Meet Yvette Shum Founder of Coralcone
Why was it important to you to enter the space of period products?
I got the idea when I was volunteering in scuba dive coral conservation projects in South East Asia. I realised that I’d been using a method of period protection for two decades of my life that was terrible for the environment. I’d been on autopilot for so many years – and it dawned on me others were doing exactly the same.
I looked at menstrual cups currently on the market and knew there was a lot of room for improvement (particularly with the options available at the time!). If we want people to use sustainable period products, then the experience had to be overall better than using existing options like tampons or pads. We needed to flatten the learning curve and make it much easier for people to get on board.
What makes the Coralcone menstrual cup different from the rest?
We wanted to take menstrual cup design to the next level. We did a huge amount of research to answer the question: Why aren’t more people using menstrual cups? Especially when we know there are so many benefits to using them compared to traditional products.
The issues with other menstrual cups always came back to usability and designs that were one size fits all. A lot of people are concerned about finding the right fit. Plus there’s the ever present terror of getting it stuck up there.
The Coralcone design solves quite a few of these issues with its detachable ribbon. Combined with a couple of different size options, Coralcone gives users a much more versatile way to experiment with getting the right fit.
Most conventional menstrual cups have the cup and stem moulded as one piece. But cervix height can vary from person to person, and even throughout the duration of your own period. You can see how that poses a problem!
The usual advice is to take a pair of scissors yourself and to trim the stem of the cup to suit. But that isn’t really an ideal approach for a couple of reasons:
· It’s a crude approach and leaves the material with sharp raw jagged edges, which can be a potential health hazard.
· The results are permanent. So one cycle you might find you can reach your cup with ease after cutting the stem, but when your next cycle comes around you can’t get a good grip at all.
· Those discarded cut-offs just mindlessly add to our growing pollution problem. They just go into the trash, never to be thought about again.
Our ribbon moves in flow with the body, similar to that of a tampon string. You can use the ribbon to help reach the cup if you need it, solving that problem of ‘oh no, where has it gone?!’. Or if you have a low cervix then you can remove it completely, with no scissors needed. Wear it on, off or tucked. It allows for endless experimentation. No matter if you’re a complete novice, menstrual cup expert, there is a way to wear it that suits.
How did you come up with the name Coralcone?
The ‘coral’ in Coralcone comes from the original inspiration of coral reef conservation and the ‘cone’ comes from the conical shape of a cone shell. Other menstrual cup brands mostly refer to their product as ‘XYZ cup’ or ‘disc’. I loved that Coralcone was a unique and memorable name.
What’s one of the best parts of being the Founder of an awesome company creating menstrual cups?
There are so many ‘best’ parts of becoming a startup owner. It has been such a steep learning curve from the beginning. I’m constantly being thrown into the deep end and areas I never knew about before, which has been so satisfying. Even areas that I’m not so drawn to like accounting, legal and logistics have been interesting to learn – it’s important that I’m familiar with all areas of my business (not just the fun parts).
The autonomy and creativity to flex my newly learned skills has been the so-called ‘cup filling’ for me (excuse the pun). Nothing (apart from motherhood) has been so personally fulfilling.
Knowing that I built a product that is really changing lives for the better and contributing to a healthier world makes me so proud. I’m reminded of it with every review and message we get from customers that say they can see themselves using Coralcone for the rest of their lives. The sense of purpose has been is truly gratifying.
To check out & learn more about Coralcone head to: https://www.coralcone.com/
