Walk into almost any pharmacy, and you’ll find that one dreaded aisle. You know, the one with euphemisms like “family planning” that carries products one needs but would prefer to buy with some privacy, like pregnancy and ovulation tests. Even if taboos around sex have softened over the years, these kinds of tests are intimate and private information that, frankly, isn’t anyone else’s business.
The value of being able to discreetly purchase items like a pregnancy test became clear to Stix cofounder Cynthia Plotch—while buying a pregnancy test, she ran into her boyfriend’s mom. Besides sparing any potential awkwardness in the drug store, Plotch and fellow Stix cofounder Jamie Norwood looked for other ways to improve on the experience, developing a more approachable and inclusive brand with unintimidating instructions.