Tilia Leleu wanted to come up with a way to draw awareness to the significance of menarque, recognising the importance of young women seeing the power and beauty in what their bodies do. She created Aurore Ceremony to celebrate menarque, as a rite of passage of the first period and the menstrual cycle. She curates beautiful hampers that promote self-care and love for the female body, and facilitates menarque ceremonies to celebrate and welcome young women to this next stage of life. Here Tilia talks to The Natural Parent Magazine about what inspired her to launch Aurore Ceremony, her biggest breakthrough, the challenges she has overcome, and her hopes and dreams for the future.
The passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
When I understood that menarque was a rite of passage, and how it was both so important and so underappreciated, I thought I’d come up with something to draw awareness to it and be a simple way to acknowledge it. So I put together a hamper with items selected to be locally and ethically made, most of them supporting family or one-woman businesses. I chose items that promoted self-care, or creating a ritual, and of course love for our bodies and our menstrual cycle. It’s so important that young women see the power and beauty in what their bodies do.
I also want to facilitate menarque ceremonies, but for the families who are not ready for that, the hamper is a great way to let the girls in their lives know that they are seen as they go through this transformation. It makes a big difference for them, and how they perceive themselves and their place in society.
The more I pay attention to how women talk about their bodies, and especially their cycles, the more I realise how under-valued they feel, and how they experience their menstruation as a chore. Now I know better and fully embrace my menstrual cycle, I feel so sad for all this lost love. And I’d like girls to grow empowered in knowing how amazing it is.
The launch: How did you start out in the beginning?
I feel I’m still very much at the beginning. I’m always learning new things that can help, or sourcing cool products that could go in the hamper, as well as all the decoration and added value I can provide. It’s fun, and I get to network with a lot of beautiful women and their business babies. It’s also been difficult to get people interested and talking. It’s a subject a lot of people try to ignore, or actively avoid. It seems that either you’re into the menstrual cycle, or you would rather not know it exists, much less contemplate having your daughter go through it. So as well as the hamper and ceremonies, I realised that I would need to also educate the parents about the importance of celebrating their daughter’s menarque. The thing is, the initiation happens whether we celebrate it or not. If we don’t, what message does this give to a young woman? If we do, how powerful it could be for her! So I’m still trying to figure out the best way to approach the subject to avoid resistance, and how to change people’s minds about it all.
The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business?
I went through a business training course to make sure I ‘got it right’. What I realised was that the more I did it, the more I disliked the way we do business. I didn’t like thinking of other people as ‘competition’ or customers like fish on a hook.
I would love us to move away from the scarcity mentality and towards everybody thriving and being honoured for the unique gift they bring. What the menstrual cycle teaches us is that the most important things in life are free, and most of it is supplied by women: rich menstrual blood that nourishes the Earth and repairs our bodies, babies, the babies’ complete nutritional food and medicine for the first few years of their life, the way we tend to put other people’s needs before ours… and guess what? These amazing and free things are completely disregarded, even suppressed by Western society and the way we do business. I would like to participate in putting forward an alternative economy. An aspect of this, in the context of menarque, is that having good self-esteem is wealth; being in touch with your intuition is wealth; knowing your body so that you can confidently using FAM is wealth…
Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
If I am to walk the talk, my children have to come first. The second is two years old and needs me a lot. I also can’t let him see me spend a lot of time on screens. So I have to work out the time when someone else can look after him, or when he’s asleep. It can be frustrating, but I made the decision to take it slowly. This way I know the steps I take are in alignment with what I really want.
