Latest news with #Rael
Business Wire
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
Rael Expands with Major Retailer Launches, Bringing Holistic Period Care and K-Beauty Innovation to Consumers Nationwide
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Rael, the trailblazing cycle-care brand revolutionizing period care and skincare, is making its biggest retail expansion yet – bringing its products into 50,000 retail doors globally. With upcoming launches at Walmart, Ulta Beauty, and Walgreens, Rael is setting a new standard for wellness, bringing its high-performance products infused with cutting-edge Korean technology and clean ingredients to millions of consumers nationwide. Since launching in 2017, Rael has transformed the period care industry with its holistic solutions that support the body through every phase of the 28-day menstrual cycle—not just during your period. Beginning with its #1 best-selling organic cotton pads on Amazon and now boasting +60 products for every phase of your cycle, the brand is poised to reach millions more, redefining K-beauty's impact on wellness and ensuring that all people who menstruate have access to safe, effective period care products, and self-care and skincare products that serve 'the other 23 days' of the menstrual cycle. 'These retail partnerships are more than just expansion—they represent a shift in how we approach cycle syncing and self-care in the U.S.,' said Yanghee Paik, CEO and co-founder of Rael. 'Our mission has always been to make clean, high-performance cycle care accessible to all, and we're thrilled to bring our holistic solutions to even more people nationwide – including zip codes where products powered with Korean technology weren't readily available for purchase before this 'summer wave' of retailer launches.' This unprecedented retail expansion in 2025 will include: Ulta Beauty Wellness Launch – March & July 2025: In a groundbreaking move, Rael is entering Ulta Beauty's wellness category—a first-of-its-kind in-store offering for Ulta Beauty that blends period care with skincare. Available online starting March 23, 2025, and in 300 Ulta Beauty's stores by July 20, 2025, this expansion solidifies Rael's role in bridging the gap between beauty and cycle care. Walmart Period Care Launch – May 2025: Rael's organic period care line will hit 1,549 Walmart stores nationwide in early May, offering shoppers a clean, high-performance alternative to conventional products. This launch is a pivotal step in Rael's commitment to expanding access to safe, effective menstrual care. In June, Walmart will also introduce Rael's pain relief collection to 2,700 stores, including bestsellers like the brand's innovative Heating Patch for Menstrual Cramps. Walgreens Nationwide Rollout – July 2025: Walgreens will bring Rael's comprehensive lineup of clean, hormone-conscious products to more than 5,000 stores nationwide. With a thoughtfully curated assortment spanning period care, cramp relief, intimate wellness, and K-beauty-inspired skincare, Rael is helping to reimagine how customers approach everyday self-care. This rollout underscores Walgreens' continued commitment to offering modern wellness solutions that reflect the needs of today's consumers. 'As our guests continue to embrace a more holistic approach to beauty and wellbeing, we're proud to introduce brands like Rael that meet their evolving needs with intention and innovation. Rael is a pioneer in seamlessly connecting cycle care with skin care - empowering guests to care for their bodies with solutions that feel elevated, effective, and thoughtfully designed,' said Laura Beres, VP of Wellness at Ulta Beauty. 'As we expand our wellness offerings, we remain committed to supporting women's health in a more comprehensive, holistic way. Rael's addition to our assortment reflects where the intersection of beauty and wellness is headed, and we're excited to support our community with products that honor the full spectrum of self-care.' Rael's 360° approach to cycle care goes beyond traditional period products, addressing hormonal changes that impact skin, mood, and overall wellness. With its cycle-syncing philosophy, Rael empowers menstruators to align their self-care routine with the natural rhythms of their body—whether it's managing PMS breakouts, soothing cramps, or maintaining balance through hormonal shifts. The brand's innovative formulas are rooted in South Korean skincare technology, delivering clean, effective solutions free from endocrine disruptors like parabens, phthalates, synthetic fragrances, and PFAS. From invisible pimple patches to organic cotton period products, every Rael product is designed to support hormonal balance and overall well-being. With its unparalleled expansion into major retailers, Rael is making clean cycle care and K-Beauty mainstream—ensuring that everyone who menstruates has access to the safest, most effective products available. For more information on Rael, visit ABOUT RAEL Rael is a cycle-care brand created by women for all people who bleed. Founded in 2017 by three Korean-American women in Los Angeles, including CEO Yanghee Paik, Rael empowers individuals to make healthier choices for their bodies through safe, high-performance personal care products. Combining clean, nature-inspired ingredients with cutting-edge South Korean manufacturing technology, Rael delivers innovative period and skincare solutions that support a 360° approach to the modern menstrual cycle. For more information visit
Forbes
6 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
How Rael Disrupted The $52B Feminine Care Market With K-Beauty Innovation
Yanghee Pail, Founder & CEO Rael When Yanghee Paik immigrated to the United States from Korea to attend Harvard Business School, she envisioned a future revolutionizing the Korean entertainment industry in Hollywood. Instead, she rewrote the rules of an entirely different industry—feminine care. "I had a very different vision when I was in my 20s," Paik said. "When I wrote my MBA application, I talked about how I wanted to be the person revolutionizing the Korean entertainment business by learning in Hollywood." After a successful career at Disney in strategy and digital content distribution, Paik yearned for more impact and agility—something she couldn't find inside a massive corporation. "I felt like a small piece in a huge machine... I started thinking that I wanted to be on the other side." What followed was an unexpected dinner with journalist-turned-co-founder Aness An, who asked Paik a simple question, "Do you know anything about how pads and tampons are made?" The answer sparked what would become Rael, a fast-growing holistic wellness brand at the intersection of K-beauty technology and clean, organic feminine care. Rael's journey from a $2 million startup to a global wellness brand worth nine figures was not driven by flashy marketing or celebrity endorsements. It began with a focused, data-driven strategy that prioritized product excellence, consumer behavior insights, and digital-first distribution. Holistic Cycle Care With K-Beauty Technology Rael "Back in 2017, everybody was jumping into a direct-to-consumer model... But we wanted to be more efficient, and we wanted to be where women are ready to purchase," said Paik. Their research revealed that women were actively searching for organic pads on Amazon, but they had few quality options. Rael entered the platform with Korean-made, organic cotton cover pads and invested heavily in high-conversion product pages, optimized listings, and visual education. 'We didn't do any brand marketing when we started... But our goal was to launch the products, gain a lot of honest reviews, and then continue evolving, upgrading the products to perfect them before we go out to the retailers.' That strategy paid off quickly. "Within less than six months, we became the number one organic pad on Amazon," said Paik. "Since 2017, we have consistently ranked as the number one pad on Amazon in the feminine pad category." Rael now stands in a market with enormous potential. According to Statista, the global feminine hygiene market is valued at $52.31 billion, with the U.S. market alone at $6.70 billion. The sector is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.83% between 2025 and 2029, signaling significant room for innovation, disruption, and expansion. Rael's retail footprint is rapidly expanding, and the way consumers access holistic feminine care is evolving. Today, Rael products are available in over 20,000 retail locations throughout the United States. In 2025, Rael is executing its most ambitious retail expansion to date. Walmart introduced the brand's best-selling organic period care line in 1,549 stores in May, followed by the rollout of its cramp relief collection, including its popular menstrual heating patch, in 2,700 stores this June. Ulta Beauty plans to expand to 300 physical locations by July, blending Rael's skincare and period care into a single retail experience. Meanwhile, Walgreens will bring Rael's comprehensive line of hormone-conscious products, including period care, cramp relief, skincare, and intimate wellness, to 5,000 stores nationwide starting in July. "These retail partnerships are more than just expansion—they represent a shift in how we approach cycle syncing and self-care in the U.S.," said Paik. "Our mission has always been to make clean, high-performance cycle care accessible to all." Rather than relying on a single hero SKU, Rael strategically expanded its product line to deepen wallet share and brand loyalty. From pads and tampons, they moved into skincare, intimate care, and supplements, all tied to what Paik describes as "holistic cycle care." "We wanted to take care of women not only for that one week when they're bleeding but throughout the four weeks of the cycle," she said. Sales are now divided almost equally between feminine care and skincare, with the best-selling products being their organic cotton pads and pimple patches. Rael's TikTok strategy became a powerful growth engine, with over 600,000 followers. "We've been pushing a lot of educational yet entertaining content," said Paik. 'Breaking the taboos and then making it normal to talk about periods.' Their international expansion—especially the rapidly scaling Korean market—now accounts for over 20% of global revenue. With its sights set on Japan, Southeast Asia, Canada, and Europe, Rael is positioning itself as a global leader in cycle care. "We use the Korean angle to go to Japan and Southeast Asia because there's a lot more affinity to Korean brands and Korean content in those Asian markets," said Paik. Rael is carving out a niche in the $6.9 billion U.S. market, which has long been dominated by multinational giants such as Procter & Gamble, Kimberly-Clark, and Edgewell Personal Care. Despite these incumbents, Rael's combination of clean innovation, K-beauty science, and cycle care storytelling positions it as a formidable disruptor. In addition to its tremendous revenue growth, Rael is committed to corporate social responsibility. Since 2019, the company has donated over 4 million units of period products in partnership with I Support the Girls. This non-profit organization collects and distributes essential items—including bras, underwear, and menstrual hygiene products—empowering women experiencing homelessness, impoverishment, or distress to stand tall with dignity. Two-thirds of the 16.9 million low-income women in the U.S. couldn't afford menstrual products in the past year, and half had to choose between period care and food. After the devastating wildfires in January 2025, Rael donated 2.2 million units to those affected in Los Angeles, working through I Support the Girls, Baby2Baby, The Pad Project, and Brown Bag Lady. Paik's advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, particularly women of color, shares invaluable insights on embracing your story. "I always felt so disadvantaged in the U.S. market as an immigrant... But now I'm using my difference, my cultural uniqueness, as my strength," she said.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Rael Expands with Major Retailer Launches, Bringing Holistic Period Care and K-Beauty Innovation to Consumers Nationwide
LOS ANGELES, May 29, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Rael, the trailblazing cycle-care brand revolutionizing period care and skincare, is making its biggest retail expansion yet – bringing its products into 50,000 retail doors globally. With upcoming launches at Walmart, Ulta Beauty, and Walgreens, Rael is setting a new standard for wellness, bringing its high-performance products infused with cutting-edge Korean technology and clean ingredients to millions of consumers nationwide. Since launching in 2017, Rael has transformed the period care industry with its holistic solutions that support the body through every phase of the 28-day menstrual cycle—not just during your period. Beginning with its #1 best-selling organic cotton pads on Amazon and now boasting +60 products for every phase of your cycle, the brand is poised to reach millions more, redefining K-beauty's impact on wellness and ensuring that all people who menstruate have access to safe, effective period care products, and self-care and skincare products that serve "the other 23 days" of the menstrual cycle. "These retail partnerships are more than just expansion—they represent a shift in how we approach cycle syncing and self-care in the U.S.," said Yanghee Paik, CEO and co-founder of Rael. "Our mission has always been to make clean, high-performance cycle care accessible to all, and we're thrilled to bring our holistic solutions to even more people nationwide – including zip codes where products powered with Korean technology weren't readily available for purchase before this 'summer wave' of retailer launches." This unprecedented retail expansion in 2025 will include: Ulta Beauty Wellness Launch – March & July 2025: In a groundbreaking move, Rael is entering Ulta Beauty's wellness category—a first-of-its-kind in-store offering for Ulta Beauty that blends period care with skincare. Available online starting March 23, 2025, and in 300 Ulta Beauty's stores by July 20, 2025, this expansion solidifies Rael's role in bridging the gap between beauty and cycle care. Walmart Period Care Launch – May 2025: Rael's organic period care line will hit 1,549 Walmart stores nationwide in early May, offering shoppers a clean, high-performance alternative to conventional products. This launch is a pivotal step in Rael's commitment to expanding access to safe, effective menstrual care. In June, Walmart will also introduce Rael's pain relief collection to 2,700 stores, including bestsellers like the brand's innovative Heating Patch for Menstrual Cramps. Walgreens Nationwide Rollout – July 2025: Walgreens will bring Rael's comprehensive lineup of clean, hormone-conscious products to more than 5,000 stores nationwide. With a thoughtfully curated assortment spanning period care, cramp relief, intimate wellness, and K-beauty-inspired skincare, Rael is helping to reimagine how customers approach everyday self-care. This rollout underscores Walgreens' continued commitment to offering modern wellness solutions that reflect the needs of today's consumers. "As our guests continue to embrace a more holistic approach to beauty and wellbeing, we're proud to introduce brands like Rael that meet their evolving needs with intention and innovation. Rael is a pioneer in seamlessly connecting cycle care with skin care - empowering guests to care for their bodies with solutions that feel elevated, effective, and thoughtfully designed," said Laura Beres, VP of Wellness at Ulta Beauty. "As we expand our wellness offerings, we remain committed to supporting women's health in a more comprehensive, holistic way. Rael's addition to our assortment reflects where the intersection of beauty and wellness is headed, and we're excited to support our community with products that honor the full spectrum of self-care." Rael's 360° approach to cycle care goes beyond traditional period products, addressing hormonal changes that impact skin, mood, and overall wellness. With its cycle-syncing philosophy, Rael empowers menstruators to align their self-care routine with the natural rhythms of their body—whether it's managing PMS breakouts, soothing cramps, or maintaining balance through hormonal shifts. The brand's innovative formulas are rooted in South Korean skincare technology, delivering clean, effective solutions free from endocrine disruptors like parabens, phthalates, synthetic fragrances, and PFAS. From invisible pimple patches to organic cotton period products, every Rael product is designed to support hormonal balance and overall well-being. With its unparalleled expansion into major retailers, Rael is making clean cycle care and K-Beauty mainstream—ensuring that everyone who menstruates has access to the safest, most effective products available. For more information on Rael, visit ABOUT RAELRael is a cycle-care brand created by women for all people who bleed. Founded in 2017 by three Korean-American women in Los Angeles, including CEO Yanghee Paik, Rael empowers individuals to make healthier choices for their bodies through safe, high-performance personal care products. Combining clean, nature-inspired ingredients with cutting-edge South Korean manufacturing technology, Rael delivers innovative period and skincare solutions that support a 360° approach to the modern menstrual cycle. For more information visit View source version on Contacts Media: rael@
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Desert X 2025: Robot adobes and a G.H.O.S.T. Ride
Sandra Hale SchulmanSpecial to ICTDESERT HOT SPRINGS, Calif. — A robotic arm pulses mud into walls. A nomadic caravan carries messages for Indigenous site-specific, international art exhibition Desert X that lands in the Coachella Valley every two years opened March 8 and runs through May 11, bringing large scale art from a global pool with two Native artists in the desert OasisRonald Rael, Indo-Hispano, who calls himself more of an architect than an artist despite being shown in numerous museums, has created Adobe Oasis which champions the revival and reimagining of traditional earthen building techniques that uses contemporary sustainable and innovative housing solutions for the immediate future amid the climate crisis, these adobe mud structures may have saved buildings — and lives — in the recent Los Angeles a unique 3D printing process, he has created structures entirely from mud. Rael's corrugated earthen ribbons are programmed to mimic the texture of palm trees, inspired by the Coachella Valley's palm oases, which thrive on the large aquifer of desert waters for millennia. The passageways frame views of the land and sky, centered around a palm court. 'One of the primary materials in my practice is adobe which is mud mixed with straw and building material,' Rael told ICT from the installation site. 'I have a long experience with it, it's part of my heritage practice for generations. My father, my grandparents and my great- grandparents all were people who built buildings made out of mud and I continue that tradition, But I do it using innovative manufacturing technology and robotics. I'm building an installation where the robot applies the mud and relies on the sun of the Palm Springs desert to dry the material, and it turns rock hard once it's dry.'The machine is a six-axis robot and entirely powered by solar, which Rael says makes it 'much more organic but also futuristic.' Rael pumps the mud and 'the robot is putting it in place like squeezing toothpaste out of a tube and building it up through that way, but really big.' The mud is supplied from a company in Riverside, California. Rael said he would've worked with a local company but he needed a large quantity and needed to move quickly. Rael designed the 60-feet by 20-feet structure and acts as construction manager on site.'I wanted to take advantage of the site, so the entire structure encapsulates one of the palm trees that were already growing on the site and so creates a courtyard with this tree,' he said. 'I wanted to capture the sun in the center. The texture of the mud emulates the bark of the palm tree, so it has these woven ribbons. There's a series of large rooms and small rooms, places to sit, places to lay down that frame the sun. There's a staircase that brings you up above so you can look down. You can connect to the site in a number of different ways, connect to the land it actually points to the setting sun on the San Jacinto Mountain.'Rael also filmed the 3D mud printer robot in action.'Experiencing this, actually seeing the robot at work is mesmerizing, to see the mud being placed and extruded out,' he said. 'But it's a really demanding process, it's a machine like a forklift is a machine.'He says that the Adobe Oasis doesn't emulate anything. He describes it as a process piece and it's 'part of a long-term practice of understanding how to make things.'As for what he calls himself: he doesn't know how to categorize himself. 'I'm not an artist,' he said. 'I'm not a sculptor, although a lot of my experiments are perceived to look like art, but really this one is studying the way the robot moves, the way the material behaves, the kind of forms and sizes and dimensions that one could make with it. Technically I'm an architect.' He's not trained as an architect but is working on the border of art and architecture. 'I would say it's on its way to learning how to make architecture and when you think about what architecture is comprised of, it's very fundamental. It's forms, their spaces, and there's ordering systems, it's kind of a proto architecture,' Rael said, who is head of the art department at the University of California in Berkeley.G.H.O.S.T. RideCannupa Hanska Luger, Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara and Lakota, has created a nomadic caravan called G.H.O.S.T. (Generative Habitation Operating System Technology) Ride, that uses speculative fiction to envision sustainable, land-based futures. The ride expands on Luger's Future Ancestral Technologies series where Indigenous communities live in sync with land and industrial detritus, ceramics and artist-made objects along with new video and sound work, this time-jumper caravan has water and light gathering technologies dreamed from Luger's speculative fiction ethos.'The project that I'm presenting for Desert X is a mobile installation,' Luger said. 'I considered that after taking into consideration the environmental impacts of works on desert landscapes. I was like it moves. We can alter the impact on any set site. We're going to do three moves throughout the 10 weeks that it exists out there.' 'It's a vehicle. It's a van. It's literally my van,' Luger said. 'I've done all kinds of alterations and conversions to it over a period of time and exhibited it as an art object. This will be the first time that it'll be exhibited as an art object in an environment. Other times it had been inhabiting museum spaces. This iteration, it will be under its own power.'The surface of the 1988 Volkswagen Syncro, similar to a four-wheel drive Vannegan, is covered with mirrored vinyl and Luger created a fog drop to gather moisture out of the air. The mirror vinyl is similar to what Luger used on his Mirror Shields that he designed and were used at Standing Rock where protesters held the shields up to reflect back at the police and also up to the sky to make a moving river as they walked. They ended up in museums, a move Luger was conflicted about as he felt they were protest signs, not material is similar but the material on the van is automotive-grade mirror vinyl, like a wrap, he said. 'Within the timeline that I had, polishing the whole vehicle to a mirror polish was not feasible, so if I use the mirrored vinyl, there is a nod to the Mirror Shield project, or at least an aesthetic that inhabits my practice,' Luger said. 'This van mirrors the landscape and everything reflected in it. It allows the audience to project themselves literally onto the vehicle, with the opportunity and generosity to imagine yourself in this nomadic future.' Luger wants people to experience 'what it means to be an extension of the land rather than a dominion model over possession is the kind of transformation that I'm interested in.''I've seen this myth and idea of ownership and possession and yet I've also experienced in my life the nomadic aspect of North Americans across the board,' he said. 'We move within the boundaries of our nation but don't realize that the boundaries of our nations are huge and that you are to this day a nomadic people.'The van pulls two trailers. 'The front of the van is a tipi tilted forward and open, so it has this conical surface over the front, made out of a mesh material that is used in construction. This is a way to consider how do you purpose these materials when the technology is deemed obsolete?''Like the technology of building city after city, what happens when we acknowledge and recognize that we are a part of the land and that there is no possession model and all of the industries that we've developed up until this point, what happens to all of their by-product?' he said. 'This is a way to create a water harvesting system out of a by-product of architectural development.'The first location of G.H.O.S.T. Ride is in the most remote spot in a hilly area of Desert Hot Springs, a desert valley where fierce winds and smoke blow through. This will be the first spot they will showcase it and it'll be moved. Luger said he presents this as an artist and that it is the future. 'What I'm really interested in is our population remembering that we are embedded in belief, that we can imagine alternatives to the systems that we are struggling with presently, the systems that are failing us presently,' he said. He continued: 'How do we dream and imagine alternatives to the systems that we live in presently, especially when you're looking at things like weather events, environmental shifts, fire as a season rather than a phenomenon? How do we grapple with the impact of our present systems not having a sustainable future? Can we imagine alternatives to it? I encourage people to do just that.'Desert X 2025 runs until May 11, 2025. For more information visit was curated by Artistic Director Neville Wakefield and Co-Curator Kaitlin full list of participating artists: Sanford Biggers, b. 1970, Los Angeles; based in New York City Jose Dávila, b. 1974, Guadalajara; based in Guadalajara Agnes Denes, b. 1931, Budapest; based in New York City Cannupa Hanska Luger, b. 1979, Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara and Lakota, Standing Rock Reservation, ND; based in Glorieta, New Mexico Raphael Hefti, b. 1978, Neuchâtel; based in Zurich Kimsooja, b. 1957, Daegu; based in Seoul and Paris Kapwani Kiwanga, b. 1978, Hamilton; based in Paris Sarah Meyohas, b. 1991, New York City; based in New York City Ronald Rael, b. 1971, Conejos Country, Colorado; based in Berkeley, California Alison Saar, b. 1956, Los Angeles; based in Los Angeles Muhannad Shono, b. 1977, Riyadh; based in Riyadh Our stories are worth telling. Our stories are worth sharing. Our stories are worth your support. 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