In a move we didn’t see coming, Laura Henshaw — co-founder and CEO of wellness giant Keep It Cleaner (Kic) — has announced she’s stepping down from the top job after five years. The news landed this morning via Henshaw’s own Instagram, where she reflected on her winding journey at the startup and what’s next for the biz and their loyal fans.
Getting straight to the point she wrote, “Over the past five years, I’ve had the honour of being the CEO of Kic,” she shared.
“I’ve always had a funny relationship with the title because technically I didn’t ‘earn’ it through the traditional process. I only took the title on after Steph [Claire Smith] and I had spent the first five years of growing Kic title-less, and defining our roles for our team was important as we continued to grow, and I ended up with the title of CEO.”
Henshaw admitted the gig wasn’t meant to last forever. “When I stepped into the role, we knew it wouldn’t be a forever thing and had always hoped we’d get to a stage with the business where we could bring in a leader I could hand the baton over to,” she wrote.
Kic has been a decade-long hustle since its eBook beginnings in 2015.
Now ten years deep, Kic has levelled up to a health and wellness app with more than 2.5 million members globally, and over 850,000 downloads — a solid run that’s built on dismantling diet culture and keeping the journey fun, not punishing.
So, who’s sliding into the hot seat? Henshaw confirmed, “For the past two years, we’ve been working very closely with our advisor, Janey Martino. Among many very impressive things, Janey is the co-founder of Smiling Mind, where she’s introduced more than nine million Australians to emotional literacy skills and preventative mental health tools. … it feels surreal to say — Janey is stepping into the CEO role at Kic.”
As for what happens now? Laura’s making it clear that she still intends to stay with the company.
“So, me not being in that specific role and instead stepping back into the founder role means I’ll now have time for some of the projects we’ve had on the sidelines for a very long time, which is incredibly exciting,” she said.
Between big plans on the Kic horizon and her own upcoming arrival (yep, Laura is expecting a bub — 2025 is shaping up to be a whopper), she’s genuinely pumped for what’s next: “As I change my LinkedIn title today, I’m so excited for the next chapter — it truly feels like just the beginning”. Currently that title is still co-founder of the health and wellness company.
The former CEO said she’ll be unpacking her in a podcast episode coming out on Monday, but in the meantime congrats on the big move Laura!
PEDESTRIAN.TV has reached out to Laura for comment.
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Lead image: Kic
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