When Aine Kilkenny and her co-founder Fiona couldn’t find a single tampon at home, they didn’t just complain – they created Riley, a 100% organic cotton period care brand now stocked in bathrooms and retailers across Europe.
In this episode, Aine shares how Riley grew from a kitchen table in West Cork to 400+ corporate clients, including Google and KPMG, replacing millions of single-use plastic period products with organic, biodegradable alternatives and expanding into the US. She talks candidly about shifting from DTC to a B2B-led model, crowdfunding on Seedrs, and why profit, sustainability and access all have to work together.
We also dive into the human side of scaling: building a team around integrity, kindness and respect; finding the right balance between remote work and office hubs; getting onboarding right in a fast-moving startup; and learning to celebrate milestones instead of just sprinting to the next problem.
Perfect for anyone interested in women’s health, sustainable consumer products, or what it really takes to build a purpose-driven brand in a crowded category.
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