Three women-led startups are making a positive impact on women’s health.
By Laura DeSisto Photography by Ladybug Photography
Poppies with Purpose Fighting Cancer With Color
At just 38 years old, while living in the city with her husband and two young girls, Lisa Carlin was shocked and devastated to receive a breast cancer diagnosis. She was facing a double mastectomy, eight doses of chemotherapy plus six weeks of daily radiation.
“I had to really dig deep to get through that dark time,” says Carlin. “So I turned to my closet and pulled out my hot pink ballet flats and decided to wear them to my treatments. It gave me courage and bravery while the bright pink color lifted my spirits and could always spark a conversation with other patients, my nurses and doctors. It connected us.”
When her own personal cancer battle was finally behind her, Carlin kept circling back to the thought that she could brighten up other cancer patients’ lives with similar, colorful shoes. She had a background in interior design and architecture and when a friend connected her with Ann Williams, a London-born footwear designer, she was off and running. Williams helped Carlin design the shoes and source a manufacturer. The final result was a pair of hot pink, easy to pop-on comfortable flats that Carlin named Poppies with Purpose.
“The inspiration for the name comes from the poppy pattern on my grandmother’s housecoat, which my mom made into a quilt to comfort me during my cancer treatments. That same 1950s pattern is now printed on the duster bag we package and deliver each pair of Poppies in,” says Carlin.
While the first pairs of Poppies were manufactured in the signature pink for breast cancer, Carlin has since introduced a navy version for colorectal cancer and a tangerine pair for kidney cancer and leukemia. Since launching the business in 2022 and showcasing the Signature Pink shoe at the American Cancer Society Making Strides Walk in Boston, Carlin has donated a part of her profits to cancer research (specifically researcHERS, a group supporting grants for female cancer scientists), as well as to local organizations such as Runway for Recovery that give funds directly to individual cancer patients and survivors.
Carlin says that even beyond the patients themselves, their caregivers, loved ones and even colleagues will often purchase and wear Poppies in a show of support and solidarity.
“Cancer can be a very isolating experience,” she says. “I like to say that Poppies were designed to bring courage, color and connection to the lives of patients fighting the very same battle that I did.”
She continues to share her message and mission with her customers and community. In fact, inside the right shoe of every pair, wearers will find a printed message from Carlin: “live each day with a pop of color.”
To learn more,
visit poppieswithpurpose.com.
Free. Leading the Charge to End Period Insecurity
In 2019, Hingham resident Kenzie Blackwell took her daughter and a few friends to volunteer at Hope and Comfort in Needham, an organization that provides personal care products like soap and shampoo to those in need.
“I remember looking around the supply room and seeing a very small stack of period products,” says Blackwell. “I asked the tour guide if these items were in demand and was told that the need is so great, they literally cannot keep them in stock.”
After doing some research, Blackwell was horrified to learn that 1 in 4 teens in Massachusetts struggle to afford period products. “I also learned that this leads to many missed days of school due to embarrassment and lack of agency to buy their own products given the expense,” says Blackwell.
Beyond school-aged children, Blackwell also discovered that women of all ages suffer from lack of access to these products. “There are no federal benefit programs to cover the costs,” she says. “And this imposes a barrier to equity in education and employment.”
Armed with these facts, she approached the staff at her local church, St. John the Evangelist in Hingham, and with their support, created an outreach ministry to help bridge the gap. They named the program Free. (pronounced “Free, Period”). and Blackwell serves at the helm as the founder and director.
“The assistance and encouragement from the congregation and the community has been so amazing,” says Blackwell. “After many months of planning and fundraising, we did our first distribution in May of 2021.”
Since then, Blackwell has secured corporate sponsorships and alliances with manufacturers such as Kotex, and the locally-owned brand, Unicorn, which makes organic products. These relationships have enabled Free. to benefit from bulk purchasing. The non-profit can now fund a one month supply of products for just $2.50 per person.
“This means that for a donation of $30, you are funding a full year’s supply of much-needed period products for an individual in need,” says Blackwell. “Since we do not have employees or salaries, every penny you donate goes right out the door.”
The organization now distributes free supplies to area schools and organizations such as Wellspring, Interfaith Social Services, and many more, delivering over 631,000 period products since their inception. In addition, they are working to sponsor state legislation that may ultimately end period insecurity.
“We recently conducted a needs assessment and found that 92 percent of responding schools in Massachusetts do not have adequate funding for supplies,” says Blackwell.
Free. is working to make period products as readily available as toilet paper in public schools.
“No student should have to miss school during their period,” says Blackwell.
To learn more,
visit freeperiodministry.org.
Comfort Pad by Featherstones Creating a Softer Landing
Over the course of her twenty plus years as a licensed massage therapist, Duxbury’s Leigh Lench Smith lost count of how many female clients complained about chest pain when lying face down on the massage table.
“In my practice, I work exclusively with women, many of whom are pregnant with tender breasts, or recovering from breast surgery,” she says. “In 2020, while working on yet another client who rolled over and said ‘ouch,’ a lightbulb went off. I thought there just had to be a way to make women more comfortable.”
Smith was on a mission and was able to use a period of downtime while she was healing from foot surgery to design, patent and ultimately manufacture the Comfort Pad by Featherstones. The molded Talalay foam pad helps women breathe a sigh of relief by supporting their breasts when face down on massage and chiropractic tables, MRI machines, chaise lounges and even in their own beds for stomach sleepers.
“The foam is made from the sap of rubber trees in southeast Asia. They don’t have to cut the tree down to get the sap, so it’s sustainable,” says Smith. All of the manufacturing is done in the United States – the forms are molded in Connecticut and the fabric covers are sewn in a factory in Fall River.
Since Smith uses the “Comfort Pad” with her own massage clients, she has been able to see firsthand what a difference it makes when women are lying prone on a firm surface. “Because I designed it and tested the prototype, I wasn’t really surprised by the positive feedback,” she says.
What has surprised Smith, however, is the fact that people have found other uses for her invention. Customers have used the pad for post-surgical comfort after orthopedic surgery, by supporting and propping up a leg, hip or arm. Others take it on flights for back or hip comfort since it can be folded in half and slipped into a carry-on bag.
“The thing I really didn’t see coming,” says Smith “is that one of my clients took the pad to her job as a technician at Boston Children’s Hospital and used it to support and prop patients in the MRI machine. The staff liked it so much, they ordered multiple pads for each machine. They even requested that I develop prototypes for two other pads, in different shapes, which are already in use.”
Leigh Smith says that she’s spent so much of her career providing relief through massage that it’s been especially rewarding to find yet another avenue to bring comfort to women.
To learn more,
visit featherstonesinc.com.