Hello and welcome to the Friday 5, my weekly look at the world of well-being, coming to you

this week from the sunny climbs of Kenya, which actually links in very well with my guest

this week talking about cycle care and more for the well-being of women. Now before you start

thinking about bicycle chains and Lycra, the kind of cycle care my special guest is talking

about is the menstrual cycle, all riveting stuff for women of every age as we shall discover.

So my guest today is Hannah Samano, who started her career at Unilever and led global tech

teams across the business. Now she left Unilever in 2018 and moved to Kenya. How appropriate for me here

right now. Now she left Unilever to launch the African Femtec company Casha, which is e-commerce

for women's health and personal care in emerging markets. She's now launched unfabled back in the

UK, which aims to change how we think about and shop for periods and to redefine wellness,

adding menstrual health to its core. Now regular listeners of the show will know that I often talk

with guests about ways to improve healthcare provisions for menopausal women. This is included

access to reliable evidence-based information, particularly about HRT, but also robust menopaus

policies in the workplace that support women through this transition and help businesses hold

on to their highly experienced staff. Well today we're going to be turning back the clock a little

to look at provisions for women at perhaps an earlier age and stage. Hannah is the founder and CEO

of the UK's first dedicated menstrual cycle care platform unfabled. She is passionate, as you'll

hear, about giving women better and more sustainable options to support their menstrual well-being

and launch the platform after becoming increasingly frustrated by the garish branding of mainstream

menstrual brands. These products are often sold in sterile supermarket aisles,

fabled feminine hygiene, and often situated next to, well, maybe the pet food aisle,

it's no wonder she says that women report feeling low and lacking in self-esteem during

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