From Pain to POMwear
Brittany Ransom (EDI ‘25) turned a more-than-uncomfortable experience into a company she hopes will bring relief for millions of women.
Brittany Ransom (EDI ‘25) was in pain. Lots of pain.
As she sat in a classroom in Northwestern's Master of Science in Engineering Design Innovation (EDI) program, the pain from severe menstrual cramps grew so intense she thought of leaving the room.
Then came the assignment that would change the course of her career. Brittany and her classmates in adjunct lecturer Michael Saubert's course were asked to come up with a wearable product that could change the way they live their lives.
“I knew at that moment exactly what I’d make,” Brittany said.
Today, Brittany is CEO and founder of Hello POM, a wearable tech company with a mission to help people who experience chronic menstrual pain and related conditions such as endometriosis. That mission, born from the pain she suffered in that EDI classroom, is set to launch POMwear with a first-generation product in early 2027.
POMwear is shapewear designed to discretely relieve pain with heat. The company name is an acronym for “Period of the month.” A POMwear prototype is nearing completion, and a Kickstarter campaign is scheduled for the end of 2026 to fund manufacturing of the first-generation product.
From there, the goal is to add TENS technology to the prototype’s heat. TENS–transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation–blocks pain signals before they reach the brain, effectively short-circuiting the physical impacts from the cramps themselves.
Brittany said she sees this as a long-overdue evolution in menstrual cramp relief.
“Why are we all using the same solutions that haven't changed since the 1950s?” she said. “I want this to be something that's designed to actually give and influence confidence for women.”
Brittany wished something better existed when sat in pain in her EDI classroom. A friend of hers who suffers from endometriosis continues to have that wish, for now turning instead to large quantities of over-the-counter pain killers to deal with her symptoms.
Brittany and her friend are hardly alone in their search for a better alternative. As many as 80 percent of women of reproductive age in the US experience severe menstrual cramps, with 10 percent suffering from chronic pain such as endometriosis. This pain interferes with daily activities, requires medication, and is rated high on standardized pain scales.
But Brittany aims to do even more than address the pain. She also wants to help diagnose the cause.
Her hope is to incorporate biosensors into her shapewear to help customers understand what's going on internally.
There is such a big gap in women's health data," Brittany said. "I want to close that data gap.”
POMwear’s origin is a study in one of the EDI program’s main principles–human-centered design. It started with end users’ core pain points–literally and figuratively–and has grown based on their feedback.
Brittany said she credits her time in the EDI program with helping her hone her design skills.
"I felt genuinely challenged to think beyond the structured parameters I’m used to in engineering," she said. "We were encouraged to embrace ambiguity, otherwise known as what I’d call the messy crossover in problem-solving where disciplines and ideas intersect. Ultimately, our design goals shifted from not just building quality products, but building them in a way that improves quality of life."
Brittany also taught her skills to others. While developing Hello POM, she served as a teaching assistant in Northwestern Engineering's Master of Product Design and Development Management (mpd²) program.
Her hope is that someday soon, women who sit in the classrooms of either program—EDI or mpd²—won’t have to suffer from the same pain she did during her student days.
“This pain severely limits not only our work but also our lifestyles,” Brittany said. “Our product is important because it allows women to get their life back and not be bogged down by their pain.”
