Our mission is to put women in control of

their healthcare decisions

The Lowdown team

Our Founder Alice’s story

Image of Alice - Founder of the Lowdown

 

It took me over a decade to realise the impact that taking hormonal contraceptives had on my emotional and mental state.

I started taking the 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, my personality completely changed. I was calmer and stopped crying all the time at stupid things like my parents wedding anniversary.
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 different pill. Every time I struggled to get used to it and had incredible mood swings.
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 | Author | The Lowdown

Alice Pelton

Founder

Alice set up The Lowdown in 2019 with a mission to help transform the minefield that is contraception. She’s spent the last five years talking to thousands of women about this problem – and is pretty obsessed. As our CEO, Alice does everything from fundraising and product strategy to finances 😂

Marija Ziterbart

Marija Ziterbart

CTO

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 Melanie Davis Hall

Dr Mel Davis-Hall

Medical Director

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

Image of Dr Fran

Dr Frances Yarlett

Medical Director

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

Anoushka Menon

Head of Growth

Anoushka’s focus is growing The Lowdown’s customer base, evolving our value proposition and mainly making sure Facebook or Google don’t block us for talking about vaginas. Before The Lowdown, Anoushka spent over 3  years at Thriva Health as their first paid acquisition hire

Dani Conlon | Author | The Lowdown

Dani Conlon

Community lead

Dani handles all things community and customer support here at The Lowdown. With a background in travel, dating and food writing, she is keen to empower and support our community by being your lowdown big sister. You may recognise Dani from our Wired photoshoot 👀

Martina Ceccarelli

Social & Content lead

Martina lives and breathes socials, if she could do something all day it would be designing super informative and beautiful posts, but alas, there’s more to life. Before joining The Lowdown, she founded the period health and wellness platform Commaperiods

Elysha Paige

Growth support lead

Elysha is obsessed with the buzz of talking about “taboo” topics in unconventional places. She supports the team by providing speedy customer service and has a deeply passionate love/ hate relationship with spreadsheets. Outside of The Lowdown, Elysha runs the Bloody Good Employers programme with menstrual equity charity; Bloody Good Period. 

Image of Eppie

Eppie Shepherd

Press & PR guru

Eppie is a content queen: she knows a thing or two about SEO, and helps us stay on the first page of Google for 1000+ search terms. Eppie is insanely good at pitching to journalists and getting us superb press coverage. If you have a story or need a quote from us or our doctors – do say hello eppie@thelowdown.com  

 

Jen Penaluna

SEO Manager

Jen is always on when it comes to SEO. From developing organic search strategies that help thousands of women reach The Lowdown, to speaking at SEO conferences, and keeping tabs on the SEO community via Twitter & LinkedIn

 

Dr Zaakira | Author | The Lowdown

Dr Zaakira Mahomed

Clinical lead

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 Becky Mawson

Dr Becky Mawson

Clinical lead

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

Aiema Kuseinova

Software engineer

Aiema is our super talented frontend developer, proficient in React and Next.js. She excels at building captivating user interfaces and working with JavaScript frameworks. During her free time, Aiema enjoys reading, watching movies, and practicing yoga

 

Filip Gacina Bilin

Software Engineer

Filip is our newest frontend developer, who works alongside Aiema 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

Software Engineer

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