Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora

@Molly_Hayward
@CoraWomen
corawomen.com

“My work at Cora has taken hold of me. It really found me. I certainly wasn’t looking for it, but it’s been incredible.”
— Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora

“My background was in economic development, women’s rights and human rights. I thought I was going to work for a big NGO, join the peace core, or work for a non-profit after college. Fate kind of intervened and I very serendipitously joined a tech startup in Philly.”
— Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora

“I started as a intern. They paid me a thousand dollars a month, which was awful. Yeah, it sucked! Although, now I look back and I’d kill for a thousand dollars a month.”
— Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora

“Within three months, I was out raising money with the CEO. That was where I cut my teeth, and I learned by doing. I really loved the CEO’s role. It was that high level, visionary work that appealed to me most.”
— Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora

“My first company was a draw. I invested a lot and somehow broke-even, myself. After two years, I couldn’t get an entrepreneurial visa to stay in London, and so I was unceremoniously deported.”
— Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora

“Its really funny looking back on my journey, because it was just a fucking mess!”
— Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora

“(At Cora) wWe are a Women’s health company that aligns technology and products to a Woman’s natural cycles, across her entire lifetime. We started out as a monthly subscription box for organic feminine hygiene products.”
— Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora

“We let women create a customized box of organic feminine products, and we ship them to her every month. Like Tom’s Shoes , like  Warby Parker, for every monthly box that we ship to a women here in the US, we provide a month supply of products to a girl in a developing country, who would otherwise be missing days of school every month during her period.”
— Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora

“This is a huge problem, all around the developing world. There are many NGO’s that are pumping tons and tons of money into girls education because we see these massive returns economically when we invest in girls’ education, and yet, girls at 12 or 13 drop out of school because they miss days of school, due to their period and they fall behind.”
— Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora

Toxic Chemicals: “I found that most of the products that most
women use in this country, conventional products like Tampax, Kotex, Playtex, they’re made from cotton that has been heavily sprayed with pesticides, mixed with synthetics and bleached. All of those substances cause there to be toxic chemical residue, that are linked to reproductive diseases and cancers.”
— Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora

“Women are exposing themselves to these products for days at time , every month, for forty years of their lives. And it’s really just wrong. I couldn’t in good conscience contribute to that.”
— Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora

“Prior to (raising 30,000 crowdfunding with) my plum ally campaign, I had completely bootstrapped it, including money from the job, as well as multiple credit cards. I don’t think enough people talk about that.”
— Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora

“Now, we are raising a seed round. And, I say we’re because while for a long time it was just me, I’ve more recently and all the sudden, hired on a team of five people.”
— Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora

“We advocacy center for women at Cora. We started out with menstruation, and we quickly noticed more comprehensive support system was needed. Our intention is to build a brand that is massive and inclusive, to become a mainstream provider, in a way that organic pr0ducts haven’t yet mastered.”
— Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora