What Lauren Lee learned from dismissal and endometriosis

Every capsule, traced back to the field. Semaine began with one woman’s search for a pain free period and became a study in provenance, from plant based blends to third party labs to the Supplement Facts panel. Founders Lauren Lee and Matt Crane explain what they test, what they state, and what remains to be shown.

Semaine began with Lar’s health problems. That is how the brand opens its own story in plain words on its about page. It reveals more than modesty. It places the source of the company not in a market gap but in a household, where years of dismissed symptoms met a bioengineer willing to trace each complaint back to its material cause.

Lauren Lee is chief executive and co-founder. Matt Crane is co-founder and chief science officer. The third name in the story is Lar, Matt’s wife, whose years with debilitating periods and endometriosis set the work in motion. Twin sisters Cath and Lar share DNA and an endometriosis diagnosis. What they did not share, the brand states, was a clear answer.

What Semaine is now reflects that start. The company sells plant based supplements for period symptoms, PMS, hormone balance, gut health and bladder support. It states that its final formulations are clinically studied by an independent third party lab, and that every supplement is third party tested for quality and purity. It is guided, it states, by a medical advisory board in gynecology, urology and beyond. What others miss is the discipline underneath the mission language. Semaine asks to be judged on paperwork, not promises.

Your about page states that Lar spent years with dismissed symptoms and incomplete answers before a plant based formula led to her first pain free period, what did those years teach you about what a label needs to prove.

I am Lauren, and I will start there because Matt and I both lived it in different ways. Lar is family. We watched her hear that severe pain was normal, then go home with no plan. Years of dismissed symptoms and incomplete answers does something to how you read everything. You stop trusting a front label. You turn the bottle around.

When Matt used his training to build a plant based formula and Lar had her first pain free period, we did not think we had an answer for everyone. We thought we had a responsibility to test it properly. That is why we say we built the solutions that we could not find, that we believe every woman deserves. For me, a label has to show its work. It should state what is in the capsule, how much, in what form, and what testing sits behind it. Our customer reads the Supplement Facts panel and the other ingredients line. She is buying for herself and often for a household. She keeps a product for years if it earns its place. We have to earn that.

You name twin sisters Cath and Lar who share DNA and an endometriosis diagnosis but did not share a clear answer, how did that fact shape the decision to build Semaine for more than one body.

I am Matt, and that detail matters to me as a scientist. Same DNA, same diagnosis, different experience. It reminded us that women’s health is not a few hormones, it is a whole system. Hormones change daily, weekly, monthly and through life. That is even in our name. Semaine is French for week.

We did not want to make one capsule for cramps and call it done. What began with period pain became a mission to restore balance at the root. That phrase guides formulation. We look at cycle, gut, bladder and mood as connected. We work at the root of what you are feeling, not just the surface symptoms. Root level, not surface level. That is easy to say. It is harder to show. For us it means studying the finished formula, not only a single ingredient in isolation, and being clear about how to use it and when to stop. Born from love. Backed by biology. That is the standard we set for ourselves.

Your site states that you run clinical studies on your formulas with an independent, third party lab, and that you have done so since day one, what does that testing actually cover and what does it leave out.

I am Matt. We run clinical studies on our formulas with an independent, third party lab. Real evidence, not just our word for it. Running clinical studies on our formulations since day one was a choice we made before we had scale. It costs more. It takes longer. We felt it was the only way to ask for trust.

To be exact, we study the finished blend as sold, not only its parts. The lab is independent, which means the protocol and the data collection sit outside our team. That lets us state what participants reported under study conditions. What it does not do is prove what a capsule will do for any reader. A study has limits in size, time and population. We state the findings as the brand states them, and the label shows directions and contents. We do not ask a study to carry more than it can. We keep the medical advisory board involved in gynecology, urology and beyond so education stays within what was actually measured.

Your brand also states that every supplement is third party tested for quality and purity, can you walk us from the field to that certificate of analysis in the order the material moves.

I am Matt again. The path is farm or fermentation tank, then drying and extraction, then powder or oil, then encapsulation, then testing by lot. A grower harvests the botanical. The harvest lot is dried to control moisture. Then it goes to extraction, where a solvent or other method pulls the target fraction into a powder or oil with a stated extract ratio or standardized marker, explained on our specification sheet and then on the label where required.

That bulk material arrives with its own paperwork. We then blend to fill weight, encapsulate, and hold the finished batch. A third party lab tests that batch for identity, strength and contaminants, including heavy metals and microbes where applicable, and issues a certificate of analysis. The certificate belongs to a lot and batch number, not to the brand in general. When we say every supplement is third party tested for quality and purity, we mean that finished batch check. If a buyer wants to know where exactly a botanical comes from, the lot record should connect grower, harvest, extract and finished capsule. That chain is what we are building to show.

Your PMS Relief Capsule at 32.99 dollars states that you take it when you feel your first PMS symptoms start and stop once your period is finished, why did you formulate for episodic use rather than daily use.

I am Lauren. We made this because we need it. The PMS Relief Capsule is tied to our origin. It soothes menstrual symptoms such as mood swings, bloating, and cramps, in the brand’s stated language. Those words appear on the label and on the product page. They describe what the formula is intended to support, not what it will do for you.

Episodic use came from Lar’s pattern. Symptoms rose, then eased. Daily use all month did not match that rhythm for her. So directions state to start with first PMS symptoms and stop once the period is finished. That also makes the supply chain clearer for the buyer. One pack holds a defined count for that window. The two pack at 64.98 dollars and three pack at 89.97 dollars extend that same pattern. We kept the formula plant based because that is what we could trace, source consistently, and test as a finished blend. If daily support is needed for mood, energy and cravings, we point to a daily formula instead.

We work at the root of what you are feeling, not just the surface symptoms.

Lauren Lee and Matt Crane

Your Hormone Balance at 36.99 dollars combines three botanicals plus essential vitamins and minerals for daily mood, energy and cravings support, how do you decide which plants earn a place when you cannot name every field on the front label.

I am Matt. A front label has little room. The Supplement Facts panel has more. Our job is to make the back panel exact. For Hormone Balance, the label states three botanicals plus essential vitamins and minerals. Each has a form, a part used, an amount per serving, and an extract ratio or standardization where it applies. That is what lets a careful buyer compare one bottle to another.

Selection starts with tradition of use and published study, then moves to supply. Can a grower deliver the same marker harvest after harvest. Can the extractor hold that marker without changing solvents in a way we would not accept. Can the finished batch meet our specification for quality and purity. If not, the plant does not earn a place, however interesting it sounds. The other ingredients line matters as much. Capsule shell, fill aids, color. We keep it short where we can, and we state what remains. Clean and pure are claims. We try to give them documents behind them.

Your Urinary Tract Cleanse and Protect at 30.99 dollars centers on Anthocran Phytosome cranberry described as 3x better absorbed and states that you address the biofilm while hibiscus supports immunity in your positioning, what can you trace and what is still opaque.

I am Matt. I will stay close to what the label shows. The product centers on Anthocran Phytosome cranberry, a cranberry extract bound in a phytosome form intended to support absorption. The page states 3x better absorbed. That comparison refers to the ingredient supplier’s stated data for that form, not to our finished capsule alone. We state it as the brand states it.

What we can trace is the extract identity, the amount per serving, daily use for urinary support, and the finished batch testing for quality and purity. What we state about function is narrow. Most urinary supplements address the bacteria. We address the biofilm. Daily work, at the root. That is positioning language about where we aim to act, not a promise about outcome. What is still opaque, fairly, is the full field map for every harvest. We can name extract and form and lot. Full grower level traceability for each botanical in each season is the next document to show, and we know it.

You expanded from periods into bladder, gut and perimenopause and menopause support, including a 40 plus line and a Microbiome Protocol, how do you keep a whole system view without losing the thread back to the capsule.

I am Lauren. Women’s health isn’t a few hormones, it’s a whole system. That belief made expansion natural. Bladder issues, gut issues, hormonal shifts and menopause symptoms kept appearing in the same households. Women told us their symptoms were normal. We refuse that answer. We refuse surface symptom cover without root work. We refuse to sell science without third party clinical studies and quality testing.

We keep the thread by keeping the paperwork the same. Each new formula gets the same sequence. Specification, finished blend study through an independent lab where we state it, batch testing, clear directions. The Peri and Meno Essentials at 36.99 dollars states it was clinically studied to ease 14 measures of menopause, including hot flashes, mood swings and hair thickness, in brand language. The Pre and Probiotic for Women at 32.99 dollars states ginger extract for digestion, nausea, bloating and intestinal discomfort. We do not merge their stories. Each label stands on its own lot record.

Your team page notes that many of the team are women and half live with chronic health conditions, with a medical advisory board in gynecology, urology and beyond, how does that shape testing and plain language.

I am Lauren. It shapes what we will not say. When half the team lives with chronic conditions, hype feels personal. We know what it is to read a label at a pharmacy counter while in pain. So we write directions in plain steps. When to start. When to stop. Daily or episodic. With food or as directed. We state plant based where it is true. We state third party where it is true.

The board keeps us exact. Gynecology, urology and beyond means a bladder claim gets urology eyes, a cycle claim gets gynecology eyes. They review protocol language and education so we describe what was studied without turning it into advice for a reader’s diagnosis. We Made This Because We Need It is not a slogan to us. It means the tester and the customer are often the same person in our office. That raises the bar for the certificate, not only the copy.

Semaine is French for week, which you link to hormones changing daily, weekly, monthly and through life, what would it take to show the full chain for one bottle, from grower to capsule, without gaps.

I am Matt and Lauren together on this one, because it is operations and promise. It would take naming the grower and harvest lot, stating the drying method and extraction method with ratio or standardized marker, naming the encapsulation site and fill weight, and publishing the finished batch certificate of analysis with heavy metals and microbe results. Then linking that packet to the lot number printed on the bottle.

We have parts of that chain in hand today through specifications and third party testing. The field map by season is the part still being completed across a wider range, as harvests shift and suppliers change. What they did not share was a clear answer, so they set out to build one, for themselves and for the women who kept hearing their symptoms were normal. That sentence still guides us. The answer has to be traceable. If we cannot show a step, we say so, and we state what it would take to show it. That is how a week by week story earns a shelf for years.

Closing note from the desk

What stays with the desk after this conversation is the order of operations. The founders start with a household story, then move quickly to lot numbers, extract forms and independent labs. The language stays narrow where it matters, on the panel and in directions, and broader only where it describes intent.

Semaine set out to restore balance at the root and help women feel more like themselves with clinically studied formulations. Documented plainly, that means plant based blends, finished formula studies through an independent lab as stated, batch testing for quality and purity as stated, and labels that tell a careful buyer when to start and when to stop.

Product spotlight

PMS Relief Capsule at 32.99 dollars for one pack, with two pack at 64.98 dollars and three pack at 89.97 dollars. A supplement for menstrual symptoms such as mood swings, bloating and cramps in brand language. Take as directed starting with first PMS symptoms and stop once the period is finished.

Urinary Tract Cleanse and Protect at 30.99 dollars for one pack, with two pack at 61.98 dollars and three pack at 92.97 dollars. A daily supplement centered on Anthocran Phytosome cranberry with hibiscus in brand positioning. Take daily for urinary support as directed on the label, with batch testing for quality and purity as stated.