Inspired by: Alana Nolan, Founder Noonie
Interview by Kirby Hodkinson
Noonie is a unique maternity care brand founded in Australia for mums by Alana Nolan. The company is dedicated to improving the maternity experience and innovating postpartum recovery for women everywhere. Developed with love in Australia, their breakthrough products provide an upgrade on postpartum recovery and comfort.
Noonie - a uniquely fabulous business name - how did you come up with it?
Honestly, Noonie was always my nickname for vagina when I was growing up and vagina seemed like a scary word. So when I made the first prototype of the pad, I just casually called it a Noonie pad and it stuck. I love that there's an underlying symbolism to it too - we talk about being comfortable discussing uncomfortable topics if it means a better experience for women; so by calling our company Noonie, and we're proudly open to talking about vaginas and what women need in that regard. It's about making conversations about vaginas and birth more comfortable.
Tell us all about the two wonderful products Noonie currently produces.
It started with our Cooling Pads, which I created for a girlfriend when she was preparing her hospital bag and the topic of DIY Padsicles came up. The result of the initial research mildly offended me. Why was there no commercially available, suitable solution for all these women who give birth. Anyway... I knew she needed something highly absorbent, I knew it had to be cooling and soothing, and I knew we had to start making progress towards more discreet and lightweight products - no one wants a 1kg ice pack in their knickers!
Along the journey to manufacturing the Cooling Pads and by some stroke of fate and fortune, we ended up formulating the perfect companion to the padsicles - our Cleanse & Soothe Perineal Spray. Again there were some big requirements that had to be checked off: it had to spray upside down, it had to be a no-touch(ouchie) cleanser, it had to be natural, and it had to actually feel soothing. My favourite thing about our spray is that it uses a native Australian ingredient, the Tasmanian Pepperberry. This Pepperberry has a remarkable property where it (in non-scientific terms) interrupts the reaction of heat within the skin to essentially reduce the feeling of burning and inflammation (rather than mask it with something cold).
Your business was 'birthed' in the midst of a global pandemic - can you give us a brief overview of the timeline and execution from concept to launch?
Ok the brief version: Our Cooling Pads were delayed in production for around 12 months due to global shortages of raw materials and backlogs: cue tears.
In moments, that has been devastating and frustrating for us, we had started telling women that we were here to help them and then all of the sudden it felt like we were letting everyone down and missing out on so many births that we dreamt of being a part of. The bigger picture though, was that those raw materials went to make face masks for essential workers; so if given the choice, we would never have had it any other way. It was just a valuable and timely insight early on into the nature of manufacturing and business. Do what you can, do it well, be honest and transparent with your customers and hang in there as long as you can because you know it's worth it.
Noonie's vision focuses on the 'overlooked and underserved' demographic of new Mums - what helpful hints can you share with new and expecting mums to aid their postpartum recovery and health?
I'd love for this to be something cute and easy. But really, the only thing that will work for every woman is to make the decision to listen to your body and its needs; then pull your big girl knickers up and ask for what you need. We've been trained to be polite, to be ashamed of bodily functions, to be these perfect nurturers that do everything for everyone, maybe there should be less emphasis on that.
We love your self-care slogan 'return home to your body' - what does that feel like and mean for you?
Thanks! Return home to your body - to me it's as simple as building a real relationship with yourself. Knowing that we can't really operate in the external world if we have no idea what's going on internally for us, what our likes and dislikes, needs, triggers or feel good moments are. I feel that most when I practice meditation or asana and take the time to "meet myself" on the mat. Those first few moments have this crazy sense of, "oh hi you, sorry I had completely forgotten about you - what's going on up there in your mind".
It will mean something different to everybody and every body and I think that's the real point -
if we start developing a sense of self-awareness we naturally start interacting with the external world from a much calmer, more intentional place - consciously choosing what to take on emotionally, physically or mentally and what to choose not to engage with.
What advice do you have for our kind-community who may be toying with the idea of creating their own business or side hustle?
To not think about the result of any pursuit as success or failure. The learning and trying and re-trying and learning and playing and having baby wins and baby struggles are the fun bits that we look back on and tell stories about, laugh about, feel most proud of. So if you've found something that feels like a joyful creative outlet for you, or there's a problem to solve that will mean something purposeful to you or to the people you're solving it for, I hope you take the chance to enjoy pursuing that. And also, we seem to all forget - there's so much space for everyone to do what they want; so don't worry about a saturated market or competition. I mean, think about how many different brands of skincare we buy (answer: arguably too many) - heaps!
What is next for Noonie? Do you have plans in the pipeline to expand your range?
2021 feels like a very new energy and we have some major plans around expanding our footprint and our range. With a brand commitment to only making inventive, beautiful and thoughtful products. We spend quite a lot of time in R&D and we're currently working on two (maybe three) new products that will hopefully be game-changing for some different aspects of the postpartum experience. Our goal is to see 4 Noonie products in retail stores by the end of 2021.