Femly’s Founder + CEO Arion Long Fights for Ethical Period Care

It’s past time we remixed the entrepreneur archetype. The tried-and-true definition of an emerging or aspiring business owner feels tired. The modern entrepreneur is a mover, shaker and doer who’s not content with simply breaking all the rules. Our 52 trailblazers featured in the October issue are rewriting the rules, tearing them up and doing it all over again. It’s creation at its purest, because the fruits of one’s hustle are not actualized overnight or by following one jet-lagged recipe. It’s no longer adequate to measure entrepreneurs by the brick-and-mortar spaces they manifest or the jobs they create. Those are all important elements but fall short of what it truly means to build something — often with blood, sweat and tears. Whether you’re revamping the vintage clothing industry, introducing a fresh dining concept, cultivating an advocacy-focused creative agency or advancing the cause of equality for the LGBTQ+ community, the only thing that matters is freedom — the freedom to march to the beat of your own badass drum. Read our full rundown of trailblazers here. 

Founder and CEO of Femly, Arion Long, is a warrior. After being diagnosed with a cervical tumor that was connected to chemicals in popular menstrual products, Long decided to fight back and reinvent the period product care scene. Free of bleach, plastics and cancer-causing chemicals, Femly provides the products that women have long deserved.  

Advice that keeps your hungry
When I was younger, my grandmother always told me to “Keep things close until they came to fruition.” As an adult, I realized she was teaching me to keep my goals, aspirations and dreams to myself in order to protect them from the limiting beliefs of others. The ability to make an impact and dream without fear keeps me hungry. I’m not settling for crumbs when I deserve the entire cake.

What your day is incomplete without
A moment of gratitude and prayer.

Your power outfit remix
I personally believe anything I put on is a power outfit. I’ve closed deals in pajamas, raised funding in a messy bun while breastfeeding and made power moves in a pandemic while pantsless on Zoom. Society would be better off if we got rid of respectability politics associated with clothing.

What every entrepreneur needs
I thought leaving my 40-hour work week was an accomplishment until I was putting 80-hours into entrepreneurship. If you want to be an entrepreneur, be prepared to eat “no” for breakfast, work twice as hard as you’ll do for someone else and make noise so that your network can find you.

@femly + @arionklong // femly.com

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