Amanda Calabrese: Redesigning the Tampon for Athletes
Amanda Calabrese was a middle schooler at a swim meet when she got her period for the first time. Her team captain told her to figure it out in thirty minutes or she was off the relay. That moment stuck with her all the way to Stanford, where she met her future co-founder Greta Meyer and started sketching what would become Sequel, the first tampon redesign in nearly a hundred years. On this episode of She Pivots, Amanda talks about the four-year fight to get a tiny piece of cotton past the FDA, why she treats the tampon as game-day equipment rather than something to whisper about, and how Sequel landed in locker rooms from middle schools to Audi Field, Yankees Stadium, and the Indiana Fever. Now a nine-time champion turned product design engineer, Amanda is on a mission to change how period care is talked about in sports and in every space where women show up to compete. Chapters: 00:00 Welcome to She Pivots 01:46 Amanda's Childhood in East Hampton 05:43 From Junior Lifeguard to National Champion 12:14 The Challenges of Periods in Sports 16:09 Amanda's Journey to Product Design 21:01 The Birth of Sequel and the Spiral Tampon 27:02 Overcoming Obstacles and Securing Funding 29:37 The Evolution of Tampon Design 35:44 The Power of Self-Awareness in Team Building 38:13 Navigating the Challenges of Fundraising 42:16 The Rise of Women's Sports and Sequel's Timing 48:12 The Future of Sequel and Period Care 49:46 Low Point to Launch 50:52 Closing Thoughts 51:44 Podcast Credits You can keep up with Amanda’s work with sequel at www.trysequel.com Be sure to subscribe so you never miss a pivot story, leave us a rating (it really helps!), and share this episode with a woman in your life who you think needs a little inspiration. She Pivots is a podcast created by host Emily Tisch Sussman to highlight influential women voices, share stories of bold career moves, and inspire women with interviews about career reinvention and how personal pivots can redefine professional success. Join our Substack community! Subscribe here for exclusive content and to connect with other pivoters: shepivots.substack.com Learn more about the inspiring women in our pivoter community by following us on instagram @ShePivotsThePodcast, and check out our website shepivotspod.com for resources and updates. She Pivots is proud to be an iHeart podcast. Support the show: https://www.shepivotsthepodcast.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
