The product responds to what Irish co-founders Jennifer O’Connell, Aoife Matthews and Louise O’Riordan identified as a gap in the market—the need for a supplement built for women that takes away the guesswork to deliver the right essential nutrients at the right doses in a single, once-a-day sachet.
“We felt we could simplify everything—and that speaks to this one-and-done, one-a-day supplement solution,” said O’Connell, who left her 22-year legal career to launch Sisterly. “We wanted to create something that was easy to take with no hidden nasties. We also wanted to make it high-end and premium to ensure it was efficacious.”
The Sisterly team—which often cites the phrase “women are not small men” popularized by leading exercise physiologist Dr. Stacy Sims—chose to focus firmly on female physiology to design a synergistic blend of nutrients to fuel women and their busy lives. Its target consumers are primarily time-pressed, midlife women in the “sandwich generation” who are juggling careers, parenting and elder care but still making time to support their physical and mental well-being.
What women want and need
It took three years for the Sisterly co-founders to launch The Elevator. The process started with a survey of hundreds of women to pinpoint their top health concerns. Energy emerged as the leading issue, followed by immunity, hormonal balance and beauty (hair, skin and nails).
Then came the research, development and review in consultation with a six-person advisory team of scientists, nutritionists and women’s health experts.
“It was a much longer process to have everybody checking each other’s homework, but it is a much more reliable way to approach a project like this where our principal desire was to come up with the best possible product,” said Matthews, who left her career in investment banking to complete an advanced diploma in nutrition and health coaching. “It was a huge investment in time and resources, but we feel that we’ve ended up with a better product as a result.”
The product was formulated to target the four main health concerns identified with a combination of 23 ingredients. These include vitamins A, C, D3, E and K2, a vitamin B complex, chicory root, minerals such as magnesium, zinc, selenium, chromium and copper, and a significant 150 mg dose of coenzyme Q10 to boost energy levels and antioxidant activity.
“Coenzyme Q10 is really our hero ingredient,” Matthews said, explaining that though the body naturally produces the nutrient, levels drop with age. “Our formulator Dr. Daniel Jones says that it’s his desert island ingredient.”
She noted that in addition to providing all the nutrients that women need in the right dose, it was also essential to provide them in the right form.
“Nutrient forms vary so much in supplements, but this is often difficult for consumers to understand,” she said. “We see a lot of brands opt for synthetic forms because they’re cheaper, but they often aren’t absorbed as well by the body. We’ve used the most bioavailable, natural forms of all our ingredients which really makes a difference.”
This use of premium ingredients has resulted in a premium price tag, with a month’s supply costing £89 for a one-time purchase or £79 on subscription.
“We knew we weren’t making life easy for ourselves by choosing the best possible ingredients at the best possible dose, but we decided to take price off the table—we weren’t going to compromise on quality," O’Connell said, adding that it would cost three times as much to buy all the individual nutrients as stand-alone supplements.
This messaging has resonated with consumers, with Sisterly actively exporting to more than 25 countries from their online webstore. The Elevator can also be purchased in retail stores such as Harrods, Whole Foods and John Bell & Croyden, and from online marketplaces such as Amazon and Healf.
Sustainable packaging and clean formulation
To address a major barrier to supplement adherence, Sisterly also created what O’Connell describes as a “very minimalist, beautiful box that can sit on people’s countertops” to prompt daily use. Sachets in the box were selected to provide easy, on-the-go convenience.
“Before launch, we were going through all the different ways in which people stop supplements and really teasing through what prevents us from keeping the habit going,” she said. “One of the key things was that supplement jars are so ugly—they clutter up your kitchen countertop and end up getting put in a cupboard where they are quickly forgotten.”
“The packaging is fully recyclable and made from recycled material, and we also recently launched refill envelopes, which result in even less waste,” Matthews added.
Ensuring that Sisterly’s flagship supplement was clean and natural, without sugars or additives like binders and fillers, also contributed to extending the development timeframe. The team wanted to launch a powder as a cleaner alternative to capsules but faced the challenge of making it both palatable and enjoyable for consumers.
“With a capsule or tablet, you don’t have to worry about flavor, you just pop it down the hatch with water,” O’Connell said, noting that powders are complex because they must pass the taste test. “If you’re thinking about 23 different nutrients and you’re trying to make them into a drink, typically the solution that manufacturers are driving and where other brands compromise is to add in sugars or sucralose to disguise the flavor.”
They landed on a natural mandarin flavor—a faint essence that is purposefully bland so that the powder can be mixed in with juice, coconut water or any type of beverage, allowing customers to personalize the flavor to their palettes.
Building community and foundations
Sisterly highlights that community outreach and involvement is a significant part of the brand’s strategy and mission. It hosts a range of activities at home in Ireland and abroad, including sea swims, yoga classes and educational workshops that bring women together to support both body and mind.
“We have a saying: ‘Sisterly made me do it’,” said O’Riordan, who has been working in the luxury lifestyle space in Los Angeles for the last 10 years. “We get a lot of people trying different things for the first time, which just reinforces that that sense of community and brand loyalty.”
These events also raise money for female-focused charities, and Sisterly pledges 1% of its sales to support women’s initiatives.
Last year, the company partnered with Choose Love, an organization that supports displaced women and children. Sisterly also works with local Irish charities like Women’s Aid which helps women and children suffering from domestic violence.
In the process, Sisterly has attracted some high-profile brand ambassadors, including Olympians Sonia O’Sullivan and Annalise Murphy, sports broadcaster Orla Chennaoui, pharmacist and best-selling author Miriam Hussey, and model and presenter Jade Parfitt. The decision to pursue Informed Sport certification has also further driven interest from a community of sports women globally.
“The sports angle came about very organically,” O’Connell said. “There was no sitting around a boardroom table saying we’re going to target sports people, but through our own interests, we have connected with a lot of people in sports.”
Sisterly also listens closely to its community when it comes to product development and is preparing to launch a new pregnancy-safe supplement next year based on consumer feedback.
“We generally respond to problems that our community and our customers bring to us and see what we can do but without complicating things,” O’Connell said. “We’re never going to do every bells-and-whistles supplement and throw products at people—we’re very conscious that we want to keep this streamlined.”
“We don’t need to be all things to all people,” she added. “We are the non-negotiable essentials that every woman needs to be taking every single day and then they can layer on herbs and adaptogens and whatever else they want on top of that, but we are the foundation.”
