Meet the Irish women behind Sisterly: 'It came from one simple question: 'What do women need?'
Aoife Matthews, Jennifer O'Connell and Louise O'Riordan, the co-founders of Irish brand Sisterly. Photograph: Moya Nolan
In December 2024, Jill Biden hosted a conference on women’s health research at the White House.
Dr Lisa Mosconi, a neuroscientist, gave a powerful speech on women’s cognitive health which ended with this bombshell sentence: “We owe women centuries of research.”
The majority of health research is based on men’s physiology and responses.
A woman’s body functions and responds in a vastly different manner to a man’s — for example, women experience adverse reactions to drugs nearly twice as often as men do — yet the female sex is rarely considered when it comes to health research.
But change is happening.
Sisterly founders Aoife Matthews, Jennifer O’Connell, and Louise O’Riordan knew of the giant gender gap in women’s health research — Matthews was first alerted to it while studying for her nutrition qualification — and that awareness, along with a desire to be the change they wanted to see in the world, is part of what makes their foundational product, The Elevator, so special.
“We could see there was a gap,” says Matthews.
“We’ve become experts on the gap,” adds O’Connell. “We’re surrounded by people who are in this space — doctors, nutritionists, nutritional therapists — and we can see how massive the knowledge chasm is. I don’t think we appreciated it fully when we started, but we quickly learned that women were left out of clinical trials, typically up until 1993, and that there is five times more spent on research into male issues than into female issues. All of that really drives us on.”
The impetus to create Sisterly’s female-focused multivitamin and mineral supplement, The Elevator, which supports energy, immunity, hormonal balance, and beauty, came, says O’Connell, from one simple question: “What do women need?”
It’s a testament to the women’s collective drive and self-belief that they forged ahead with creating a product that answered that ask.
The trio collectively walked away from corporate careers to step into an industry in which they had zero experience. What was the key driver that inspired them to take that leap?
O’Connell doesn’t need to think for a second. “Passion,” she says, O’Riordan and Matthews nodding enthusiastically in agreement.
“We all have this juggle between our time of life, ageing parents, small kids, jobs that get busier as you get older. I think when you recognise that there is a big gap and women are genuinely suffering, there’s no question about it. The problem was so clear. When you’re living and experiencing it yourself, you become very passionate about trying to find a solution for a problem you can see all around you.”
That solution, as they saw it, is a top-quality nutritional product that is effective, easy, and helps women to “feel better and feel well”.
Prior to setting up the Sisterly brand, the friends all had high-powered careers — O’Connell was a barrister, Matthews an investment banker, and O’Riordan a brand developer in the luxury space.
In 2020, the pandemic’s enforced pause prompted not only a re-evaluation of their life goals, but a realisation that they were all exhausted. A boost was needed.
Trying to figure out the mix of supplements that might support the multilayered requirements midlife presents proved fruitless. There was simply nothing out there that fulfilled the brief.
So out of those covid-time conversations, Sisterly was born, and with it, The Elevator.
The trio are launching Sisterly in Harrods this month, speaking of the heights to which they have risen in a short time.
Although truth be told, it’s not been brief. It’s taken years of hard graft to figure out the elements of the product they knew they wanted to create, to find the right experts to deliver on the formulation, and, then, to finally bring their product to market, with all the challenges that entails.
“It took us three years of product development,” Matthews says of Sisterly’s journey to launch. “It was a longer process than we expected, but it was worthwhile to get it to the product it is today.”
O’Riordan’s background in luxe brand-building is evident in the quiet, luxury vibe of The Elevator’s chic box and simple sophistication of the one-a-day sachets contained within.
“We were thinking, how can we help people set up themselves for success and take it every morning? And that’s where we landed on the sachet.”
CoQ10, a vital nutrient needed by every cell in the body, is one of the 23 stars of The Elevator’s alchemical mix, not least because it delivers the energy boost so many women told the trio they wanted; along with energy-boosting, stress-relieving B vitamins, K2 and D3 to support bone
density and immunity, chromium for metabolism, vitamin C for skin health and collagen retention… and that’s not the half of it.
One little sachet is the equivalent of eight separate supplements, they say, without the bulking agents that make up a sizeable portion of many other supplements on the market.
The three friends gathered top experts to create the product they knew women wanted, but found many of the skills that were central to each of their former careers have been a boon to their entrepreneurial journey.
“Everyone is bringing their own experiences from their different careers,” Matthews says. “That’s a real value-add when you have three people coming together like that.”
Mixing business with friendship can be a risky endeavour, but the mutual respect these women have for each other is evident. To observe them interact is to see a real-life support system in action that could not be more sisterly in its solidarity.
“Everyone thinks we’re sisters,” says Matthews, who came up with the name Sisterly, explaining that it, and the ethos behind it, came from a discussion around health and trust.
“Who do you trust, who do you look to for your recommendations on things like health and female issues?” she says of the trio’s thought process. “It’s your friends, it’s your sisters. It was that kind of vibe we wanted to create.”
That vibe has resonated with many women, with word of The Elevator’s perky punch spreading organically — just what the trio had hoped would happen.
Women were taking their product, finding it worked, and telling their friends, sisters, mums, and colleagues. That slow, steady, word-of-mouth growth is, says Matthews, “what we really wanted to create”.
It’s all about community for these three, and they’ve endeavoured from day one to make Sisterly more than just a brand, but a space that celebrates and elevates women, bringing them together to just enjoy each other.
There are regular Sisterly customer events — a recent one had movement coach Jane Shortall teach the viral Perfect Couple dance sequence — you can see the trio (and Sonia O’Sullivan, “the most sisterly of people”) among the gaggle of women busting their moves on Sisterly’s Insta grid.
Like inevitably attracts like so it’s no surprise, then, to learn that the trio are part of a community of inspiring female entrepreneurs.
O’Connell reels off far too many to mention, but Peigín Crowley of Ground, Pat Kane of Reuzi, and Seabody’s Helena McMahon are among those name checked.
“It really has been women helping women and women supporting women. It’s brilliant,” she says of the invaluable support exchanged and experienced through that female founder network, and from the multitude of businesswomen who’ve helped them at every stage of their journey.
They’ve opted for a subscription model for Sisterly, which gives them an invaluable direct relationship with their customers, and have a select few stores in the mix, including Brown Thomas, and soon, Harrods. It’s exciting and they are, they say, “riding the crest of a wave” right now.
The testimonials keep coming, and the awards do too. They won gold at the Hip and Healthy Wellness Awards, silver in the Best Everyday Supplement category at the prestigious Get The Gloss Awards and a whole heap more.
“When we see all those awards coming in,” says O’Connell, “I think it’s a recognition of the three years of hard work that went into making this the best possible supplement, with a North Star of ‘this is for our mothers, our friends’.
“You don’t cut corners when you’re doing things for your nearest and dearest.”
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