Meet the Founder Making Wipes Safer: Vanessa Menache of Raan

When Vanessa Menache learned what was really inside most wipes, she couldn’t unsee it. Combining her background in branding with her father’s textile expertise, she launched Raan—the world’s first unbleached, 100% cotton wet wipe.

In this episode, Vanessa opens up about how her curiosity turned into a mission to clean up the industry and educate consumers about what “green” really means.

You’ll hear:

• The documentary that sparked her wake-up call
• How she built a startup rooted in transparency and sustainability
• Why true clean products go far beyond marketing buzzwords
• The family partnership that made innovation possible
• What she’s learned about leadership, impact, and persistence

💡 Vanessa’s Offer for Listeners:
Get 10% off your first order at raan.com
with code PENNY10.

Key Topics:
• Clean beauty & product safety
• Sustainability in manufacturing
• Greenwashing & consumer awareness
• Female founders & purpose-driven business
• Innovation in family-owned startups

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Transcript

Meet the Founder Making Wipes Safer: Vanessa Menache of Raan

[00:00:33] Penny Fitzgerald: You know those everyday products we grab without a second thought, a makeup removing wipe, a quick cleanup, cloth, something to freshen up after travel or a workout. Most of us assume they're safe. Right? My guest this week, Vanessa Menache. Discovered that's not always the case. Vanessa is the co-founder of Raan, that's spelled RAAN.

The world's first unbleached, 100% cotton wet wipe. It's [00:01:00] designed with a clean, simple formula and a deep commitment to our health and the planet's. In this conversation, she shares how a shocking documentary sparked her mission,How her family's textile background became part of the solution and what we should all know about so-called green products on store shelves.

If you care about what touches your skin or your grand babies, you'll love this conversation about transparency, impact, and creating something better for all of us. Here is Vanessa Menache

 Where are you in this world? I'm in Mexico City. Really? Yeah. Oh, that's so fun. Um, I am currently in Iowa, in the States. we go down to Sarasota, Florida for winter months when it gets cold.

[00:01:48] Vanessa Menache: Oh, nice. That's nice. I, I usually split my time between here and LA so I love Nice. 

[00:01:55] Penny Fitzgerald: follow the weather where it's good. Yeah, definitely. [00:02:00] Wonderful. Well, tell, tell my audience a little bit about you and, um, and your product.

Well, I guess just tell me everything and we'll get into more of the nitty gritty too in a second. 

[00:02:11] Vanessa Menache: Yeah, of course. So we, uh, launched, Raan, um. In March of this year. So we're very, very new and we came out with a very exciting product. We have the first, um, bleached a hundred percent cotton wet wipe. Um, wow.

Yeah. And 

[00:02:32] Penny Fitzgerald: it's, it's pronounced ran, but RAAN, right? Correct, yes. Cool. Oh my gosh. Unbleached all cotton wipe. Yes. Okay. With a very 

[00:02:44] Vanessa Menache: clean formula. Of course. 

[00:02:46] Penny Fitzgerald: Yes. Very cool. How did you, how did you decide that that's what you wanted to do? Or that there was a, I mean, obviously there's a need because it's not been done, but how did you even think of it?

[00:02:57] Vanessa Menache: Yeah, so, um, so [00:03:00] my background, I went to art school in LA and I started graphic design. So I did a lot of branding and worked in a lot of marketing, and I just realized that. The amount of greenwashing that there was on just beauty brands in general was like insane. And I got obsessed. Like I watched that documentary, uh, called Not So Pretty on HBO, um, I mean, I was so disturbed.

Wow. You know, I, you know, 

[00:03:34] Penny Fitzgerald: I have not seen that documentary, tell us about it. Is the beauty industry trying to create a better image for themselves? Is that kind of the background behind it? It's just like the 

[00:03:45] Vanessa Menache: horrors of all these products, right? And all these brands and like, like each, there's, I think there's four episodes and like one is for beauty, one is for haircare, one is for skincare.[00:04:00] 

So like you really dive in into like all these industries and like. You know, like, I just remember the first episode was with the talk with the Johnson and Johnson and like how they had Oh yeah. Asbestos in baby powder. And I just like, I couldn't believe it. I was like, this is insane. So I like became obsessed.

I like went to my bathroom. I like flipped my makeup back, like literally started looking at every single ingredient that was in my makeup and the stuff that I use. And obviously I ended up throwing everything away. Um, so I started looking for cleaner brands. And then, um, so my dad, uh, he, he's works in like textile industry and he actually, like, one of his, uh, the things that he does is like he manufactures wipes, right?

And he's kind of like a. He loves like doing product development [00:05:00] and you know, he has over 40 years of experience and he just knows everything about wipes, right? So I like, we kind of teamed up together and we were like, like, can we make something that's better? Like, you know, like, can we actually make a wipe that's like.

Not only better for the environment, right, but like also like something that's good for, 'cause this is being used primarily on babies, right? And you're like, mm-hmm. I mean they deserve the best. Like, 

[00:05:31] Penny Fitzgerald: exactly. Well, and I think the assumption has always been that, well of course it's going to be a safe product to use it.

It is for babies or it's for, you know, human touch and. You know, I think we've always assumed that those products would be safe. But like you were saying, with Telcomm powder, it was Yeah. Um, causing cancer. I think there's a, a class action suit against Johnson and Johnson because of that. [00:06:00] Crazy, 

[00:06:02] Vanessa Menache: yeah. And just it's crazy.

And you, you, you would think like, I think like consumers, as consumers, you would think like. Oh, I can trust this. Like 

[00:06:13] Penny Fitzgerald: mm-hmm. 

[00:06:14] Vanessa Menache: Especially if it's for babies, you know? It's like, oh yeah, it's for a baby. It has to be safe. 

[00:06:20] Penny Fitzgerald: Mm-hmm. 

[00:06:21] Vanessa Menache: Uh, but that's not necessarily the case. Um, and also like I realize like in most countries, you know, there's a lot of rules on like what you can put and not put in a product.

Like they have a lot of regulations and I think the US is the country with least regulations on what you can put in a product, which I hear that more and 

[00:06:43] Penny Fitzgerald: more. 

[00:06:45] Vanessa Menache: Yeah. Which makes like, gives the founders and like the people that are making these products, like so much more responsibility. 

[00:06:55] Penny Fitzgerald: Like Well yeah, I mean when you know better, you do [00:07:00] better.

But apparently some of these companies, you get started putting together a product. I'm sure you want the best, you have the best intentions, you want it to. Serve a purpose. You want it to be helpful to who's using it. But at some point along the way, you would think that a company would realize that, oh, that particular ingredient in this product is not good, and they would remove it.

But without the regulations, they're not forced to do it. It might cost them more to change the formula or to do something different. So it's really the regulations that have to keep up with. Oh my gosh, this thing is not safe. Let's find an alternative. This can't be in a personal product anymore. Would you agree with that?

Is that, am I Yeah. Accurate? I, I, 

[00:07:48] Vanessa Menache: I, I think so. I mean, this is, uh, the first product we developed and like our, like whole mentality, like going into it was like, [00:08:00] we're not gonna take any shortcuts. Like everything, like from the. Fabric from the suppliers we work with, from the ingredients, from the manufacturing to the packaging.

Like everything, we're gonna think about everything and we're gonna like, do the best we can, right? Because mm-hmm. There's, I mean, there's still things that are not amazing, right? Like, it's not perfect. There's, you know, like our, our. Like, we still need to use plastic and you still need to do these things that are not necessarily the best, but we are gonna do the best that's out there and we're gonna keep looking for better options along the way.

Right. That's cool. Like that was kind of like our mentality. And I'm curious to think like what other founders and other brands like, like what, what approach do they take? Right. Because like sometimes. They can have [00:09:00] amazing formulation, but that's very clean and like good for you. But maybe the packaging is just horrible for the environment, right?

Mm-hmm. Or maybe their supply chain is just really long and that's just worse for the environment. So I think, I think a lot of companies maybe take like, oh, we're just really gonna focus on the formulation, or we're just really gonna focus on. Our products are just gonna be us made, right? 

[00:09:31] Penny Fitzgerald: Mm-hmm. 

[00:09:31] Vanessa Menache: Um, but I, I think it's rare to find a company that looks at things 360 

[00:09:38] Penny Fitzgerald: mm-hmm.

[00:09:39] Vanessa Menache: And that are very transparent and open about like their processes and ingredients. 

[00:09:46] Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. Well, and I, I imagine. It comes down to money probably for a lot. It's just that too. Maybe cheaper to do it one way. And I don't know, I, the more I hear, I've been [00:10:00] talking with a lot of women who are trying to make it better, trying to make the world a better place, trying to make an impact that is positive for their future generations, for themselves, um, today.

So, you know, hearing about all of the plastics that are out there and you can't get away from it. It's just everywhere. Plastic is just, it's everywhere. Yeah. I mean, I'm, I'm hoping that over time we come up with a better solution for packaging for the products, but we don't, I mean, right now it's just shocking to think about how close or how much plastic is out there.

[00:10:41] Vanessa Menache: Yeah. No, it's crazy. But, but it's honestly like, I think little steps, you know, like, yeah. Um, like for us, like when we were looking into packaging, I mean, we have wet wipes, right? So we do need mm-hmm. Plastic in our packaging otherwise. They would not stay wet. [00:11:00] Um, good point. And, and we did look at like p plastic free, uh, options.

The technology's just not there yet, right? Mm-hmm. We're pretty confident it's gonna be there, but it's not there yet. But what we could do now was remove that hard plastic lid that most wipes have now. Like that really thick Oh yeah. Plastic lid. Uh huh. Right. And we chose like a, it's more of like a rigid film.

Like it's still hard, but it's not like thick thick. Mm-hmm. And that just by doing that little change, we reduce plastic by 70% in our packaging. Oh, wow. So that's a good start. It's a good start. You know, it's like little things, um, that, that just make a difference. 

[00:11:51] Penny Fitzgerald: Mm-hmm. Um. So describe your product a little to us.

It's, it, did I see correctly that it has five ingredients? [00:12:00] 

[00:12:00] Vanessa Menache: Yes. So our formula is EWG verified. Um, it was very important to us to be part of these. Uh, certification just because, I mean, that's where I find all my products that I use and they're just very strict and they know their ingredients. So we have very, we have five ingredients that are all EWG verified.

One of them is organic aloe. So, and we, when we were developing the formula, we just realized there there's no need for. All these 20 ingredients that most brands have, like, there's literally no need for them, you know, and like the fragrances and, mm-hmm. Yeah. 

[00:12:44] Penny Fitzgerald: Wow. So what, what organization is that that you're certified under?

It's called E-W-G-E-W-G. What does that stand for?

[00:12:54] Vanessa Menache: it's the environmental working group. 

[00:12:57] Penny Fitzgerald: Okay.

[00:12:57] Vanessa Menache: their standard is like how [00:13:00] toxic the ingredients are. Right. Okay. And what really, what I really like about them, it's like they have like, kinda like a scale from zero to 10. They have an app or on their website, and it's very easy to find. You can usually just like scan the QR code of your product and like, 

[00:13:19] Penny Fitzgerald: okay, 

[00:13:20] Vanessa Menache: it'll find it, you know, and it breaks down every single ingredient that they have.

And each ingredient gets the rating from one to 10. Okay. Right. And depending how many toxic ingredients your product gets rated and EWG verified means it's like the cleanest. Wow. And then if it's a 10, you should probably not buy 

[00:13:43] Penny Fitzgerald: that. That seems pretty simple for people to, have a, way to figure it out.

You know, what's gonna be good for the environment and good for my skin definitely. Well, congratulations on getting certified. I'm sure that's, you know, it probably took a lot of, [00:14:00] did you have to fill out a lot of paperwork? Was there a lot of red tape to go through? Or how did you go through that?

[00:14:07] Vanessa Menache: when we were developing the formula, we were very conscious about wanting that certification and we like set that as a, uh, our standard. Um, so we, you just have to submit. Your ingredients basically. Okay. So it, it's very easy to, it's very easy to get cer like to get into their program. Mm-hmm. Um, and if you just have the right ingredients, they'll give you the certification.

[00:14:35] Penny Fitzgerald: Okay. Well, and it seems like with you, thinking about it from the very beginning, that's key, you know, to make sure that you're not using anything that's going to be toxic or be problematic for people. 

[00:14:51] Vanessa Menache: Yeah, no, I, I think definitely starting like this is probably easier than making a change later on.

Oh, for [00:15:00] sure. And less, 

[00:15:01] Penny Fitzgerald: less cost probably too. 

[00:15:03] Vanessa Menache: Yes. 

[00:15:04] Penny Fitzgerald: how long ago did you start kind of thinking about all of this or starting, started, you know, working towards this? 

[00:15:11] Vanessa Menache: So we, it took us maybe like, um, like I think like two years to develop the fabric of the wipe. Oh, wow. That that was the hardest part.

Yeah, that was the hardest part because it just, it had never been done before. And you know, we, we were so lucky that. You know, my dad had all these amazing, like, connections and partners and like, everyone was just so excited about the product, but everyone just kind of helped. Um, our, our like main partner is, they're called True Cotton and is, uh, they're the ones that get, uh, sell as a cotton for our wipes, uhhuh.

Um, they're in Mississippi and they're like a collective of farmers [00:16:00] and they. You know, they have a very amazing process of like treating their cotton. Um, and that's kind of why we chose them. And they were so excited. You know, like, they're like, yeah, you have to use our cotton. And it's just, it's so amazing compared to other.

Other cotton out there, you know, they, they have this patented process. They don't use any water or chemicals to clean the cotton. Really? Which, yes. Which makes it, it's all cleaned like mechanically. Um, so it's very environmentally friendly. And it also like, by not using like bleach or, and these chemicals or water

so it retains all of the natural oils and waxes from the cotton that make our, that make it naturally high polygenic. So it's like incredible fiber for sensitive skin. Um, and then you can see it on our [00:17:00] wipes, right? Like our wipes, most wipes are bleached. To look white. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Like they're just bleach for looks, you know?

And ours aren't like, and you can see them, they're like a little bit of white and they have like these little brown like dots, like specks from the cotton. 

[00:17:19] Penny Fitzgerald: Mm-hmm. 

[00:17:20] Vanessa Menache: And that's all part from the plant. 

[00:17:23] Penny Fitzgerald: are those the farmers that you work with? Are they, um, certified organic too on the other side?

Uh, they have organic cotton 

[00:17:32] Vanessa Menache: and we actually looked into using organic cotton uhhuh, but we, we decided it wasn't the best thing for us because, so there's, there's not enough organic cotton in the US being produced for us to grow. Starting there, like for the amount of product and for the amount of organic cotton that gets consumed, that means that we would have to bring in [00:18:00] organic cotton from other parts of the world, um, like China or India, you know, and, and this is where it gets tricky, which is very interesting.

I didn't know, and I found that. Out along the way, when you're importing cotton into the US, they have to spray it with pesticides. Right. And that basically makes it not organic. Yeah, exactly. So if it's, it's very interesting. So if you're using organic cotton, you have to make sure that it's from the US because otherwise it's being sprayed with stuff when it comes in.

[00:18:38] Penny Fitzgerald: Oh my gosh. Yeah. I would never have thought of that. But it, I mean, that makes sense because they're trying to protect anything agriculture from pests that are coming in from other countries. Exactly. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah. That's really complicated. 

[00:18:53] Vanessa Menache: Yeah, and, and also using organic cotton would've, uh, raised our prices like.

[00:19:00] A lot, which would've made the product not very accessible to people and mm-hmm. You know, and we know that's an important thing. 

[00:19:07] Penny Fitzgerald: Mm-hmm. Absolutely. Well, and there's one thing to be said for organic, but then there's another thing. The, the certification process, it's, it's expensive to go through for farmers.

So a lot of farmers. Follow very sustainable practices, like what you were talking about. They don't use chemicals or water when they're processing their cotton, so it's still a very, very healthy product, but it does, it just doesn't have that certification behind it. You know, a lot of times it's. Grown the exact same way.

Not using pesticides, not using those chemicals, but it's just not certified. It doesn't have that stamp on it. Yeah. It just, yeah, 

[00:19:50] Vanessa Menache: sometimes, you know, organic doesn't mean it's the best. Exactly. 

[00:19:55] Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. That's really, that's hard for some people to understand. I I feel like,being from Iowa, [00:20:00] um, my husband's in, he works 

for the agricultural industry. Mm-hmm. And it's just really hard or um, difficult anyway to explain to people how this is maybe better versus organic or how just because it's not certified organic doesn't mean that it's bad for you. You know, it's just a, it's kind of a process of educating people on how it really works behind the scenes and kind of pulling back that curtain and seeing, oh, these are really sustainable practices that these farmers are using and they're doing, you know, the best that they can and to be sustainable and regenerative regenerative farming has really become a, a big thing around us here in Iowa, and I'm sure.

Cotton is the same way. 

[00:20:45] Vanessa Menache: Yeah, yeah. They definitely use regenerative practices. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. But you know, I think that's in, I mean, nowadays I think education is like a big part of a [00:21:00] brand's responsibility, right? And like mm-hmm. And I mean, we are, we, we just know so much about wipes. 'cause we looked at everything and we realized it's an industry that has so much greenwashing, you know, and like mm-hmm.

And, and people think that all wipes are created equal. And that's not, that's not true. You know, like, 

[00:21:25] Penny Fitzgerald: yeah, 

[00:21:26] Vanessa Menache: there's many different types of wipe that harm the planet in very different ways and harm. Your body in very different ways. Right? So like for example, there's, you know, the oldest one, the synthetic ones like that have a polyester.

[00:21:43] Penny Fitzgerald: Mm-hmm. 

[00:21:43] Vanessa Menache: Right? Those have plastic and microplastics, like, I don't even think I have to go into it. We all know it's terrible for you and the environment. Uh, but there's these, there's like the more. Environmentally friendly ones, like they call them like plant-based, uh, wipes or [00:22:00] bamboo wipes. Okay. Um, and just because they use plant-based doesn't mean they're good.

Right. And we looked into it and they're actually really, really bad. Really, 

[00:22:12] Penny Fitzgerald: really bad 

[00:22:13] Vanessa Menache: for the environment and for and for your skin. Yeah. Because, you know, if you have a tree based fiber, um mm-hmm. Just really think about it it's very common sense, if you have a tree or a bamboo and you need to turn that into a soft fiber, like that has to go through a crazy chemical process, right?

Uhhuh so. To turn that into a fiber. It goes through a closed loop chemical process, right? To just break it down. Uh, sometimes they need, um, microplastics to really get the fibers to blend, but let's say they didn't use microplastics, right? Let's say they, they got rid of those. if you're manufacturing your [00:23:00] tree fiber wipe in China or India.

Which most brands do, they don't have regulations and they are literally just dumping all these chemicals in the water. Right. Wow. So you're like, okay, I have a plant-based fiber. But there were all those chemicals now in the water. Mm-hmm. And then they bleach the wipe to make it look white, because trees are not white.

And all those chemicals from the process, from the bleach, they all stay in the fiber that you're now using on your face, on your baby's skin. it all stays 

[00:23:39] Penny Fitzgerald: there. Wow. Well, you know, you, you mentioned it's common sense, but common sense isn't so common. You know, I mean, 

[00:23:47] Vanessa Menache: no, I, I mean, I didn't know.

I didn't know, but like when I started looking into it and like find out, I was like, okay. Yeah, that makes sense. I mean it does, when you think 

[00:23:57] Penny Fitzgerald: about it, you know, when you're really stopped to think about are not [00:24:00] soft. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Trees are not soft. Wow. And you know, I think people, you get used to doing things a certain way.

You've always done 'em that way. Maybe your mother used these wipes. they're common. They're easy to find. It's what we've always been using. We assume it's safe. And then when you really stop and think about it, like, oh gosh, yeah, I can see where this wouldn't be good. for the baby, for your skin, for the environment, all of it.

Yeah, a natural fiber isn't necessarily natural. It, it's not necessarily 

[00:24:36] Vanessa Menache: natural. Wow. And yeah, I mean it, yeah, I mean, I just think again, like we get used to things being a certain way and process being a certain way and mm-hmm. We just get comfortable. Um, yeah. And I think brands just. You know, it's probably cheap.

It's definitely cheaper to have [00:25:00] a plant-based fiber. Mm-hmm. Um, and it takes a lot, like, it takes a lot of less product development for 

[00:25:07] Penny Fitzgerald: sure. Hmm, wow. Yeah, and just seeing what's available on store shelves and like at the big box stores or on Amazon or wherever you get, you know, a lot of people shop for convenience and when you're, if you've got littles at home.

You don't have a lot of time to be ing all this stuff 

[00:25:28] Vanessa Menache: out. Yeah. That, that's why we, uh, launched on Amazon pretty fast. Like, 'cause we were very aware of the item and we're like, we know, like, this is not like a, it's not like a luxury vitamin that you'll take, you know? Like it's a essential Yeah. It's necess, it's a, it's a necessity and it's a home essential.

So like, we wanted to make this as. Available as possible for people. So, you know, we're, of course, we ha we're, uh, [00:26:00] we we're on our website on raan.com, uh, but we launched Amazon and walmart.com at the same time. Oh, 

[00:26:09] Penny Fitzgerald: cool. Mm-hmm. That's probably where most people go, I would think, to find something like this.

Yeah. Yeah. How did you come up with the name? That's really interesting too. 

[00:26:21] Vanessa Menache: Yeah, so we. This, this was actually very difficult for us. It was, yeah, I wanna say the most difficult part to pick a name. Um, we really wanted something that didn't have any meaning. We wanted a word that didn't have any meaning at all because.

We wanna give it meaning, right? Mm. We, we wanna really build a brand that's transparent and trustworthy and just breaks from all the greenwashing and all those green [00:27:00] planet, you know, like names that just carry a lot of weight, you know, and then Uhhuh at the end of the day. For them, it's all about sales and marketing, and we really wanted to build a brand that just has a completely new meaning when it comes to clean and transparency.

[00:27:22] Penny Fitzgerald: Wow. Yeah. Well, yeah, to actually be green and prove it rather than telling you how green you are because of the new. Exactly. Okay, that makes sense. Yeah. Okay, so. How are you going about the marketing then? How are you getting the word out? I mean, obviously you're on a podcast. What other things are you doing?

[00:27:47] Vanessa Menache: Yeah, so we've been doing a lot of like in-person sampling events. Um, we were in New York last month. Uh, we were at Happier Grocery and Popup Grocer. [00:28:00] These are two kind of smaller boutique, uh, grocery stores. Mm-hmm. Um, in New York, in Manhattan. And we were there. You know, we were just meeting customers face to face.

I think that's the most important thing. We're really. Trying to push that a lot. We're also on social media. Uh, we're, you know, we're on Instagram, we're on TikTok. Um, and, and yeah, I mean, we're trying to go after every single award we can to get as much, much press as possible. 

[00:28:33] Penny Fitzgerald: Mm-hmm. 

[00:28:34] Vanessa Menache: We, we want the. Uh, the Good Housekeeping Parenting Award 

[00:28:40] Penny Fitzgerald: really recently.

[00:28:41] Vanessa Menache: Yeah. Oh, congratulations. Thank you. Yeah, so we were featured on that. We won the Baby Innovation Award. Uh, we won the, uh, the parenting award, the, um, and you know, it's all, people are very excited and they're just like really responding well [00:29:00] to the product. 

[00:29:01] Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. You know, I had never heard of your company or.

That this was even a possibility, that there was something out there that was like what you have. I see the bamboo stuff out there, but I have not heard of cotton.

[00:29:19] Vanessa Menache: Yeah. So I think that where you start seeing it, the you, you start seeing more like, um. I think like wipes that are enhanced with cotton. Oh. Like that's something that, okay. That we started seeing, uh, come out this year uhhuh. Um, which is nice. But it, I mean, if it's not a hundred percent cotton, it's like. I don't think it makes a difference.

Um, but I think where you start seeing more, more cotton coming along is like in the feminine care area. Okay. Uh, like pads and tampons and all of these products that are in very [00:30:00] close contact with your body, right? Yeah. People are like, what's in that fiber? You know,

I talked to a gal the other day who has period underwear she developed. Mm-hmm. 

Yeah. Because people are just like, yeah. I mean, what, like, your underwear matters. Like what, what's touching your skin matters.

And like these fibers can be very. Process than bad for you. Right. And so you see it on diapers as well. Like I think a hundred 'cause a hundred percent cotton on diapers are really picking up and like parents are like more aware of it as well. 

[00:30:35] Penny Fitzgerald: You know, diapers, and Feminine products, you would think that the products would be safe, you know, I mean, as close as they are to your skin, I would think what they touch.

It's just, you know, the, the thought of. Um, the layers of the diaper wicking away the, the moisture to keep the baby dry. That makes a lot of sense. But when you stop to think about how is that happening Exactly. You [00:31:00] know, where's it's a plastic layer and you know, or some kind of Yeah.

Manmade fiber that who I don't know what it is. You know, how, how do you, yeah. 

[00:31:11] Vanessa Menache: I don't know. I 

[00:31:13] Penny Fitzgerald: think diapers are 

[00:31:14] Vanessa Menache: really, 

[00:31:15] Penny Fitzgerald: it doesn't have an ingredients list, you know? 

[00:31:17] Vanessa Menache: Yeah. It doesn't have an ingredients list, but it's indirect contact of a newborn. And you know, newborns have the most sensitive skin, so if you have fibers that are, have plastic or microplastics or chemicals and like, they're gonna cause a rush.

Well, or worse, but yeah. Gosh, that's scary. Yeah. So, and, and I mean, I think it's amazing that consumers are like, I think consumers, like we're making like the revolution, right? Yeah. Like we're like demanding, asking for it. 

[00:31:55] Penny Fitzgerald: Mm-hmm. 

[00:31:55] Vanessa Menache: And like looking at all these things and like demanding [00:32:00] better of brands, which I think it's amazing.

Mm-hmm. But now it's brand's responsibility to like actually make the products better. And not just use greenwashing language to like sell you on something, you know? Mm-hmm. 

[00:32:15] Penny Fitzgerald: Right, right. Do you happen to have a, a package of your wipes handy there that you can show us? 

[00:32:23] Vanessa Menache: Yeah, I do. One second. Nice. Lemme go get it.

Okay, 

[00:32:26] Penny Fitzgerald: cool. Yeah. While you're doing that, I'll explain. We, um, I'm, we're on YouTube as well, so people can go to YouTube and watch the episode or. We can describe the packaging to you too. If you're not able to get on YouTube, we can talk about it. Oh, cool. Oh, okay. So it's in a little pouch and a pack. 

[00:32:46] Vanessa Menache: Ah, cool.

Okay. So we have both presentations, uhhuh, right? These ones are, you know, like the more common packaging for wipes, uhhuh. Um, these come 60 a pack. [00:33:00] Okay. Right. And I think this is. Probably better for moms, you know, 'cause you're using so many. Right. Uh, but these ones are actually amazing 'cause I use this a lot.

Mm-hmm. They come 10 individually wrapped uhhuh. So it's not just like pretty, and you just have it in your bathroom Uhhuh. Uh, but you can just, you know, 

[00:33:23] Penny Fitzgerald: to take with you, to take with you. It's just a device. Nice. Stick one in your purse or in your pocket. I have them everywhere. You 

[00:33:31] Vanessa Menache: know, like, I love it. My bag and my luggage and my Uhhuh skincare bag, and I take them to the gym.

Like they're just, I use them on my dog. Like serious. I mean, it's not a pet wipe. I mean, Uhhuh, it's, it's funny to say like what this wipe is for. Right. And I think Uhhuh, that's a very common question we get. Yeah, from consumers, like what is a wipe for? And I'm like, for whatever you [00:34:00] want. It's a wipe, you know, Uhhuh.

And I think we also, like, we've gotten used to like brands just slapping a label on products that are the same thing, but they just give it different uses. Right? So you have the hand wipe, the face wipe, oh gosh, the body wipe. Right. Yeah. But it's all the same. I never thought of that. 

[00:34:24] Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah, you're right. So yeah, buy all of them because they're for different purposes.

[00:34:29] Vanessa Menache: They, no one of them can take toggle all of those purposes. Right, right. So we, that was another big thing for us. It's like, if you like see our branding and our packaging, we don't, we don't have any like babies. We don't have any, yeah. You know, it just says like, daily wipes for all ages and skin types. You know, this is just a really nice wipe that you can use on your baby.

You can use it on [00:35:00] yourself, you can use it on your dog, you can use it on your kitchen counter. Like, it just, it's a really good wipe and you can, it just works for whatever you want it to work. 

[00:35:10] Penny Fitzgerald: Nice. Okay. So it's, um, not for any specific purpose and your packaging 

 tells you how to use it basically, but, but that, I think that would simplify the marketing too then, because you don't have to worry about all the different labeling and getting all the okays to put this on the label or whatever it is, so you've got one. I think that would help. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, 

[00:35:34] Vanessa Menache: I also think it just simplifies waste, you know, like Yes, exactly.

And it simplifies the consumer's life. Like you don't like, to me, the funniest thing is the wipes that have the booger wipes for kids. Oh, I haven't seen that. Those are so funny. 'cause you're like, you, that's a tissue, right. It. Uh, but it's all marketing, you know, and it's [00:36:00] really fun. But I think nowadays just consumers are just like saturated with mm-hmm.

So many products and so many brands and so many uses and mm-hmm. You know, and like, and I think just one really nice wipe that's designed specifically for sensitive skin. Mm-hmm. Um, with clean ingredients like. Why wouldn't you just use that? 

[00:36:27] Penny Fitzgerald: Mm-hmm. For everything. Right? And it's just, it's a convenience thing to have a wipe available instead of, you know, having wash cloths or you know, rewashing everything, which is great.

That's really great for the environment, but it's not really. Practical when you think about daily life, especially if you've got a little baby and you know, you're not gonna use a washcloth

[00:36:53] Vanessa Menache: No, for sure. And there's also like people really taking care of their skin and their face, like [00:37:00] reusing. Something on your skin. Mm-hmm. Over and over. It's not, oh, 

[00:37:05] Penny Fitzgerald: it's not good for you. Right. You have to wash it very frequently and make sure it's Yeah. Completely clean.

[00:37:11] Vanessa Menache: Yeah. 

[00:37:12] Penny Fitzgerald: That, that, those little individually wrapped ones looked so convenient and so nice for traveling. I think that would be fantastic. Yeah. Oh, they're great. And then 

[00:37:22] Vanessa Menache: I like personally, like love using them on my face. They're so soft. Mm-hmm. Um. Uh, they like, they're so soft and I use them like before I go to bed, you know, if I'm not taking a shower right before I go to bed, I just mm-hmm.

Do a whole body thing just to take off, you know, like deodorant, like all these things that I have on, you know, and it, it, it, they're really amazing. And like, another big difference that I've noticed with these, um. It's like they're really big, like we made them big on purpose and they're really thick.

Okay. [00:38:00] Okay. And 'cause of the cotton, they retain moisture a lot longer than other wipes, so. Okay. You can, you really just need one for almost anything. I've actually, uh, one, two of my best friends, she just had babies. And they say that like they sometimes don't even need a whole wipe and like they just cut it in half.

Oh gosh. They're like, gosh. Like, because they're like, these are so amazing. I'm just cutting it in half. 'cause I sometimes don't even need a whole one. Right. So, mm-hmm. When it comes to like. Pricing. Right? Like if you have a very cheap pack of wipes, it's like the wipe is like really tiny and really thin.

Mm-hmm. And you're using, I don't know, like four or six for a diaper change, right? Mm-hmm. But maybe you spend a little bit more on something that's better, that you just really need one. Mm-hmm. 

[00:38:52] Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah, that makes sense too. 'cause they are, those little ones are so flimsy. So flimsy. 

[00:38:58] Vanessa Menache: Especially, I don't have kids [00:39:00] yet, Uhhuh, but my, my, my partner Catherine, uh, she has, she's a mom of three.

Um, and she's just always like, um, my God, I wish I had this when I was changing diapers. 

[00:39:15] Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah, I'm sure a lot of moms, thank you. Yeah. Wow. Do, do you have one open by any chance that you could show us? Yeah, 

[00:39:24] Vanessa Menache: of course. 

[00:39:26] Penny Fitzgerald: This is definitely a YouTube friendly episode, 

[00:39:30] Vanessa Menache: so, okay. This is the lid that I was talking about.

Okay. Uhhuh, it's, it's rigid Uhhuh, I, it closes perfectly back on. 

[00:39:38] Penny Fitzgerald: Mm-hmm. Uh, 

[00:39:39] Vanessa Menache: it's just not that thick plastic. So that's how we are trying to, um, decrease our use of plastic. Mm-hmm. But then, mm-hmm. So comes out Okay. Pretty big. Yep. Yeah. And then I hope you can see sense, but the color is a little different.

[00:39:59] Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. [00:40:00] You can kind of see some flex in there and it's, um, and you can, 

[00:40:03] Vanessa Menache: yeah. 

[00:40:04] Penny Fitzgerald: Cotton stuff. Oh yeah. You can see that it's really cotton, that it's real. 

[00:40:08] Vanessa Menache: Yeah. And they don't, and overly processed, they don't dry fast. Okay. They, I can leave these out for like 20 minutes and it'll still be wet. Okay. Oh, nice. 

[00:40:18] Penny Fitzgerald: Well, and you mentioned earlier that some of the ingredients, so obviously there's water and then you said aloe.

[00:40:25] Vanessa Menache: Yeah, so there's, the formula is 99% purified water. Okay. And then our other 1% is organic aloe. Um, that just adds some moisture and like mm-hmm. It calms your skin. Uh, we have glycerin also for skin conditioning. 

[00:40:44] Penny Fitzgerald: Mm-hmm. And 

[00:40:45] Vanessa Menache: then we have citric acid for pH balance. Oh, okay. And we have two food grade preservatives.

Okay. Just, yeah, just so the product [00:41:00] doesn't grow 

[00:41:00] Penny Fitzgerald: mold. Yeah. Right, right. You know? Yeah. Some of those things are necessary. And again, that's another thing that to educate the public on, okay, this is why this is in there, and. This is how we did it. 

[00:41:13] Vanessa Menache: Yeah. Yeah. And, and we are working on how can we reduce this list even further, right?

[00:41:19] Penny Fitzgerald: Mm-hmm. 

[00:41:20] Vanessa Menache: Uh, but right now this, I mean, the best we could find, um, that was, yeah. The best we could find was food grade preservatives. they're EWG certified. Um, and it's a very, very small amount, right?

Mm-hmm. Because shelf stability is, is a thing. Mm-hmm. It's a thing, that's for sure. And, and you don't wanna open your wipes and for them. To have mold in them. 

[00:41:48] Penny Fitzgerald: Right, right. Absolutely. 

 Okay. Well, gosh, is there anything I haven't asked you that you wanna share? 

[00:41:56] Vanessa Menache: It's amazing. Sometimes I think to myself like, oh my God, I can't believe I've been talking [00:42:00] about wipes for 45 minutes. 

[00:42:03] Penny Fitzgerald: I know. And it's not something that you normally think about.

Like you, you just go to the store, you pick it up, or you have it shipped into you and you don't really think about it. But it's pretty important to think about. Yeah. You know what's in that thing. Definitely. And it, it, people use them every day, so. Right, right. They're pretty common in most households.

Mm-hmm. Okay. So at the end of every episode, I like to bring it around to something completely unrelated, kind of fun, um, and ask you what's your favorite cocktail? Oof. 

[00:42:37] Vanessa Menache: Do you have a favorite? I do. It sometimes goes through phases, but I think right now I, I just, I love 

[00:42:45] Penny Fitzgerald: a dirty martini. Oh, my girl. Okay. I love that.

Are you gin or vodka? Vodka vodka. Me too. Yeah. Yes. I I usually put a little splash of gin in just a little, [00:43:00] snazz it up a little bit. 

[00:43:01] Vanessa Menache: Ooh, 

[00:43:02] Penny Fitzgerald: I've never tried that 

[00:43:03] Vanessa Menache: with mixing them both. Yeah. 

[00:43:05] Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. Just a little. Just a little. And then do you like the, do you like a blue cheese olive or, um, what, what kind of olive do you like?

[00:43:12] Vanessa Menache: I love a blue cheese olive, but I don't, they, they don't have those. In Mexico. 

[00:43:18] Penny Fitzgerald: Really? Oh, blue cheese must be a kind of an American thing. It, it really is. 

[00:43:24] Vanessa Menache: The French, which I love, uh, my husband is from Texas, so we go, we go to Dallas all the time and I, there's a spot that I go with my mother-in-law to get those blue cheese, all the 

[00:43:37] Penny Fitzgerald: nice.

Very cool. Yeah. In Iowa we have this, um, blue cheese. Maker, um, Maytag Blue Cheese is known for being like, just really premium and so creamy and good. So, oh, if you, if you come across any Maytag blue cheese, pick some up. I will. Cool. Okay. So what's, what's a fun memory shared with [00:44:00] girlfriends or, um, a conversation or a cocktail?

Have you, do you have a memory With your girls? A memory with my girls. 

[00:44:07] Vanessa Menache: Oof. So many, right? So many. Uh, I think most recently, uh, I went with my best friend. We just wanted to grab a drink and gossip, you know, and we, we heard about this. Really new cool bar in the city. And we were like, oh, let's go check it out.

You know? And it was summer, so like, it was really, really hot. Um, and we were sweating and like, we come in and they're like, which room do you guys wanna sit in? Because it's, it's like a record store, but they have like a bar upstairs. Very cool. Okay. And we just told them like, can you just sit, like, sit us wherever you have ac.

So they took us to this one room, and we're just sitting there and we order our drinks, and we just start talking and gossiping and like catching up. And all of a sudden I notice like, everyone's just like giving us like the worst look. You know? Everyone's [00:45:00] just like, and I'm just like, what? What's wrong with this place?

Like, what's happening? And it's really quiet, but the music's really cool mm-hmm. 

so the bar's name is Shh. That's how it's called. Shh. Oh, so 

[00:45:12] Penny Fitzgerald: it's a bar where you don't talk. Hey, gosh, what could possibly go wrong? I know they're giving you alcohol and expecting you not to have a conversation.

[00:45:22] Vanessa Menache: I know you were just supposed to sit, have a cocktail and like listen to music, which is not at all what we wanted to do. No. Yeah. So eventually a guy like just really like shushed us really aggressively and then I like, so I stood up and like I went outside and I told the. Waiter. I was like, Hey, what's going on?

Like, oh yeah, that's our non speaking room. And we're like, oh, 

[00:45:50] Penny Fitzgerald: okay, can why you put the air conditioning in the non-speaking room? I know. So 

[00:45:55] Vanessa Menache: then they moved us to the other room where there was no way air conditioning. Oh. [00:46:00] And then we were able to have a normal conversation. 

[00:46:04] Penny Fitzgerald: that just seems so, um, not possible to, oh my gosh.

Okay. So I used to do wine tastings, um, private wine tastings, and with five sips of wine. Basically, it's an ounce of five different wines and by the third glass. Always the volume just went up. 'cause people are like, they're starting to loosen up. They're starting to get excited to talk to each other.

They're having a great time. It's just not possible, I don't think, to have two sips of alcohol without having a conversation. No. Or giggling. Of course 

[00:46:37] Vanessa Menache: not. Definitely. Especially if like the goal of the drink is to go gossip and catch up with your girlfriend. It's like, no one's gonna stop this. 

[00:46:48] Penny Fitzgerald: Right.

Right. Yeah, I pity the fool who tries. Yes. 

[00:46:53] Vanessa Menache: But I mean, that room was empty and the other one was packed. So 

[00:46:59] Penny Fitzgerald: there you [00:47:00] go. 

[00:47:00] Vanessa Menache: There you go. 

[00:47:02] Penny Fitzgerald: Says it all. Maybe they'll change the name of their, their uh, bar. Yeah. Come have a conversation instead of Yeah, I know. Oh my gosh. That's fun. this has been so fun and I really appreciate your time, Vanessa.

Yeah, no, this has been great. Thank you so much for having me, Penny. 

 Have a great rest of your day. You too. Bye-bye. 

Bye. 

[00:47:25] Penny Fitzgerald: if you'd like to try Rand Wipes for yourself, Vanessa's team has shared a special offer just for my listeners. You'll get 10% off your first order when you use the code Penny 10. That's PENN y10@raan.com. I'll drop that link in the code, in the show notes too. And hey, if this episode got you thinking about the little everyday choices we make, share it with a friend.

Conversations like this remind us that small changes really can make a big difference. Cheers