Jess Quinn is a mother, model, social media influencer and even a 'Dancing With The Stars' alumni - but she's just added another string to her bow by co-founding a new women's health platform.
The 31-year-old has already overcome a lot of adversity, losing her leg as a child to bone cancer and suffering from endometriosis since she was a teen. The latter prompted her to co-found ‘The Cyclist’ with Katherine Douglas, Founder of BraveFace and Group General Manager of Douglas Pharmaceuticals.
Jess joined Robert and Jeannette on the Breeze to tell all about the community-based platform, designed to break the stigma around women’s reproductive health.
“We both were diagnosed with endometriosis after 14 years of misdiagnosis” said Jess.
“We just really felt there was a need to create a space for women to learn about their bodies, it's something we weren't really taught in schools but [Katherine] and I have had to learn to advocate for ourselves.”
Launched yesterday, the platform tackles topics such as menstruation, fertility and natural pain relief, and aims to serve as a “big sister”, providing advice, resources and knowledge.
Quinn was first diagnosed with endometriosis when she was in her 30s, despite first noticing symptoms when she was 14.
“I finally got a diagnosis and that wasn’t for a lack of trying. I was leaving the doctor's clinic with IBS brochures being like, 'oh no it’s just period pain'," she said.
“Then to find out much too late into my fertility journey, unfortunately, after loss and years of trying for a baby - that I had something that probably could have been fixed earlier, and I wouldn't have had to go through that trauma. It would have been huge.”
Quinn now has a 15 month-old girl, Marla, who has been a big motivation for creating The Cyclist.
“I’m in the depth of launching a business right now, and it's really hard but I'm doing this for her.
"For her generation and for younger Jess, who would really love something like this.”
