Greenwich Market celebrates all its fabulous, creative, female traders each International Women’s Day. In 2024, we’re focusing on the story of Marva Williams, founder and driving force behind Shhh… Menopause Wellness.

There’s a difficult story with an inspiring ending behind Shhh…, one of Greenwich Market’s best loved wellness brands. Marva, its fabulous founder, suffered terribly from undiagnosed perimenopausal symptoms. That harrowing experience led her directly to where she is today.

Marva’s health first took a dramatic turn for the worse in 2019. The onset of perimenopause drained her body of magnesium and iron and dangerously lowered her haemoglobin levels. These deficiencies produced drastic reactions: paralysed from the waist down, she suffered excruciating pain, was hospitalised twice, and even came close to death. Treatment with conventional medicines like tramadol and morphine was unsustainable and didn’t address the root causes. Marva knew she had to act.

Luckily, she had extensive experience with natural remedies. After an early career in telecommunications, Marva channelled her energies into developing Orba Originals – a natural, paraben- and cruelty-free range of cosmetics and skin treatments launched in 2003. Researching her perimenopausal condition, she discovered transdermal magnesium, a vital treatment that women with dairy and gluten intolerances, like herself, could benefit from. Struggling to sleep through her pain, Marva first success was a magnesium treatment to address sleep issues. She decided to share her discovery more widely and, in November 2021, Shhh… Menopause Wellness was launched at Greenwich Market!

Shhh… grew swiftly, and now includes a wide range of products for sleep, anxiety, skincare and relaxation. Marva’s original sleep formulas have been augmented by products like Meno Balance gummies – combining gingko biloba for anxiety and mood, sea buckthorn for hydration and evening primrose oil for hormone regulation – and Rebalance and Boost capsules, containing readily bioavailable magnesium citrate for restoring the body’s central processes to healthy balance. She distils her own lavender water, uses only natural ingredients (no perfumes) and is approved by the Vegan Society.

However, Marva’s terrible experiences also produced a determination that women with symptoms of menopause and perimenopause shouldn’t simply suffer in silence. ‘Why was it?’ she wondered, ‘that conditions like depression and anxiety had become easy to talk about while conditions only women suffer had not?’ Whether it was taboos around issues of female health or just a general reluctance to speak up and ‘make a fuss’, she noticed that there was very little in the way of advice, care or even discussion of these conditions.

So, having recovered her own health, Marva became an evangelist for her natural menopause remedies. Determined to help the women she knew were suffering in silence, as she had herself, she studied to become a menopause coach and counsellor, and poured everything into her work. Recognition of the work she’s done for menopausal women has since been resounding, including an honorary doctorate, appearances on BBC Breakfast and ITV Bristol and trustee roles with two breast-cancer charities.

But Marva’s greatest satisfaction comes from the number of women she knows she’s helped cope with the too-often silent suffering of menopause and perimenopause. Many customers have returned to let her know how much she’s helped them with sleeplessness, anxiety and pain.

‘Leading the change and breaking the taboo’, Marva has found her calling in helping menopausal and perimenopausal women live their lives free from unnecessary suffering.