Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to season three of the Miscarriage Rebellion. I'm really pleased to be joined by Hannah today. Hannah is the founder of Love2Dream. Love2Dream have been an incredible partner of Pink Elephants for seven years, helping us to make an incredible impact to raise more awareness around the topic of pregnancy loss, miscarriage, pregnancy after loss.
Speaker: special beautiful rainbow babies and giving us a moment to celebrate those with a really special product, one that I hold so dear to my heart and is a really incredible story to tell. um So welcome Hannah, thank you for joining Thank you so much. Awesome, I think it would be a really great place to start back.
Speaker: at The Telstra Women in Business Awards, you were there, you were announcing an award, I was there, I was in a category um and we connected for that first time. Oh, look, that night what is so clear in my memory because it was hearing you tell your story when you when you won and received that award. yeah um Well, it made my husband was with me and we both got equally emotional. And think the statistic was something as staggering as one in four. yeah
Speaker: One in four pregnancies end in loss before 12 weeks. Yeah. So when you said that, well, it was quite distressing. But also was like, oh, wow, this these are my customers.
Speaker: And a quarter of my customers have experienced this grief. Yeah. So we were really excited to go and introduce ourselves to you and say, how can we help you amplify your voice? Yeah. And then we had the best conversation ever. And I love this story, but we got on straight away and I was like, I have this idea. i have an idea for something that celebrates rainbow babies. Can you imagine like a baby swaddle with rainbow?
Speaker: And then we got on to talking about what a rainbow baby was, because again, that wasn't something that really, if you hadn't been in this community, you hadn't got it, you didn't really understand what a rainbow baby was and it's used in other contexts as well. But so explained that a rainbow baby is a beautiful celebration after going through such a dark and turbulent time that is loss. It doesn't negate the loss. It doesn't minimize the loss in any way. It's an opportunity to pause and reflect and look at that baby with a special celebration of what your parents have gone through to bring you into this world. And I wanted to do something to celebrate that. And there was nothing out at that time that celebrated rainbow babies in that way. Yeah, it's so true. And I because I designed the products yeah back then.
Speaker: And it was so easy. I was like, yes, we can do a rainbow print and yes, we can turn it around in five minutes. And I literally I think the next day I went into the office, I designed the print, I emailed it to you. yep And you said, yep, looks great. And then I went into production like, i you know, that's what I love. I love that the one when you have something so meaningful that you want to enact in this world, you can do it overnight. Yeah, absolutely. And you were you and Gavin were incredible in that way. It was like, at that point, I think I was saying earlier on another podcast that when I, the Telstra award was a big turning point for me and that external validation that yeah, people are starting to get this now, that the corporate world are coming on board, that miscarriage really is something that women do deserve more support.
Speaker: And then that night I met you and then the momentum that came, because literally like you were the next day emailing me and I was like, whoa, there's someone else that's like as fast and as passionate about this. And that was just a beautiful moment. And it was literally weeks later. Yeah. It was really easy to turn that around. And so what we did was we made sure that your logo was really prominent on the packaging, that ah the boxes when they were on shelf at all the major retailers that
Speaker: The customer, when they walk up to the shelf, they will know that there is support available because I think that was the biggest thing for me is so many women go through this terrible grief and there's nowhere to go and no one to talk to. But you fill that hole. And so...
Speaker: It's not about just, hey, here's a cute swaddle. It's actually about anybody walking up to to the website, to any of our social media communications, in-store, online, wherever, that they know that there's help available and help amplify your ah one message. I want to understand. Yeah, and it was I just remember as well, like at that point, again, Pink Elephants wasn't as well known as perhaps it is today. And there's still a way to go on that as well. But we weren't kind of known outside of people that we'd already supported. So the way that you could amplify our message to then you had a huge amount of followers on your like your socials, but you also your EDMs. And your marketing team have, they still are, and they were then the most generous, beautiful people that then wanted me to come in to speak to them, to talk about the experience. Some of them had their own lived experience as well. And they just wanted to listen more to then get copy on your website.
Speaker: about how special this partnership was. And I think from the beginning, one of the things that I've loved is this really feels like a truly shared values. Like it's not about the donation. The donation is epic. And for seven years, you've continued to increase year on year the amount that you give to Pink Elephants. And that delivers so much more impact.
Speaker: But alongside that, it hasn't been just about selling more swaddles. It's been about raising awareness too. Yeah. Yes, because actually... from every product sold, $5 goes to you yeah And the customer is supporting you. It's really, it's amazing. And um yeah, I remember that day when you came into the office and told the whole office your story, there was not a dry eye in the room. And the most incredible thing was how many of our employees then went and kind of
Speaker: wanted to tell you their story. So there's this wonderful um unsilencing that happens and a safety that happens that
Speaker: is very special yeah that we provided that safe space for people to talk about it and to feel seen and safe to talk to share their experience and connect with others yeah it's profound i'll um never forget as well um think it was one of the major news channels came in and interviewed us and we did this whole pr ah campaign around launching it i was incredibly nervous i've never done anything like this before and Even that, the contribution that Love to Dream put towards making that happen as well. And again, amplifying reach, telling more stories. And then leading to that moment where I saw the first swaddle in one of the major retailers. I don't know what I'm a allowed to say, but I think it was baby bunting and seeing our logo, Pink Elephants, next to your logo on this box of this product that we decided to do together and and just feeling that immense moment of pride.
Speaker: absolutely and actually kudos to baby bunting right yes they don't they select what they range yeah so they want to support it's amazing yeah 100 and i know that in the early days of pink elephants we had reached out to some baby retailers and been told oh we don't talk about miscarriage it's not really something within our we're not sure this is a fit maybe we're not sure i'm kind of just gentle kind of nose And so it was really interesting how then when this partnership came from this angle that then that could happen and we started to challenge some of that, right? And because we need to meet women where they are.
Speaker: We need to reach them where they're shopping to talk about these issues as well. Yeah, I know. Well, that's the thing, right? Like if the brands are, we're not just with you for the happy moments. yeah We want to be with you during the tragic moments and... maybe show that somehow there is hope after loss and all those really important things. So that just sounds a bit crazy to me. Yeah, I know. It did to me at the time, but I feel like we've challenged it together. And I feel like as well, what was really important when you talk about that is that this broadened our reach from those that had experienced loss to the friends of those that might not have experienced loss themselves, but were watching and witnessing their loved ones or their best friends be the one that was going through a miscarriage or pregnancy loss. And this helped us to reach them that then they could refer their friends to pink elephants as well. Yeah. Yeah. That's so true. The ripple effect is enormous. Yeah. was huge, huge. And then we've taken it further than Australia. You now support two other charities globally through these as well. That's true.
Speaker: We, It's amazing. yeah Yeah, it really is. So I think it's Tommy's and First Candle, I think. Yeah, in the US and the UK. Yeah, US and UK. And I just absolutely love that because I just think there's just such a beautiful, profound ripple effect of support for more women globally. And Pink Elephants is here for Australian women. So then being able to share it that way as well, it's just incredible. Thank you. Yeah, very proud. No, I'm incredibly proud.
Speaker: I want shift tack a little bit now and talk about one of the effects that a awareness raising has on advocacy for pink elephants and our community and driving real systems change. And one of the things that you witnessed us lobby for and supported us was leave for loss. Leave for loss was Pink Elephant's campaign to seek an amendment to the Fair Work Act of Australia to ensure that every woman and her partner are entitled to two days bereavement leave when they experience a miscarriage.
Speaker: Why was it important for Love to Dream to support us on that? Yeah, this is so powerful. So I think the most important thing is the unsilencing, which i mentioned before is We never want any any woman to feel a sense of shame or secrecy or that she can't tell... You know, of course it's everybody's personal business. We're not saying... No, no.
Speaker: But what I'm saying is in terms of our workplace and feeling psychologically safe and heard and as a whole person in our workplace, when this idea was floated, we were like, we don't even need the legislation. we just We're just going to do it And so, yeah, i that's all. It's just really, really important and very, very meaningful yeah to our team members and Yeah, it's a bit of a no-brainer. Yeah, and I love that you take it that way because we've also had Julian Simmons on the this year's podcast and he talks about Leave for Loss and he was the MP that helped us push it through. But one of the things that drove us to be able to open doors within Parliament and get in front of the AGs and ministers that we needed to seek support from for this bill to be changed was actually because several businesses had been early adopters and already made that change. Oh, really? Yeah.
Speaker: And Love to Dream was one of those as well. So being able to say that this business, this business, this business can see this and then they've already adopted it regardless of whether legislative change is in place or not really helped kind of open doors as well for us. So again, it's it's that systems change piece, right? It's all of us coming together, sharing the same message, advocating for the change that we want to see.
Speaker: Absolutely. Wow. Yeah, it's epic. Well done. and And then with workplace, we also provide workplace support to Love to Dream as well now and your employees. And I know that we've kind of touched on it lightly. I came in and I did almost like a lunch and learn, shared my experience, but it goes beyond that now as well. We provide resources to your team. um If anyone goes through a loss, they have the support. It's phenomenal. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. And that's made a huge difference in terms of, again, being able to partner with us in an external way, but also walk in the talk internally and having those systems and processes and support tools in place for your people as well.
Speaker: And that matters. It matters because life is really busy and to know and how do you find the person to talk to and how do you navigate that with your ah HR team and all those questions are just eliminated. You can just be supported. Yeah, yeah, yeah And we provide the tools for that. so And I'm incredibly grateful for this partnership, the difference we've managed to make. And another thing as well is, yes, it's not all about funding, but we have talked about The funding that you provide us helps us grow our circle of support, but it's delivered to us in an untied funds way. And what I mean by that as a charity laid leader, so that people understand that it's not specific to a set project or a set grant. There's no kind of specific deliverables and measurements. We have to provide Love to Dream. This is just done with genuine love and intention.
Speaker: Yeah. So love is in our brand name. Yeah. I thought of the brand name. We extend with a warm hand and we know the work that you're doing. We don't we don't need we don't need all that. yeah Yeah. And that's where, again, it comes back to that true shared values and being able to make a huge impact together.
Speaker: Yeah. I'm incredibly proud. Me too. And grateful. Yes. So beautiful. What else can we do? I know, yeah. We're open to ideas. What else can we do? so we did we did extend the um rainbow print into other products. So now you can...
Speaker: by the transition bag and there's the kind of trans-seasonal weight one and the winter weight one. So just depending on when you have your baby.
Speaker: Yeah. Completely. And I remember that was due to demand, right? Yes. We just launched it in the newborn ones. And then everyone was like, oh, my baby's too big, my rainbow baby, and I really want one. Like, when going do this size? Or when can I have a winter one? And again, you listened. We gave that feedback. You were hearing that feedback at your team too. And then, yeah, decided more. Well, I think there was a really interesting insight there because we thought, well, it's only the newborns that you're going to need the print, right? Because you're you're like, yay, my newborn's here. Let's celebrate. But actually, you want to keep celebrating as the baby gets older. older and be reminded that this is your special rainbow baby it's really special yeah absolutely and i remember even when i went on and i had another rainbow baby after this partnership because when we started this partnership my first rainbow baby johnny was too old he was like 15 months and i think and i was like oh damn you can't fit in this socks and then i remember for me when rosie was born just that beautiful moment
Speaker: of looking at Rose in her rainbow swaddle and just just like a deep, quiet reflection, pride, all of those beautiful emotions that we'd done this together and here I was staring at my rainbow baby.
Speaker: I'd been through all of the losses to have her in my arms and then to have her in something that was just so beautiful and so special. Like, it's just something that I will always keep really dear to me. And I know that the feedback we get from the community and women that we still send these out as a celebration to women. And we know that many women tell us they've purchased theirs or they've had their friends buy them for them at the baby shower presents that it's just the most gentle, beautiful, profound acknowledgement. Mm hmm. of everything they've been through. you don't need to go into the whole story, but it's like it just means so much more to them. Yeah, the acknowledgement's so important, isn't it? Because often you don't want to have a conversation, but there's just some symbols that are really touching. Yeah, absolutely. And that comes back to the heart of Pink Elephant's providing validation, empathy, and the acknowledgement piece. Acknowledgement of the baby that you lost, but a celebration of here. You've landed here and how special is this moment right now?
