I never originally set out to be a Founder or launch a start-up. Instead, I created Her Society for the sole reason that it was what I needed when I was younger.
I’m no longer working on Her Society but it will always hold a special place in my heart.
Below is the story of how it started, where it ended up, and what I learnt along the journey.
Her Society began as an Instagram page in 2015 with the purpose of creating a community for women to share their experiences with eating disorders and body image. At the time, #bodypositivity and #instagramversusreality had not yet hit the mainstream and this kind of content was novel.
It was also at a time when it was still possible to grow without further lining Zuckerberg’s pockets (aka organic vs paid) and the community reached >14k relatively quickly.
As we grew I launched a bunch of complementary stuff like events and merch.
Proceeds were donated directly to eating disorder charity The Butterfly Foundation.
Albeit small, we were creating impact.
Her Society was accepted in Monash University’s Accelerator program in 2019, where teams receive 10k funding and embark on a 3-month intensive in the name of #scaling/#growth. I was 1 of 10 teams (>300 applicants) to be accepted.
Commercialisation was the goal and solving this problem with a solution that also makes money was tough. We pivoted and created a size-inclusive fashion marketplace which only stocked brands that catered at least up to a size 18, and/or pre-order for sizes 18+. We helped brands extend their size offerings, and showed women what the product would actually look like on their body shape through diverse and representative modelling and advertising.
The store existed for a while and we got a bunch of brands on board and sold some clothes to people. I knew the problem was important but I struggled with the day-to-day of trying to sell people clothes, and felt further and further removed from the problem I originally set out to solve. I retired the e-commerce aspect and reverted it back to it’s origins until I decided what to do with it next. Spoiler: I decided to do nothing with it. The Instagram page still exists.