Episode 043: A Conversation with Carinne Chambers-Saini, CEO and Founder of DivaCup
SUBSCRIBE AND LEAVE A REVIEW: APPLE PODCASTS | SPOTIFY | STITCHER | RSS
Carinne Chambers-Saini, CEO and Founder of Diva, maker of the DivaCup, always knew that she wanted to follow in her mother’s footsteps, as both an entrepreneur and an advocate for women’s health.
In this episode, Carinne talks about how she joined forces with her mother to develop Diva, a modern redesign of a menstrual cup concept from the 1930s. The mother-daughter duo started Diva on a shoe-string budget from their kitchen table and relentlessly challenged a male-dominated industry.
Twenty years later, Diva has taken menstrual cups mainstream and disrupted the sanitary product industry by providing a more sustainable and planet-friendly solution. Diva is now sold in over 40 countries and has sold over 6.5 million DivaCups internationally to date.
Connect:
DivaCup on Twitter
Carinne on Instagram
Bio:
As Diva’s CEO, Carinne oversees everything from product design, and marketing, to the brand's philanthropic efforts. In her time as CEO, she has worked with her team to introduce the first-ever menstrual cup recycling program in North America, DivaRecycles. A first-of-its-kind for the menstrual product space, Diva partnered with Terracycle to help reduce waste and carbon footprint impact. Most recently, Diva was one of the first brands in North America to introduce a menstrual health leave policy for its employees, allowing them to have up to 12 days of paid leave a year, apart from their sick leave. Carinne is a trailblazer in the space and leading the charge both as a leader at Diva and as an advocate in the menstrual health space.
Carinne and her company have received notable recognition, winning EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Sustainable Products and EY’s Special Citation Award for Industry Disruptor. In 2017, Carinne was also the recipient of Canada’s Top 40 under 50. Most recently, Carinne received a 2019 RBC Women of Influence TELUS Trailblazer Award, in recognition of her industry-disrupting work with Diva International.
Today, Carinne is a sought-after speaker and panelist at industry events and business conferences. “I want to motivate women to assert themselves – to find their unique voices and dare to follow their passion, facing down fear to fulfilling their true potentials. My hope is they will be inspired by our story – take chances and never give up, even when they’re up against all odds.”
Carinne not only pioneered an unprecedented shift in period dialogue with the launch of Diva, but she also spontaneously launched a documentary project in 2017 known as Pandora’s Box. As said by many, Carinne lifted the lid on Pandora’s Box with the goal to create a conversation around period quality while shedding light on the global stigma attached to menstruation. and she lights on global period equity.
