Our mission is to put women in control of
their healthcare decisions
Our Founder Alice’s story
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
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 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
Anoushka Menon
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
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
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
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.
Eppie Shepherd
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
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 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 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
Aiema Kuseinova
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
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
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
