Back to podcast

Sonu: Welcome to EY India Insights Podcast series, where we have been presenting to you remarkable, inspirational women. I am Sonu Iyer, Partner and Executive Sponsor, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusiveness at EY India. It is my pleasure to bring to you a conversation with a young woman entrepreneur who stands out for a commitment to purpose and building a better working world.

She is indeed a remarkable woman. She is Devidutta Dash, Founder and CEO, Lemme Be and Member of EY Entrepreneurial winning women EMEIA 2023.

Lemme Be is rewriting the rules on period care and sexual wellness. With a mission to create an inclusive and sustainable world, Lemme Be stands out for what it is doing. Devi is very special to us at EY because she is also a member of our EY EMEIA Entrepreneurial Winning women Class of 2023. So, without much ado, let me get started. Welcome to the podcast, Devi. 

Devi: Thanks, Sonu. Thank you for inviting me to your podcast. 

Sonu: I am looking forward to the conversation today, Devi. From banking, telecom, financial services to direct-to-consumer (D2C) entrepreneurship, what really sparked your entrepreneurial journey? 

Devi: There is no straightforward answer to this, but I was very fortunate to grow up in an environment that encouraged me to dream big and believe in my potential.

I was born to this middle-class working parents who never, ever created a dream gap in my head. So, I never experienced a dream gap that many young girls face these days, where they stop believing that they can achieve greatness from a young age. My journey from banking, telecom, financial services, and now eight years in D2C, was sparked by this deep desire to create a positive impact and also be my own boss. That is the thing which everyone starts their entrepreneurial journey with.

Throughout my career, I have been so inspired by all of these strong women – like my mother is an entrepreneur, my aunts are entrepreneurs, a bunch of colleagues who have done exceptionally well, women like you Sonu – who are breaking barriers and holding thought leadership positions. It is the collective strength and determination which is motivated me all this while.

Basically, so many women around me and I have been blessed to be around all these empower women. They have really motivated me to do something on my own; it has always been a dream to start something, to start a brand or to start my own company. It just became a natural progression.

Sonu: Tell us the story behind the creation of Lemme Be.  

Devi: There is a very interesting story about the name ‘Lemme Be’. This was during COVID or 2020, when I reached out to a friend of mine, Prachi Bajaj, she is the who is head of a department at National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Hyderabad. With her support, we ran a competition for the students to find a name that breaks taboo and the name ‘Lemme Be’ was born. That is how we ran with this name. We reached out to a whole bunch of people to understand what this feeling of saying ‘Lemme Be’ is, and the feeling was always about breaking taboo and taking charge.

So, that is how Lemme Be was born. But for the creation of Lemme Be – it is deeply rooted in my personal experience because my journey with menstrual health management started in 1999. Odisha was hit by a super cyclone and my mother was then the project lead for Red Cross and she pushed us to become volunteers for menstrual hygiene management (MHM) camps, distribution of sanitary pads and other stuff. During that period, it was a forced experience, but we realized that people are so scared of even talking about periods or even like collecting a product for which they know they need, but they are so shy that women do not want to take these products in front of other men or other people. They want to stay in this cocoon, which suggests that they have never had periods, or they do not know they don't have to tackle with, period. This really sparked a lot of curiosity in me very early on to work in women's health and hygiene. I mean, literally, my mother has shaped my life by pushing me to do things which have which I did not want to do.

So Lemme Be and my previous company, which was also into women's health and hygiene, started because of a strong mother. 

Sonu: Well, more power to your mother. Moving on to social media; your social media is a breath of fresh air, there is a lot of positivity, messages of empowerment and of course, you are sharing your Lemme Be experiences and stories also on your social media posts.

Are there any social media messages, or interactions, or experiences which stand out in your mind, that you would want to share with us?

Devi: Generally, when consumers connect with us on social media, it is to complain 90% of the time, but there are these gem-like conversations with our customers which is 10% of the time but make it 100% worthwhile.

They praise us, saying ‘Oh my God! This (Lemme Be) changed my life’. It just makes my day. It makes my entire team’s day. There is one instance when we received an overwhelming love for our digital video commercial (DVC) called ‘My Period; My Story’, based on real period stories. This DVC went viral and was organically picked up by all the media houses, where we shot with red color liquid, because we have always been seeing this blue color liquid symbolizing menstrual blood.

We showed red liquid; we showed anger, pain, and everything, all the premenstrual syndrome (PMS) associated with periods. Also, we showed various folks, including genderfluid folks, differently abled folks, and it received lots of love and went viral. We were actually expecting a lot of trolls, but we did not experience any trolling, and it was a fantastic experience for us personally and in Lemme Be’s journey. 

Sonu: Every organization is talking about upping the game and commitment on sustainability. Your organization is all about sustainability and your commitment to sustainability and inclusivity. Tell us about a time when you had to make a tough but may not be commercially wise but an environmentally conscious decision for Lemme be. 

Devi: We do believe in sustainability, and we do have oxo-biodegradable sanitary pads, but in the previous year, we were really focused on sanitary pads all because it was the easiest product to sell. There was no need for any awareness and the packaging was so cute and funky and people would pick up just by looking at the word ‘organic’. However, this financial year we consciously took the decision and took a hard look at our product range and decided that we will only promote cups and the sustainable range which we have – cups, period underwear and Z Discs, and we stopped selling sanitary pads. We do not actively sell sanitary pads anymore.

It reduced our sales drastically because it was an easy pick for sure (selling sanitary pads). But this decision meant that we are sacrificing some short-term top line, but long-term sustainability, growth and positive EBIDTAs just happened thanks to this really tough call. We also believed that this was the right thing to do, and we did not want to we did not want to be associated with just sanitary pad as an option (product) because everyone was doing sanitary pad and they believe that this is the best option, which is not.

Sonu: Thank you very much for sharing this. Devi, you are a beacon of encouragement for young women. Any specific message or advice you would like to share with young women who are just starting their entrepreneurial journey?

Devi: These days, I feel increasingly empowered because of the ecosystem around me. More than ever, everyone is aligned to cheer the success of a woman entrepreneur. It is great to see that everyone around us is supporting women, celebrating their efforts and achievements. But as an entrepreneur, I strongly believe, and it is something which I have been voicing out a lot more, we have to lead a slightly asymmetric life, which women generally do; they have to make tough calls, and yet not expect instant gratification.

If I am on a mission, then this has to be a 10 to 15 year-mission; I cannot instantly get rewarded and become a billionaire in three years. That is not going to happen. So, I have understood these points and I think all the young folks were becoming entrepreneurs. Now, they feel that as soon as they become an entrepreneur in three/ four/ five years, they will become millionaires and that is definitely not happening, especially in the current situation, unless they are a genius. There are a lot of prodigies out there who can make it big, but this is a long path. It (Entrepreneurship) is a difficult path, and resilience is the only thing that is needed to bounce back every day in the morning with the same energy and same enthusiasm; it is just one crazy journey.

Sonu: That is a great message for all the young entrepreneurial man and women who are setting out on their journey. Any specific on innovation or initiative that makes you particularly proud as an entrepreneur?

Devi: One thing which we have stuck by is inclusivity. Other than the fact that we are committed to sustainability, inclusivity is the core part of our mission. I do believe that it is the flavor of the century. We have recognized that there are trans menstruators, differently abled menstruators, folks from the LGBTQIA+ community who are suffering in silence due to the lack of awareness, lack of funds, lack of support system, lack of content for them.

We have acknowledged that we have curated a whole bunch of content, a whole bunch of products around these tiny problem statements which address their problems, literally specific to a certain community. We are extremely proud of what we have managed to do with our inclusivity as the flavor. So, a significant portion of this country is also unable to manage their periods in a discreet and respectable manner. We have created two million unique content it in different languages on various platforms to reach out to these different communities and to let them know that we are there for you, and in case there is a problem statement that you are unable to solve, please reach out to us. If you go on our website and chat, they will be a Devi chat. So, people reach out to us like even to me directly; this one thing but we are very proud of.

Sonu: Devi, there is so much to learn from you. Truly inspirational. It has been an absolute pleasure having this conversation with you. Wish you the best of luck in your journey ahead. I am sure there will be multiple milestones and multiple accolades coming your way. All the best in your journey ahead. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Devi: Thank you so much Sonu, for giving me a platform to reach out to a large audience and to the EY community. I really appreciate this time and this interview. 

Sonu: That would be a wrap. It was a pleasure hosting this podcast series, ‘Celebrating remarkable women’. I enjoyed talking to them and I hope you enjoyed listening in as well. Until next time, this is Sonu Iyer, signing off. Thank you very much.

Back to podcast