In recognition of International Women’s Day, Frida, Founder of The Tenth, reflects on why she started The Tenth and the conversations that shaped it.
International Women’s Day always makes me pause and reflect on the women around me.
For a long time, I thought the way I felt was simply part of being a woman. Tired, foggy, stretched between work, family and the invisible list running in the background of my mind. Whenever I mentioned it, the response was usually the same: that’s just life.
But I had a suspicion that something about that explanation wasn’t right. Because while women are incredibly capable of carrying a lot, I didn’t believe we were meant to feel exhausted all the time.
The Beginning
When I first started The Tenth, my focus was very personal. I was a mother of two young children, two under two, navigating early motherhood while trying to keep a career and a sense of myself intact.
Originally, the brand was created to support women in that stage of life. Women like me who were juggling babies, broken sleep, work and the enormous, often invisible load that comes with caring for a young family.
But something interesting happened once we launched.
Listening to Women
Women started writing to us. Some asked, “Can I take this even if I don’t have children?” Others would say, “I know this is meant for mums, but I bought it anyway and I love it.” It made me curious.
When I started listening more closely, I realised something important. If you speak to enough women across different life stages, you begin to notice the same themes appearing again and again.
The corporate woman before children running on adrenaline and deadlines. The new mother navigating sleepless nights. The woman entering perimenopause or menopause. Different seasons of life, yet often the same experiences: fatigue, brain fog, mood shifts, and a sense that they don’t quite feel like themselves.
That insight changed how we thought about The Tenth.
The Realisation
While motherhood had been my entry point into the conversation, the experience we were really speaking to was something much bigger: the cumulative toll that life can take on women’s bodies over time. As I began researching and working with integrative doctor Dr Oscar Serrallach, I discovered something that helped connect the dots.
Women’s bodies go through enormous physiological demands over the course of life: pregnancy, breastfeeding, stress, hormonal shifts, disrupted sleep, emotional labour and work pressure. Over time, these demands can draw heavily on the body’s nutrient reserves and stress systems, affecting energy, mood, cognition and resilience.
Yet many women are simply told to push harder. To manage stress better, sleep more, exercise more. Very few conversations address what might actually be happening inside the body. Learning about depletion was the first time my experience made biological sense. It was also the moment the idea for The Tenth really took shape.
The Stories That Keep Me Going
One of the most meaningful parts of building The Tenth has been hearing from women in our community. The message that appears again and again is surprisingly simple: “I feel like myself again.” Not superhuman, not magically transformed. Just clearer, steadier and more themselves.
When that happens, the ripple effects are powerful. Women often tell us that having their energy and clarity back gives them the headspace to start doing the things that support their wellbeing - moving their bodies again, reconnecting with friends, or simply feeling more present in their lives.
That feels incredibly special to witness.
International Women’s Day often celebrates what women achieve, and rightly so. But it’s also an opportunity to reflect on how we support women behind the scenes. So many women today are carrying an enormous emotional and mental load. Feeling exhausted in that context isn’t a personal failure, nor should it be something we simply accept as inevitable.
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If this reflection resonated with you, The Tenth was created to support women in feeling clearer, steadier and more like themselves again.
