Hooha is innovation that fights for equality. In addition to solving a basic human need, Hooha is a beacon of progress for women in technology. Not only does Hooha push the fem-care industry forward, it advances the entire male-dominated technology industry, too. From grungy gas stations to fortune 500 companies, even in 2019 women don’t have access to tampons in most public restrooms. Many of these clunky, coin-operated machines haven’t evolved since the 1960s. Beautifully designed so it’s not meant to hide in the bathroom, Hooha provides tampons to women when they need them the most.

In 2019, tampons are hard to find. And while toilet paper, soap, and hand dryers are plentiful, it’s easier to get toilet seat covers in public restrooms than tampons. So instead of waiting for the male-dominated tech industry to evolve the outdated machines, we decided to fix the problem ourselves. That’s why we built Hooha, a smart tampon dispenser prototype that you can text for a free tampon. Through simple, thoughtful design, Hooha pushes the entire fem-care industry forward by dispensing tampons to people when they need them most. But Hooha isn’t just an evolution of the archaic tampon machine, it’s a symbol of progress for women in tech. In an industry largely dominated by men, it's no surprise that innovation tends to stop at the women's room door. Female-led innovation is scarce in Silicon Valley, which means technology designed to solve women's needs is scarce too.

In 2018, the inventor of Hooha needed a tampon on the floor of a major tech convention. But every tampon machine at the event was broken. Clearly, amid the greatest technological advancements across every other industry, women’s basic health needs are still ignored. To call attention to this inequality, we unveiled Hooha exactly one year later at SXSW on International Women’s Day. We partnered with The Female Quotient, an organization committed to advancing equality for women, which prominently featured Hooha in its Lounge for users to learn more and try for themselves. In addition, we were invited to demos, talks, and panels and received national news coverage for our efforts, which earned 158 million PR impressions and millions of hits to our website in just a few short weeks. This exposure also led to interest from the largest consumer packaged goods company in the world.

Since the tech industry is largely dominated by men, it’s no surprise that innovation tends to stop at the women’s room door. There’s a lack of awareness about women’s issues because there’s a lack of women with decision making power in tech. The gender gap stifles innovation and the archaic, coin-operated tampon machine is proof of that. To bring this message to light, our approach for Hooha wasn’t only to target women, it was also to target men. We wanted the entire tech industry to know that while they were busy innovating for themselves, women’s basic health needs were not being addressed. And while our goal was to get women to dare to rely on the tampon machine again, we also wanted our innovation to combat gender discrimination and inequality. To do this, we used South By Southwest as a launch pad to help us spread our message.

Hooha is a GDPR-compliant smart tampon dispenser that you can text for a tampon. Users are prompted to text a unique code phrase to the phone number listed on the machine. Once a tampon is dispensed, Hooha will text the user a success message. If a user texts the wrong code, Hooha will text the user to try again. Users are eligible for one free tampon every 24 hours. After 24 hours, phone numbers are wiped from the database. Hooha also features a window, which is notably absent from the design of its predecessors and contains a series of sensors. One set of sensors detects when stock levels are low and texts a notification to the facility manager to refill the machine. To prevent jams, we incorporated additional sensors to ensure successful vending. At half the size, Hooha can stock 60 tampons, which is 3x more than industry average.

Our goal for Hooha is two-fold. First, we want to raise awareness of the need for more women in technology. In an industry largely dominated by men, there's a lack of awareness and innovation when it comes to women's issues specifically because there's a lack of women with decision-making power. Secondly, we want to increase access to tampons in public restrooms globally. Every other technology has evolved to a cash-free way of life, but tampon machines are stuck in the past. We’re looking to change this through partnerships that will help us scale. Since launching Hooha at SXSW, we’ve received distribution partner interest from the world’s largest consumer packaged goods company, as well as the world's largest e-commerce company. Hooha has earned more than 158 million PR impressions in just a few short weeks and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Bustle, Adweek, CBS, and more.