We are so happy to finally share with you what we have been working so hard on for the last months. We have created two final value products the first one being a four-episode podcast and the second one a social media platform to promote the podcast and interact with our target group. These two products have been the best-chosen approach to deliver the most value given the time and framework.
For our Value Creators Semester at Windesheim Honours College, we (Amber Lups, Limor Guetta, Margot Lebreton and Sophie Dortu) wanted to create something that would help women live better in balance with their cycle and all it brings. Therefore we conducted research and contacted experts from various disciplines to eplore different perspectives and to gather the needed knowledge on the topic. We then found our two main networks that through collaboration and co-creation helped us define our main topic which was hormonal wellbeing. Subsequently, we continued searching for the best approach to tackle this big topic. In fact, we identified a main gap in this issue, namely, the lack of education on the menstrual cycle and hormonal well-being. Through different conversations with our networks we decided that a peer-to-peer educational intervention was the best way to approach the issue. Additional research into the needs of the target group resulted in the decision to cover all these topics in a four-episode podcast called 'Hormonize the Podcast'!
The first episode introduces the team members and creates a safe comfortable space for our listeners. Anecdotes are shared as well as personal experiences with the menstrual cycle are told. Then the menstrual cycle is explained in detail. Questions as how the body changes throughout the menstrual cycle, which processes take place, which hormones play a major role, what is their function, and what does a ‘normal’ menstrual cycle actually look like are addressed. The second episode talks about hormonal imbalances, what they are, what symptoms may be caused by an imbalance and how specific hormonal imbalances can be recognized. Also, several hormonal and natural anti-contraceptives are discussed.
The third episode elaborates on the importance of nutrition and its relation to hormones. As the team members are not doctors, but just wanted to share their knowledge, only suggestions have been made on scientifically based information. It has been emphasized that those were only suggestions and not guidelines. The main points were eating whole foods, eating organic, if eating meat only grass-fed, and eating with the seasons. Also, the importance of eating fats for women has been addressed and phase-specific foods have been elaborated upon. Finally, a conversation about sports and exercise throughout the menstrual cycle took place. The last episode discussed information on lifestyle, the male 24-hour clock and female 28-day clock, work culture, stress and cortisol, phase-specific inner strengths, herbs, supplements, and hygiene.
The first outcome of this podcast is that young women, aged 16-24, are informed about their biological cycle after listening to Hormonize the Podcast. This includes hormones that play a major role within the cycle, the mental and physical effects on the body, and what symptoms could arise from a hormonal imbalance. To find out whether this was indeed the case, we asked our followers on Instagram to answer the following question: “Did Hormonize the Podcast help to increase your knowledge of your menstrual cycle and/or make you more aware of it?”. Out of the 10 answers received, 100% of our listeners answered “Yes”.
The second outcome was to create an environment through personal storytelling in the podcast, in which our target group is encouraged to talk about their menstrual cycle and its different aspects, therefore breaking the taboos that surround this topic. The last outcome was that young women will be more assertive in bringing forward their hormonal symptoms during medical sessions after being informed by Hormonize the Podcast. We expect that this value will increase in the future and therefore a list of indicators was created that can measure these desired results.
The product has been implemented in a sustainable way and continues to evolve throughout time as the episodes are on different platforms and will stay on there forever. Other aspects for the continuation of our product have been divided between our networks. HormoonCommunityNL will take over the Instagram account, work towards translation of our podcast in different languages and will create a free online work course based on the podcast for young women. She also created a page with the description of our Value Creators journey on her website. All these actions are expected to reach more people after the semester has ended. Joseph has taken over the Apple Podcasts account and will continue promotion up until three months after the semester has ended. Lastly, online promotion of different platforms such as LinkedIn, Windesheim, Young Lady Business Academy and other platforms has been done and will continue to reach people.
We would like to specially thank our main networks, Hormoon Community Nederland and TERRAM PACIS for the collaboration and all their feedback, input, and time in helping us reach this end product!
Also, we would like to thank Kim de Lange, Anke Custers, Sophie Meurs, Celine Vervoorn, Maddie Miles, Elies Arkens, Nienkelet Smeenk, Stacey Schley, Kars Menkveld for sharing their knowledge and insights so we could determine where and in what way we could add value in helping women live in balance with their cycle! And a big thank you to Pei Dan Venema for designing our beautiful logo!
If you would like to listen to the podcast you can click the link below
Or find us on:
Spotify: Hormonize the Podcast
YouTube: Hormonize the Podcast
Apple podcast: Hormonize the Podcast
Instagram: Hormonize_thepodcast
TikTok: Hormonize.thepodcast
HormooncommunityNL webpage: https://hormooncommunity.nl/podcast/