Our mission is to put women in control of
their healthcare decisions
Our Founder Alice’s story
I started taking the contraceptive pill when I was 16. I always thought I was a very hormonal teenager, but it wasn’t until I stopped taking it a few years later that my personality completely changed.
I must have tried over seven different types of pill, but I could never seem to find one that worked for me. Every time I got into a new relationship I’d go back to my doctor and try out a new contraceptive, hoping something would click this time. But yet again I would struggle to get used to it, suffering with incredible mood swings and being sent on a physical and mental rollercoaster.
Fast forward to my twenties, my periods became heavier and sex grew increasingly more painful (sorry Dad). I spent over six years and countless hours in and out of GP surgeries trying to find out why. Eventually after a referral to a gynaecologist and one laparoscopy later, I learned that I had endometriosis.
By the time I hit my thirties, I wanted to start trying for a baby. This was another rollercoaster with even higher stakes for my physical and mental health, including months of trying and an ectopic pregnancy.
It’s been a journey. One where I’ve not felt listened to a lot of the time, and have struggled to find the answers I needed at the time I needed them most. I’ve been frustrated and disappointed at the lack of structured data on the side effects, symptoms, solutions, and so many women’s health conditions. It’s surprising to me that there’s never been a place online to talk about all of this, openly and unapologetically. There’s power in the collective experiences of women, and I don’t think that these experiences should be ignored by medical experts, or disregarded when it comes to future research.
In my search for the right contraception I came across a number of problems that have become the foundation of The Lowdown:
Lack of data and information
Almost 80% of people like me get side effects from their contraception, but the lack of clinical evidence and high quality information in this space, makes it really difficult to navigate. Our community generated review data is completely unique and gives everyone an insight into the pros, cons, benefits and side effects that you can expect from contraception.
Getting expert medical advice is hard
I have no idea how a GP or practice nurse can fit a proper contraception consultation into a 10 minute appointment. There are so many questions and options to run through, that it’s no surprise that 33% of Lowdown users don’t feel they have enough time in appointments to discuss everything they want to. We need time, expertise and to most importantly, to be listened too.
Contraception is really hard to access
One third of women in the UK don’t have easy or convenient access to contraception, and this just gets worse for women worldwide. From being offered the full range of brands of pill, to trying to get an appointment to get your coil fitted or removed… The Lowdown exists to make the whole thing simple. Because we deserve better.
Whilst I know my story is extreme, throughout my twenties I lost count of the number of times I sat around with my group of friends and they’ve talked about how contraception impacted their lives. From their weight and periods, to their sex drive – the good and the bad. It has an impact on the way that women (and men) feel.
So, I decided to create The Lowdown. We are a one-stop shop for women to choose, access and use the right contraception and reproductive healthcare for them. Powered by user-generated content, world-class medical advice and prescriptions, we are on a mission to put women in control of their healthcare decisions.
I am determined to provide better information and real world advice for those that need it, so women don’t have to go through what I went through.
The team
Alice Pelton
Alice set up The Lowdown with a mission to help transform the minefield that is women’s health. She’s a women’s health advocate and general loudmouth who has lived and breathed the problem firsthand. As our CEO, Alice does everything from fundraising and product strategy to finances
Marija Ziterbart
Marija is technical superwoman who takes our badly formed ideas and builds them into beautiful software that helps thousands of women with their contraception every day. Before joining The Lowdown Marija set up software development agency Tilde Loop
Dr Mel Davis-Hall
Dr Mel BMBS (Hons) BMedSci (Hons) DFSRH MRCGP is a GP and a clinical editor for the British Medical Journal. As well as offering consultations to our community, Mel is world class at medical writing and editing, and reviews all of The Lowdown’s content to ensure it’s in line with the latest guidance
Dr Frances Yarlett
Dr Fran MBBCh (Hons) BSc (Hons) MRCP (2016) MRCGP DFSRH is one of our medical advisors and in-house contraception experts. She was the first doctor to join our team in 2020. When she’s not offering exceptional consultations to the Lowdown community – Fran works as a GP in Sheffield
Dr Becky Mawson
Dr Becky MBChB, Bsc, DFSRH, DRCOG, MRCGP is a GP and researcher in Sheffield with a passion for making sexual and reproductive health services easier to access for all. She is also a coil and implant fitting and removal pro
Dr Zaakira Mahomed
Dr Zaakira MBCHB, MRCGP, DFSRH is a GP and busy mum of two beautiful girls based in Lancashire. She’s passionate about contraception and women’s health and is here to help navigate your contraceptive journey with a smile!
Dr Nikki Ramskill
Dr Nikki MBBS, DFSRH, MRCOG, MRCGP, BMS advanced menopause specialist, LoC IUT is a Milton Keynes based cat-mum and passionate women’s health advocate. She’s a GP near Milton Keynes and has a background working in gynaecology in London
Simphiwe Sesane
Simphiwe is a London based contraception & sexual health nurse. She is obsessed with women’s health & equitable health. She also teaches clinicians to fit and remove coils and implants
Kate Davies
Kate has 20+ years experience in helping women with all aspects of fertility, IVF, early pregnancy and conditions such as PCOS and endometriosis
Dani Conlon
Dani handles all things community & customer support at The Lowdown. She is keen to empower our community by being your lowdown big sister and gives the best advice. Dani collabs with brands who align with our values and want to improve the lives of all women
Georgia Gallant
Georgia is our resident content know-it-all. She officially produces the best women’s health memes on the internet and spreads the word about what we do by creating the content across all of our digital channels. Before writing about vaginas for a living, Georgia worked in PR in the male-dominated beer industry
Jen Penaluna
Jen can be found in user feedback sessions, leading team brainstorms, collaborating with our design team, and briefing our tech team on new solutions. She learns about problems our audience wants help solving, and helps turn those ideas into features at The Lowdown!
Egon Adelsberger
Egon is our super talented frontend developer, proficient in React and Next.js. He excels at building captivating user interfaces and working with JavaScript frameworks. During his free time, Egon enjoys photography, video games, books, and painting
Filip Gacina Bilin
Filip is a frontend developer, who works to ensure that The Lowdown both works and looks great using React and Nextjs. He is a passionate football fan who enjoys playing sports in his spare time.
Mile Druzijanic
Mile is our backend developer, working alongside Filip in the sunny city of Split, Croatia. He specializes in building performant microservice solutions using Node.js and is driven by the goal of developing outstanding software