Armoire + Tampon Tribe’s Tracey Martin

Tracey Martin

Co-Founder, Tampon Tribe

Tell us about yourself.

I’m originally from Boston (go Red Sox!) and grew up in a family of public educators. I’ve basically been a nerd since birth – I’ve always loved academia and being a student, math, music and the arts. I really didn’t grow up with much exposure to the worlds of business or private enterprise. I studied linguistics and cognitive neuroscience at Brown and moved to San Francisco shortly thereafter to work in software sales, and later sales ops, legal & business development. Of my friends and family, no one is more surprised than I am to have ended up with a career in business! They probably thought I’d end up designing fashion apparel in my garage or in school getting degrees until the end of my days.

What are you currently working on?

Running a sales ops team is still my day job and stimulates me greatly. Besides running Tampon Tribe with 3 other amazing female entrepreneurs, you can find me teaching and practicing yoga, fashion styling and buying for a few clients, and dabbling in all forms of design.

On Tampon Tribe

Why tampons?

It’s so gloriously simple and yet so important. Our mission is to provide women with organic, affordable feminine hygiene. We wanted to do it while directly impacting marginalized women locally in CA and without having a nasty environmental impact globally. We want to empower women through convenience, sustainability and social impact.

How did you get started?

My roommate and I met Tampon Tribe’s original founder, owner, (and fearless leader) Jen Eden at a happy hour at my roommate’s crossfit gym. She’s a serial entrepreneur, having already owned and run a number of successful restaurants and publications around the world. She was musing about a new concept she was toying with: a dollar shave club for organic tampons. I nearly dropped my drink; I was so excited. “How is this not already a thing??” I vowed to her that night, in the gym, that I would do whatever I could to be involved. A few months later, Tampon Tribe made its debut.

What’s next?

I’ve been thinking a lot about how much imagery, iconography, fashion and marketing are much like languages, each with their own grammar and vocabulary. Someone with my bizarre mix of responsibilities needs to be able to speak and learn these new “languages” easily — so I’m constantly asking myself, how can I use these languages not just to sell products, but to empower and enable women? I want to leverage what’s culturally communicative to create jobs and products that empower people. That’s what I hope we’re doing at Tampon Tribe.

Favorite technique to get sh*t done?

Pick your environment. For whatever reason, sound is more distracting to me than sight, so some natural light either at home or in a café, and a comfy pair of headphones usually do the trick. I’m also old school with hand-written, bulleted lists. They’re not great for long-term use, but for a busy day, there’s nothing better than the feeling of scratching things off a post-it. Also: caffeine. Don’t be scared. It’s not for everyone, but I’m damn effective on 2-3 times the recommended daily intake. Whatever, its got antioxidants.

10 minutes of solitude?

The NYT Crossword Puzzle and a podcast. Or, if my yoga mat is around, a quick vinyasa flow to get the blood flowing. Doing handstands against the wall rushes blood to your brain — it’s an awesome way to re-energize and focus!

Best way to energize your own bosslady power?

There’s a lot I love about being a boss lady, but nothing is as visceral as dressing the part. For me, that might be sky-high stilettos one day, and a mens-wear look on another; or while working from home, just some heavy rimmed glasses. In the workplace — [my style] is like my armor.

Bosslady (or ladies) that you admire?

Right now I’m nursing an unhealthy obsession with Issa Rae. But my all-time, hands-down crush has to be Rachel Maddow. First of all, she’s a genius, low-key Rhodes Scholar (no-biggie), and an absolute savage at investigative journalism. She also happens to be funny, fearless, sarcastic and only drinks old-timey cocktails (a woman after my own heart!). And of course, she’s immensely successful commercially.