WoW Woman in Women's Health I Sam Simister, co-founder of GEN M

Sam Simister brings a competitive advantage to a business through a combination of unique core skills. Strategic business acumen, expert supply chain and scientific knowledge, and a proven ability to create, negotiate and drive the blueprint for growth when big brands buy a founder-led one are examples of these. She has extensive international experience with multi-national corporations, entrepreneurial companies, and an own venture.  

Her Future Development Role at Innocent Drinks includes Global portfolio expansion. At 22 years old, Innocent is Europe’s No. 1 juice and smoothie brand (operating across EU and Asia with annual sales of £500m) and is embarking on a new chapter to drive growth in the healthy drinking sector across Europe and more widely. To enable this growth, Sam holds a newly created Board position to research, develop and deliver the in-year and future pipeline of innovation. 

Sam is also a co-founder of GEN M - a community and resources hub packed with GEN M-approved services, products, information, and the champions in menopause space, sharing content and useful information and finds from brands actively supporting women in menopause and perimenopause.

Sam’s career includes international experience in the food industry with companies including Safeway Stores PLC (Chilled Foods), International Britannia (USA), Kings Supermarket (USA), Marks & Spencer PLC as well as her own ventures both home and abroad. Her education is a BSc Hons degree in Food Science and Nutrition (2:1) from the University of Surrey. When she isn’t traveling, she splits her time between the UK and Portugal where she and her husband are found mostly mountain biking and eating amazing seafood.  

Sam, how did you get into this industry? Has it been an easy industry to get into or have you had many challenges? How long did it take you to be where you are now? What was the biggest obstacle?

Following a successful undergraduate placement at M&S, I joined as a graduate food technologist which has provided me with the most incredible foundation for my career to date. I had a sponsor, was fast-tracked, and had the opportunity of a stretch development role in the USA. This was the making of me both personally and professionally.  It took me 15 years to a Board Director role however the experiences along the way were most valuable as opposed to a linear track. Lack of D&I as a graduate. The Food Industry was male-dominated and tricky to navigate back then, with no focus on gender equality, for example, you required a sponsor. 

What are your biggest achievements to date? Starting out on my own in the US and my personal achievements and value created at innocent drinks. I am hoping I can add GEN M to this list too.  

What problems are you solving at GEN M?

By 2025 there will be 1bn women experiencing menopause. Menopause isn't a gender issue, it's a societal one; a taboo subject.  Today it is a lonely and disparate landscape with no/little education and solutions to the questions and symptoms busy women have. Frustrated by this GEN M is the first of its kind digital platform to curate the best of menopause in one place. 

GEN M is more than just a website and has carried out research to truly understand how women feel. The data is illuminating with the majority of women feeling let down and demanding more from brands and retailers. Through collaboration with businesses, GEN M will drive real, sustainable change to make menopause better today than yesterday for millions of women.  

What is the global market opportunity for serving menopause women? What % of this global market is menopausal is GenM addressing (by 2025)? 

With menopause everything changes and with 48 symptoms across perimenopause and menopause, all sectors have an opportunity to listen to women and provide better signposting to solutions to their symptoms. From our research, 90% of women are demanding brands be more inclusive and cater better to meet their menopausal needs. This doesn’t imply a need for innovation necessarily as many brands have menopause-friendly products in their portfolios. Get this right and responsible brands have an opportunity to retain and potentially grow their market share and consumer loyalty. GEN M is a simple, smart accelerator to this audience offering a test to learn model with access to data. Our research shows that across key sectors for example beauty, supplements, clothing, and bedding the menopausal market will be worth billions of $ by 2025.  

What is your USP?

We are the first to curate the best of menopause, are independent, and chose to collaborate to drive real change. We are more than just a site. With a focus on FMCG and responsible service industry businesses, have built a credible, accelerator vehicle for global brands, retailers, and manufacturers to access the menopausal market, retain and grow their market share and consumer loyalty. Importantly a collaboration with GEN M provides the opportunity for responsible businesses to do more to support their employees. Our 48 Founding Partner ATL/BTL campaign launches this summer along with the launch of the first of its kind, M Store. 

How fast you are growing?

We are in the beta stage. In our first 16 weeks, we’ve already welcomed 35,000 visitors to GEN M who have cumulatively viewed in excess of 100,000 pages. Whilst the majority of visitors to GEN M are from the UK, we are seeing a growing base across the Americas and Europe, assisted by our SEO strategy of delivering relevant, engaging content for our readers, however content that is highly discoverable for search engines. Since launch, we have already achieved page 1 rankings within Google for a number of non-brand tracked keywords, outranking far more established brands in this space.

Interest in our “Something To Mention” newsletter campaign is building with over 1000 subscribers to date, many of which participate in our preference centre allowing us to build a detailed view of user profiling for future engagement and commercial opportunities.

Outside of digital, engagement and interest with global brands as part of our brand alliance strategy has attracted the attention of many household names. 

Our team is comprised of seasoned entrepreneurs and brand builders, with experience from launching network platforms for women as well as launching and growing sustainable FMCG brands. 

What is the vision/end game?

Our vision: To be recognized as the global site for the best of menopause in one place. To change the rhetoric and break the taboo. To drive real, sustainable change through collaborative partnerships with global brands, retailers, and manufacturers. 

Our Purpose: To make menopause better today than yesterday. 

Website www.gen-m.com

Twitter @GENM LinkedIn GEN M Official Instagram @genm_official

This interview was conducted by Marija Butkovic, Digital Marketing and PR strategist, founder, and CEO of Women of Wearables. She regularly writes and speaks on topics of wearable tech, fashion tech, IoT, entrepreneurship, and diversity. Follow Marija on Twitter @MarijaButkovic and read her stories for Forbes here.