:03
Hashtag would you be my neighbor?
Jessica St. Clair 28:05
Hashtag won’t you be my neighbor? Hashtag The Deep Dive and and please drop something off or ask for something that’s easy to give. And see what happens.
June Diane Raphael 28:16
Oh, that gets me going in my downstairs. Jess, we have a very special guest here today.
Jessica St. Clair 28:21
Boy boys she Pretty in Pink.
June Diane Raphael 28:24
So our Deep Divers might know her because I’ve I’ve talked at length about her company and they’re her kind of, I won’t say hero se heroine product that has really changed my life. And I’m gonna I’m gonna tell you all about how I got into this but she also was at our last pickleball tournament. I hit that. And so if you were there, you might remember her and her entire team. Because.
June Diane Raphael 28:56
Each one better looking than the next in the cutest little tennis outfits you ever did see.
June Diane Raphael 29:04
Yes. And some are actual daughters. So, Cherie Hoeger is the co founder and CEO of SAALT. That’s S A A L T. A women owned B Corp with the vision to make cleaner and more sustainable period care accessible to everyone. An entrepreneur and philanthropist. Shri champions the intersection of for profit and nonprofit models through social enterprise and believes the B Corp standard is the way of the future. since their launch in 2018. SAALT has donated over 60,000 period cups and underwear to underprivileged women and girls in 50 countries as part of their 2% Give back mission. And we are going to get into this idea of period poverty and what those two words been together. Before starting salt. Cherie had been an entrepreneur and multiple ecommerce ventures and worked as a technical writer with 15 years of experience of publication experience, co authoring nine editions of collegiate textbooks in the field of fitness and wellness. I’m so curious about that. Cherie’s also the mother of five daughters and one son, and considers them her greatest success. Sure, you’re welcome to the deep dive.
Cherie Hoeger 30:21
So thrilled to be here. Oh my goodness, I’m so excited to be able to chat today. And I have to say that hit me pickleball tournament was so much fun, because we got to hit period cups into baskets and do all in the name of period poverty. And it was just the best event I loved meeting your team and seeing what you can put on.
June Diane Raphael 30:41
It was a ball, it was just a straight ball. And, you know, I Okay, so I want to tell the deep divers how I came to menstrual cups and specifically SAALT because I had heard of like, the Diva Cup and menstrual cups, and I think I had actually picked one up at some point. And they were so hard and looked like something I could never use and I didn’t understand them. And then friend of the Deep Dive Professor Abby Arad of the Deep Dive Academy of significance. We were talking one day when she was over here doing some sort of a fitting for me and I said, I my periods have gotten so unruly. And I’m I feel like I’m you know premenstrual for a week. I’m then exhausted when I have my period. I’m so irritable when I’m ovulating. And I’m now looking at one week a month where I feel like not a werewolf. And I don’t know what to do. And she said, Have you ever tried the SAALT cups? And I said no. And she sent me one. And it actually sat in my bathroom for a long time before one day, I was like, let me just try this. And I know some people, there’s a bit of a learning curve for me there was not. And so I watched a bunch of videos in the SAALT Instagram page that are so helpful about insertion, I inserted that period cup, that menstrual cup inside my vagina. And I didn’t feel it. And I didn’t think about my period for eight hours. Wow. Amazing. I’m sorry, this is revolutionary stuff. And I didn’t think about it for eight hours. And I said, Abby, why haven’t I ever heard about I would actually felt angry? It’s pretty angry. I was like, I have been dealing with multiple tampons and clothing and, and all sorts of stuff. And I have found a product that literally has made it possible for me to not think about it for eight hours.
June Diane Raphael 33:00
What’s the difference in the feeling, but between a tampon and the Saalt cup plugging.
June Diane Raphael 33:07
My computer in. But Sheree, please, please go ahead and tell us a bit about this product.
June Diane Raphael 33:12
Get in, get into the nitty gritty of it. Shri, please.
Cherie Hoeger 33:15
Oh, I am so excited to tell you about it. And of course I’ve been a user a cup and disk user for like a decade now. But I always remember the same feeling that you described when I first tried a period cup and said, Oh my goodness, I can’t feel this. I forgot it was in, I forgot it was on my period. And that’s still the number one benefit that people cite is they just say I’m blown away that I don’t have to worry about my period anymore. I feel like what I’m really sharing with people is not products, I’m sharing freedom. This is just simply like I just find.
June Diane Raphael 33:45
This is revolutionary.
Jessica St. Clair 33:47
I find the fact that there’s so little education on this. I mean, it’s changing and it’s changing in part because of you and your work around this. And all of the innovation that’s happening around period care, menstrual care for people getting their periods, but it’s it’s really I think, I thought, Oh, I guess for younger people, like for your daughter’s age, they’ll have a new experience. But like that’s, I’m just have to be left with whatever I learned. And that’s just not true.
Cherie Hoeger 34:16
It’s true. And you know, we deserve better, right? I tell this to journalists all the time. I say cars are faster cell phones are smarter is what happened to period care. We’ve literally haven’t had innovation in this industry for 100 years. The last innovation that we saw was the pad with wings and that was sometime in the 1980s. Before that it’s been 100 years since you know the pads and tampons have been developed. And so when I look at reusables you know period underwear or you can say absorbent underwear because it really works for all leaks, not just periods and I’ll get into that. And then cups in disks. It is innovations for a modern woman who does a lot more and doesn’t want to stay home on their periods. When I say that I’m sharing freedom that is really what I’m sharing we have just put up with so long being limited by our periods, and buried being limited by wetness in general, we can get into bladder leaks, which has even more stigma than periods, or just general wetness because women live with wetness 24 days out of a 28 day cycle, which means most of the month, they’re dealing with some sort of wetness. So we should be having absorbency and all of our underwear. Anyway, it’s so.
June Diane Raphael 35:23
Wow, celebrate a wet vagina and like work with it.
June Diane Raphael 35:27
Oh, believe me, when you start to say goodbye to it. It’s not like you won’t die.
June Diane Raphael 35:31
I know, that’s a game changer. That’s a fucking game changer that younger women are just being like, Oh, I’m just free bleeding. What are you talking about, like managing it and doing all this stuff like I am with this, with this types of underwear and stuff. And for me, like I’ll use my period cup for two days, I use the socket for two days, because those are my two heaviest days. And then day three, sometimes I’m using it because I won’t get up here for four days. But sometimes I’m just transitioning into the underwear.
Cherie Hoeger 36:02
Anyway, the option and it feels comfortable, like regular underwear doesn’t feel like you’re wearing a diaper as a grown woman. No, it doesn’t feel like you’re sitting in a wetness because we came up with US patent pending technology that keeps you really dry at top. So it feels like you’re just wearing comfortable sexy underwear. And that’s the other point is we really tried to make it look beautiful because we feel like our cycles are beautiful. We’re so beautiful. We should be feeling that most of the month instead of feeling inhibited by wetness.
June Diane Raphael 36:50
So Cherie, we just jumped right in. But how do you do I cuz I just got so excited. But how did you get into period care?
Cherie Hoeger 37:00
So I come from Latin heritage. My mom is Argentine. My husband was born in Venezuela. I was talking to his aunt in Venezuela, and she was describing the situation down there. It is so dire between dictatorship and high inflation, she just couldn’t get anything on store shelves at all. And so we’re talking, you know, no diapers or formula for babies or personal care items. And immediately, I thought of my five daughters at the time and said, Wow, what would I do in this situation if I just didn’t have access to disposables. And now you know, fast forward a little bit. We’ve all felt that during COVID. And seeing how fast things can clear we had a tampon shortage and people were coming to our company because of that. And I it kept me up at night. And so I started looking into reusable options that I could send down to my family in Venezuela. And that’s when I was introduced to the period cup for the first time. And I was like, What is this same questions everyone has? That looks so big does. How does it work? Where does it fit? I realize it was actually invented in the 1930s by an American actress. Yeah, no joke. Been around 90 years. Yeah, it was first made out of rubber. Leave it to a woman to invent something amazing. But then there’s all these disposable companies that made more money to you know, serve up pads and tampons. And so he just made a lot of headway. Yeah, exactly.
June Diane Raphael 38:16
Tampon industry.
Cherie Hoeger 38:17
There was also rubber shortage. So here’s this, you know, lone period cup, that just starts to make some mainstream headway about when I found it. And I realized there’s not a really great US made cup out there. There’s not one I tried several. And I said, This is amazing. I forgot my on my period, I’m on my period, I can wear this for 12 hours, it lasts 10 years, you mean I never have to visit the tampon elegant, I can just have one with me in my bathroom or my purse or my car. And that’s it. That’s all I need. I was just blown away. And just like you, forgot I was on my period. It also maintains your natural pH, you mentioned that we’re when you put in a tampon, it’s absorbing all of your fluids, all your natural lubricant. And that’s why you have that dry tampon feel. But a cup, it just collects rather than absorbs. And so it maintains the great PH of your vagina and keeps all your natural juices flowing. So all of these good benefits and it was more sustainable for the planet. And I just said, I want to get this out to more friends and to mainstream consumer. But I couldn’t really find the brand that I could stand behind. So that’s when I approached my husband and said, Hey, what do you think about starting a menstrual cup business? What do you think about getting this out to the world because I wanted to share it. At the same time. There was one other big motivator and that was period poverty because I thought oh, this might take a lot of work. I actually told my husband, this is going to be a customer service nightmare. You know, there’s a lot of behavior change so many questions around this. But yeah, what threw me over the edge. What motivated me is that I realized in researching, the situation Venezuela that this was not particular to Venezuela, this was actually 62% of the menstruating world. Live been in places a period poverty where they just lack access to anything to manage their periods. So as soon as girls hit puberty, you start to see school dropout rates skyrocket. And that’s because they don’t have anything, they start to get resourceful. They start their periods, they use banana leaves, they use bits of mattress pads, they tear paper from school books, you know, they, they look at, you know, just pieces of cloth that are oftentimes unhygenic, even soil and ash, to manage their periods. It’s incredible. So like, for instance, one step. He look at places like Uganda you have 90% of girls are in primary school, because they want to go to school, suddenly, secondary school happens, and it drops to 22%. And you have to say, what happened? Well, it’s periods. That’s what happened. And so when I saw something as small as a cup and said, You mean, this little thing can literally solve period poverty and break cycles of poverty for generations. And it just had to be something that I would stand behind. So so we started the company.
Cherie Hoeger 38:17
Through what you’re saying, because it is, it is not just about it’s, it’s really looking at, like how simple and taboo a period is to really address and like the huge impact it can have on Yeah, generations of women.
Cherie Hoeger 41:21
Exactly. And, you know, for working mothers, too, because it keeps them out of the workplace. So literally pureed cups and underwear, something reusable because people can’t afford the disposables that we have conveniently, in first world nations, they can’t afford those. And so they they just stay at home, they just stay home and they don’t get out. And so we decided to have a 2% impact mission, where we donate 2% of revenue to donate our products all across the world. And that’s where we’ve donated the 60,000 products in 50 countries. And we donate our cups and underwear together, sometimes one or the other, depending on you know, different cultural taboos and so forth. But it’s incredible, the life changing stories that we get back, it keeps girls in school, it keeps women providing for their families, and it keeps them fulfilling their dreams.
June Diane Raphael 42:09
That’s incredible.
June Diane Raphael 42:11
Did you feel free that like this idea came from beyond like it was your mission in a way that you never knew you had?
Cherie Hoeger 42:19
You know, very much. So it’s just I know that there’s a lot of women listening to this podcast, you might be starting their own, you know, side hustle or might be starting something where they have a lot of passion and they say okay, how can I make this part of my life? You know, what, what is my passion in life and it really, I did put two and two together with my five daughters and seeing just how much I value education in my life, how much I value education about our bodies, obviously I wrote textbooks on fitness and wellness, and about nutrition and about you know, stress management, all these things I and I just wanted this for the world. I wanted these products for the world still do profits, not a huge driver here for us as a B Corp. We have such a passionate team and the number one passion that they have is our impact. Just hands down. For instance, I’ll give you one example. Maui, right, the wildfires and Maui that destroyed all of Lahaina in so many areas. We got together and we said we want to do something about this. And so we told our consumers Hey, for every order you purchase this week, we’re going to donate a product were able to donate 5000 products that we sent them the week after it happened. 2500 cups 2500 pairs of underwear to cover the entire menstruating population of Lahaina and guess what they were asking for two they said these disposables we can even handle these in our inner little island landfills. It’s too much these pallets we can’t even intake all this please send long lasting items. And so we’re so excited to be able to feel that.
June Diane Raphael 43:45
Wow, that’s so powerful and I’m also thinking about and I don’t know if we’ve ever talked about this, Cherie because I want to I might want to introduce you to someone but there’s a woman I follow on Tiktok of course who is a foster parent to teenage girls. And so she does a lot of she takes in a lot of donations for their care kits when they arrive and she gives them a lot of times their clothes are in you know garbage bags and so she she’s giving them bags like real sturdy bags and a lot of menstrual care products tampons and stuff like that. And I don’t think she hasn’t appeared cups, but that’s a conversation for you and I later but I was really moved by the amount of, she talks a lot about the shame around that for young teenage girls who are in a really vulnerable really vulnerable situations. And the and don’t have a family situation and a care situation basic care that is helping them when they’re getting their periods at 13, 12 their children and they don’t know how to handle and they don’t know who to talk to, and the like, deep, like psychological impacts that has on them, and how the foster care system in the United States. I mean, it’s, it’s a lot of problems with it. But that like period care is not dealt with. Anyway, that was just something I was thinking about. And even as somebody for me, like who, who was raised in a, you know, middle class background and had my needs met, my basic needs met. So for me the amount of shame I felt around getting my period, the way I didn’t want to talk about it didn’t have anyone who was willing to talk about and if that’s a situation where you can get your needs met. It’s like this, this is such a critical point for young women, you know, to have a product to have a transition into their cycle that feels empowering, that feels like they can, you know, I think a lot of girls, when they started their period, probably go to pads first. But the thing that I like about the period cup is really that you’re, you’re kind of experiencing your body in a different way when you’re inserting it and taking it out in a different way than you are that tampon and pad.
Cherie Hoeger 46:21
Yeah, it’s an empowering way. We hear that all the time, when people become cup users, they learn more about their bodies, they learn more about their flow, they’re less afraid, you know, to get up close and personal. And they learn more about their menstrual cycles in general, I have so many thoughts, but you know, the four phases of the menstrual cycle, the fact that you have your follicular phase where you feel you know, on top of the world that comes right after your your bleeding phase, then after that you have ovulation and you feel amazing for like one to two days. And then you have that luteal phase and everyone talks about PMS and they no PMS. What they don’t realize is it’s during that luteal phase. So actually, the two weeks before your period starts, where you have the most hormonal differences and imbalances and where you don’t feel so hot. And people. People think, oh, there’s something wrong with me or I must be depressed. And it’s like, no, you just need to understand, you know how your hormones work during those different phases. And that’s been a game changer to be able to teach my daughters to and say, Hey, this is normal to feel that way. It’s empowering to say, okay, my body, you know, there’s changes going on during this time. It’s alright, you give yourself grace, and you’re empowered with knowledge. So you’re speaking my language, about understanding and being more educated about yourself and your body when you become a cup user.
June Diane Raphael 47:39
And I will say, it’s no surprise to me that you were writing textbooks because I, I, you know, that learning curve of not being a cup user into being a cup user, is and I know that that’s different for everyone. But when I went on to the Saalt, Instagram and looked through their like, FAQ section, and it’s like sort of the tips, cup users, and I watched all of them before I did it. And I was like, Oh, it was so helpful. And it was so intuitive. And it was so user friendly. That I was like this is the most amazing thing just for young girls who are getting their period for the first time to watch because it’s all right there in videos.
June Diane Raphael 48:19
Oh, I can’t wait. I can’t wait for to show Bibi. But let me get to the nitty gritty for just one second. Because if you’re a part of the Deep Dive Academy, June does take you through how to use a Saalt cup and shows it to you. And I mean, if you’ve ever been taught anything by June, it’s one of the most soothing. And I listen, I do doesn’t need the work of wait a second, she does because she just put a pool in during the strike. But if you needed someone you know, to travel worldwide and demonstrate it, I think June would be great for the job. But tell me, how do you get it up there? What can you just I because I don’t want people to say oh, you know what? sounds hard. Can you just explain how do you fold that thing up there?
Cherie Hoeger 49:04
Exactly. We like to say it’s just origami. Okay, no, but but they have everyone has those questions, and I’ll get into that. And also the discs, the differences too, but. The way you do it is you fold it into a C shape, you know, just folds in half, and then you insert it towards your tailbone so more horizontal, not quite as vertical as you would with a tampon you did toward your tailbone. You let it open and it has a nice little pop pops open. And then you give it just a little rotation and then a little tug to make sure that it has a good seal. So the cup relies on the suction seal within the vaginal canal in order to make sure it doesn’t leak and you want to position it if you ever experienced leaking or you’re trying it for the first time. It’s really all about positioning. That’s the key. You want to position directly under your cervix. And I know all of you are thinking my cervix. I don’t know where that is. Well, two options for you, first, we’d like you to be empowered so you can put your finger up there and you can feel your cervix is. Yes, it feels like the tip of your nose with a hole in it. Sometimes you can’t reach your cervix. If you can’t reach it, you don’t feel anything, you have a high cervix, if you do feel it, but you have, you know, if it goes all the way up, I wish I could show the visual but all if you get your finger all the way up, then you have a medium cervix. And if your fingers only about halfway up, then it’s a lower cervix. And we have you know, different products for different cervix heights as well, but our small or regular cups, we’ll be able to work with all cervixes. The point is, you want it to be positioned directly under that. So the cup to have it circumference around that. So if it’s you know leaking it or if it doesn’t feel like it’s catching flow, then it might be a little bit to the side. Yeah, most people don’t.
Jessica St. Clair 50:49
And you don’t feel it in the up there. I get.
June Diane Raphael 50:53
What I learned from the soft […] is that every vagina and cervixes can be wildly different, right? So I really can only speak for on behalf of my own vagina here. But I now have I had the experience sometimes of being like, oh, it’s not incorrectly, yes. And then I go back in and I can take it out and reinsert it. But to me, Cherie, correct me if I’m wrong. I know it’s improperly when I don’t feel it.
Cherie Hoeger 51:20
Exactly. If you don’t feel it should not be uncomfortable.
June Diane Raphael 51:24
I’m always feeling a tampon. Oh, yeah, yeah.
June Diane Raphael 51:27
Oh, and who hasn’t had that thing be halfway out? And you’re like, Oh, God, it’s trying to escape? You know, it’s real. But and does it feel like never having used a diaphragm? Does it feel like a diaphragm?
June Diane Raphael 51:38
Or use a diaphragm? I wouldn’t know. Yeah, I don’t
Cherie Hoeger 51:41
I haven’t.
Jessica St. Clair 51:42
Is it we have a Is it similar? Is it like a similar contraption or no?
June Diane Raphael 51:47
Totally different.
Cherie Hoeger 51:48
Yeah, no, it is. And we have a disk that actually resembles a diaphragm as well. So let me let me explain how to take it out real fast. And I’m gonna tell you the differences between cups and disc. But after you’ve inserted it, you can wear it for four to six hours on your heavy day, you can wear it for up to 12 hours on your light days. And that’s where you can forget it’s in because you literally put it in, you know, before work or school in the morning, I just spent all day.
June Diane Raphael 52:11
Having it out period, and I’ve kept it in for a.
Cherie Hoeger 52:14
There you go.
June Diane Raphael 52:15
That’s insane.That’s insane.
June Diane Raphael 52:17
I used to be four hours with the Super tampon. If that three and a half hours.
June Diane Raphael 52:23
I gotta have a flow. And I got no, I never had a leak.
Cherie Hoeger 52:26
You know, it just depends on people’s flows. But the nice thing is that the cups can hold three to four tampons worth of flow, which is why you can have it in so much longer, the discs actually can hold up to six tampons worth of flow. So it’s amazing how much they can collect. And then you have if you wear it with the underwear underneath, which is what we like to tell people don’t wear it with the liner. If you have any spotting or if you’re learning for the first time. The Underwear is amazing because it catches all and then you have that backup. And it’s a fully sustainable period, which is amazing.
June Diane Raphael 52:57
But also sure, can I just say that I think sometimes when people look at it who have heavy flows like I do, they’re like, how could this possibly catch? What I feel like is coming out of me. But I’m telling you it does. I’ve never had it be filled to the brim. Even after eight hours. It’s.
Cherie Hoeger 53:18
That’s because, since pads and tampons absorb less, well pads, it depends if you have a maxi pad, but if you feel it more, right because it’s right there and it feels very wet. And then with tampons, you can soak through those where these hold three to four. And so people think they bleed a lot more than they do because of how many disposable products they go through. So they’re always surprised by how little they actually do bleed. Although it varies, right varies for everyone. Some people can fill that cup until they’re like oh it’s almost overflowing and they can only go for hours. But the average menstruator, eight hours just like you said same thing for me and I free bled into our underwear also on my heaviest day for up to eight hours and it didn’t leak out. So it’s it’s just free.
Jessica St. Clair 54:04
Let’s talk about taking it out.
Cherie Hoeger 54:08
Yes. So when you take it out, you just have to there’s a little stem on the cup and you walk your fingers up the stem and you pinch it at the base because you want to break the suction seal you don’t want to just pull on it because every section and you don’t want it to be painful, right? So you pinch that at the base and then you wiggle it out. And then you dump it and you can dump it right there on the toilet. We have a little travel kit where you can have a little bottle that’s custom designed just to clean your cup right there on the toilet or if you’re at home you can go do it and your sink just a quick rinse and then you can put it back in you don’t even have to rinse it you can you can clean it out with toilet paper. You know if there’s blood on there, well it was just inside you can just put it back in there’s no issue really. But if you want to you can do quick rins and then fold it and put it back in. So it’s pretty simple and overall.
June Diane Raphael 54:56
Can I say about but about taking it out. I’ve had some women I’ve tried to talk to me about this. You’re like, oh, I don’t think I can deal with all of that mess and all of that sort of, like if it feels garish to have to deal with all of that. And I’m like, I gotta tell you, it is way more dignified than wrapping up that tampon 5 million times and throwing it out and pulling a tampon string out like it feels better to me.
June Diane Raphael 55:23
Guess and how about when you’re, you’re in somebody else’s home? And you’re like, Oh, God, I gotta throw a tampon out in their garbage that’s like, not covered or, and then you’re like, panicked? And you’re like, do I shove it in my purse? Yeah. Okay, so, yes, this is, listen, I don’t have my period anymore. But boy, boy, would I be all over this. But you have to see it to believe it. Because June, you’ve been squawking about the Saalt cups. I was there at the event. And until this conversation, I didn’t fully understand.
June Diane Raphael 55:57
Because there’s a learning curve. And again, you know, it’s sort of enrages me that there’s so little knowledge around, you know, we don’t as a culture, we don’t spend much time innovating on behalf of women’s health. And our bodies. And this is a real innovation. And, and it’s also an innovation for the climate. It just is and and but, but because it’s surrounding women’s health, we’re not really giving it it’s due, which is why I’m I am really passionate about letting women know about this. And because it’s such a game changer for something we deal with every single, you know, people have their periods every single month.
June Diane Raphael 56:44
Can I ask one more question? Does it impact your cramps at all? Is there a different difference? Please.
June Diane Raphael 56:50
Cherie has told me because I’ve said to her before, I gotta tell you, my cramps have gone down. And she said, we don’t have any real data. You know, they’re all about their data and research. And she said, but anecdotally, we’ve, we’ve heard the same, because I have a significant decrease in my cramps with that period.
Jessica St. Clair 57:10
Why is why would that be Cherie? If it is indeed true. Again, I know the research that you’re looking at about research anymore.
June Diane Raphael 57:18
There’s one person in this study right now and it’s fine, I have really found a major decrease in menstrual cramps.
Jessica St. Clair 57:25
If why would that be?
Cherie Hoeger 57:26
It’s true. Well, I’ll first say it’s more than one person, we have a 30,000 person Facebook group called the Saalt Cup Academy. So if anybody wants to join, every question is asked in there all TMI is welcome. And we hear over and over again, people say this reduces my cramps, this reduce my cramps. That’s why I say, Oh, well, we’ve heard it over, we have no data to support, like why that’s the case. But we, you know, have some some thoughts that it could be because when you’re putting something that is absorbent, and it’s, you know, absorbing your natural juices, or it’s interfering with your movement up there, because it’s a lot harder than that cup, the cup molds to your shape, it’s pliable, right, you’re not feeling that so much with a tampon. So that may make the difference. I think it’s just I think it’s just the natural aspect of it to biocompatible silicone, same 100% medical grade silicone that you use for any medical surgeries. So we don’t know all the reasons why. But we know that a lot of people report it.
June Diane Raphael 58:25
That’s enough for me, that’s enough. For me.
June Diane Raphael 58:27
It’s enough for me too.
Jessica St. Clair 58:29
Cherie this is, thank you for seeing that there was no need and then believing in yourself, that you could come up with a product that could solve that, that need. And I really feel like this is why if women would listen to their intuition, it’s so strong. And in the case of what you just did, it can change the world.
Cherie Hoeger 58:54
And everybody can take part in the conversation, which is a beautiful thing, just like June is spreading the word. That’s what we find is the number one reason why people will look at reusables is hearing it from a trusted friend. It’s word of mouth, they might you know, say, Oh, I’m interested. I’ve seen that somewhere. But it’s when a friend says I did it, you can do this, too. That’s the number one take home that I hope everyone will have is try it. It takes one moment a break a shot, give it a shot, but talk to somebody who’s done it before. And it also opens up conversations because I know you’re talking about the stigmas and how we’re not, you know, talking about this so much. And we find when women get together, and we do this intentionally overseas, we get women together because oftentimes, they don’t know anything about the reproductive system at all. And they are able to get together and learn so much more and then it opens up other conversations around direct domestic violence and education. And just getting women together is such a powerful thing. So spread the word. Don’t be afraid of talking about periods. That’s what perpetuates this stigma. A lot of the stigma is perpetuated by us because people take our cues as people with periods, they take our cues about how they should feel about it. So if we’re talking to male colleagues, and we’re feeling sheepish around saying, you know, talking about it, then they’re going to take that cue, they’re going to feel sheepish as well. But if you talk about it in a straightforward manner, you’d be surprised at how open they are because they have, you know, spouses or partners or daughters or sisters, exactly. And they also want to take part in that conversation. And you know, not feel ostracized from it. so we always were, we have the most amazing and passionate men on the team, my husband being the most passionate being a father of five daughters, and the men have to come into this conversation to be able to get women’s progress moving forward and period progress moving.
June Diane Raphael 1:00:41
Amen sister and I also you know, my both of my sons have seen me put insert that menstrual crop, take it out, watch the whole process over and over and over again. And I am so excited that they will be ready to handle any person with a period comes along their way. And how to you know, react and be a part of it, because it’s talking about destigmatizing is nothing to them, because they’ve seen it their whole lives. They’re not thrown out of the bathroom. They’re not you know, it’s it is incredibly natural in our house. So I love that. Yeah, I want to thank you so much Cherie for the work you do, and especially the work you do to end, and period poverty across the globe. It’s just so exciting. And I encourage everyone who came to I’d hit that who probably has their menstrual cup or disk, their assault cup or their assault disc at home because it was in our gift bags. If you’re like me, you probably it sat for a while mindset for four months. Because every time I got my period, I was like, I can’t deal with that today. I can’t learn today wasn’t a good day, right then. I just sending you the message that today is the day this cycle is the cycle, take some time, celebrate it. And for me, I didn’t have a learning curve. But if you do, it’s normal. And there’s so many resources on that Facebook page, that Cherie mentioned and on their Instagram. There’s some just incredible, like really, really user friendly videos that make the process so much easier. Thank you so much Cherie. And again, Deep Divers, if you’re our students at the academy, please head on over because we will have a special show and tell with me and myself cup.
Cherie Hoeger 1:02:29
And I’ll leave one last thing please. Like you said a lot of resources, go to YouTube. We have tutorials there on every product, also our Saalt Cup Academy on Facebook and go join that we also have an amazing customer service team. They’re all we’re out of Boise, Idaho, they’re all Boise based. They’re real people that help people choose their sustainable products every day. So reach out to us on any of our social channels, our emails, say hey at Saalt co if you’re like, I don’t know what to get, talk me through this. They’re happy to chat with you. Because we really just are a team of passionate females who want to change the world and want people to use these products. So we also have a guarantee. So if you don’t like your cup or disk or you got the wrong size, then you just talk to us and we’ll exchange it or replace it for free.
June Diane Raphael 1:03:15
Oh, that’s so awesome.
June Diane Raphael 1:03:16
I love that.
Jessica St. Clair 1:03:17
And yeah, like talking about it talking about our cycles talking about menopause, like you know when our cycles end and what’s next and post menopause like it’s all so incredibly important and I’m so excited for you know, the future and conversations like this products like this and all of the innovation happening. Thank you Deep Divers.
June Diane Raphael 1:03:37
Thank you.
Jessica St. Clair 1:03:38
We’ll see you next week.
June Diane Raphael 1:03:39
Thanks, guys. Bye.
CREDITS 1:03:39
It’s really like your Benjamin Button before our very eyes. What is the secret to your beautiful beautiful, stunning gorgeous, absolutely beautiful skin? Send your questions to the deepdiveacademy@gmail.com and subscribe now in Apple podcasts. The DEEP DIVE is produced by Lemonada media Jessica St. Clair and June Diane Raphael. Our producers Ana Cecilia, our associate producer is Dani Matias and ours supervising producer is Jamela Zarha Williams. Our engineer is Johnny Vince Evans. Additional Lemonada support from Steve Nelson, Stephanie Wittels Wachs and Jessica Cordova Kramer. Special thanks to Anne Geddes for a cover art and Lennon Parham. For her sweet sweet vocals. The best way to support us is to rate and review. Follow The Deep Dive wherever you get your podcasts or listen ad free on Amazon music with your Prime membership.
