I’m Renée & this is not my first rodeo.

In 2012, long before online shopping was considered a hobby, I launched my first ecommerce business, an online clothing store. It was…ambitious...and an epic failure.

Undeterred & with the enthusiasm you retrospectively realise you only possess in your twenties, I pivoted, rebranding & relaunching the business now selling chunky, handmade woollen throws.

That second attempt at selling online allowed me to pay off the debts from the first business & I sold it after learning that turning a hobby into a commercial venture is usually a bad idea.

In my thirties I was an accountant working on large finance projects, then I married a farmer, moved to rural Waikato & my consulting business, Running In Heels, was quite literally the opposite of my new life.

I had a baby, returned to corporate project work, then launched another online business, this time selling cruelty free skincare and cosmetics. What began as a basic retail model morphed into developing a range of products under my own brand.

Another baby and a global pandemic later, I was overwhelmed, overstimulated, anxious & constantly fatigued. I made the difficult decision to sell the business in an effort to reduce my stress levels, which is what the internet assured me would help me come back from burnout.

In the two years that followed, between growing flowers, feeding calves & curating my collection of fluffy mini cows, I came to the realisation I wasn't burnt out, I was riding the hormonal rollercoaster that is perimenopause.

I found myself stuck on the idea, that in my early forties & perimenopausal, I was definitely past my prime. I decided perimenopause was the twilight chapter, that I’d peaked & was quietly heading down the other side of the hill.

Fortunately, as a mother of two young children, as much as I wanted to, fading quietly into my matron era wasn't really an option. As I came to terms with my new pace - much slower, more steady & definitely bending at the knees to support my weakening lower back, my thinking started to shift.

What if perimenopause wasn't a decline but a transition? What if it was actually a solstice, a celebration of moving from one season to the next? A shift from outward productivity & non stop hustle, to inward power. A recalibration. A new race entirely. One where slow, steady & intentional is the only way to win.

So, here I am, starting something new at 42.

A skincare brand created for women meeting to celebrate the start of a new season - grounded, luminous, practical, and quietly powerful. Named after the Celtic goddess Áine, who was both goddess and woman - soft & strong, luminous & grounded, the keeper of wild wisdom & quiet power.

Áine embodied strength not through force, but through knowledge & an intimate connection to the rhythms of nature.

She is us. We are her.