Episode 502: Jo Barry of Scarlet Period and Rae Heat Pad
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Fiona Killackey: D Hello and welcome to episode 502 of the My Daily Business podcast. Today it's an interview episode, and honestly, the person I'm interviewing, and I do not say this lightly changed my life, changed my life, changed my career. I probably wouldn't be sitting here doing what I'm doing if I had not encountered her and her wisdom and guidance and so many other things.
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And that for me is the Wang and RI people of the Kuan Nation. And I pay my respects to their elders past and present and acknowledge that sovereignty has never been seated. Alright, let's get into today's interview episode.
It is quite a difficult thing to try and. Summarize how brilliant I think the next guest is on today's podcast. Today I'm talking to the wonderful Joanna -Jo -Barry, who runs a business now called Scarlet Period, and has also created the most incredible tool called rae, which we talk about quite a lot in today's chat.
Now, the reason that I said what I said, I said what I said at the start of this podcast around Jo changing my life is that quite literally she did. So way back in 2001, I was living in London, and I think it was it 2001, 2000, 2002, I decided to come back and I was working in a call center and my mom and I would have lots of arguments about what I was gonna do with my life.
And I had gone back, I'd done a degree, I had a bachelor of Arts, and then I had done a postgrad in journalism. I. And so I was working at the age call center taking classified ads, and I was also trying to get my foot in the door of just writing articles, just writing something. And so I wrote to the editor of Yen Magazine, who is an incredible woman in her own right, Jess Scully.
And she said, I love how you've written this letter. Would you like to write an article for us? So I wrote about something that I knew about at that time, which was fashion, and in particular the textiles clothing industry in Australia. Now, my best friend had died when I was 21 in a car accident, and I had been talking a lot to her family.
Her family happened to run a clothing factory in Brunswick, in Melbourne. And so I spent a chunk of time learning how to cut patterns and learning all about the textile clothing, footwear industry. I then wrote an article about that and the demise of the local manufacturing industry in Australia. And then I had that article, I had that one article, which was around fashion to then send out.
Now, somebody I was working with brought in a copy of Fashion Journal, which many people will know, and this has been going for decades now. It is a street press publication. And I looked and I found that the editor at the time was Jo Barry. So I emailed her and she was so receptive and I asked me to come in and have a chat.
And I don't remember the exact, I was probably so nervous that I've kind of blocked it out of my mind. But I remember that she then said, do you wanna have an internship? Do you wanna come and work with me? And we worked honestly in back of this little garage in First Media in Richmond, in Cremorne. And I think that place now is a cafe.
And so Jo and myself and a bunch of amazing, amazing, interesting, creative people, we worked there and we worked there together. Now Jo was the editor and she not only did the editing, she did the styling, she did the photo shoots, she did everything and anything. And she took me under her wing like nothing else, and showed me.
Everything from how to do a page plan, how to write articles, how to work with, you know, the sales team, how to figure out advertorial, where does it fit, how to push back and have the editorial voice when you've got advertisers basically paying for everything. She also taught me just everything like how to, you know, talk to PR agents, how to get interviews, just everything.
She taught me so much and yes, I had had this journalism degree, but I did not know anything about editing, about pulling together publications. During that time, Jo also became the editor for David Jones magazine Precinct and worked really hard on that whole pitch to do a custom publishing title for David Jones.
And at some point in there she said to me, she actually gave me full control over Stew, which was an arts magazine, and oh my God, that was my absolute baby, and I worked on that. And then she decided that she was actually going to stop working there and go to Sydney and really try and make it in the magazine space.
So. Gave me the opportunity to become editor of David Jones magazine and Stu and Fashion Journal, which totally changed my career. It led to so many doors opening and eventually led me to go into book publishing and then online publishing and you know, online marketing and so many other things. But everything that I learned from Jo, I have carried through with me in.
All of my various careers and in all the different management positions and everything else I have taken on board, she was always so encouraging, so open, but also firm. If she had, you know, she would also tell you when, when you hadn't done things correctly, but in a really encouraging and guiding way.
Since then, Jo has gone on, as we talk about, to work at Cleo to work right her way up, and then she opened her own, I'm just laughing because she is just unstoppable. She then opened her own incredible social media marketing and communications agency where she was looking after the likes of L'Oreal and Maybelline and built this all herself with no investment doing it all, and the hiring people, building a team, getting a commercial rental place, you know, pitching, doing all of these things.
And then as she talks through in today's interview, she decided to close that down. For different reasons that she gets into. And now she's the founder of Scarlet Period. So she took over that business and has grown it as she does, and she's just so good at this. But she saw a massive gap in the market for a technology tool that can actually help countless women around the world just literally survive, get through their day to day while dealing with horrendous, horrific health challenges.
So Jo has been instrumental in not only my own life, I know that she has helped so many other people get their careers started. She has guided them. She has encouraged them. She's the biggest cheerleader and she is loyal in her as they come. So here it is, my interview with the absolutely brilliant Joanna Barry, who I tried to get on the podcast numerous times, I should say, and has finally said yes.
And here it is. Let's talk about Scarlet and rae.
Welcome to the podcast. Hi, so I'm so excited to have you here. How are you feeling about life right now?
I am excited. I've just launched a product that I've worked on for three years, and it's finally in market, so pretty excited, pretty nervous, but overall, just feeling pretty happy. A little bit nervous to be here right now.
Must say, Fiona, to talk to you. I'm a writer, not a talker, so. Kind.
I will. And I am just, I should be nervous because you were my first ever boss and I was saying you are gonna say that. Yeah. I honestly like, honestly, I have to give props. You have changed my entire life. Like if you hadn't given me an internship.
And then so generously were like, I'm gonna put you forward for this editor role when I'm moving. And like it changed everything Jo. And you were just, I was thinking about it. 'cause I was like the way you managed me all those years ago and the way that you interacted and encouraged people and were like there to help, that then helped me become that kind of manager to people.
So I just feel like you have changed my life. So this is a huge moment that you're coming on.
Very lovely.
No, honestly, all of it is true. So you are now changing so many people's lives through Scarlet, which is your business. And rae is part of that is rae its own separate brand. rae is part of, Scarlet
rae was developed to be its own brand and we can kind of get into that, but ended up.
Coming to Scarlet and it, I think it's kind of cute, Scarlet rae. It's kind of like a little bit western or something. Yeah, it's, you know,
it's in a ring. It definitely has. And so how did you go from, when I met you, you were editor of Fashion journal, editor of David Jones, precinct Magazine, editor of so many things, and then you moved to Sydney, and then you got into Cleo and worked at huge publications and then you had the word collective.
So can you talk us through your career to date?
My career to date is, I think I have a seven year itch. That's what I've decided lately. I seem to pivot at a certain point and it's always the same time. So it's like a relationship. Everyone has that four year itch or whatever it is. I think it's the same careers, but yeah.
So I started in street press many moons ago. Loved it. I loved the fact that street press, you did everything. So you know, you are the writer, you're the stylist, you're on every photo shoot. You were dealing with distribution, you are dealing with. Customers or you know, readers and you touched every single thing.
And it was incredible learning spot. Like it was hard work, but it was just constantly learning and amazing. So I think even before then, I'd always wanted to get into publishing. So it was always my dream. Like I poured over magazines. I, you know, I stored them all in my bedroom. Every single Cosmo, Dolly, Cleo, you name it, with like every issue lined up in perfect order.
Like, I loved publishing. So when I decided that's what I was gonna do as a career, I guess in Melbourne, it wasn't, you know, the glossy world. So street publishing was where I kind of landed and it was an amazing learning curve. From there, I did head to Sydney. I actually got an internship at Cleo. And I was like the happiest intern you've ever met.
And this is after being a, an editor for like three or four years. So yeah. Wow. To do that and then go into an internship, it's, you know, like people thought that was a little bit random, but I was like, hell no. I need to get into that a CP or bow now I need to get into the door and I need to, you know, prove myself and what have you.
So I started as like a little coffee girl working for the beauty editor there and I was the happiest coffee getting person you've ever seen. I would like go to the career doc and like have like a skip in my step. Like I was like in just, it was just heaven. I like saw Kerry Packer one day in the Lift and Middle East celebrities and there was all these models everywhere and I was just like, this is where I want to be.
So I interned for about two months. During that time the editor actually called me and so she's like, hi, my name's Nadal Steel. It's incredible.
She was
like, the
thing, I mean, people dunno, this is before social media.
Yeah, I get it. I'm showing my age, but she was. Everything. She was glamorous, she was smart.
She was just well spoken. She was well-rounded. She was fun. Like she was the bomb. So she called me, which you know, random number oh two number. And she's like, hi, this is Nadel Steel from Ccle Magazine. And I'm just like, what? And she's like, I have a role going. It's um, the web editor role at Clio. I would love you to apply.
Meanwhile, I'm her intern. Wow. But I'm such a low intern that I don't even get a coffee. So like, you know, I'm not even that qualified to get Adele Coffee at that point. So I'm kind of like, Hey, like I'm just like over here. I'm like, your intern. And she was just like, oh my God. I had no idea. She didn't put two and two together.
Wow. So she got my name through someone that we worked with at General PRS Magazine. And he recommended me for this role. She didn't do the connection, had no idea what I would being an intern and at Clio. So from there I got the web editor position, which hilarious is the, was the entry level position.
Wow. Because back then to work on the website was like, uh, sideline, like, let's just put the, the webinar by themselves in the corner and like, who cares what really happens there? And then I just kind of found my feet. I just, I just worked my part off. I was in my element. I loved every single day walking into that building and I worked my ass off.
And I just kind of went from, you know, step to step to ended up at features director and just loved every minute. I mean, part of the reason I loved it, I would say, is that I used to do clear Bachelor of the area and I was shooting, kicking pen and fly around Australia and it was just the ultimate, like, my position was like just everything, you know, I dreamt off, but it was incredible.
Like I worked with the smartest women that taught me, you know, storytelling and really like connecting with people and just all these things that I. Probably haven't learned, like you don't learn really how to kind of connect with your audience when you're at uni or even at street press. It was so kind of quick and fast paced that you didn't have that time to really sink into thinking about your customer and your consumer and your reader.
So that was incredible. But the seven year itch came, and I think I got into that thing of just maybe not feeling like pushed or something. You know, when you kind of reach a point that you're still doing great work and you're still loving what you do, but you don't, you're not kind of growing in a sense.
So I was just ready for the next thing and I was also really homesick. I'm a Melbourne girl, you can tell I'm wearing all black and moved home. Kind of just like floated for a bit. Did a lot of like styling work and um, still working for a lot of the magazines at Bauer. So doing all their kind of like celebrity interviews and anything like that.
In Melbourne and just kind of, yeah, I would say floated for a few years, which I think is really kind of healthy, like just dipping into things and trying new things and I was ghost writing for different people doing great books and just anything that kind of came my way. I kind of gave it a shot.
Yeah.
Obviously I like to eat out at really nice restaurants, so I thought I can slowly need to have a more secure income, so I thought let's just start applying to agencies. So I started going for copywriting roles at different agencies with the big kind of flashy agencies in Melbourne. Ended up landing a role with a, I guess a startup agency, super indie, super green.
I had just landed the Madeleine account, so when I got there, they hired me for that role to do all the content, social guest plan, copy, whatever for Madeleine, and I worked on that for a few months with them being super green.
Mm-hmm. They
actually ended up folding, so it was kind of like a short-lived thing.
And then within that time I kind of got close to the amazing team at Maybelline. Like some of the women there were just so supportive and like took me under their wing and I just loved working with them. And so I guess we had that kind of rapport that they said, can you just stay on? And while we find our big new flashy agency, you know, the ones with the big, you know, big buildings and the lollies at the desk, that's kind of what they went for.
Just keep it rolling in the background. And I was like, yeah, sweet. This is an amazing opportunity. I'll just work on the biggest kind of parenting brand in Australia. And I'm just like doing it with my partner and started like hiring a couple little people to help me and whatever. And then from there it just like snowballed into me having to form an agency and learn business, which I had never touched business before, and hire staff and get an office and do all these things that were just so.
Not me. I don't think. I'm like, I'm not a born business person. I'm a born creative and a born writer and a storyteller. And so from there I just kind of grew this company and every day was kind of surreal. 'cause every day I was like, what am I doing? And I was kind of lost, but loving, being lost and loving learning and growing.
And we took on so many clients, like a lot of the L'Oreal brands are super big brands, super big retainers, super big kind of creative ad ideas, and it was amazing, incredible. Then the seven year itch came, not really joking. Um, I actually became quite unwell. So I have stage four Endo and Ady and o and I became very sick.
Like I've had it for a long time. I've had it for 20 years. But at that point it kind of just exploded to the point that I was a very unwell person. And I guess the juggle of running this. Big business with a lot of staff that really needed a strong leader and being really unwell was just, it was too much.
So I ended up resigning all the accounts. I did go through a period of trying to find a manager, didn't happen, went through a period of trying to sell the business. Everyone wanted me to stay in the business for X amount of time, and I just needed to heal. So I decided to resign all these accounts, which is very interesting, to resign a big client like, yes, L'Oreal, yes, L'Oreal and whatever, and Maybelline.
And they're just kinda like, are you okay? Are you like having a nervous breakdown? Like what? No one resigns these accounts. And I was like, I just need time out. And took a year off. And during that time, obviously I had a lot of health problems, dealt with them, worked on my wellness. And during that time was kind of just thinking, well, like what's the next step?
Obviously I could do TWC again. Started up, but it just kind of lost the sparkle for me. And I was just looking to do something that made a little bit more sense with everything that I'd kind of done. So I started developing the rae heat pad, which was, um, a wireless, it is now a wireless heat device to use for period pain.
Um, at that point I was looking at how to do it. So I was looking at, you know, what everyone does is buy mass produce products, whack their label on it and sell it in the market. So I looked at doing that and I looked at doing like disposable stick on patches. I went through all these stages of like what this product would look like, but nothing kind of really sat right with me.
So at that point I was like, eh, I'm just gonna risk it for the biscuit and just develop this thing from scratch in Melbourne. And that's kind of what I did.
Wow.
Like this story's going for a long time. No, it's fascinating. So then like I was developing that, which again is a learning curve. Like all these things, like every new kind of career shift is like this learning thing that you're in this world that you're like, I have no idea what I'm doing.
And I love that feeling. I love it. I love feeling lost. I love having to figure it out and then learn every day and push myself. And I was doing that massively with rae because I'd never worked in tech and I, you know, doing something from scratch like a device is. And during that time, actually started talking to the team at Scarlet because I was obsessed with their branding and I pretty much just wanted to know who did their branding so I could.
Do brand similar 'cause there were ice. And then once we got talking they were kind of like, would you ever consider buying our business? And then it all just kind of happened from there. Like, I bought this company, they've done ecomms and just went full steam ahead. It just made sense. I was working on products for periods.
It's a period underwear company. Let's just combine this. And so that's kind of where I am now.
Wow. We, we got a
long story short,
not, I'm sorry. No, this is like, it's so fascinating and I think it's like, it's brilliant to hear your whole career. 'cause obviously I've seen parts of it and heard parts of it and, and, and knew you at the word collective, the agency as well.
Yes. And when you're going through so much. But my gosh, like to just keep going. Like, you're such an innovator, you're such a like, ooh, what could I do? What could I do? And lots of people would find themselves in those positions that you've done and just feel, no, it's, it's so overwhelming. And I love that you said I love when I'm in that, but with that, your personal experience led to the development of rae.
And then when did you go, okay, like this is actually going to be like this big product that, like when did you go, okay. I like, did you develop it first? 'cause you were like, I need this myself and this is not out in the marketplace.
So essentially like there, there was nothing out there. Like I would go to meetings and I'd be presenting in an hour, hop in the taxi.
Sometimes I'd faint, sometimes I'd vomit into my handbag. I was so unwell and I would have like the stick on patches, one on my front, one on my back obviously wouldn't take pain meds 'cause I needed to be on, so heat was the biggest thing that I was doing. I was going through like two boxes of disposable stick on pads, throwing them in.
They're like $10 or $12 a box. It was just like the waste, the money, whatever. And like if everything I looked at like, it just kind of wasn't anything to kind of help other than like take some drugs or whatever. So that's kind of what really got me thinking is even if you don't have endo, if you just have bad period pain, there has to be better options.
And why isn't there better options out there? Like there wasn't anything. And even now the stuff on the market is, is kind of cheap crap. And it's like it's, it's something that we are all suffering from to some degree. Yeah. Why aren't we doing it better? There's like, yeah, that's something that having that kind of like, I guess pain that led to that purpose is like something quite amazing because I've always loved what I've done, but now doing something that has like a bit more meaning or a bit more grit and like this personal kind of investment in it, it's, it's really incredible.
Yeah. And so how did you, I mean, it is so incredible and also it's so frustrating that for women's health in general, it's just not taken as seriously and it's often like, well just get a, get a old school like hot water bottle and just put it on as if you can walk around or be in a taxi with a hot water bottle, have a kettle on the go all the time.
How did you go? That's a from, I've got this idea and I've had a look and I've done like my market research to finding actually somebody who does the technology, like I don't even know what they do drawings. And then also because it's a health item and it's on the skin. I'm assuming there was a whole bunch of things that you had to go through for that.
Like how did you find the people that you ended up partnering with and then, oh, I don't even know if you partnered with them. I'm just jumping the gun here. Or like how, how did you go through that whole part and at some point did you go, whoa, that is gonna cost a lot, like, let's just back out. Yes, yes,
and yes.
All of that, like it was just huge, massive, costly, everything. But I had a very solid idea. So like I said, I went through, you know, just I guess putting my label on something and just, you know, starting a business in a lot smaller capacity, just drop shipping or whatever. It didn't feel right. So I thought I have to develop it.
I knew what it, what I wanted, like I knew what it looked like. I knew I didn't want cords and stuff. I knew I had to like fit into my pants so I could go to a meeting and probably no one would even know that I had it on. Like I knew all these things. I knew it had to be hot. I. Within regulations. Yeah, lemme just say, um, but like as hot as it could be, and I wanted it to be safe because I've had incidence or like getting burnt, my skin would be like, you know, fried and ulcers and blisters and whatever or things just breaking on.
I knew it had to be quality. So all these things kind of led to like a brief, but it was a brief with not a lot of legs because I didn't know tech. So it was just kinda like, I want it to look nice as well and I want this and I want that. It was all this surface stuff and I went to all these big kind of like development and what would they be called?
Like engineering firms in Australia, like in Melbourne and Sydney and you know, they were big and full of men and they did these flashy presentations and they kind of like. They got the product but they didn't really get the product like, and they kept saying things like, oh we bought, you know, Sally in because Sally's a girl so Sally can work on it 'cause she understands.
And I'm like, what? You've never had like a pain in your back, like you don't understand what I'm trying to do here. Like, it was kind of just like they, everyone was missing the mark of what this product meant. It wasn't just another product to throw on the market, it was something deeper than that. And then I met this small upcoming firm, NICs in Melbourne.
And the guy there, Scott, the main guy, got me, got my experience, actually like, listened to me and felt for the journey that I'd been on and he was just like, oh my God, this is gonna like change people's lives. And it was just, you know, one of those things that you find someone, you're like, you are here.
Like, we just connected and he was amazing and so supportive of the project. And so he has been pivotal in the success of Brave because he's held my hand. He's gone over and above. And I think if we'd gone for one of those big boy massive firms, we wouldn't have had that kind of connection and that passion that he's given, like he's taken it on his baby almost.
And he has kind of helped navigate it because, oh my God, there is so much to learn. Like launching a product, you can launch a product like, you know, I launched a bubble bar. It's, it's quite cool. Like you just, you talk to someone that knows what ingredients or what you can put in, what you can't. And it's very simple.
You order some bottles and here we go, put on the shelf, it's easy. Then you go to an electrical product and one that's got heat and then one that's going on the skin and it just like a minefield. And I guess you probably could cut corners and not do all the tests and you know, maybe not use the most expensive.
Things to create it, but that wasn't where I was heading. I didn't wanna just produce another crap piece of whatever that will end up in landfill. So we just kind of went to town with making sure this was the best it could be, like the highest quality. The testing was like, I think it was like four months of testing this device.
Like we blew it up, we like put in a room that had like rainstorm on it and we like did all these crazy testily sound tests and I'm like, what do you mean a sound test? You can't hear it, but they're like, no, it can't like have any kind of sound or whatever. Admitting from it, like the testing was
mm,
next level.
And to read between the lines, I didn't know all this was gonna happen. My bank balance didn't know all this was gonna happen. This stuff doesn't like this stuff isn't just like, you know, a walk in the pub. It was huge. And I think by the time we got that far into it, I'm like, oh, we're halfway through and whoa, this is such a beast.
This is so big, you know. But then I have a very incredibly supportive partner who also works in the business, and he just kept pushing. He's like, whatever, we'll do what we need to do. I know we'll like remortgage the house, we'll sell, I'll sell my car, keep going. He's like, it means so much to you. What is the worst thing that's gonna happen?
Even if it doesn't work, even if it fails, what's the worst thing out of that? Like, you've got one life, let's do this. And he just kept pushing me every day. And then we did it and it's here and it's incredible. And you know, I thank my partner for that. And I also thank Scott from Tronix because without having that partner that really had that insight, but not even just the insight, because obviously that's imp perfection, but just the backing of me personally and the project and what I wanted from it, it, I wouldn't have got here.
So.
Oh. Out and answer your
question.
No, you totally did. And um, I just think your partner, I've met your partner, he's very funny and lovely and supportive and I probably, he also had seen how much pain you were in for so long. Exactly. And he is like, imagine if that could help somebody else. I'm sort of putting you on the spot, but then how have you, I know we, we'll talk about getting the word out in media and obviously your incredible background in media, but how did you get people to take on something that is new?
Like, it doesn't look like anything else that's out there. It is going on a often a part of the body that is sensitive and everything else. And, and potentially there could be people that think, is this gonna burn? Is this gonna give you like, some weird raise from the technology Right into my, yeah, those questions.
Fertility area. Yeah. So how did you, how did you navigate that?
We are still navigating it because we are, we've really only just gone to market. So it is right now that those questions are coming up and we're still kind of like trying to explain the product. And it's really difficult because, you know, essentially rae is like a phone, it's an iPhone, it's got a lithium battery inside, so you put your phone on your lap, nothing's gonna happen.
It's the same, but there's so many layers to getting that message across and how you do it. But I think the best way, and what I've always thought is it's community led. It's like seeding it to the right people or really being the voice. So I'm always talking to people online or I love people emailing me.
I still do all like the community management and look after the inbox. And I love it when customers email and have questions. 'cause I'm just like, you're looking to answer these questions and I'm so passionate about explaining it. I think that's that kind of, I guess, user feedback and them telling their friends that's gonna have the best impact because yeah.
And people using it and going, this is incredible. And this is like, especially with women, I was talking before you record. I feel like I'm totally in perimenopause world and I feel like every new stage of being a woman, you realize, why doesn't anyone talk about this? And then you find your little community that does talk about it and you're like, okay, I could be open about these things.
And so I feel like it's the same with this. Once people start using it more, it's just gonna be like, this is changing things for me. So you have to get it.
And I think that's what I want. I want it to be a bit more organic, the way it spreads. Like obviously we got in deep when developing it, so we don't have big flashy budgets.
We're not multi body. We're not gonna go to market and have like this huge ad spend. We can't do it right now. But I think having people test it. Learn about it, tell their friends is the best way to market something. I think building community, like having, you know, I get so invested in even just like writing blogs every week and all that kind of stuff.
Andrew's, my partner's always just like, oh, is that the best use of your time? But I'm like, if I can start trying to build a community and try and give back and people see that I'm not just about selling goods, it's about this building, this group of people that can kind of talk about pain and give advice and you can read about someone else's story, then you know, I'm doing something more than just selling a product.
Like it's, you know, fostering this community and the Endo community is amazing. That's one thing, like one girl with Endo that tries it and loves it will tell all their Endo friends, because I think we're. As a group, we feel a little bit, you know, not heard or just kind of forgotten about. So I think we really support each other.
So I've had some, a few influencers actually have bought it and tried it and they had endometriosis and then they've started messaging me like, you need to contact this girl, this huge influencer she has, end her and then you'll contact her and she'll be receptive to receiving it as a gift and just talking about it because it's this C, it's gonna change.
Well they just wanna help people. Yeah. Because like, we need help this whole, this community of people need to be heard and need help and need better products and you know, so in that sense that is also extremely helpful, getting the word out.
And also in that, what's helped as well is media. If you look up your, you know, brand, you will see so many, so many media articles, which is of course, because this is your background and everything else.
But how has that worked? Like, and what advice would you give if someone's listening to this thinking, oh my goodness, how did she get so much media? So quickly? Obviously you've got a background in that networks and relationships that you've built and worked on so much, and also it's an incredible product that has a great hook and angle.
But what advice would you give to other people? And also is there any, not that you necessarily wanna call out one particular media outlet, but is there anything that you go that has worked really well, or having a really good photo shoot, worked really well, or my personal story worked really well, or, yeah, any advice?
Yeah. Well it's funny as well, like I've worked in media, I did work in media for a long time, so I thought like this is gonna be a cinch, like I've got the this contact book. But then in my contact book, they've all kind of like, you know, I was working in media a long time ago. They're all now like these high level or working for brands.
Yeah, they're not doing, I'm like, oh my God, I should have like done this 10 years ago when I was like hot with contact. So it was kind of from scratch, like really starting from scratch with finding the right people to talk to. But I think media and getting media feels scary. It's not scary. It's, they've got a job to do.
You are doing your job. It's just a matter of storytelling. So if you can really start looking at your story or your product story, look at that. Why, figure out what is the story in this? What is the meat? And then you just have to like be ballsy kitchen like. I like DM people like awkward, but I do like, like if you are not talking to people, they're not gonna know about you.
And we are a small brand and like I said, we don't have huge marketing budget, so we're not everywhere. People don't know about us. So if you don't actually get out there and, and I guess push yourself and push your story a little bit, no one's gonna know about you. And maybe like you get, you know, might, you might send 10 and nine, we'll just ignore you.
But that one person might listen. And I think that's one thing that I have done. I'm like a dog with a phone. I will not give up. And I keep trying to push out my story and it's a good story. I think when you stop looking at products as selling and start looking at as storytelling, community building and looking at what that means for people and how you then tell the story of that, like to connect with people.
That's when you kind of, I guess, break through those things and it becomes easier. The other thing that I've done, but I guess this is maybe 'cause I'm a writer, but I, you know what, I think everyone can write, writing's a formula. Like you just got to study the, the publication you wanna be in, learn it, understand how they kind of like do their thing and kind of replicate it.
But with online, they've got small budgets. So all the online magazines still have incredibly small budgets and they're always looking for people to add to their content, whether they have to edit it or just, you know, print it. And that is one thing that I've been doing a lot of. So I've been, you know, I had a piece in Women's agenda last week, piece in Cosmo Women's Health, and it's me.
It's, I just wrote the story and then sent it to them and said, would you consider running this? And most of the time they say, yeah. So I think sometimes you gotta like, just risk it for the biscuit and just give it a shot.
Oh, such good advice. And I feel like sometimes people are like waiting around thinking, well I've got such a good product that, that, you know, that editor should just come running to me.
And it's like, no, it's not gonna happen. It's never gonna happen. You have to get out there. You have to be pushy. Yeah, you have to be pushy. 'cause there's 10 and other people lining up behind you. With your personal story. Obviously if you look it up and you know, you're very open about your own journey with Endo and all of the stuff, at what point did you or have you ever got on?
Okay, this is like the boundary of where I would stop talking about, or like where I, I'm not gonna let you come into every single thing in my life or my personal life because I think this is something people grapple with a lot. And when I work with people on their brand, I always say like, what are you the go-to brand, but also know what you're the not the go-to brand for?
So like for example, I haven't drunk, I haven't drunk, can you imagine that I have not drunk alcohol for like seven years, but I don't, I'm not trying to be a sober person. Like I'm sober poster child. Yeah. Because I didn't really, I don't feel like I had a major issue with it and it just happened. And I may well take up drinking again so I can talk about it if some, if itra, if it's brought up.
But it's not something big that I would talk about. Whereas grief is something I would happily talk about that I've gone through. Yeah. So at what, did you have a point where you're like, these things I'm happy to talk about for the business, these other things I'm not, or did you just go and, and if I'm adding so many questions and any advice for someone who's grappling with this right now of how much to show about themselves.
I'm an open ball. It's my personality. I'm kind of like, I say too much. You know, I'm one of those people you turn, I'm like, you've got something in you do. Like I, I tell everyone everything. It is just who I am. So from the perspective of Scarlet and talking about my journey, Hannah of just said it all because it's not like, it hasn't really just been about pushing Scarlet.
Like, yes, I need to get Scarlet out into the world, but it's also kind of adding to this noise around endo and awareness and whatever that I wanna be telling everything. But since you said what you said, I started thinking about like my limit and maybe it's fertility. So my story was many surgeries, many rounds of IBF, no baby at the end.
Radical hysterectomy. Maybe that is my boundary. And it's not because of how painful and hideous and awful that was, then more right now, but more that's sad. I don't want people to be sad. I want people that have endo to be like, I'm gonna get through this and this. Like I'm gonna get fixed and we are gonna do this and we're gonna have a great life and I'm still gonna have babies like, and I feel like telling that story, it's like it's not the ribbon at the end.
Like you want the nice ending? My story doesn't end that great, but maybe that's my boundary. But I think you pushed him to shove and that was something that was really gonna help someone. I just say it and I think that's the thing. Like know what your why is behind your brand and mine is to help people.
And if that story, by telling that story is gonna help someone, I'm gonna do it like even if it's a little bit uncomfortable because I'm cool with sitting uncomfortable like, but yeah. I think the limit is very hard. I don't think there's a hard and bus rule that I can give in terms of what everyone's limit should be.
I think it should come back to your brand why and what giving those elements out there does to communicate that why. And you know, if it, if that is important to the overall journey and story of your brand, then like why not? Like
we're just
people and everyone's got a story. And it's really nice when you hear everyone's story and like what we were saying before when we're talking about Perry, it's like you, we don't talk enough.
We don't talk openly enough. And the second you start talking about different things, you know, it's amazing 'cause we've all got these different things that are happening in our life and this nitty gritty awfulness and uncomfortableness. And the second you start talking about it, you realize the next person has that.
And it's really great to connect like that. But anyway, this isn't a wellness podcast. I'm like, I'm deviating. But you know what I mean? Like we as humans, we need to talk more and not like, keep so much
in. So true. And I mean, so sounds silly, but we went through a miscarriage and it was horrific. And, you know, we're so, so fortunate to have, have had children after that.
But I remember hearing Beyonce talking about her miscarriage and even that, you think all the money in the world can't change health. Like, it just can't, like, you know, everyone will go through things. And so if someone's listening to this and you had such a journey with your health and getting the right people and getting different, you know, perspectives and different doctors and different specialists, if someone's listening to this who's thinking there's just nothing else I can do, or I just need to live with it, whether it's Endo or whether it's Perry or it's some other health condition or, or, or maybe some men that are listening that are going through things, what would you say or what kept you going when things were at their absolute hardest with your health?
I am
extremely hedged on and driven. So I probably went a little bit too hard when my health was really not good. But I guess, to be honest, and this is kind of like maybe a bit like, ugh, but I love work. Work got me through things like turning up every day and having a reason to get outta bed. And sometimes with health you do need that kind of push to keep going.
Like it, it's really hard. I needed to kind of sometimes push through the pain. Not saying that anyone should be, you know, living in pain and pushing through pain on a daily basis, but sometimes it's really important to keep going because you need that motivation and you need. People and you need to be out there doing things and work for me was that way of just trying to have a semi-normal life.
Mm. When I was not working and I was like in my pain, it was so isolating and so more debilitating because it was just me in this world that felt like it was never gonna end. So like work was so important and then just having that strong network was just everything. Like I have, I'm a, a quality over quantity kind of girl, so anything I do in life, love, work, whatever.
It's like I just want the best. I don't need lots. Just like, you know, I just want good quality and my network or my wolf pack was just so strong that that just was everything and they kept me going and kept me moving through what was a really shitty time. And that includes at work. I had like, you know, my work life, who was just my right hand person and would step in and she would be able to tell by the end of I.
You know, working together for seven years or whatever, when I was like starting to fade and have a flare and she would just take over. Like it was these people that kept me going, but if I hadn't turned out because I felt a bit shitty, she wouldn't have picked me up. You know what I mean? But that was beautiful in itself that I had these people that just kind of kept picking me up, helping me through it.
So, yeah. But like, and pain at work is another thing, like it's. The gender pain gap is so not discussed. That is so important and it's, it's so real. But when you take that into the office, it's even more real. Because I think as females, we already have this kind of weird kind of chip on our, not chip on our shoulder, that's the wrong phrase.
But like, we are all ready, a bit nervous about at some point we're gonna have a baby and we're gonna go out the workforce. So we also don't wanna have the pain factor because then that's gonna get like a bit too much. And we don't wanna show that we're human or that we're less than, and we wanna be brave and tough and we wanna be strong like the man next to me.
And it's this thing that becomes, I don't know if it's ingrained in us, but it's really hard to talk in a, you know, a work setting about pain or that you are not feeling great, whatever. If it's pain, if it's whatever, like emotional health or whatever. Like, it's very difficult to articulate that. But it's so important.
And I think once you start talking up, you realize how great people are. 'cause you think people aren't great and then you voice it and then all of a sudden you've got all these people in your corner and you're like, hang on a minute. If I just spoken about this earlier, how much easier this whole process would've been Because people do want to like have your back at the end of the day.
Yeah. And everyone knows everyone. Like everyone knows someone that is going through that if they haven't gone through it themselves. Like, yeah. So I completely, totally get that whole speaking up on that whole idea of Wolfpack and and people around you. Like you are so determined and you're so intelligent and hardworking and you've gone from thing to thing and everything you've created, Jo seems to have done really, really well.
Like, I know, say for example the word collective. You finished that up, but you finished it up because you wanted to finish it up, not because it wasn't going from strength to strength and you had incredible brands. Have you had any, you know, business mentoring or have you read a particular book or have you, I don't know, do you listen to I.
Podcasts or do you have a whole bunch of like, I know your mom, I think she had her own business, is that correct? I dunno if she still does. That's a blast from You're amazing to remember that. Yeah. And so like has she been a huge influence? Like how have you learned all of this? I know you're very smart and you can learn on the go, but have you had any kind of
feel like I am the anti-business business woman.
Like I don't do business plans ever. To be honest, I don't want my accountant to hear this, but I don't do budgets. I don't do any of the paperwork that everyone does. I just never have. I've really got these like intuition and gut I've always relied on. Probably not good advice for No, no, no. I love hearing this.
Everyone's, but I've kind of just always just wing it. And I think that might have come from my mom. My mom was a hustler so she, we didn't come from a privileged background at all and she ended up getting a, buying a business when I was really small in Earth movie. So a very male dominated industry. And she had this agency, Bobcat tobaccos, like.
You know back then, and she would turn up to work sites and be handing out cards or she'd turn up like knock at someone's door at 7:00 PM to chase like a bill that wasn't paid. Like she went out and got it. She was hungry and she didn't care that she was a female. She had two kids in tow. She would just like drag us to these like random like work sites.
It was amazing. And just seeing like just her grit did something. And I think that was like probably the biggest thing for me was like, just go out and get it. Like you don't have to be the smartest, you have to be the hungriest and yeah, so I would say mom probably is. The biggest mentor in my life and my partner, like I said before, like I know it's a little bit too cutesy, but like he's incredible.
Like to have someone like he's worked in this bus, he worked in TWC as a creative director. He's worked at Scarlet as the creative director. He talks about periods every day. He lived through my period hell for whatever years. Like, and he's so invested and he's so wants to this to work because it means so much to him, as much as it means to me.
And he pushes me every day. And it's just like to have something like that's, it's pretty amazing. In terms of podcasts and things, I kind of dip in and dip out. I think. Um, the one that I've been doing lately is Alison Rice's offline, so that is more, I guess about, she had a, a amazing career in Sydney and so she was a publisher of, it was like pop sugar and Refinery 29 and all these kind of things.
A huge career. And now she's kind of gone back to, I. Just enjoying the moments. So like that balance between work and life and really finding pure enjoyment and doing things offline for you and for your soul and not needing to put them online or not needing to talk about them. And I think for some reason, even though it's not a business podcast, that is kind of where I'm leaning at the moment and needy.
Yeah.
Oh no, I feel like she is a business. I mean, I haven't, I haven't myself listened to her podcast, but it has come up with people and I've had a look at her website. Yes. And it, she does business coaching, I think, and like she does
business coaching, but it's just a different, I guess she comes from a different angle.
I think that was something that I needed to learn was that balance and, um, even though I live to work, I love it. Does it work to live whatever it is? I think that is something that I'm still trying to learn is what's, what's my point? Where do I cut off? When do I turn the computer off? What's enough? You know, when do I stop?
Answering emails myself and try and get a VA or something like, uh, so I think that's one that I really love. And then I guess the other biggest impact is looking at fellow brands like people have come across in my career there's been like, you know, Lee Campbell's doing Bri Beauty, which is incredible.
Mads who is pr, you might remember her, she does when Fertility, it's this fertility tracker or Rachel Barker from L'Oreal is now doing LB, do like vibrators and women's pleasure items and watching them and like listening to their podcasts or anywhere they're interviewed. That's kind of my jam because a, I know them so I'm invested, but like, I'm just kind of like, I can identify with them and that motivates me.
'cause I'm like, well. They may be a little bit more polished than me, but didn't do what they're doing. You got this, you know, oh,
so many good things in it and such a variety as well. I think that's really interesting to hear. 'cause it's really good because you know, just so often I think people just revert to whatever's number one in the business charts or whatever.
And then you're just sort of all hearing the same. Same stuff. Same stuff. So we have a quick fire round before we finish up. Okay. And so any whatever comes to your mind first, what is your non-negotiable self-care practice? My two dogs in the
morning in my bed. Andrew brings me a coffee. I know everyone, and I just scroll my social feeds.
It's five minutes every day. Day.
I love that you're like, this is real, because that's what most people want to do. And then we have this whole idea that like, oh, you shouldn't touch your phone first thing in the morning and blah, blah, blah. I know, and
everyone's probably like, oh, I do a little bit of meditation and then I like do my like mantras for the day.
I'm like, hello. I lie there and get a bit more like lay down with my dogs.
Oh, how good That is What you, that is what you want. Are you an early bird or a night owl if you wanna get work done?
Really don't, to be honest. I get, I can literally wake up at 6:00 AM and be like, yes. Like running to the computer, love it to get started.
If my partners, he goes away a lot fishing. He's like, he works to live. So he's always away and went. Those times I work all night like I'll, he'll be calling like every hour. Like I mean it, that's enough. But if he's in the house seven o'clock, he comes and like, shut my job and is like, you're done. But if it wasn't pm, I'd be working all hours.
Love it.
Love it. Okay. What does success look like to you beyond revenue?
Success has never been about money for me, ever. I'm not, I've never really chased money. And I think that was another thing for my mom. My mom's like, if you do well, money will come. Like whatever. Don't worry about money. But success is like, if I can actually help someone.
So anytime someone's come to me and said that this has actually helped their whole routine, like done. Like that's, that's all I want. Like, and I don't wanna put more crap out into the world. I wanna do something that actually does something good and is great and doesn't add to the noise, you know?
And you're doing it, you're so doing it.
Do you have one particular outfit or anything style wise that makes you go, I feel amazing. I feel so confident. Uh,
I just wear black.
Yes. Which you're in today.
I'm in today. I'm If I just like, can't I wear black? And if I need a razzle dazzle, I might add a sequin or some leopard.
Oh yeah. Oh, love, love a leopard.
What's your favorite way to celebrate wins? Dinner with the boy or lately I have been going to Ara Bathhouse in Sorento. It's at the Continental, it's done by this. Oh can she used to have one in St. Kilda at the Prince and now she's opened this huge place and it's like all these bars and saunas and steam rooms and ice rooms and all this stuff.
And it is the most incredible thing. And on Tuesday said two for one. So we done, we have a big win. We're like boom, that's what we're doing. And we just have that moment of 90 minutes of amazingness.
My God. So good. Um, best piece of advice you've been
given. Rachel Manel from Cleo, just the beauty editor that got me as an intern.
She was around when everyone started launching brands. So other beauty editors or like celebrities and stuff like Zoe did obviously go to, and there was someone else, this Jasmine Gill did something else and everyone was kind of launching these brands and I said, why don't you launch a skincare brand like a Skin's incredible.
And she knows everything about beauty and she's like. Why would I? She's like X, Y, Z brand is so good. I could never do better than them, so why would I launch a brand? And she's like, I don't need to add to the noise. There's enough beauty brands out there. And it was just something that stuck with me.
'cause I'm like, we don't need any more brands unless you are gonna bring something that's quality, great. Changes people's life for the better. Don't just add to the noise. You know, like, and I think that's the whole thing with chasing money. You don't need chase money tastes like doing something that's great and that helps people or build something or makes the world better.
And that's kind of, yeah. So if I said that today, she wouldn't remember that she said it, that it stuck with me my whole career. Oh,
I love that. Okay. What are you most proud of? And obviously you've got a lot to be proud of, but from your whole business journey so far.
rae, I look at it and I like feel like I've never felt before, like pure joy, happiness, proud, like , I can't believe I did it
love it. And finally then, if people are listening to this thinking, oh my gosh, she's amazing. And also this product sounds incredible, where do they find it? What's next for you? What's next for rae? What's next for Scarlet? All, all the little names, like you've got these little people,
well scarlet period.com.
If you go there and you wanna ask questions, message me. 'cause I'm on the other end and I love talking to everyone. Love it. So message me there. But for the brand, it's really just launching rae properly. Like I said, we're kind of going to the market slower than I wanted for a variety of reasons. So it's now just about building that up and building the reputation and you building the talk around it and hoping that it grows and helps people and kind of evolves on it on its own.
To be honest, I am already working on version two, but I won't tell you about that. But I, I think it, it has so many legs and we've only just begun. So it's kind of like it that really exciting starting point that I'm like, Ooh, where's this gonna go? So that's my focus for the moment.
Oh my gosh.
Congratulations on what you've built and just, it's such a joy to have you on, and I can't believe I got to have you on. Yay. And thank you for everything. Oh,
thank you, Fiona. You're a legend. Bye. Bye, Dali.
Oh my goodness. What an absolute superstar and just the most inspirational, down to earth, hilarious and intelligent and inspiring woman. I have known that obviously about Jo for a long time and she's had a huge impact on me personally and professionally. And now, I mean, I just look at what she's doing with rae and the way she is helping so many people deal with something that she has had to go through herself.
It's just, it's next level. Amazing. So before I go into the two things that really stood out to me from this chat, I want to of course let you know where you can check out the rae heat pad. You can go to Scarlet Period, and it's Scarlet, S-C-A-R-L-E-T. period.com. If you go there, you'll be able to check out rae.
You can also just search rae RAE heat pad and you can find it there too. We'll link to all of that in the show notes for this episode, which you can find at my daily business.com/podcast/ 5 0 2. You can also find Scarlett period on social media, Scarlet, and again, it's just with one T-S-C-A-R-L-E-T period.
And check out everything there too and find Jo Barry herself there answering the dms. But oh my goodness. I just wanna say a massive thank you to Jo for coming on. It was something I felt like I had to pressure her into doing, but to come on and just share so openly, so genuinely about things that so many women worldwide deal with, and yet we don't talk about them, and she just talked about it with such honesty and such a.
Generous approach to just want to give back and to do something that is going to help the world. And yeah, absolutely. Hats off. So I want to, of course, as I usually do, highlight two things that really stood out, but honestly, this podcast, I could have picked about 20, and I'll be trying to share more of these on social media about this particular episode because it, it was one that I was thinking about for weeks after we, you know, talked.
And so I guess the things that really stood out for me, or the two that I'm gonna pick in this instance is when she talked about creating something and creating something better. Like not just creating more and more stuff to add to the noise, but actually creating something with purpose. Actually creating something that's gonna change people's lives for the better.
I love that. She was so. Fundamentally focused on that. And she said, you know, I don't want to just create another piece of crap that ends up in landfill. Like I want to make this the absolute best it could be. And that took years, and it took a huge amount of finance to get to that point to make sure it was the highest quality, that she wasn't putting something out that wasn't actually at the end of the day going to help people.
So I love that. Concept and that idea, and obviously it's something I really stand behind. It was a huge part of the new book business to brand because it seems so easy to start a business, especially product-based business. I feel like there's a lot of kind of myths out there. And there are a lot of people actually out there just selling absolute crap and not caring about where it ends up or not caring.
If it's gonna break and somebody has to replace it really quickly, or not caring, does it actually live up to what it says it's going to do? And so I absolutely love that because it's something I wholeheartedly agree with and you can just tell by the journey that Jo went on to get to this point that that passion was absolutely there.
I mean, she talked very openly about how much it has cost and what that has meant for her personal life and everything else, and it's just, it's just, again, a huge inspiration to see somebody go after something and do it with such integrity. This second point that I'll highlight from our chat with Jo Barry.
Is when she talked about finding the right support and she talked about Scott and, and the work they've done together to create this incredible product with the rae Heat pad and saying, you know, when she talked about. Find somebody who gets you, who gets your experience, who actually listens to you and feels for the journey that you've been on.
And she said that, you know, Scott has gone over and above and that she understood right from the start that he understood her and that he understood how powerful this was going to be, how important it was going to be. And I just think that is a really crucial thing. I think when people get offered, whether it's, you know, a huge project like creating the rae Heat pad, or whether it is a collaboration or a partnership, or you speaking at somebody's conference, or even when we get a pitch to come on the podcast, we get a lot of pictures and you can tell the ones that just don't care about our podcast, they don't really care about our audience.
They're just there Absolutely. To promote themselves. And there's no sense of humanity or actual genuine connection in their pitch. It is just, you just know that you're like one of a hundred pitches that they're sending that week. And I just think especially with the rise of AI and everything else, you wanna have genuine human connections with people.
And it's so easy to actually have, like when you send a heartfelt DM or when you send a voice note or when you have a conversation with somebody, and like Jo talked about when the first time she met Scott, he actually listened. He didn't jump in with, oh, yep, yep, we can do this, we can do that. We are the experts here.
It was, okay, tell me your story because I wanna know why you wanna do this. Why are you so obsessed with it? Why you've got the passion for it. Because I want to have that same passion if we are gonna get into business together. And I just think it's a really important thing to think about getting and finding those people, even if it takes a while to find the people who actually get you.
So as I said, there were so many other things that I could have raised, but I'm just gonna raise those two things. I would absolutely love it if you could get behind. The rae Heat Pad Scarlet, period. Go and show your support. I had a lot of dms. I did do a story about this the day that I was recording with Jo, and I had a lot of people say, oh my goodness, I've been looking for this sort of, you know, product and I'm gonna go test it out and try it and buy it.
And honestly, if you know anybody who suffers from period pain. Other pains that go on for women, and I'm sure men in, you know, they can use this product. I'm, I'm just saying that I don't know if they can or not, but I'm assuming it's a heat pad. You can use it for other things. But if you know anyone that has ever sort of raised that as a challenge, please send them the link to today's podcast because it may just be the thing that they actually really need.
And it could be something that, like Jo said, a lot of people do not go and talk about this. She talked about her experiences, you know, on the way to massive pitches and having to like throw up in her back. She talked about. This almost like shameful secret. And I think a lot of women's health problems are talked like that they're taboo up until very recently, even to stuff like periods, we would never talk about it.
And so I just feel like the more we can be open with each other and the more that products like rae, like Scarlet Period, the other products that they sell, it can do so much for women to feel okay about the things that they go through, which is really hard and really tough. And so, yeah, I just absolutely commend Jo on everything that she's building with Scarlet Period.
And with the rae Heat Pad, again, you can find all the information for all of their products, including the rae Heap pad@scarletperiod.com. It's Scarlet with one T-S-C-A-R-L-E-T-P-E-R. I d.com. We will link to that in the show notes and on our social media as well. Thank you so much, Jo for joining me, and thank you for listening.
See you next time. Bye.
Thanks for listening to the My Daily Business Podcast for a range of tools to help you grow and start your business, including coaching programmes, courses and templates. Check out our shop at mydailybusiness.com and if you want to get in touch, you can do that by email at hello@mydailybusiness.com or you can hit us up on Instagram at mydailybusiness_. You can find us on TikTok at mydailybusiness or find me Fiona Killackey on LinkedIn. I look forward to connecting.
