Meet the Woman Behind One of New York's Fastest Growing DTC Startups: Maria Markina from Athena Club
What do Vogue, Business Insider, Instyle and the Huffington Post have in common? They’ve been raving about the personal care DTC startup helping women’s health, Athena Club. It was co-founded by Maria Markina. The Corporate Diary and Kat Garcia sit down via Instagram LIVE to chat.
Meet Maria Markina
Co-Founder of Athena Club, Maria Markina, sits down with Kat Garcia on The Corporate Diary
Co-Founder of Athena Club Joins ‘The Corporate Diary’ to Talk About Running One of the Fastest Growing DTC Startups
Maria Markina joins The Corporate Diary to discuss her corporate moves from working in strategy consulting at McKinsey & Company to entrepreneurship. She shares her knowledge, her strategies for early-stage founder success, women’s health and Athena’s mission, and being a woman in business.
The Interview
A lot of our viewers on The Corporate Diary aspire to join management and strategy consulting firms. What can you tell us about your experience at McKinsey or in consulting, generally?
It really depends what type of consulting you want to do. When it comes to management consulting, it may be a question of finding the firm that is a right fit for you. It sounds silly as they are massive firms, but they truly have their own cultures. I worked at McKinsey - a really great firm, wonderful people. However, I can say there are great people across all different firms, so it’s about the people you get along with when you’re interviewing, when you get to the firm and thereafter.
As to when you’re working in consulting, your experience will be impacted by the work you do - which depends on what you choose to focus on. This is largely dependent on what you studied, as well. At the end of the day, if you find your mentors and interests early (i.e. healthcare, consumer goods), you’ll set yourself up for a good experience. I was always passionate about consumer goods. All in all, it depends on person to person. Speaking to people in the industry, this was a generally good strategy for them.
Can you tell us a little bit more about how you made the decision to leave strategy consulting to co-found your own business. Consultants always talk about their exit strategies, almost in a mathematical way, from the timing to the type of work. How did you jump into the risky world of entrepreneurship knowing consulting provides a type of safety not found in other spaces?
You nailed it. It is really scary. Consulting gives you the chance to work on a variety or projects, see different industries. It’s not easy to jump off that ship into entrepreneurship which is like a black hole - you don’t know if it’s going to work or not. There was a clear moment though - for [Athena Club]. When we reached 1,000 customers, I thought: ‘You know what? This is what i’m really excited about’. I’ve always been passionate about it but knew Athena was something I needed pursue.
I recall the day I was going to tell [McKinsey] I was leaving and I was so nervous. My hands were shaking but at the end of the day, I’m really happy with my choice. It’s true that you can have the highest of highs and lowest of lows but if you’re excited about it, and you’re ready for it, that’s the most important part. I wouldn’t have done it any other way.
Athena Club’s tampons give you total protection which means you don’t have to worry about leaks every time you laugh or sneeze. Photo by @athenaclub.
“Trust me. No one’s out there to steal your idea. It’s hard enough to start a business.”
How do you overcome fear and complacency?
Um, well, it really depends. Is it the fear of launch, because you are scared of the business not working out, or is it you're scared to leave your current position?
I think one thing that really helped me was really talking to people. I know there's this misconception that when you're starting a business you should be worried about not telling others what you’re working on with the fear that everyone's out there to steal your idea. Trust me, no one's out there to steal your idea because it's hard enough to start a business. I don't think someone's gonna be like: ‘Ah, yes, that's it. I'm going to go source tampons and razors instead of you and I'm going to do it quicker’. No, I think people often have really good advice to give you.
Watch Maria’s LIVE interview on Instagram with Kat Garcia on ‘The Corporate Diary’
I’ve had the pleasure of trying out some of Athena Club’s products - primarily the razors, deodorants and face wipes. What I love about Athena Club besides its products, is its mission. Normalizing periods and natural care for women. Did you ever experience challenges being in the DTC space building a brand that is so female oriented?
I get this question quite often. Everyone knew the model. They understood periods. Maybe they didn't understand like the very deep intricacies of a period that you know most people don't share with others but at the end of the day, I think people were extremely understanding and excited about we're doing. Whether it was talking about vitamins or probiotics and how they support conventional health or the concept of essential oils that are high quality being delivered in an affordable way, was pretty straightforward to everyone.
I think everyone saw how dedicated we were from the beginning on quality as opposed to anything else. We didn't cut any corners. I mean we went for the most expensive ingredients across the board and really found ways to cut costs across the supply chain to be able to save our customers a lot of money as opposed to cutting on the product quality.
The message and values were understood from the beginning and I think there was a lot of excitement. I'm still really excited about it and guess, I always will be. And, you know, we see that with sponsors welcome others, too!
What is a mantra or lesson that has impacted how you view your career path or life?
While I don’t have specific mantra, I would say, work hard and stay positive. It's really easy to get upset and t overwhelmed. Remain positive to always think about solutions as opposed to issues, and work hard. At the end of the day, hard work does pay off in unexpected ways.
What’s your mantra, Kat?
My Mantra? Hm…
Kat: Similarly, I have many ways of living and not one sole mantra. However, I quoted a poem the other day. It’s called “Hokusai Says” by Roger Keyes on the famous Japanese wave painting. It’ about letting life live through you. In your life, you're going to be thrown curveballs, so be like the tide. Allow yourself to go with that and let life take you by the hand, while also working with it instead of against it. You’ll most likely understand where you're supposed to be and when that is, instead of always like fighting against it. I often found myself wanting to control situations and my ambitions rather than saying: “Okay, I'm going to work very hard, and we'll see where I'm oriented”.
Yeah, that's a great one. Yeah. It's hard. It's hard. Especially when you're a specific type of personality like it's not easy to just go with the flow. So, that's great.
Watch Maria’s LIVE interview on Instagram with Kat Garcia on ‘The Corporate Diary’
Maria, to send us off, can you share how being a woman had impacted your career?
That's a really interesting question. It is a really difficult question and I think there's no one answer for people. It really varies from person to person, their personal experiences.
Being a woman has definitely allowed me to work on Athena Club with my co-founder. You know when a lot of people think about their daily experiences, they focus on their frustrations rather than finding ways tackle the issues. We’ve started to do so in the corporate world. That’s the wonderful thing about management consulting, at least in my experience. It was a strong community for both women but also for men looking to build really professional relationships around interests. Perhaps it’s why my experience feels somewhat different than a traditional corporate position or path, which I never had. I've witnessed a lot of it and have some people say terrible things about women in the corporate world. Fortunately, I’ve had the opportunity to focus on building relationships with people who have very common interests to mine, who also enable and empower me to go into the business we at Athena Club have today!
Love Athena Club? Check out the Beauty Haul on their incredible product line below.
