DTC period care brand August hires VP of Marketing Diane Lewis

Lewis, who is the brand’s first marketing hire, wasn’t tapped to build a community around the brand or make it go viral, though. That’s already been handled by Okamoto, who has amassed 4 million TikTok followers in her years-long fight to repeal the sales tax on tampons and pads. Rather, Lewis was hired to further scale August’s retail presence, the company said. 

“I’m excited to bring my deep expertise in placing brands front-and-center in retail to help August take up more shelf space across the U.S.,” Lewis said in a press release.

Also read: 4 things DTC founders wish they knew before entering retail stores

August, which was founded in 2020 and started off selling its products DTC, is aiming to expand its presence in retailers. It rolled out its products, including tampons and pads, in 400 Target stores across the U.S. in March. 

“I remember when we first started talking to Target, one of the things that they told us was they were being a lot more picky with new brands because they saw a lot of these direct consumer brands who had a lot of fans of online, but launched in stores and like the appetite wasn’t there,” Okamoto said in an interview. This highlighted the need for a marketer with retail expertise, Okamoto said.