Welcome to Milestone Moments, the show where
we explore the journeys that lead to success.
I'm Sheila Slick, your host and founder of Five
Milestones. In every episode, we will bring you
insights from the minds of entrepreneurs, leaders
and experts who will share not just their expertise,
but the milestone moments that have reshaped
their journeys and led to significant achievements.
So if you're looking for motivation, you're in
the right place. Subscribe now and discover the
milestones that mark the path to success. Welcome
to another episode of Milestone Moments in Business
and Leadership. I'm Sheila Slick, your host.
And today, my special guest is Peyton Woodard,
founder of LunaLeaf, a pioneering femtech startup.
and proud military spouse. Peyton is dedicated
to empowering women, helping them optimize their
lives through cycle syncing. Welcome to the show,
Peyton. Thank you so much for having me. I'm
so excited to be here. So can you share that
pivotal moment that inspired you to start Luna
Leaf Wellness? Yes. So I had my own, I'll keep
it short, but I had my own spiritual kind of
awakening, if you will, in 2020. And I was kind
of on that journey for a while. And part of my
daily practice was meditation. And it was last
September, I was in a meditation and the idea
came to me like a lightning bolt. It just struck.
I tried to continue with my meditation and I
just couldn't because it was almost like a fire
had been lit inside of me. And finally, I was
like, OK, I can't meditate today anymore. I need
to go like brain dump this idea that just came
to me. And I basically hopped on my computer,
stayed on my computer. all day, just typing out
everything that had kind of come to me for this
idea, for this creation. And I basically never
stopped since. So it has been a whirlwind 11
months of kind of creating this and allowing
it to continue to kind of come through me and
be birthed into the world. Wow. It sounds like
passion took over during the meditation. And
I think you're supposed to like clear your mind
of thoughts. So the fact that is the intention.
Yes. But, you know, sometimes they come anyways.
And so that's also part of the practice is allowing
them to also still just be there and not fight
it. So, yeah, I mean, obviously it was supposed
to come to me in that moment when it did. Yeah,
that is how the idea came to me. That was the
pivotal moment. Love it. So how can Luna leave?
help you or me improve your energy, mood, productivity,
and relationships. So I love the relationship
one the most. Honestly, I've been married. I'm
a military spouse and I've been married for 11
years. And it was probably about two and a half
years ago that I started cycles and thinking
myself and that awareness. reconnected me to
myself and my body and the nuances of where my
hormones were high and low and really understanding
you know I'm not crazy because one day I'm like
I could be the president and the next I'm like
I can't even scrub the toilet right so I realized
that in itself and so my relationship with self
became so much better but then I was able to
then explain it to my husband and teach him things
that he hadn't been taught about a woman's hormonal
cycle. We kind of learned together and he now
has a newfound awareness that has really helped
our relationship because he's like, okay, like
where are you at in your cycle? I can tell him.
And then he knows what that kind of means for
us and not to take things so personal or not
to feel like. you know, he really did mess up
majorly. I'm just maybe being a little extra
sensitive right now because of where I'm at in
my cycle. So it's actually really tremendously
helped our relationship. And even my productivity,
I batch my content in my follicular and ovulatory
phases because that's where I'm going to be most
confident, most creative, and most energetic.
So I really work on creating a bunch of content
in that kind of 10 to 15 day period where I know
that I'm going to feel my best. I'm going to
create stuff I enjoy. And then when I get to
my luteal phase, when I'm nearing my next cycle,
I just take that as a time to kind of look at
my detail work and maybe reread my captions and
edit here and there because I see the detail
so much better. And then I allow myself to rest
when I'm getting really close to my cycle. when
I start my cycle and I'm just, I can take the
pressure off of having to perform. It's been
really beneficial as a founder to cycle sync
through this experience because I've been able
to give myself grace and not be like hustle,
hustle, hustle, hustle all the time and then
ignore my body into burnout. So how does the
app keep track of the cycle or give us an overview
of how the app works? Yeah. So the app is a typical
period tracker like you would find in other competitors'
apps. So you have to log, you know, if your cycle
comes earlier, it comes late. You have to change
that in the calendar so it can continue to learn
your predictability. But with that, it also breaks
down what phase you're in, what day you're on,
and actually even the correlation to the moon
phases too. Because there is a correlation between
a 28 -day cycle of the moon and the average 28
-day cycle of a woman. So within the app, you
are provided, if you have the full feature experience,
you are provided daily workouts, meditations,
pep talks, and recipes that are very specifically
placed in your calendar for that day and phase
of your cycle to be the most supportive. So,
you know, day one of your cycle. It's going to
be a restorative yoga flow versus a high intensity
interval workout. And then as you kind of your
hormones start to build, the workouts will also
build with you. And so by the time you're getting
to ovulation, you're doing more intense workouts,
maybe a 10 minute just total hit workout, or
maybe it's just going to be a really intense
strength day. And then you'll kind of ride that
hormonal wave back down. And so will your workouts.
So that's how it really helps you is it tracks
you. And it provides you with the content of
what you need to do that day. It really takes
the guesswork out of cycle syncing for you. So
just out of curiosity, because it works around
the menstrual cycle, if someone's already in
menopause and they don't have a menstrual cycle,
can they still benefit from downloading the app?
So at this point, I would say not yet. but coming
soon. I'm 36. I just turned 36 this weekend.
And I have noticed that there are signs of perimenopause
that I am experiencing, which can be up to 10
years before you actually experience menopause.
And through conversations of other women around
my age, they're kind of noticing the same symptoms
of perimenopause. So I want to bring menopause
and perimenopause into the app. Through a lived
experience, whether it's me or I bring someone
into the fold of the company that has a true
experience of it, I don't want to just rely on
some of the hearsay of the experience because
it is very unique and it is very unpredictable.
And that's one of the hardest things with trying
to put it into a period tracking app. is the
unpredictability of it. And so really, it takes
some research from me and a lived experience
from me and others to really figure out the best
way to support peri and menopause through the
app. So building a wellness brand and building
an app comes with a lot of unique challenges.
Can you describe a significant challenge you've
had to overcome and how it contributed to your
growth? Yeah. So, I mean, really, I have been
my biggest challenge. I barely graduated high
school. I don't have a college degree. I was
diagnosed with ADD and dyslexia at a very young
age. And that was kind of the gray cloud that
followed me throughout my entire life of just,
well, I don't think the same as other people
do or my brain doesn't work the same way. And
really having to get over that was one of the
biggest hurdles that I was not expecting to.
to come up against in creating this company because
it took a lot of self -development for me to
just push past those limiting beliefs that I
had for myself just because I was neurodivergent.
And it's actually been, I realized, my superpower
because of my ADD. I can shift from wearing this
hat to the next hat to the next hat in 10 minutes
and be unfazed. So I don't get so stuck in one
task. And so it can actually benefit me. Sometimes
it doesn't because I can get easily distracted.
I have two kids also. So they distract me sometimes.
But that has probably been the biggest hurdle.
And just getting over the fact that I am brand
new to this. I had to learn the lingo. I went
through an accelerator program, the Founder Institute,
and I was asked, you know, what program is my
developer using? And I said, SQL. And I did not
know that it was just, it actually is SQL. And
so someone side messaged me and was like, hey,
just for future reference, it's pronounced SQL.
And I'm like, okay, I'm definitely non -technical.
So there's just been a lot of learning curves
of. not having ever done this before, especially
in tech, and just going for it. So it's layered.
It's definitely a lot of different aspects I
have learned to grow through. Well, keep moving
forward. You're doing great so far. And you're
actually a perfect example of how you don't need
education or at least a lot of business education.
You're learning through experience to start your
own. Yep. So what is your next milestone? Okay,
so the next milestone is actually, I mean, launch.
Launch is hopefully happening by August, September
timeframe. We're about to move into beta this
week. It's going to be a small group, select
group of beta initially as features are continually
being developed. And then hopefully by August
timeframe, the app will be ready for the public
consumption. So that's probably the biggest milestone
that I'm looking forward to. And then I have
about 10 more after that of different, you know,
phases that I want to come out with, with the
app. I really, my husband says that it's his
idea to have the partner app. So just a quick
integration app that they can have on their phone
that lets them know where their spouse is at
that day. And so I'd really like to roll that
feature out sooner than later. I really want
to dive into that. Like I said, the perimenopause
menopause features too. So you mean so they get
notified? Uh -huh. So this is how simple he wants
it. Keep in mind, he is in the army. He's had
conversations with other guys, but he wants it
to literally just be red, yellow, and green.
And depending on where the woman is at in her
cycle, that changes, of course, the red, yellow,
or green. And so it would be very easy for them
to not mess it up. But also maybe even provide
them some suggestions like, hey, she might not
be feeling great about her body today because
she's in her late luteal phase. Maybe just give
her a few extra compliments or, you know, tell
her her hair looks nice, whatever it is. Suggestions
to help them. And for the men to also understand
or the spouse to understand where their partner
is at in their cycle and why they may feel the
way they feel. That sounds great. And you can
even probably implement it real quick if you
just did it at least through text messaging,
right? Yeah. So that you can have those messages
coming in through there. That's a great idea
to start sooner than later. I love that. Yeah.
So they, you know, they sign up for that alert,
so to speak. So it's the stage and then you can
build up on that. Love that. So if anyone wants
to follow your journey, www .lunaleafwellness
.com. And then we're also on Instagram and TikTok.
The handle is at lunaleaf .app. And before we
wrap this up, what one key piece of advice do
you have for our female listeners to take action
today towards integrating wellness into their
lives? I would say, honestly, is take a really
good hard look at yourself and how you are standing
in your own way. And I think so often we can
see little glimmers of like, well, that person's
in my way or I can't do it because of that or
I can't do it because I have kids. You make up
all of these excuses. And when you actually boil
the excuses down, you may come to realize that
you are actually the excuse and to get out of
your own way because no one can do it for you.
I have to remind this of myself all the time.
No one's going to create the success for me that
I want to create. I have to do it for myself.
And I have to do it despite the fact that my
husband goes away and goes training and goes
and works for the army at times and that I am
raising two kids, sometimes solo parenting. I
have to get over that because that's not going
to change. It's still part of my experience,
but I can still create the life that I want if
I just get out of my own way. So get out of your
own way. Find the routine that works for you.
I get up every morning right now. I get up at
530. I go for a walk by six. I call them my dreamy
girl walks. And I take the dog and I speak into
existence what I'm creating. And so if it is
to be on, a recent one was looking a year ahead.
I had already been on 100 podcasts is what I
was claiming. So and here I am recording a podcast.
So just find what works for you. If it's not
meditation, maybe it's walking and just talking
out loud like you're talking to your best friend
about everything exciting that just happened
that you want to happen. But just find what works
for you and stick to it and get out of your own
way. I love that advice. Well, thank you so much
for joining me today. Thank you for having me.
This was wonderful. And thank you all for tuning
in to another episode of Milestone Moments in
Business and Leadership.