# Building Cadence: The Story, the Science, and the Sisterhood

An episode of [The Cyclist](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1799823350), 7 Oct 2025, 42 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/101bd2764/podcast/play/109314214/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-9-7%2Fe5704a03-0893-a6dd-422a-8e874d599005.mp3

We’ve officially launched Cadence, our sister brand, our passion project, and the culmination of three years of building, learning, and healing. In this episode, Jess and Kat share the full journey from that first DM to launch day - the highs, the heartbreaks, and the why behind it all. We chat about what drove us to create Cadence, the gaps we saw in the women’s health space, and the products that supported us on our own journeys (and now, hopefully, yours too). We also dive into the realities of the supplement industry - how unregulated it is, what transparency really means, and why we built Cadence to be different. If you’ve ever dreamed of turning frustration into purpose, this one’s for you. ✨ Follow & Connect Instagram: @wearethecyclistWebsite: wearethecyclist.com Shop Cadence: cadencewellbeing.com Hit play to join us on the journey.

## Transcript

[0:06] This is The Cyclist, the podcast that finally talks about your
[0:10] reproductive health the way your group chat does.
[0:12] No awkward silence, no sugar coating, just the real messy.
[0:16] Holy shit why did nobody tell me this convos about your body?
[0:20] I'm Jess. Quinn, and I'm Catherine
[0:22] Douglas. We've been where you are,
[0:24] confused, dismissed and left figuring it all out on our own.
[0:28] So we're gathering the information we wish we had.
[0:31] We are the cyclist, your cycle. Decoded.
[0:40] So Jess, it's a super exciting week.
[0:43] This feels wild, like I actually can't believe we're sitting here
[0:47] and Cadence has launched. I know there were so many times
[0:50] along this journey where I didn't think.
[0:51] It was going to happen so. But here we are.
[0:53] I don't even know if we voiced that to each other.
[0:57] There were times where I was like, ohh, I don't want to let
[0:59] just down. We've done so much work on this
[1:02] and had such big dreams. But we keep getting pregnant and
[1:05] you got pregnant pop up, so it feels very surreal in the best
[1:11] possible way to actually be here.
[1:14] I also think the longer it went on, the more I thought it wasn't
[1:17] gonna happen cause I was like, I don't know if someone else is
[1:19] going to create it exactly as we want it or over the time of it
[1:22] being created, we're going to realise we don't want what we're
[1:25] building. Do you really mean?
[1:26] But I think everything we went through, which we will touch on
[1:28] soon has only, and we've talked about the boys only strengthens
[1:32] our reasoning, our why the creating this, which has been
[1:35] heart breaking to go through. We had to go through, but also
[1:37] really amazing to kind of strengthen that drive, I guess.
[1:41] Yeah. So it's very exciting.
[1:43] For those of you all listening, you will have hopefully seen
[1:46] Cadence and that it has launched and hopefully you've checked out
[1:49] the website. And yeah, we just wanted to sit
[1:52] down today, speak about our why the actual products, our
[1:57] experience with the products, our journeys to creating these
[2:00] products and why cadence. So it all started with a DM,
[2:04] which is no word of a lie, you wanna jump into.
[2:07] Yes, I had worked with you in like a influencer brand capacity
[2:11] for a long time. And you and I, I, I, I think
[2:15] we're talking about this on the podcast before you were doing
[2:18] some content for Brave Face and your agent reached out and said,
[2:22] Hey, do you mind if we delay Jess's content?
[2:24] She's actually having a miscarriage and I was having a
[2:26] miscarriage at the same time. And then we didn't see each
[2:29] other for a while. The next time we did, we sort of
[2:32] talking about woman's house. Then we just had really similar
[2:35] values and experiences and it was just, you know, those
[2:39] conversations that you could just continue on for hours and
[2:42] hours on end. Didn't think much of that at the
[2:45] time either, other than it was just a really, you know, when
[2:48] you go away conversation, you're feeling fired up.
[2:51] And then probably a few months later, I was over and Wyatt with
[2:55] my family and I just all of a sudden this idea popped into my
[2:58] head that was like, you need to start a woman's health
[3:01] supplement brand with jests ends.
[3:05] I kind of dismissed it, but then it was like nagging me all day
[3:08] and there was something in my gut, like my gut just kept
[3:10] saying just message her. Just message her.
[3:12] If you put it in front of her, it will build momentum and
[3:16] you'll do something with it. Did you?
[3:17] Think maybe I would say no. I thought you'd think I was
[3:20] really weird. I mean, that's a different
[3:23] issue. Yeah, I mean, you were doing a
[3:26] whole lot of other things and um, yeah, I just thought it
[3:30] might come a little bit out of the blue and you'd be like, what
[3:35] the hell. Where like the amount of
[3:37] parallels and like things that have been happening at the same
[3:40] time and both Kat and I as worlds that have lines that
[3:42] we've realised over the last three years.
[3:44] It's like mildly creepy, like it is so weird.
[3:46] And even how we've reflected on our journeys and how much of
[3:48] that has aligned before we even knew each other.
[3:50] Like it's just really fascinating.
[3:52] And I was working with on both days and I told remembers the
[3:55] story was in my I remember exactly where I'm sitting in my
[3:58] old house. And I think you were maybe a
[4:00] year or two integrate face and I had a product idea for brave
[4:02] base and I was like, I want to pitch this to Catherine.
[4:04] I know, not kidding. I had worded the message to you
[4:07] and I wanted to push it to you. I was like, maybe we could do
[4:10] this as a coal air product within brave phase.
[4:11] And I deleted it and never sent it because I was like, she's
[4:14] going to think I'm such a weirdo, like I'm trying to
[4:15] takeover her business or something.
[4:17] And then you reached out to me. That's sort of been what a good
[4:20] do it two years later, wanting to start a separate business and
[4:24] it's just wild. So I was at home recovery,
[4:27] actually living with my parents because we were in between
[4:29] houses and I was still recovering from my miscarriage.
[4:32] And you sent me this message and I was in a place with everything
[4:35] that I built. I would have been, I don't know,
[4:36] seven years into having my own kind of audience and profile and
[4:40] speaking to chronic health issues, both from my lens of
[4:43] being a person with a disability and also chronic health issues
[4:46] in terms of Indo. And I knew I wanted to create
[4:49] something big out of it. I just didn't know how or what
[4:52] that would be. And I knew it was going to be in
[4:53] the chronic health space because every time I spoke about it and
[4:56] my community lit up, an eye lit up.
[4:58] Like it just felt so aligned to me because it's something I've
[5:00] worked my whole life. And when you sent me that
[5:04] message as like the queen of creating supplements, I was
[5:07] like, is she actually kidding? Like this is a wild.
[5:09] And then Kat and I Fast forward winning it for coffee.
[5:12] And then that coffee turned into mini coffees, coffees, lots of
[5:15] coffees, although not coffees cause they're offering coffee,
[5:18] lots of chives and marches in the way.
[5:21] And we kind of over probably the space of the year, drinks this
[5:25] up in cafes as to what it could be.
[5:28] And we just kept aligning and aligning and lining.
[5:30] While also I think the most interesting thing about our
[5:32] journey is our life kit happening and things within our
[5:35] personal life kit devolving as well.
[5:37] So Cat fell pregnant and had a miscarriage there.
[5:41] No. You had the miscarriage plans.
[5:42] Yes. And then while we were creating
[5:45] the business, you told me you were pregnant.
[5:46] You then had Copa. I found out I was pregnant.
[5:48] I then had Marla. And so that's, A, why it's taken
[5:51] a while, but B, we've also just really taken the time to
[5:54] formulate, to research, to make sure the products that we're
[5:57] launching are what to make sure the products that we're
[5:59] launching are exactly what we want to put out in the world.
[6:02] And. Yeah.
[6:03] Yeah, I think you and I were both really motivated by the
[6:06] fact that we on our Women's Health journeys, we both took a
[6:10] long time to get diagnosed with endometriosis, obviously had
[6:13] fertility journey. We were really privileged to be
[6:16] able to kind of create these teams around us, all of experts
[6:20] that were not funded. And a big part of both of our
[6:25] journeys, I think was working with naturopaths, particularly
[6:28] off fertility journeys and managing symptoms of Indo, at
[6:31] least for me. And it was working with
[6:33] naturopaths to try and manage that situation.
[6:37] And like I would be embarrassed and probably really shocked
[6:41] myself if I added up how much I've been going to the next
[6:44] prep. And then like honestly, every
[6:45] time I leave there, it would be like 3 to $500 worth of
[6:49] practitioner only supplements. But for me, my health was so
[6:54] important that that was something I was willing to
[6:56] sacrifice that money onto, which I recognise as a super
[7:00] privileged position. And not everyone can go and one
[7:04] pay to go see a naturopath privately, but to then be able
[7:07] to purchase the products that they recommend afterwards.
[7:10] So I think you and I were both super motivated.
[7:12] And this is where the initial idea started was a supplement
[7:15] range that made some of those products that we had such
[7:17] amazing results from more accessible to others.
[7:21] But then I think what was really special as we started going to
[7:24] these CAFE talks was how much we genuinely wanted to make a
[7:28] change in Women's Health, well, not just create a product.
[7:30] And so you guys will all know us hopefully because of the
[7:33] cyclists and which is the second part that came out of those
[7:38] conversations, which was we want to create a space where women
[7:42] can come for trusted information about their cycles.
[7:46] Anything to do with being a woman and woman's house?
[7:50] Differently, but we wanted that space to be separate from what
[7:53] then became Cadence. And we wanted it to come first
[7:55] because we wanted it to be just a space to educate, not a space
[7:59] to sell anything. Just genuinely, if you want to
[8:01] learn about your body, which every woman hasn't had the
[8:04] opportunity, I don't think to learn enough about, here is the
[8:07] information for you, which is why we built our Advisory Board.
[8:09] And as mentioned, you'll know about the cyclist.
[8:10] If that's why you're here, you've obviously been listening
[8:13] ends. We really wanted to launch that
[8:14] first. And I think that's been so
[8:16] special. And I think what's come out of
[8:18] that, which we maybe didn't expect was also the amount of
[8:20] stories that has only heightened our drive again to create these
[8:24] things that we're wanting to create or have created.
[8:26] And it's an amazing community for us to be so deeply involved
[8:30] in because I think it will help us to reform what we actually
[8:33] the products that we actually developed within the cadence
[8:36] range in the future as. Well, yeah, if you want
[8:38] anything, slide into DM. We can hopefully make it happen.
[8:42] We do like Cat and I, I think our values align in so many
[8:45] ways. But we have such a drive to
[8:47] helping other people and also making it accessible, which I
[8:49] think is definitely key because supplements can be so expensive.
[8:53] And also making it trustworthy because I get really anxious
[8:57] around supplements. Do I know what's actually in
[8:58] this, how it's being formulated and all of that?
[9:01] So I've learned so much from being working with you and
[9:04] understanding what goes into making a product that is
[9:07] trustworthy, worthy, and high quality.
[9:10] And I think that's why we're the perfect duo.
[9:13] So for those of you who don't know my background and the CEO
[9:17] of Healthcare by Douglas, which was formerly part of Douglas
[9:19] Pharmaceuticals and we have a number of supplement ranges.
[9:23] You may know clinicians, which is the #2 supplement range in
[9:27] New Zealand pharmacy. We've also got Braeface Flow,
[9:30] which is a digest of brands and a few others.
[9:33] But I have been leading the new product development team for
[9:37] over 10 years. And so a lot of experience in
[9:40] formulating products. And we obviously my family is
[9:43] from a pharmaceutical background, so take formulation
[9:46] really seriously and really love to look at the science behind
[9:51] ingredients. So I've always had that skill
[9:54] and that ability of my teams to be able to build brands, develop
[9:58] products that are trustworthy or do what they say they're going
[10:01] to do. But one of the things I learnt
[10:03] through Brave Faces is that so hard building a brand from
[10:06] scratch and you've got this amazing community that you've
[10:10] built and talked to about chronic health and your advocacy
[10:14] and all of that type of thing. And so being able to combine
[10:17] those two worlds, I think are so powerful and going to give us a
[10:21] way bigger opportunity to actually help more women.
[10:25] Differently because there's nothing more frustrating than
[10:27] having the drive, having the desire, having the right product
[10:29] or service and they're not actually be able to reach the
[10:31] people. Even we feel that with the
[10:33] podcast sometimes, like there is so much gold in here about
[10:35] getting it out to people is really hard.
[10:37] Like I'm gonna be honest about that.
[10:38] It's really hard to reach people to listen and we're so grateful
[10:41] to people, they do. But it's like this is such a
[10:43] nugget of gold. How can we get that out there?
[10:46] So having an existing audience, having a community of people who
[10:49] really understand and also having someone like myself who
[10:52] gets content is really helpful. And also I've been taking
[10:55] supplements since literally I used to drive into the Watts
[10:58] with my mum when I had cancer because she wanted me to take
[11:01] supplements to support what I was going through.
[11:03] Supplements have been a huge part of my life and something
[11:06] I've always been passionate about.
[11:07] I actually looked at doing that trophy.
[11:08] So it's been and nutrition or just something I've been so
[11:11] fascinated about. So for me to be on the inside
[11:13] now and learning about it and have that natural personal
[11:17] desire and drive to create these has been pretty epic.
[11:20] I wanted to jump into the name Cadence and where they came from
[11:23] because we worked really long and hard around naming products
[11:26] and naming our businesses, which is a lot harder than you would
[11:30] imagine, especially in the supplement space with
[11:32] regulation. That's probably the biggest
[11:33] headache I have learnt and since working in supplements and then
[11:37] also naming a name, you come up with the callers names and then
[11:39] you realise either someone else has it or the Instagram handles
[11:41] taken. You'll see we have an under
[11:43] score on the end of our Instagram handle, which still
[11:45] annoys me. We just had to get what we could
[11:47] get and I'm obsessed with the cadence.
[11:49] I think it's really cool, but there is a bigger picture around
[11:52] the cyclist in cadence. Do you wanna speak to that?
[11:53] Maybe. Yeah, sure we are.
[11:55] Because we wanted to start these two sister brands.
[11:58] We had to come up with two names that were distinct but kind of
[12:02] made sense together, I guess as a story.
[12:04] So the reference that we had was some of you will know, Emily
[12:08] Vice had Into the Gloss, which was a big beauty blog, which she
[12:11] then turned into the very well known beauty brand Glossier.
[12:15] I never know how quite pronounced that.
[12:17] But you pronounce that really fancy.
[12:18] Are you a glossy hair? But.
[12:19] That pussy a Glossier. No, it sounded good.
[12:22] But I quite liked that because they're similar enough that
[12:25] there's a tie, but they're not like their own things.
[12:28] That was, I guess what we were trying to emulate.
[12:30] Came up with some amazing names and until you had to try and
[12:33] name the brand Baby and get shut down with trademarks and
[12:38] registrations and things, you won't understand how frustrating
[12:41] it is. But I'm super happy where we
[12:43] landed. So the what we really were
[12:45] wanting to play on was the fact that as women, we all have our
[12:49] own individual cycles, which very they let they really
[12:54] unique. And it's it's really cool
[12:57] because I'm a big believer in your cycle is actually telling
[13:00] you about your health and what's happening to you.
[13:03] And it's kind of like a free monthly checkup.
[13:06] I guess what you could say. Some of us don't have cycles
[13:08] because we're on contraception and we've chosen not not to have
[13:12] that. That's what we're all doing is
[13:15] trying to optimise our Women's Health, hopefully through our
[13:19] cycle. So the cyclists kind of felt
[13:21] like not too on the nose, not too direct, but like we're all
[13:24] trying to learn how to cycle better as women, right From
[13:29] that, there's time we get our period through to menopause and
[13:32] beyond. And so it's like this kind of
[13:35] nice metaphor of learning to cycle Better Together is what we
[13:39] say a lot. And then you had like a funny
[13:41] little play that you can't ride a bike because you.
[13:44] Can't ride a bike What was just there like that name to business
[13:49] the cyclist yeah that I think was cyclist is really cool.
[13:52] It is playing a play on the woman's cycle basically and
[13:55] keeping that cycle going around around.
[13:56] And then cadence is a play. We often say find your cadence
[14:00] or find your unique cadence, which we really like in.
[14:02] Cadence is all about finding a rhythm and a pattern within a
[14:06] cycle or within a a rhythm, our passion within something, which
[14:09] is where you can apply that to your own body and find a
[14:12] rhythmic pattern within your own unique cycle.
[14:14] Yeah. And I think that's the nice
[14:16] thing is each one of us that will look slightly different.
[14:19] So for me with my psycho, I've always had issues with short
[14:21] cycles spotting and that type of thing.
[14:24] And by working with these practitioners, I've been able to
[14:27] get it to a more healthy link. I've been able to reduce some of
[14:29] that sort of spotting and fallen into my own cadence or my own
[14:34] rhythm with my body where I can now kind of find the shoes and,
[14:38] you know, move differently throughout the months or eat
[14:42] differently throughout the month depending on how I feel.
[14:44] And so Cadence is just such a lovely play to like really
[14:48] falling in love with your unique cycle and what works for your
[14:53] body and your flow. Definitely.
[14:55] And we have some fun tag lines you might have heard like
[14:57] formulated for the flow of view, which speaks for itself.
[15:00] And then we also use kind of sisterhood and science quite
[15:03] often in the same sentence because Kat can go into in a
[15:06] second when we talk about the formulations about the science
[15:08] behind and the science backing that you always work with, with
[15:11] your supplement brands. But also the sisterhood with
[15:13] want for us because that also brings in the cyclists, but also
[15:16] brings a human element to the brain, which is so important to
[15:18] us because it's all about you and I and the people who will
[15:22] hopefully be taking these products.
[15:24] SO2 sister brands, the cyclists where you can get your education
[15:29] through podcasts out education platform, but also find
[15:31] practitioners that we recommend or our community recommends in a
[15:35] place to connect with other women as well.
[15:38] And then Cadence, our product range, which is largely going to
[15:42] be supplements to start with, but who knows what the future
[15:44] brings. Who knows where this could go?
[15:46] Yeah, so it's super exciting. It's been so rewarding getting
[15:49] to this point, but the real work begins now.
[15:52] Yes, I do keep thinking like, oh, we've launched, it's done.
[15:55] But they're like, ohh, wait, no, we've actually got to keep this
[15:57] going. Yeah.
[15:58] So three real babies during miscarriages 3 years and now
[16:04] three products babies. So that is wild that it's been
[16:07] 333. I know three.
[16:10] I'm a. Once you start seeing numbers,
[16:12] you see them. Everywhere you do.
[16:13] Yeah. And this is.
[16:15] Yeah. We didn't even click until it
[16:17] all kind of came together. It's taken us three years to
[16:19] formulate. We've gone through three
[16:20] miscarriages between us. We've had three babies between
[16:23] us. We have three products, and it's
[16:25] pretty exciting. Maybe we need a third cofounder.
[16:29] I went out with the workload. This is that.
[16:32] So the products, the product, do you wanna take us through the
[16:36] products? Yes.
[16:37] I'm also going to interject with bits of my journey.
[16:39] Cat and I have been taking the products for a while.
[16:43] Shall we start with the Mastodon?
[16:45] Let's start with the pink drink that everyone's hopefully seeing
[16:48] on their Instagram feeds. Every time I've posted,
[16:51] everyone's like when I was teasing at everyone's like, why
[16:53] am I seeing this bloody pig drink everywhere?
[16:55] And I was like, just you wait. It's honestly, it is the most
[16:59] delicious supplement that I formed myself.
[17:02] Wow, you picking a favourite child?
[17:04] No, I'm packing. You're most delicious.
[17:08] Most delicious child. Alright, thank you.
[17:10] All have their coins that I like uniquely about them, but it
[17:15] tastes like Jelly. Tip it literally order Raspberry
[17:19] Jelly for obvious reasons that we can't say Jelly it but it
[17:22] literally basically. It is truly the best supplement
[17:24] I've ever tasted. So enough told Dale is a powder.
[17:28] It has got three ingredients for that, which is obviously
[17:31] inositol, which I'll get into in a little bit, chromium and
[17:35] magnesium. So this product enough tolls got
[17:38] a lot of research for women who are experiencing PCs can create
[17:43] insulin resistance, hormonal imbalance, which can create
[17:46] hairiness, acne and also the inability to break sugar down.
[17:51] So we end up storing a lot of fat around the middle and so and
[17:56] Nostell is used significantly for that.
[17:59] But we wanted to take it a step further and actually add an A
[18:02] nostril and chromium, which is like the absolute power couple
[18:06] when you were talking about blood sugar balance.
[18:09] Am I correct in saying that's the first one in New Zealand
[18:12] that has this combination? Combination, yes, it is.
[18:16] So I'm super excited about that. So it's not just for people with
[18:19] PC. I actually got told to go on and
[18:21] also told from my gynaecologist. I don't have PCs but I have
[18:25] really long cycles and my gynaecologist said she had no
[18:27] idea. I don't even think we will
[18:29] formulating at this point. This was a while ago.
[18:31] She told me that I should go on ask told to help sort of my
[18:34] cycles which is interesting. Yeah.
[18:36] So we've got Jess on that now, yes.
[18:38] I've been trying. For a while and seeing whether
[18:41] we get those cycles down shorter, which is exciting, but
[18:45] this is also for anyone like me who has a sweet tooth and ends
[18:49] up with sweet cravings yes. So that's when too much sugar is
[18:54] kind of like flying around the cells.
[18:56] You can't break it down. You've got and chilling
[18:58] resistance. And often we end up craving
[19:03] sugar. So this helps to really curb
[19:06] those sugar cravings, which helps when you're storing fat
[19:10] around the middle. So it also helps that it tastes
[19:12] like a delicious it also helps that it tastes like a delicious
[19:15] nice drink that you can have yes.
[19:16] So it's. Like a treat instead of the
[19:18] sweet treat. I actually reached 4 in the.
[19:20] Afternoon, yes, I actually had mine was sparkling water.
[19:22] Sometimes in the afternoon. It just tastes like a yummy
[19:25] summary drink. It's so Yum.
[19:26] Yeah, I literally have been craving this product.
[19:29] Every morning, like, yeah, you ran out.
[19:31] And I ran. Out you take the big like.
[19:34] Ohh say but I am loving it and I think that this could be our
[19:41] best seller. Although yes, we did predict
[19:45] this, we predicted that a nostalgia would be our best
[19:47] seller and that was until we were properly trying Grateful
[19:51] Guts, Grateful Cat and I have been taking it for a few months
[19:54] now and we've been, we've been trialling in the background the
[19:57] flavours and all of that kind of stuff.
[19:58] But actually getting to trial the finished product, we had to
[20:00] wait for it obviously be finished and delivered.
[20:02] So we've been trialling it for a couple of months as well as some
[20:04] of our hero ambassadors that you will be seeing popping up and
[20:07] the results. When I say I'm flawed, like I
[20:10] don't know how to say this in a way that's not just sounding
[20:12] like I'm selling it. That's not bad.
[20:13] Like I'm actually, I'm gonna tell you this is exactly how I'm
[20:16] going to sell it to you. So Cat and I text literally 24/7
[20:19] because we are grounded. Yes I am no this.
[20:22] They have messages. They are not proving messages
[20:24] anymore because they are to me and I am the content girl.
[20:26] Ohh, that my team mate. You see those faces?
[20:31] OK, this is a warning. If you are a colleague of mine
[20:34] or in my team, please skip forward a couple of minutes on
[20:38] this podcast if you do not want to hear about.
[20:40] Ohh, stick around if you'd like to be sold on grateful guts
[20:43] because between Catherine and Eyes, constant messages around
[20:46] approvals and like when I say we message all day long like it's,
[20:50] it's ridiculous. I think Todd might have a third
[20:51] person relationship now. We also see each other daily
[20:54] Pope updates, so here they are that's from Catherine I'm also
[20:58] gonna expose myself here because I'm not going sorry getting hot
[21:01] in here. I'm gonna expose myself too
[21:03] because that's just a bit unclear if I'm just exposing
[21:05] Catherine, but this one is from Catherine ran out of grateful
[21:08] guts and constipated again. It's my favourite product, so
[21:10] she picked favourite child and then I ohh I, I took the sister
[21:15] this morning when I was in the bathroom stalls at work.
[21:19] This bloody guts up woman I have is so good.
[21:22] I've never pooped so much in my life.
[21:24] My sister replied. You should definitely share this
[21:26] once you launch. That's it.
[21:27] I will. Okay, this is from Major
[21:30] Catherine. Perfect.
[21:32] Ohh, that's around me anyway. Also to you and I, but I just
[21:35] did my second poop emoji of the day dot dot dot GG, which is
[21:40] code for dreadful guts. And then Catherine just goes yes
[21:43] with a poo emoji. Catherine.
[21:46] So I forgot grateful guts yesterday and had an average
[21:48] poop today. I took it today and again, a
[21:51] good poop. Just imagine there's just a bit
[21:55] of a mile of put emojis amongst these.
[21:58] Cat also takes me. I'm way less bloated after a
[22:00] solid week of taking grateful Guts.
[22:03] This was my one to get through and I just did my second Pope of
[22:06] the day. What the fuck.
[22:08] The only thing I've changed is adding grateful Guts and you
[22:11] know I've tried everything under the sun for my gut.
[22:13] Added poo emoji. Even Catherine replies which I
[22:15] think might need to be on to new tagline.
[22:17] It's a poo celebration. English sleep dog.
[22:22] OK, last one. Catherine takes me also.
[22:25] I don't think there's so many more, but anyway, we'll stop it.
[22:27] Oh my It's wild.
[22:44] Get earphones. I know, me too.
[22:46] I've always been on the constipated side of things.
[22:48] Slippery arm works for me from naturopaths but it's always
[22:50] tasted like a raw powder, gross and super thick.
[22:52] So it's nice to have it in a nice powder and have the reboot
[22:55] benefits making me feel so much better at postpartum so.
[22:59] Have you? And that's actually what I want
[23:00] to touch on is I'm 8 weeks postpartum right now and anyone
[23:04] who has had a baby. For.
[23:06] You often get a bit constipated on the other side of that, but
[23:10] you're also your stomach is is deflating, so you feel you're
[23:14] constantly bloated and I don't normally suffer actually from a
[23:17] lot of gas, bloated and gassy and just not feeling great in
[23:21] the stomach area. This product has made me feel so
[23:25] much better, like the last couple of weeks where I've been
[23:27] able to take it regularly. When we got our finished goods,
[23:30] I was actually saying this morning to Jackie, who's our
[23:33] innovation manager and develops all of our products here across
[23:35] all of our brands, that this has been my favourite supplement
[23:38] I've taken for a really long time.
[23:40] It's made me feel so incredibly good and I'm really excited
[23:45] because I know that this can be such an issue for women.
[23:47] So diving a little bit into it. Both of us had been given
[23:52] slippery arm from thatch paths in the past to deal with
[23:55] regularity and slippery is I pre biotic.
[23:59] And so what's actually in grateful guts is we've got
[24:02] Saccharomyces Pilates, which is a probiotic.
[24:05] Then we've got slippery arm, which is a prebiotic.
[24:07] So the way that that works is the probiotic goes in and it
[24:11] crowds out all of the bad bacteria and replaces it with
[24:14] good bacteria. And then the slippery arm is
[24:17] actually a prebiotic sort feeds it so that it can actually
[24:19] multiply and really like populate your guts with good
[24:23] bacteria, which is just amazing. So cream also, when you try this
[24:27] product, you'll see it's quite thick, thick and you need to use
[24:31] a little Wiz to get rid of the like what you call.
[24:34] Those lumps, lumps, slumps, slumps, but also you can looking
[24:38] for yeah, it forms little lumps, which as kept saying as part of
[24:41] the product, but you also can't distract them.
[24:43] They actually it's totally fine. But if you prefer a more snow
[24:45] they're drinking then you can use it like an electric razor or
[24:47] put it in a tiny bit of warm, not hot but like room
[24:50] temperature water and then fill it with cold if you don't like
[24:52] the little. I actually like that I can see
[24:54] that because I can visibly see how it would work and my gut
[24:57] because it's quite like, what's the word jealous enough?
[25:01] Yes. And so how it's just like to
[25:03] flow things through. So that's what's happening,
[25:05] helping with that regularity. But don't worry if you're not on
[25:07] the conservative side, it won't make you get diarrhoea or
[25:11] anything. But then we also have chamomile
[25:14] and ginger in there, which is what works more instantaneously
[25:18] to help with that like bloated, gassy feel.
[25:22] So it's just really calming on the stomach.
[25:25] And then over time you're building up this Amazing Grace
[25:28] bacteria in your gut so that you have more healthy regular guts
[25:32] on an ongoing basis. It tastes like lemon.
[25:34] So it's actually, I would say it's not as delicious as the
[25:37] Jelly tip. The Jelly stuff is like a real
[25:39] treat. But this is a really good
[25:40] tasting supplement. Still nice fresh lemon flavour.
[25:44] Yeah, totally palatable. I love it just in water.
[25:47] I look forward to it every morning as well.
[25:49] But it's also great and smoothies as well cause it's
[25:51] quite a mild flavour. Definitely something I've
[25:53] learned about supplements is like the herbs and stuff that in
[25:57] sorry, the herbs and the ingredients that are and the
[25:59] grateful guts are they have taste of their own.
[26:02] Therefore there's only so much you can do to mask them and I
[26:03] have had some that are horrific that I literally can't even
[26:06] stomach. Where is this one?
[26:07] I drink it, apply they and also told doll inositol itself is a
[26:11] really neutral flavour. So that's why you can add
[26:13] flavours really easily, things like probiotics and to Gnosall
[26:17] because like it has not got their fibrous thick feels.
[26:19] That's why. But you couldn't achieve the
[26:21] same flavour. But the fact that we've achieved
[26:23] the flavour that we have achieved given the ingredients
[26:25] like you, if you smell it, you can smell what Supream smells
[26:28] like and would taste like. And so when I smell it, I was
[26:31] like, ohh, no. But then when I tasted it, I was
[26:33] really surprised how loud it is. Pleasantly surprised, Yeah,
[26:36] flavour of this product, which is really exciting.
[26:38] And this is one of those products that you notice the
[26:41] most when you forget to take it. 100%.
[26:43] How much it was working. So if you have gut issues,
[26:47] highly recommended just going and having a look at theirs.
[26:49] And then our third baby is Cycle Sister, which is a capsule.
[26:54] It's OS for wonky. Cycles, yes, yeah, that's our
[26:58] Glen. So Jess and I have both had
[27:00] journeys working on getting more healthy cycles.
[27:03] So you are actually on the longer side.
[27:05] My cycle very much on the long side and my normal is 38 days.
[27:09] But when I'm post miscarriage, which is where I'm at right now
[27:11] and where I was at a while ago Premila I either my last cycle
[27:15] was 50 days. So I'm actually on it now, which
[27:17] was really nice that I can take it now that I'm not pregnant and
[27:20] I'm back on it, getting that cycle shorter.
[27:23] Whereas I am on the shorter side of cycle side, mine were as
[27:26] short as 20 days at one point. I got them up to more like 26 to
[27:31] 28 days became my new average which is within the healthy
[27:35] healthy range. And then I also had issues with
[27:37] spotting which is your when you don't have enough progesterone
[27:40] after you have ovulated ears. And I would basically spot from
[27:43] ovulation all the way through to my periods, which we have both
[27:48] also been prescribed Chase Tree, which is one of the key
[27:50] ingredients in this product. So this product is made with
[27:53] Chase tree Peony and milk Thistle, really beautiful
[27:58] combination for hormone balancing and really working on
[28:02] getting that cycle regularity back there.
[28:05] So this is for anyone who's like fantastic if you're coming off
[28:08] the pill and you're like post pill chaos and you need to
[28:11] reregulate your cycle. Anyone who's having irregular
[28:16] cycles in general, so too long, too short ghosting chaste tree
[28:21] is like one of those ingredients that nature has just love and
[28:24] and highly recommend. Who this product is not for,
[28:27] however, is If you're on the pill cause you're using it as a
[28:29] contraception, it can make you more fertile.
[28:32] Chase tree so. You should.
[28:34] I should be taking that, yeah. So you don't want to be using it
[28:38] if you're on the pill and using that as your only form of
[28:40] contraception and also any hormonal, like any other
[28:45] hormonal contraception options as well.
[28:48] It's. Also great for PMS, am I right?
[28:50] Yes, and that is my that's what I need because I get the worst
[28:54] PMS, not just the cranks, but I get like my boobs eye is
[28:58] actually really hard at the moment because I'm obviously on
[29:00] a fertility journey and I keep thinking I'm pregnant.
[29:02] My boobs are so small, but I actually just have such horrific
[29:04] PMS. So honestly, cycles are strand so excited.
[29:07] About yeah, so the chase tree and the pioneer working on those
[29:11] hormones, making sure that they're at the right place and
[29:13] the right time of your cycle, getting that regularity.
[29:15] And then the milk Thistle is and they actually supporting your
[29:18] liver so that you can process that all better really
[29:21] ingredients that are highly recommended.
[29:23] If you did go for a natch hack appointment and you were
[29:26] experiencing some of these things will help with anything
[29:29] to do with PMS cycle issue like tender breasts, all of that sort
[29:33] of thing as well related to that.
[29:35] So fantastic for the girls trying to sort that and those
[29:40] issues out. Exactly what I've really loved
[29:42] about working with Kat and the team here is that I mentioned
[29:45] Jackie who's helped formulate our products and has a wealth of
[29:48] knowledge, but they also have an in house naturopath here.
[29:50] And then we actually also got our naturopath cat and I worked
[29:53] with Lisa and Rebecca at Motherwell to also help advise
[29:56] on our products because we wanted to talk to people who
[29:58] were also seeing patients, patients day in and out like us.
[30:01] So we've got our personal experience, nature bats and
[30:04] house naturopaths externally and formulators.
[30:06] So I was blown away by how much effort goes into creating this
[30:09] because I know, or I think I know from experience, from what
[30:13] I've heard is that often supplement brands will just
[30:15] order something from overseas that says it does what it does
[30:17] and put their own branding on it.
[30:18] So it's really cool to be working with the company who go
[30:21] right from the start and formulate it correctly for what
[30:24] people need. So do you want to actually touch
[30:26] on because we talk about science meets sisterhood, what the
[30:28] science part means and what you're kind of old use around
[30:30] there is within the company? Yeah, sure.
[30:33] So I'm super passionate about like my whole family are in
[30:36] pharmaceuticals. If there's, if you've got a
[30:39] problem, there's a pill to fix it.
[30:41] And it wasn't until I had my personal experience with
[30:43] recurrent Utis and modern medicine wasn't getting rid of
[30:47] those that I really turned to more Eastern and supplementation
[30:51] and trying to say, well, rather than treating myself when I got
[30:54] to the point when I was so. So I am really passionate about
[30:59] supplements and the role that they play in our health within
[31:02] the Western society and making that more accessible to people.
[31:06] But in order to do that, we have to build trust, right?
[31:10] And one of the issues that we have in New Zealand is our
[31:14] supplement industry isn't super regulators.
[31:16] You can put a little dash of this in there and make the claim
[31:20] of what that ingredient does, but you don't actually have
[31:22] enough of that ingredient for it to have that mode of action
[31:25] within the body. And so they're unfortunately are
[31:29] a lot of cowboy, I call them cowboy players out there who are
[31:33] doing that. They're following trends.
[31:34] They're putting a tiny bit of this and that in there and
[31:37] they're making all these claims. People are buying it cause they
[31:40] want the benefit and then they're not seeing results and
[31:42] then they're getting disheartened.
[31:43] Those supplements bullshit. You'll hear the people say, ohh,
[31:46] isn't that just pissing out? Don't you just piss all of that
[31:50] out and all this type of thing? So my big philosophy is around
[31:56] formulating to what's called a therapeutic dose.
[31:59] And that is when you take ingredients that have got
[32:02] clinical trials behind them, like validated clinical trials
[32:07] that prove the mode of action of that ingredients and you put the
[32:11] same amount that was used in the clinical trial into your
[32:15] formulation. What that means is we're never
[32:18] going to have a product that has got twenty ingredients to that
[32:22] because you just couldn't fit everything that you need in the
[32:25] capsule or in a reason. Like even with a powder.
[32:28] Like if you can take 2 tablespoons of a powder for
[32:31] example, you can't fit 20 therapeutic doses of different
[32:36] ingredients in there. It makes me so frustrated when I
[32:38] see brand that I've seen some popping up overseas who are
[32:40] like, I tried to fix my health issues, but I couldn't.
[32:43] So I created my own product and I used to take all of these
[32:45] niche that you have like the million supplements they were
[32:48] taking. And I've packaged it into this
[32:49] one supplement and I'm like, now everything that I've learned,
[32:51] I'm like, I know that's physically impossible and you're
[32:53] literally. Lying.
[32:54] So I, I think that's actually really interesting to dive into.
[32:58] You came into it from an outsider consumer.
[33:00] You see that ad and it's super compelling and you're like, Oh
[33:02] my God, that's amazing. Of course I want to buy the one
[33:05] product, not the 20 products. What have you learned from being
[33:08] on the other side of it? Because I think this is where I
[33:10] get really frustrated. Sometimes you try to do the
[33:13] honourable thing, but it's not always the most.
[33:16] Saleable. Saleable, marketable, trendy,
[33:19] yes thing. What have you learned from being
[33:22] on the formulation side of things?
[33:24] My bullshit radar is through the roof to the point where it's
[33:27] frustrating, Like I'm just scrolling and I'm seeing all
[33:29] these on it bullshit, bullshit. Bullshit you always send them
[33:32] to. Me I.
[33:32] Do in this working on that. Now I like this culture that is
[33:35] so great, so I think my bullshit rate is just right has just gone
[33:37] through the roof. I was always probably more
[33:39] sceptical, always a believer in supplements.
[33:41] As I said, I've taken them since I was younger, but my mum's
[33:42] always brought great quality supplements.
[33:44] She's actually been commissioned by her for ever since been
[33:47] around and then we would always go to naturopath as well.
[33:49] So I've always been a supplement taker, but I would never buy a
[33:51] supplement that just looked and sounded dodgy to me because I
[33:55] just don't trust it. Whereas now I think I've been
[33:59] like, I, I obviously took a what a gamble, but like it was a
[34:02] whole new world for me to enter into this.
[34:04] They think I'd worked with you on brave face and clinicians.
[34:06] I knew the quality of the, the supplements that you can create.
[34:08] So I felt confident because I was never going to put my name
[34:11] on something that felt like it was a cowboy.
[34:14] You know, I've just learned how much bullshit is out there.
[34:16] And I think what's frustrating me now is someone who's really
[34:19] passionate about getting these products into the right hands is
[34:21] that we're really strong in our values as a brand.
[34:24] And we're not wanting to sell things on a basis of saying they
[34:28] do something just because it sounds trendy and cool and
[34:29] making them buy something because that's what I'm saying.
[34:32] A lot of the ads at the moment is like selling people on weight
[34:34] loss, Iran, all the different things.
[34:36] And I just think it's really toxic, especially if it's a
[34:39] robust rich what the product actually does.
[34:41] So yeah, it's just been really interesting for me to learn and
[34:45] I like I talk about it all the time with my friends and family
[34:48] about how stoked I am to be working with a company who are
[34:51] formulating in such an incredible way.
[34:52] And I've learnt an insane amount of things.
[34:55] So yeah, I think my bullshit writer has just gone through the
[34:57] roof because it's just mind blowing to see what people are
[35:00] claiming. And I also see like what they
[35:02] package it in, in terms of like, like, actually I'm not going to
[35:06] slam brands. But anyway, I just, yeah, it's
[35:10] almost like I know what about once you start to say it, you're
[35:12] like, wow, I'm scared that then there needs to be more
[35:15] regulation of the runners. I love what Rachel they're doing
[35:17] over the season and like demanding for these kind of
[35:19] regulations. So yeah, I'm just really happy
[35:21] to be where I am. And also like, I, I mean, you
[35:25] guys have seen me filming it. I'm taking these products day in
[35:27] and day out. There is no way in hell I would
[35:29] put anything in my body that I wasn't 100% sure of.
[35:32] So I'm stoked that I've been able to see it right from the
[35:34] get go. And I know what's in there.
[35:35] And I know I think that's the nice thing the last sort of
[35:38] month or so is we've got our final goods.
[35:41] We, we've been trialling all of these ingredients individually
[35:43] and we know that they work. And I obviously had confidence
[35:46] that the formulas would work, but I really, I needed you to
[35:51] have the experience using them and feel completely sold that it
[35:55] did it so that you could talk about them with conviction.
[35:58] Differently and I'm at the point where, like I apologise to my
[36:00] audience of the day because I feel like I used to about my
[36:02] legal the time and now all I'm pushing supplements, but I'm
[36:04] not. I'm just like I'm an utter
[36:06] disbelief. You can hear from the text, but
[36:07] I think Catherine of how it's working so well.
[36:09] So I'm going to try and find a fine line of not overselling,
[36:12] but I'm also just like I had just had that deep conviction
[36:14] and I the amount of deals that come into my Dms over the last
[36:17] few years of like whenever I talk about my Indo bloat or my
[36:20] endo gut or anything like that. Oh my God that she's related to
[36:22] me Indo. They're just honestly thousands
[36:25] of women that followed me her experience the same.
[36:27] So I really don't want to push product down people's throat,
[36:30] but I also want to help them. So I'm trying to find that fine
[36:31] balance because I know absolutely flawed at what we've
[36:34] created. Yeah, it's super exciting and
[36:38] it's just so nice to know that other people are going to get
[36:41] these benefits that we are now getting.
[36:42] And then when we got back, we got that message from Louisa the
[36:45] other day. So we're working with Louise and
[36:46] Ollie is one of our hero ambassadors, and she sent us a
[36:49] message out of the blue about how she'd run out and her boobs
[36:52] weren't going as well anymore. So we quickly didn't miss the
[36:54] more product, which is really exciting because it's not was
[36:58] cat and I like OHH, because upon me like this just to sleep.
[37:00] OHH, I just so excited about my own brand, but then like seeing
[37:02] this flow on effect about helping other people.
[37:04] It's really cool and I can't wait to see that and our
[37:07] community as well. So we've launched with the
[37:09] community of interest, which is really exciting.
[37:10] That was a pre launch that we got to share cadence with.
[37:13] Then they were the first people to get to see and feel and touch
[37:15] and hear about the product. So that was on Saturday, which
[37:18] was really exciting, and then we had our media influencer event,
[37:21] which was amazing and it's really cool just getting seeing
[37:25] the product and other people's hands was really effects.
[37:27] That was our really exciting launch.
[37:29] And then we're in. Now we're just we're off.
[37:32] We're off into the daily grind of business trying to make sure
[37:37] that the people who could benefit from these awesome
[37:40] products get to see it. Cause that's the hard part.
[37:43] Differently, and what has also been going on behind the scenes
[37:46] is how many other things we've got in the pipelines.
[37:49] The pipeline is so very exciting.
[37:52] The launch that we have coming up in February, ohh, my gosh,
[37:54] I'm it's probably the most innovative products.
[37:58] Should we mention, so this was actually supposed to be part of
[38:01] the initial launch. There was supposed to be 4, but
[38:04] we had some delays on getting the right quality of the
[38:07] ingredient that we wanted. So they pushed it out.
[38:09] But I'm actually really stoked that it's going to be its own
[38:11] launch in February because as you said, it's so innovative
[38:14] that I think it needs to be on its own so.
[38:17] That's actually a really good example to tell you what goes on
[38:20] in our industry. So we have got this ingredient
[38:23] that we really want to have in this specific product.
[38:27] So excited and it turned out and we do as a standard routine.
[38:31] We do what's called an identification test, which is
[38:33] not required by regulation in New Zealand, and a lot of
[38:36] supplement brands do not do it. But basically it's in a lab
[38:42] having a look that it is in fact what it says it is.
[38:45] And this ingredient failed the identity test multiple times,
[38:50] yes, multiple times from multiple suppliers.
[38:52] So we had to go back out globally and find a new supplier
[38:56] and delay the launch. Now we didn't have to do that.
[38:58] We could have not told everyone and continued with launch and
[39:01] then worked to find another ingredient.
[39:04] But just in terms of our values, we couldn't put something out
[39:08] there that we knew was not quite part of the herb that it was
[39:11] supposed to be. You asked my learnings and I
[39:13] forgot about that one. That was probably one of the
[39:15] biggest because it made me realise that what I was putting
[39:18] in my body when I was taking other supplements in the past is
[39:21] quite scary. Ohh sorry what I could have been
[39:23] putting in my body. Like that, so don't wanna freak
[39:25] anyone out. Like when something fails
[39:27] identity test is not that it's full of plastic or like some
[39:30] sort of toxic thing. It's that it might not be the
[39:32] part of the plant that the research has been done on or it
[39:35] might be a plant that looks like, but you know, there's
[39:37] still generally natural things. But we check that it is in fact
[39:43] part of the herb that's we are expecting it to be, which is not
[39:48] regulated, which is why. It's so while there was such a
[39:51] huge learning for me. So yeah, that is cadence in a
[39:54] nutshell, really at a really, really long but amazing three
[39:59] years of a nutshell. And I'm just really stoked that
[40:02] we're here and that I get to do this with you.
[40:04] That's been one of the coolest things is Kat and I friendship
[40:07] flourishing over this time and becoming moms together and now
[40:10] Co founders together is just the coolest thing ever.
[40:13] And I feel very grateful that I get to talk with you so.
[40:16] And I feel incredibly grateful. I have to say brave face, I did
[40:20] on my own at the beginning. And it's a lonely journey.
[40:23] And to have someone to bounce off and like when you're having
[40:25] moments of not feeling as confident versus I'm having
[40:29] moments like you, One of us is always picking the other one up
[40:32] and we're just able to bounce ideas.
[40:34] And I think that has made it into something bigger than I and
[40:39] better than either of us could have done alone.
[40:42] And I also want to give a little shout out to you.
[40:45] I've obviously been on the Trinity leave and I feel like I
[40:47] haven't really been pulling my weight.
[40:49] So guys, a lot of this has been Jess working incredibly hard.
[40:53] She's a mum. She like last night, she's
[40:55] trying to edit our launch video sending it's been at 10:00
[40:58] going. It's not coming together.
[41:00] Just to let you know what failed and we have we are about to
[41:02] reshoot it. Yes, so it's been amazing.
[41:08] You have been amazing and I'm so grateful to be on this journey
[41:12] with you to hopefully help lots of other women.
[41:15] Thank you, I'm very excited and when you said yesterday we were
[41:18] at cats doing some work and just mentioned that Louise 6-8 weeks
[41:21] old, I was like, Oh my Cyclists will remain, as your
[41:41] boys know, on the cyclist is the community and the flow of
[41:44] content that you've always seen. And we love kind of continuing
[41:47] to grow this and evolve. But with you.
[41:48] So yeah, welcome Cadence and thank you all for being here.
[41:59] Thanks for listening to The Cyclist.
[42:01] To join the community, follow us at We Are the Cyclist, Your
[42:05] Cycle Decoded.

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