We were lucky to catch up with Tamy Vo recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tamy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I first came up with the business idea when I was living in Singapore. I started my period at work and on my lunch break went on a search for organic tampons with my colleague. We went to store after store and finally found them on the very bottom shelf at a Guardian. I was shocked that it was hard to find especially in one of Asia’s most developed countries. My colleague also asked why do I use tampons as she had used pads her entire life. I then asked the other girls at the office and they all used pads too. Noticing the gap in cultures and also just overall body knowledge was apparent between what is more open in America compared to Asia.

Around this time and still up until now, friends have shared their challenges with IVF and fertility, endometriosis, BV, PCOS, etc and the common thread was that they, “feel alone in their problem”. Which breaks my heart everytime. As vulva-owners, we each go through changes in our life’s cycles.

Over the years I’ve immersed myself in women’s health and clean products. What deepened my conviction that I needed to do something was when I came across an article that third party tested menstruation products for PFAS (also known as forever chemicals). Majority of the products came back positive. PFAS have been known to cause infertility, hormonal disruption, cancers, and more. These are the same products that are stocked at major retailers where most women shop, Target, Walgreens, CVS. Every month, for about a week at at time women are unknowingly poisoning themselves and increasing their chances of infertility, cancer, and disrupting their hormones. The fact that PFAS are present in menstruation products is inhumane.

At the time, no one else was doing this. The clean product industry for women’s reproductive and sexual health is fragmented. I’ve talked to countless women and they’re either actively searching, purchasing from brand to brand or the shops at one of the major retailers. I wanted to create a place that she can rest in trust, feels understood, and is deeply supported from menstruation to menopause. Through our non-toxic marketplace, resources to empower her about her body, and intention to create a community so she doesn’t feel alone available all in one place.

I felt like this would work because for so long her health has not been this transparent and cared for in this way. I feel like this is the perfect time for what I’m doing. Women are speaking up and more clean products are coming to market.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I first got into this industry through a Singapore-grown company that I worked at that really pushed boundaries. The founder, Cynthia Chua created Singapore’ s first luxury intimate skincare lines and the tagline was, “love your vulva more”. Bringing this to market in 2018 was early for its time. This peaked my interest coupled with my LA upbringing and love for “natural” and organic. It was also organic for me to bridge the two.

At VŌLVA, we provide clean products to support vulva-owners from menstruation to menopause. Think of it like Sephora but for your vagina. From organic tampons, to herbal tinctures, supplements for pregnancy and postpartum, and ph-balancing lubricants. My intention is to provide a place where she can purchase products that actually put her health and overwell wellness first.

What sets us apart is that we bring together clean brands/products. Soon we’ll be adding educational resources because if we want an empowered future understanding her body and ways to best to support oneself is part of it.

What I’m most proud of right now is changing someone’s purchasing habit of picking Kotex to a truly clean tampon as even some of the organic tampons at stores are toxic.

What I want her to feel when coming to VŌLVA is “home”. A place where she feels safe, that she’s cared for, and she’s loved for who she is as herself. As women we carry a lot and juggle many things at once. We’re great multitaskers and if she can feel like it’s one thing off her her plate – we’ve won :)

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I have so many stories that have built me and my resilience. From losing everything and starting over twice to being homeless and sleeping at my desk in the office to having negative in my bank account. I’ve had really challenging moments all while my life on the outside looked fine.

I honestly haven’t shared this full story yet – one of the stories I’ll share because it helped me get VŌLVA off the ground.

A couple summers ago I had to quickly move out of my apartment because the downstairs neighbor’s dad tried to break into my place while I was home. I still remember his voice yelling “Tamy, Tamy, Tamy”, him banging on the door, and the knob turning trying to get inside. I called one of my ex-army friends to come help me. After what felt like forever, my neighbor left. My friend finally arrived and took me to his place where I felt safe.

Apartment-less, I decided to go to LA and visit family. It was around Mother’s Day so the timing was kind of perfect. It gave me some breathing room and find a new place. Cash flow was also getting tight and new client work was dry. I had an account on Trusted House Sitters. I managed to secure back to back house sits for the next few months. The dates aligned perfectly one after another. I felt really fortunate.

While my housing was sorted, I was struggling financially. During this period, I remember eating a lot of lentils. They were cheap and were a good source of plant protein. I remember crying in the shower one day, feeling stressed and stuck, not knowing what to do because I had nearly $0 in my account. About an hour later, my mom randomly called and said she deposited money in my account. I was saved by her and the grace of God. A mother’s intuition cannot be beat!

Even though my reality then was like this, I found home in my center. I still believed I was abundant. During my walks I would recite money and prosperity affirmations, built my self love and worth, grew a closer relationship with God.

About a few weeks later, I received a new client. Then an old client reached out to work on two large projects which was the most I’ve ever made. This gave me the opportunity to find a place to live. I also used this towards building VŌLVA.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I will always remember 11/11/23, this was supposed to be VŌLVA’s launch date.

I was searching for someone to build the site within my budget and timeframe. I wanted to get the site launched early November to take advantage of black Friday and holidays sales. After speaking to 50 people/teams from all around the world, I found an amazing front-end web designer and developer who happened to live in my same city. They also understood and believed in what I wanted to create.

The week of launch, the developer was going on holiday. He ensured that everything on the back end of the site would be completed. As we got on a call Wednesday morning, Saturday being launch day, the site was not even close to being ready. On top of that, the document we created to collect all of our partners details and their products didn’t collect a single thing. He ensured that everything would be done my 4pm.

4pm came, no word, 5pm nothing, 6pm, I texted him and no response for the remainder of the night.

The following morning I got on a call with the web designer. She ensured that she can get it done and we will launch this Saturday. We pivoted to soft launch only one category of the site, menstruation instead of all of the life cycles, fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, menopause, etc. given the time frame.

Friday night came and the site was not where it needed to be. There were a ton of bugs and it couldn’t function the way we needed it to – I thought to myself, we can’t launch like this. The only page working was the homepage.

Saturday morning – day of said, launch, I couldn’t get out of bed. I haven’t felt this heart broken since my first boyfriend broke up with me in high school. I cried while writing an email out to our email list about the news.

I believe everything happens for a reason. That whatever is happening is FOR me not TO me. During my reflection the answer became crystal clear. God put me in a heart check and I really got to question my intention. I was making profit my number 1 because I was pushing to have the site live to capitalize on holiday sales. If I’m here to create VŌLVA to serve women, she gets to be first not the sales targets.

So I got to pivot to serving her first. To me serving meant ways to empower. By providing resources and educating, I get to put the power back to her to choose what is best for her and her body. This looked like creating the podcast.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://wevolva.com
• Instagram: @wevolva and @tamy.vo
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamyvo/
• Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Hknt2x3NZbgXlSXRStBc6?si=xoEe3CPOQ4Oi4yP7kpMTQw

Image Credits

Photo of just me, photographer: Joe Buchoff
Podcast Studio: Authentic Exposure