Startup Spotlight #58: Monara

Monara is a puberty care and education brand for women.

Nov 23, 2020

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I got the chance to speak with Jessica Zhu, founder and CEO of Monara, about what she’s working on at her startup, and any advice she has for emerging entrepreneurs.

Monara prepares and supports girls during their transition through puberty, a time when confusing and stressful events such as getting the first period to happen. With products, services, education, and community, we are the brand that is there for girls as they grow up.

Zixi (Jessica) Zhu graduated this past May from Brown University with a degree in Cognitive Neuroscience. During the three summers in college, she worked as a resident assistant for Brown’s summer school for middle school students, interned at a health innovation startup in NYC, and joined the strategy consulting team at Boston Children’s Hospital as a summer intern. She’s happy that she can bring all of these experiences together in growing Monara!

Startup Spotlight: Monara

Monara founder and CEO Jessica Zhu.

Problem: Puberty is a time of exciting changes that can also be confusing and stressful - acne breakouts, getting your first period, changes in body shape, new feelings and emotions. Currently, sources of puberty education and support to girls are insufficient in preparing them for this transition, making puberty a negative experience that leads to long-term effects.

Market: Our end-users will be girls entering and going through puberty (20 million females aged 8 to 16 in the US), and our paying customers will be their family members, private schools & physician practices, as well as community organizations serving this population. We plan to launch our product in the US and the Chinese market simultaneously.

Solution: We meet teenage girls’ health and wellness needs through products (e.g. customizable first-period kit), services (e.g. online coaching with “big sisters”), education, and community. We are the brand that is intimate, fun, and accessible - the brand that is there for girls as they grow up.

Team: I founded Monara in June 2020, and I just brought on our first team member, Ramisa Fariha (Biomedical Engineering Ph.D. student at Brown University) who’s serving as our Director of Marketing and Social Media Strategy. We plan to bring on one or two designers by the end of September 2020.

Recent Success:

Zhu: One thing I’ve been really successful at is getting people excited about Monara and its mission. Because of the intimacy of this area I’m focusing on, I find it easy to connect with people and get them on board (“yeah my first period was traumatic” or “my daughter is going through this phase and I know exactly what you are talking about”). In this past summer, two conversations that I thought were to be one-off ended up becoming on-going mentorships (shout out to Julie Sygiel and Meredith Hamilton!!!). Recently, I started posting information about designer hiring, and I’ve been getting messages from all over the world - US, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan - asking me for ways to get involved. I’m really thrilled about the energy I feel from others, which has been a wonderful source of validation and motivation for me.

Recent Struggle:

Zhu: Something I’ve struggled with as a solo-founder is having too many tasks in front of me, all the time. From customer interviews to website building, from talking to potential collaborators to figuring out trademark problems. Moreover, the more I learn about the space of puberty health, the more problems and unmet need I discover. I found excitement turning into anxiety - I want to talk to all the people, learn all the skills, solve all the problems. But what I learned in the past couple of months is that I just have to start somewhere. Once I sit down, reviewed my learnings from customer interviews, and evaluated all the product ideas, I soon landed on the first product I want to design - a guided journal that focuses on health and wellbeing. After narrowing down my “big Monara dream” to the first concreate, launchable idea, planning and executing become much easier. I was able to figure out what kind of team I want to form and my exact battle of the order.

Founder Advice:

Zhu: One mindset that I found very helpful was knowing my competitive advantage as an early-stage venture. At one point this past summer, I was playing with the idea of a “first period kit” for preteen girls, but was worried that big feminine hygiene companies would easily build something similar and win over the market with its existing market base and distribution channels. But my mentor at the Breakthrough Lab reminded me that I also have very unique advantages over the big corporations: I’m small and flexible, so I can respond fast; I’m closer to my customers, so I can really understand their hopes and pains, and design something that’s very intimate and close to their hearts. My piece of advice for entrepreneurs would be to not be intimated by competitions and really think about how your own venture shines.

One Cool Founder You Should Know About:

Zhu: Here is a founder you should check out next!

David Lu, Founder of H2Ok: H2Ok Innovations uses AI and data analytics to empower communities with cost-saving information that drives decisions ensuring sustainable access to clean water.

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