From Boston College to Forbes 30 Under 30: Katie Diasti on Taking Good Risks

By Gibran Caroline Boyce | May 2020

Editor’s note: In 2023, Katie Diasti was recognized for Forbes 30 Under 30 as part of the 2024 Retail & E-commerce cohort.

Katie Diasti

CEO and Founder, Viv for Your V

“Hey! Do you want to talk about periods?” Katie Diasti, a Boston College graduate from the class of 2019, laughed.

One year after graduating, Diasti is already starting to make a name for herself in the period care community with her start-up Viv for Your V.

There’s a lot of influential women and a lot of bigger brands trying to sell sustainable products for our “V’s,” but Diasti wants to do things a little differently, while finding her own voice in the process.

“My mom is the strongest, most intense woman,” Diasti expressed as she thought of powerful women that inspire her everyday. “But I think that’s okay.”

Diasti sees her mom as a woman defying a stereotype about what society expects mothers to be like.

“It’s refreshing seeing a woman that is her own boss and a woman in power,” said Diasti. “I am seeing someone defying the stereotype from the jump in every aspect of her life, combating cultural norms or the career that she wants her daughter to have.”

Diasti was the first of her family born in the United States. Her older brother, parents, and a long list of relatives who have since relocated to the US were all born in Egypt following a very traditional Arabic lifestyle.

Diasti didn’t hesitate to share her ambition of changing period products for the better, making them more sustainable, safer, and more accessible to women around the world. I almost couldn’t help but envy her for knowing what she wants and braving the risks at only 22 years old, one year older than I am.

When Diasti dreamt up Viv for Your V, or “Viv” as she more fondly calls it, she was a first semester senior at Boston College taking an entrepreneurial marketing elective with a professor she admired.

“It was just a class project that I didn’t think would become anything real," said Diasti.

She expressed an interest in sustainability and how brands were changing their voices to advocate for more controversial ideas.

“I wanted to build a brand that is the voice of people,” said Diasti.

On October 19th, 2019, just months after her senior year ended, Diasti did just that, launching a line of “earth-friendly period care delivered to your door.”

“Our current manufacturer is the most sustainable option for a disposable product,” said Diasti about her brand’s current stock of pads, liners, menstrual cups, and tampons.

Diasti noted that competitors like Lola or Cora still have traces of plastic in their products, stating that generally, "One pad is equivalent to approximately four plastic bags."

Additionally, BPA-free plastic applicators used for tampons can still be harmful for the body’s natural hormones like estrogen and can lead to health risks. Diasti, after doing her own research, became determined to make a product that is both sustainable and safe. Viv has successfully made their products not only BPA-free, but completely plastic free.

Instead of BPA-free plastic applicators for tampons, Viv opts to use plant-based applicators.

“Our menstrual cups are completely zero waste and our current products are the most sustainable option compared to our competitors in period care,” said Diasti. “We use bamboo fibers and it’s completely plastic free.”

When asked why she chose to name the company Viv instead of having it be self-named, Diasti initially fell quiet. She envisioned for her products a persona that is bold, vibrant, and youthful, largely inspired by “Gen-Z,” noting this specific generation’s trend of youth activism. Still, this explained her choice of bright yellow and green packaging, rather than the name.

That’s when Diasti shyly described an alter-ego of sorts — the woman she dreams of becoming manifested into reality by the bamboo fibers used in her period products.

“The idea of what a woman in the Arab world should be like is different now than what I perceive my future to be like. The generational and cultural battle everyday, it’s the same for so many [first-generation Americans] raised by immigrants. It’s refreshing because I haven’t seen anyone that looks like me building a company. I’ve seen a lot more women doing it but not children of immigrants or [first-gen] women of color doing it. There’s finally someone that looks like us doing this.”

As the day approached that she'd pitch her company to a panel of judges brought in by her professor, Diasti found herself ignoring all other classes. Instead, she spent hours at a time with the science department talking about sustainable fibers, before settling on bamboo. Even after the class ended, Diasti was still following up on feedback and making product developments.

Diasti admitted that she had a job lined up at a renowned e-commerce company in Boston with a start date for October 2019. She’d pushed the date back as late as she could to further explore how to grow her own company.

“My mom still thinks that I will become a lawyer,” Diasti laughed. “Like, mom, I’m running a company!”

Still, unsure of what direction to take her future, Diasti felt the pressure rising as October 2019, her planned job start date, approached. However, as her company was also getting ready to launch their first set of preorders, Diasti took another risk and pushed back the job start date once more — this time to January 2020. In the first three weeks since that October launch, Diasti managed to sell 700 boxes, even with no physical product yet, and six months later doubled the money she put into creating the company.

“My favorite part has been engaging with customers and seeing what would make them want to purchase our products,” said Diasti. “I started going to markets in the Boston community and it was the best thing I did.”

At the Boston Women’s Market at the end of 2019, Diasti brought with her one big table that she ordered on Amazon, yellow tablecloths, and a few display samples with empty boxes — selling 30 preorders in a few hours.

“I care a lot about who can afford and purchase my product,” said Diasti. “By using a strong voice and building an online community, that is the best way to build a company. You gain so much more trust from your customers. If companies start listening more, if we are ever big enough to make some noise, I hope other brands take note of how you should be with consumers.”

When January 2020, Diasti’s new corporate job start date finally came around, Diasti realized she had a huge decision to make. With Viv still going strong today, the decision seemed clearer than ever, and she decided to officially not take the e-commerce job at all.

“While having financial security is so valuable, so is learning and growing,” said Diasti. “Right now I want to value that more than an entry level salary. That’s what pushes me everyday. Once I didn’t have that safety blanket behind me, I had this mentality that was like, ‘this has to do well and be successful because it’s all you have right now.’ The transition out of that safety net was monumental for Viv and her growth.”

However, it became evident that Viv was not the only one growing from this process.

“I have been trying to do more things that scare me, I was a very risk-averse child,” said Diasti, advising others and herself to take good risks. “I’ve been trying to overcome thinking I don’t know enough, am not educated enough, or that I’m not the right person to be doing this. I have felt a lot of imposter syndrome and so much of entrepreneurship is about mentality.”

Diasti elaborated noting that people are often promoting their highlights, not their lowlights, in life. That’s why she prefers to talk about the hard parts of running a start-up and how tough things can really be.

“In reality, you will gain more out of the audience if they understand how much you’ve grown and where you are now. Be authentic,” Diasti advised young women of color with an interest in building a startup. “Comparing yourself to others in the early stages is not good for mental health. It’s similar to how young women are comparing themselves on social media. It’s not productive. You need to have tunnel vision and be mindful of yourself.”