10 Things You Didn’t Know about Tania Boler
Necessity has always been applauded as the mother of invention as it was for Tania Boler. While she was pregnant, her body underwent so many changes that made her question the 15 years she had worked in reproductive health. She realized there was still so much that she did not know about the pelvic floor. Boler never planned on starting a business when she started researching pelvic floor problems and solutions. However, she soon came up with Elvie, a device that would help solve what Boler refers to as a hidden epidemic. Her company is behind the Elvie pelvic trainer and breast pump, and she hopes to keep soaring. Here is more about the CEO.
1. She is an Early Bird
As with most CEOs, Boler is an early bird. She wakes up early enough to catch up on the emails so that by the time the kids are up, she is free to prepare them for school. By waking up early, she ensures she has enough time to collect her thoughts even while at the office, where she usually holds lots of meetings. Therefore, she sets apart the first 30 minutes of getting to the office for herself to plan for the day ahead before she can attend to anyone else.
2. She Likes Efficiency
In 2018, Boler talked to Forbes and revealed that as the CEO, she has lots of correspondence, so the best tool to be efficient is Slack so she can separate between the urgent and those that can wait. Besides, the business executive said she could network all day, but she has to prioritize the company’s goal; if they need to fundraise, then her interest will only be meeting up with potential investors.
3. She Dislikes Gender Stereotyping
As a child, Boler’s favorite toys were Barbie and My Little Pony. As an adult, she has realized the impact toys can have on kids later in life. For a long time, dolls were meant for girls, and boys were supposed to play with cars, but the CEO revealed that she avoids letting her daughter think she can only play with girly stuff. The insistence is to prevent negative gender stereotyping, a topic that seems dear to Boler because she could not help but also show her reverence for Cindy Gallop, who speaks candidly on taboo subjects.
4. She Ignores the Naysayers
Boler plays deaf to anyone who tells her that she can’t do whatever she sets her mind to, like the many people against her when she decided to launch Elvie. According to an interview with Medium, the naysayers said that Boler would never get celebrities to speak on the taboo subjects. Others told her the business would never work and she would never penetrate mainstream retail. Luckily, the CEO was determined to prove them wrong and is now proud that her products are available in all major retail outlets.
5. Her Advice to Aspiring CEOs
For Boler, unity is strength, and unless you and your employees have the same vision and mission, your chances of running a successful company are slim. She advised other CEOs to ensure that every employee is focused on the long-term goal because that has been the driving force for Elvie. The CEO added that since most CEOs start departing from their objectives when they start growing, the secret is always to remain mission-driven regardless of how much you scale the heights of success.
6. She Has Always Been a Risk-Taker
On the Elvie Blog, Boler revealed that her father was a serial entrepreneur who instilled a positive attitude. As a result, she knew that businesses sometimes fail, but with perseverance, success follows. Still, even when the idea to start Elvie was in her head, she was afraid to launch it because she felt it was half-baked. She already had a supportive network, but leaving her successful career scared her to some extent. She still pushed herself to seek funding from the government innovation competition and won £100,000, enough money to let her know she was on the right track.
7. She Spends at Least Five Minutes on Her Facial Routine
For most people, taking care of their skin is usually an afterthought, but not for Boler, who acknowledged that Asian skin requires a different skincare routine. According to Verywell Family, she takes her skincare routine seriously because she has more pigmentation than wrinkles; she, therefore, cannot do without SPF, lots of vitamin C, and antioxidants. Asian skin scars easily; it is also is more sensitive, and oilier hence the need for extra care.
8. She is Introverted
Boler is the type of person that needs to recharge whenever she has had too many social interactions. After a long hard day at work where she regularly has meetings, the first thing she does upon getting home is sitting in a dark room, alone for thirty minutes. It helps her to relax because multitasking is not one of her strong suits. Initially, she used to be so absorbed in her work, but she has learned to appreciate the joys of reading, enjoying nature, and even binge-watching with her husband, Jean-David.
9. What Drove Her To Femtech?
According to Elite Business Magazine, Boler was studying an international education policy master’s degree at Stanford University when she heard about the AIDS epidemic in Africa. She realized it was illogical to start telling Africans to practice safe sex and spend so much money on reproductive health because children were orphaned and teachers were dying. She also discovered that AIDS was a taboo topic. Consequently, she became a doctor of philosophy specializing in teenage pregnancy and AIDS, using her knowledge to spread the word on taboo issues.
10. The Eureka Moment for Starting Elvie
Being married to a French man, Boler was aware that the French attend pelvic floor rehabilitation classes. She, therefore, wanted to adopt what the French were doing for Britain women but did not have any engineering knowledge. The light bulb went on when reading an article in the Economist that highlighted wearable tech devices. She reasoned that there had to be a way to make a wearable device for women. After encountering so many challenges, she began creating the Elvie prototype, thanks to the £100,000 prize money from Innovate UK.
