August, the gender-inclusive and sustainable period care brand, announced the appointment of Diane Lewis as vice president of Marketing. Lewis is the company’s first marketing hire and brings a breadth of experience running consumer and retail marketing for legacy and startup personal care companies including Evereden, where she most recently served as VP of Marketing, La Roche-Posay, and Aveeno.

“What August has achieved in just two years is remarkable. The company has managed to build an incredibly strong community and loyal following, secure strong retail partnerships, and build a more inclusive approach to period care,” says Lewis. “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.”

In this newly created role, Lewis’ core focus will be expanding August’s retail channels and presence. In March, August launched its line of tampons, pads, and liners in more than 400 Target stores nationwide. The company is set to expand retail distribution throughout the end of 2023. As a creator-led brand thanks to co-founder Nadya Okamoto who has more than four million followers on TikTok, Lewis will help analyze the company’s content in order to use its platform to drive strategic and sustainable growth. She will report to August’s Gen Z co-founder Nick Jain.

“We launched August at a time when people were realizing that the classic direct-to-consumer business model of relying on paid acquisition wasn’t creating sustainable businesses, and venture capital money was beginning to prioritize organic growth and profitability, two trends which are only more true today,” says Jain. “For the past two years, we’ve used our social platforms to drive awareness, traction and sales. Now as we build a strong omnichannel business, we realized we needed strong leadership and mentorship in marketing and retail. Diane brings this to the table, and we couldn’t be happier she’s joining our InnerCycle.”

Lewis joins August’s senior leadership team, composed of Okamoto and Jain, and two additional vice presidents who also possess strong backgrounds in retail and expansion. Jake Tackett, August’s VP of Operations, was most recently director of Supply Chain at online supermarket JOKR. He also held senior operational roles at Target, CAMP, and WeWork. Erin Burk, August’s VP of Business Development, spent five years at Uber launching and expanding UberEats.

“As two young founders, Nick and I realized the importance of hiring a seasoned team of executives who could teach us and guide us through how to best scale a business – especially from a retail perspective,” says Okamoto. “With Diane, Jake and Erin, we have a team that supercharges our business – making us more productive and profitable.”