Serendipity and a DM: The birth of women’s health platform The Cyclist

It was a serendipitous moment that brought new women’s health plaftform, The Cyclist, to life.

“It was a DM to Jess – ‘my gut is telling me to message you and get momentum going on this,” says cofounder Katherine Douglas.

The Cyclist is an educational platform that helps women navigate their reproductive health. It features a blog as well as expert resources and guides from the advisory board of health practitioners.

Women’s health specialists are listed in a directory, and Quinn and Douglas also host a regular podcast.

The time to get diagnosed for endometriosis is roughly eight years, says Quinn. It get misdiagnosed, dismissed or ignored, so it’s their hope that The Cyclist helps connect people with vital facts and information as well as to health practitioners who can help.

Parallel experiences

Douglas, General Manager of Douglas Pharmaceuticals and Quinn, media personality and diversity advocate had worked together before – on the launch of the former’s healthcare brand BraveFace, designed to help people cope with stress and anxiety.

“I was inspired by her advocacy and her story,” says Douglas of Quinn. “Then, when her content was delayed, I found out it was because she had just had a miscarriage. I ended up having a miscarriage at the same time – it was just this watershed moment for me.”

The next time they saw each other, they had a long conversation about all things women’s health from living with endometriosis and their fertility journeys.

“I thought it my head, there’s just so much potential, we have such parallel experiences,” says Douglas. She adds that with both of them in positions to self-fund their healthcare, they saw an opportunity to share the information they’ve learned with a wider audience.

‘Aha!’ moment

When Douglas’ message landed in Quinn’s inbox, it was an ‘aha!’ moment for her.

“It was serendipitous – it felt so aligned. I’d been self-employed as an influencers for about seven years and I was ready to do more with my audience,” says Quinn.

“I had been sharing my endometriosis journey, posting on intense topics and people were really engaged.”

Getting The Cyclist to its launch on March 12 would take two and a half years and a baby each.

Mat leave and choosing a name

Douglas laughs that some of the early momentum they experienced ran out of steam when she went on maternity leave.

“My priorities changed a little bit. Then I came back and Jess fell pregnant and went on maternity leave.

“But it also gave us a whole different lens – experience with women’s health conditions and now motherhood.”

The challenge of settling on a name was right up there with the timing of their maternity leave breaks, adds Quinn.

They wanted something that spoke to the rhythm and cadence of the female menstrual cycle – hence, The Cyclist.

“They’re [menstrual cycles]are a gift to us. If you get your period and it’s a bit off-kilter, then something is not right,” says Douglas.

Now it is live, The Cyclist a colourful website hosting real stories from Kiwi women, including both Quinn and Douglas’ as well as social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

They hope to start hosting community events, but for now, the focus is on reaching as many people as possible with their health content on social media and the podcast, and then drawing people to the website.

Motivational messages

“We’re community-led but expert backed – journeying alongside the community and it’s up to the individual to pick and choose what content they want from the smorgasbord of information,” says Douglas. “We’ve learnt so much from the experts.”

Quinn adds they’ve been blown away by engagement they’ve seen since the launch three weeks ago. The geunine messages they’ve received from those who have engaged with their content as well as very quickly gaining 10,000 followers has shown them there’s a hunger for information, but also an overwhelming gratitude for the platform.

“The DMs we get through are pages long – it gives us so much motivation to keep going,” says Quinn.