Spotlight on Boobi Butter, a Female-Founded Breast Health Company
Boobi Butter is a badass, female-founded company that I'm so thrilled to have stumbled upon through the weird world of the internet. After hearing about these ladies and what they stand for, I knew I wanted to learn more, and to help! Fast forward to our first collaboration last month where we gave away 5 boxes of Boobi Butter to 5 deserving women. More spotlights on those individuals soon! This interview below is with Amelia Coomber, the founder of the company. I was so curious on how she brought her vision to fruition. And if you are, too, check this out!
Tell us a little bit about your business!
Boobi Butter is the Breast Ritual in Town when it comes to being proactive and taking control of your breast health.
Company Boobi Butter | Founder: Amelia Coomber | Chief Officers: Hayley Miller, Ashwini Patil
At Boobi Butter, we are turning the difficult and often intimidating habit of breast self-exams and checking for signs of breast cancer a fun & empowering experience. Boobi Butter is an encouraging company that provides women with the fun, interactive tools & resources they need to take control of their breast health and start developing the lifesaving habit of knowing your breast normal. This way you are prepared to detect something that’s not.
Young women have zero resources to know their breast normal and own their breast health. We cant get mammograms until 40, we aren’t taught how to do self-exams or what to look for, and we are often dismissed from doctors, saying we are “too young” if we do find something.
What inspired you to start your own business?
I started Boobi Butter about two years ago after being furious about the lack of resources for young women to be educated on breast health. Boobi Butter automates monthly self breast exams for women of all ages and provides them with other physical tools encourage awareness and protection. We offer one-time and quarterly subscription automated boxes that include various organic breast serums, lotions, crèmes, and oils, that make feeling your girls fun and empowering. We also include educational tools and experiential ways to record and track changes.
After extensive research and testing from our team, we learned that women aren’t touching their boobs enough, they aren’t doing monthly breast self-exams, and they have never been educated on the signs of breast cancer and what to look for. Signs that are often not just lumps or bump. So we though hmm how could we make this a fun experience that women not only enjoy but look forward to doing? The hard fact is the 1 in 8 women get breast cancer, 1 in 4 if you have breast cancer in your family, and 70% of those same women will discover it on their own on accident!!hat if women were doing this on purpose. So, what if instead of women looking at it as searching for cancer, they looked at it as a uplifting, intimate, and empowering experience, and that’s where Boobi Butter came in!
Tell us briefly about your top 2-3 favorite products.
Organic, Ice Rose Breast Serum
Soothing antioxidant rich serum for your breasts
Helps with chest wrinkles, acne, sun damage, stretch marks, and red spots
Organic, Blue Yarrow Root + Arnica Breast Crème
Muscle relaxing
Moisturizing
Everyday chest and body cream
Organic, Rose Clay + Coconut Breast Massage Candle
Beeswax, coconut oil, cocobutter, and shea butter formula
Light it, let it melt, and use it as a breast massage oil or all over massage oil
Great for mediation
Empowering Solo massage
Intimate partner massages
Smells amazing
How did you first get involved with cancer advocacy / how do you identify as a Cancer
Advocate? We got involved in cancer advocacy when we learned that 1:8 women will get breast cancer, 1:4 if you have it in your family, and women are not being taught monthly breast self exams, important signs of breast cancer to look for, and more importantly how they can take control of their breast health and get to know their normal so they can detect something that’s not.
What has been the most rewarding aspect of starting your own business?
Creating something larger than ourselves. No matter how hard running a business can be, there is never a moment where we think to stop because we are bring value to the lives of women; that is invaluable.
What has been the most challenging part about starting your business?
Being a female computer science major in college has its own challenges, running a business called Boobi Butter definitely has added hurdles to that. Boobs have for so long been a taboo in society, something that women are supposed to keep private, not talk about, and feel ashamed about. It was as recent as 20 years ago when women wouldn’t even talk about their breast cancer, because they would be shunned and isolated. Today it is obviously different; everyone knows breast cancer exists and that alone has its own set of problems. While everyone has heard of the pink ribbon, run the races, and raised money, so many of those women don’t know their personal risk. So many women don’t take the necessary steps and precautions to protect themselves personally. Our goal is to educate these women that they need to be feeling, searching and loving their boobs and bodies, for nobody but themselves.
Being a company called Boobi Butter is both good and bad. In the Startup community, the majority of judges and investors we pitch to are 40 year old men, and to them boobs are not something they are used to hearing about or talking about in a public setting. However, after years of trial and error, we have gotten so good at pitching our business to these men, that they go home after our pitch competitions feeling so empowered to take control of their breast health, they perform a self-exam on themselves. (HA! #TrueStory)
If there is one piece of advice you could give young women with an ill parent, what
would that be? CHECK OUT THE THE_BREASTIES ON INSTAGRAM!! There is an amazing, supportive and empowering community out there, if you are struggling to find yourself after breast cancer. Instagram is one of the most popular places for women who are going through breast cancer, the surgeries, the radiation, the chemo, and the mental stress to share their stories and connect with other women going through the same. There is this amazing organization called the Breasties that put-on Breast Cancer retreats in the mountains and all over the world. IT is so inspiring to see these women living their best lives.
What advice do you have for daughters around the world to grow up to be strong, independent women?
Start feeling your boobs and developing the habit of breast self-exams now! It’s one of the most lifesaving rituals you can have and its incredibly empowering to know that you are in control. Also, start a business! Do it, seriously! Do things that make you uncomfortable and are outside your comfort zone. Don’t let anyone tell you, you can’t.
When I started Boobi Butter, I was told 1000 times it wouldn’t work, that it wouldn’t amount to anything, and that I wasn’t good enough to run a business. Despite what everyone told me, I went for it and I learned that there is nothing you can’t do when you put your mind to it. I know that sounds cliché but it’s true, and it’s so easy for other people to tell you, you can’t do it. It’s up to you to make that decisions.
Secondly, accept failure is part of life and it’s the most critical part of growth. The last two years we have failed an unquantifiable amount of times. But not for one minute did we let that stop us. Every single on of our failure was the reason for the next success. You must fail to succeed and its something we are not taught and are often put down for. Your failures define your success, don’t ever forget that.
What keeps you inspired?
We want to save lives -- that’s it. We know all women have the power to be "breast aware" and we want to make this a reality. We are building something larger than ourselves...and you cannot put a price tag on that. Nothing will stop us.
To learn more about Boobi Butter, you can visit their website at https://boobibutter.com/ or follow them on IG @BoobiButter
