By Allison L. Watkins
In 2014, my life took a detour when I was pregnant with my daughter. She apparently enjoyed a lot of fine dining inside my belly and ended up weighing 11.004 pounds at birth. This was a turning point for me.
Having a big baby can do a number on your body, and I was no exception. My pelvic organs, which had literally supported the baby for 9 months, had a hard time rebounding back to their original shape and position. To my great dismay, this resulted in urinary incontinence, which was, as you can imagine, completely devastating and humiliating.
I immediately went to my doctor who diagnosed Stress Urinary Incontinence, also known as SUI. I learned that urinary incontinence is a condition that is estimated to affect just under 2 in 3 women in the U.S. at some point in their lives.
The doctor offered me very unappealing options. I tried pelvic floor rehabilitation for almost a year, and it did not work for me. Surgery was the last thing I wanted, and adult diapers and pads were a non-starter. I told the doctor I didn't know what I was going to do and left the office in tears.
I went home and googled my problem into the night. The options I found were no better. I was distraught—I couldn't believe this was happening to me. For several days I repeated the cycle: google, cry, google, cry.
Until a voice inside my head said, "If there is not the right solution out there for you, then create it." I sat with this idea for a long time, until I decided I had no choice but to follow the voice in my head—that's when I learned an important lesson: if there is a problem without a solution, or not a very good one, or one that involves wearing adult diapers, then don't wait around for someone else to solve it. I got to work!
I was determined to learn everything I could about incontinence, women's pelvic health, and medical devices. I took classes. I talked to experts. I consulted engineers. Until one day, 18 months later, I had my first device prototype. I tried the device on myself. I refined the design and repeated this cycle over and over until the device was perfect, and I could go all day without embarrassing myself in public. That's when my product, Yōni.Fit was born.
It was like having another child – needing lots of attention at all hours of the day and night, and there were lots of tears. No matter how difficult life got, I refused to walk away from it. Even when COVID hit and temporarily halted the clinical trials, I persevered. The clinical trials were eventually conducted at three study sites across the U.S.: Stanford in Palo Alto, California, NYU in New York City, and Jefferson Health in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Following 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this past summer, my product became available nationwide for women aged 18 and older.
To this day, I reflect on my lack of formal education, and marvel at how many people supported me on this ambitious and vulnerable journey. As a younger me, my preferred academic environment was TV's "Saved by the Bell." I soaked up all kinds of knowledge from just about everywhere. I considered myself a "student of life".
I left high school and traveled the U.S. with a backpack and no set destination. I found random jobs across the country, and I cultivated important attributes that they don't teach you in school. I had met people from all walks of life, and I discovered that every voice matters. I learned about the importance of collaboration, and I was a very hard worker. My exposure to different people in different situations was my diploma.
My entrepreneurship DNA can be traced back to a long line of entrepreneurs. My grandfather grew up in the tiny town of Canadian, Oklahoma with a population of fewer than 150 people. Because of a difficult family environment, he was raised by his grandmother who passed away just before he graduated from high school. Relying on sheer determination and a dash of Oklahoma spirit, he too, a "student of life" grew up to become a success.
On the plane to Washington D.C. for my first meeting with the FDA 8 years ago, my daughter sat on my lap. I looked out the window as she closed her eyes, rocked to sleep by the white noise of the engines.
As I too dozed off, I reflected on the tenacity of my grandfather. I knew he would be proud of everything I had accomplished, the empathy I had for other women facing the same problem, and my desire to make a difference.
Allison L. Watkins is the CEO of Watkins-Conti, an American healthcare company that develops innovative and accessible solutions for women's pelvic health. She has two children and lives in Oklahoma.
All views expressed are the author's own.
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