Period Pain, Body Literacy, and the Information Gap | Blush & Bloom Podcast | Ep. 40

Most women learn about their bodies in fragments, from a whispered health class, a late-night Reddit thread, a doctor's visit that leaves more questions than answers. That gap between what women experience and what they actually understand is where period pain, confusion, and quiet shame tend to live.

In this episode of Blush & Bloom, host Gigi Kenneth talks with Elle McCray, founder of ONYX, a femtech company working to shrink the information gap between women and their bodies. ONYX provides solutions and information at every phase of the reproductive journey, from puberty through to menopause and beyond.

Elle came to women's health from fashion, beauty, lifestyle, and digital marketing, and she brings that storytelling lens to a hard question: how do you build health products and campaigns that make women feel seen, without leaning on shame, stereotypes, or "pink it and shrink it" marketing? Together, she and Gigi talk about period pain, body literacy, and what it takes to build for the people you actually serve.

In This Episode, We Cover:

• Why Elle started ONYX with period pain, and how her own experience drove it
• Why period pain has been overlooked for so long
• What actually makes women feel seen in health products and campaigns
• The misconceptions baked into how women's health is marketed
• How new founders can build real trust with the community they serve
• What it takes to turn a health problem into a physical product
• Building as a Black woman in femtech

Why did ONYX start with period pain?

ONYX started with period pain because Elle was living it. As a college student searching for answers about why she felt so bad the week before her period, she found herself deep in Reddit and online forums that did not feel credible, and she had had difficult experiences in doctors' offices. The information she needed to feel confident about her own body simply was not accessible in one trustworthy place.

"Being able to understand why I feel the way I do became really important to me."

When she started asking peers, older women, and even her own mother how they navigated their reproductive journeys, she found the same gaps everywhere. Because periods and women's health can be so taboo, she says, "we're not encouraged to have those conversations and learn and grow from each other." ONYX grew out of a desire to drive that conversation forward.

Why has period pain been overlooked for so long?

Period pain has been overlooked partly because women are conditioned to tolerate it. Elle points to research on how pain is measured in women, noting that a woman's pain scale is often skewed. "What we think of as severe pain, we would probably rank as just moderate," she says, which makes it hard to know when something is genuinely wrong.

On top of that skewed baseline, she argues, sits a culture of concealment. Being taught to hide a pad in your pocket so no one sees it plants an early idea that periods are something shameful, a secret to keep. That "cycle of shame," as she puts it, makes it harder to speak up later in life. The encouraging shift, in her view, is that hormone health is becoming less taboo to talk about, helped by social media and a broader change in culture.

What makes women actually feel seen?

Women feel seen when the storytelling starts with them. Drawing on her digital marketing and advertising background, Elle says effective communication begins with the person on the receiving end in mind: showing all types of bodies, being genuinely diverse, and being authentic rather than performative.

"When people can see themselves in an ad or see themselves in a product, that builds a level of trust in whoever is making it."

That trust, she notes, is what drives both buying decisions and long-term brand affinity. The most important question is always how you make someone feel. Make a woman feel she should be ashamed of her period, and she will keep hiding her products and carrying that shame internally.

🌸 The misconceptions in women's health marketing

For Elle, the biggest misconception is a lack of honesty. She describes the classic period commercial, a woman running through a field of flowers, and points out how far that is from reality. Periods are not, in her words, a play-it-safe sport where you casually run a marathon. Sometimes it feels like "I'm fighting for my life."

Being real about the experience, she argues, paints a truer picture of what it is like to menstruate while still showing up, leading a household, or competing as a student athlete. She traces the "pink it and shrink it" habit to an old industry mindset of simply shrinking a product and making it pink for women, and she pushes back on it. There are many different expressions of what a woman can be, and marketing should reflect that range rather than flatten it.

🤝 How can new founders build trust?

New founders build trust by being part of the community they want to serve. Elle's advice is direct: talk to as many people as possible, go where they are online and in real life, join the groups, and participate in the conversation. When people feel seen, heard, and understood, she says, that is when the most effective marketing happens.

Trust, in other words, is not a campaign. It comes from listening first and building from real pain points, then designing communications and products around what the community actually needs.

🛠️ Turning a health problem into a product

Elle is candid that she did not know what she was getting into as a college senior building a physical product. She describes the entrepreneurial journey as close to the hero's journey, one that matures you and teaches you a lot about yourself and others. Building a physical product, she notes, is expensive and slow to iterate compared with digital products.

She learned to close information gaps on all sides. When an all-male engineering team's first prototype came back far too large, it was a reminder that experiential gaps run both ways, and that bringing women into the room matters. She reached experts by researching people on LinkedIn, sending direct messages with a few specific questions, and following up in person, once sitting in a convention hotel lobby to land a meeting. ONYX iterated repeatedly, starting from an early CBD tampon concept and evolving into something completely different, guided each step by community feedback.

💪 Building as a Black woman in femtech

Elle speaks openly about building in a space that is often male dominated, and even more so white male dominated, where she has sometimes had to explain and over-explain why women's health deserves attention. It is not a niche, she stresses; it is more than half the population, and everyone comes from a woman.

"I have the capacity to land on my feet. I have the capacity to land the deal. I have the capacity to see the product through."

That self-belief, she says, has been an anchor, letting her walk into a room shaking and still execute. Being on the margins, she adds, can build a deeper empathy that shapes how you approach conversations and messaging.

FAQ

What is ONYX? ONYX is a femtech company founded by Elle McCray that works to shrink the information gap between women and their bodies, providing solutions and information at every phase of the reproductive journey, from puberty through menopause.

Why is period pain so often dismissed? Elle points to two forces: women's pain scales are often skewed, so severe pain gets ranked as moderate, and a culture that treats periods as something to hide reinforces shame and silence, making it harder to know when to seek help.

What does "pink it and shrink it" mean? It describes an old marketing habit of taking a product, shrinking it, and making it pink to sell it to women, instead of genuinely designing for them. Elle argues real representation reflects the many different expressions of what a woman can be.

How can a new founder build trust in women's health? Be part of the community you serve. Talk to as many women as possible, join their spaces online and offline, and design around real pain points, so people feel seen, heard, and understood.

What does success look like for ONYX? Connecting as many women as possible to their bodies, helping release bodily shame, and being part of every woman's reproductive journey from preteen through post-menopause, as an international community.

💬 Final Thoughts

The through-line of this conversation is body literacy as a form of power. When women can understand why they feel the way they do, question the marketing they have absorbed, and speak openly about periods without shame, they can advocate for themselves and make informed decisions about their own care.

Elle's hope for ONYX is simple and expansive at once: that women, at every stage of the journey, can look in the mirror and feel empowered rather than icky, uninformed, or unseen. Closing the information gap is not just a product goal. It is a shift in how women relate to their own bodies.

👥 Connect with the Guest

Elle McCray: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elle-mccray/

Gigi Kenneth (Host): https://www.linkedin.com/in/gigikenneth

💕 Explore More from Asele

Visit: https://www.asele.tech

Try the Asele app: https://asele.health

Join our WhatsApp community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/F8GY4RV7Bm2CtCfq6TONsV

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/asele

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6NEsMfkG3dvl0pYXU40Efi