Joanna Griffiths

Joanna Griffiths is the Founder and CEO of Knix the direct-to-consumer intimate apparel brand that is reinventing intimates for real life. Since launching the company in 2013, Joanna has built Knix into one of the fastest growing intimate apparel brands globally. In 2017, Joanna launched Knixteen the first-ever line of period proof underwear for teens and tweens. Through a focus on product innovation and the brand’s mission to empower women to be unapologetically free, a Knix item is now sold every 7 seconds, and the company has shipped over half a million orders in the last twelve months alone. Knix was recently named the 6th fastest growing company in Canada with over 3800% 3-year growth.

Fueling the brand’s growth is Joanna’s dedication to innovation, design and comfort for products that need to multitask as much as the women who wear them do. The brand started with their patented leakproof underwear, inspired by the 80% of women that experience leaks during their periods and the 1 in 3 women that experience the occasional leak when they laugh, sneeze or exercise. Sine then, the online retailer’s product line has grown to include wireless bras, sports bras, swim, maternity lounge and more. Offering a best-in-class customer experience, Joanna involves customers every step of the way by listening to product feedback and featuring them in the brand’s campaigns.

In 2017, Joanna launched knixteen, the first line of period proof underwear designed just for teens. Periods are one of the top five drivers of stress amongst young girls and knixteen wants to help empower young girls to be the boss of their period from cycle one.

A marketing disruptor, under Joanna’s leadership, knix was the first intimate apparel brand to showcase real women in their campaigns. Over the past six years the brand has photographed over 1000 of their customers, ranging in age from 21 to 70, and sizes 0 to 22. In October of 2018, Joanna pioneered the brand’s Faces of Fertility campaign. The campaign was inspired by Joanna’s own experience having had a miscarriage on Mother’s Day. The campaign to-date has received over 1600 uses of the hashtag #FacesOfFertility and expanded to include a weekly podcast that Joanna co-hosts. More recently, Joanna created the Life After Birth Project, a multimedia exhibit that features the images of over 750 women, including Amy Shumer, Christy Turlington, Jillian Harris and more. Within the first ten days of launch, the project received over 220 million media impressions.

Prior to starting knix, Joanna honed her marketing and PR skills at some of the world’s leading entertainment companies including Universal Music, Toronto International Film Festival, and Canadian Broadcasting Company. Joanna holds an MBA with distinction from INSEAD, one of the top ranked business schools in the world. Building up a list of her own accolades, Joanna has won the Women Of Influence Start Up Entrepreneur of the Year award, the Shopify Build a Bigger Business competition, The Retail Council of Canada Marketing Innovation Achievement Award and was a finalist in the prestigious E&Y Entrepreneur Of The Year.