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Demond Crump’s worst nightmare came true when his wife informed him that she was facing a serious health issue.

“I need a partial hysterectomy that was advised by my doctor and it caused heavy bleeding afterward,” Demond’s wife, Quiana Crump shared with Essence. “It was not too long after that my husband sought out a prototype of a sanitary pad that absorbed like nothing else on the market.”

Although she’d always fully supported her entrepreneurial husband in all of his endeavors through their decades-long marriage, Qiana said she wasn’t completely sold on the idea of him going into the feminine care business initially.

“As a woman, you know how men feel about periods,” she said, pointing out that menstruation conversations typically make men squeamish. “But he demonstrated what the product could do, I had complete buy-in.”

The prototype cost Demond $6 to produce and about a year to bring to market. Launched in 2019, Reign Pads touts their triple absorbency is like nothing customers have seen before.

Demond adds: “What makes the sanitary napkins a game-changer is a hero material they’re infused with: graphene an ingredient that can help with micro-circulation, promote cell activity and support a healthier metabolism,” as detailed on the brand’s website. “After speaking with ob-gyn’s and conducting deep researc, I found that many of the chemicals found in feminine products on the market cause great harm over time.

In 2016, TIME reported that some experts were greatly concerned that the chemicals used to make tampons and other feminince care products can possibly lead to toxic shock syndrome (TSS) and cancer. This information only reinforced Demond’s passion to produce an alternative, and he was confident he could make a mark in the industry, even from the beginning.

He says this isn’t the first time he’d built a business from the ground up. Demond shared that his entrepreneurial drive started at an early age.

“I’ve been an entrepreneur since 1994 while in my twenties coming out of the United States military,” Demond said, explaining he left after realizing he could never have true professional autonomy while enlisted regardless of the amount of time he served. “So, entrepreneurship was something I always wanted to go after and achieve. And ironically, nobody in my family was an entrepreneur. Nobody. I just so happened to read a book that literally changed my life, Think and Grow Rich: A Black Choice by Dennis Kimbro. I read that book as a young man, and that set me on my path to entrepreneurship, and I never, ever looked back since then.”

Over time, the New Orleans native launched a successful car detailing business, but he was forced to fold it following hurricane Katrina 2005. It was prompted a life-changing move for him and his family.

“We re-located to Georgia because of the storm, and that situation further reinforced the importance of being a business owner. I knew that I could always rebuild anywhere I went.”

Now, he says his passion lies in building his mission-driven company that aims to help further the fight for healthy feminine care.

“As a husband and father, my wife and daughters initially inspired me to start the company,” Demond shared. “Now, I’m working to fulfill a need that’s much larger than my family.”

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