Since launching Knix in 2013, Founder and President Joanna Griffiths has built it into one of the fastest growing intimate apparel brands worldwide. She is recognized nationally and internationally as a marketing disruptor, championing the topics of body inclusivity, fertility, mental health, and postpartum health. She is also a vocal advocate for female entrepreneurs, stressing the importance of supporting female-founded businesses.
Knix is celebrated for its commitment to product innovation and their mission to empower people to live unapologetically free. They are leaders in the body inclusivity movement and were the first brand to showcase their products in all available sizes, use only customers in their advertising, and create an entire ad campaign featuring only women over the age of 50. In 2020, Strategy magazine named Knix their “Brand of the Year.”
Joanna made headlines in 2021 when she closed Knix’s Series B financing just three days before giving birth to her twin daughters. During the process, she eliminated any investors who questioned her ability to run a business and be a mother. The brand went on to achieve 97% Y-O-Y growth that year. In 2022, global health and hygiene brand, Essity acquired 80% of Knix, with Joanna holding the remaining 20% share. This sale is one of the largest publicly disclosed private sales of a direct-to-consumer company by a female founder in Canada.
The only Canadian to be named one of Adweek’s 2021 Women Trailblazers, Joanna holds multiple patents and has been cited in hundreds of media publications, including Forbes, Fast Company, The New York Times, and more. She has been named Waterstone’s Most Admired CEO and Women of Influence’s Entrepreneur of the Year, among other accolades.
Joanna holds an MBA with Distinction from INSEAD and currently sits on the board of Futurpreneur Canada. In 2021, she released her first book Life After Birth, which celebrates the early stages of life and the start of motherhood. Joanna lives in Toronto with her husband, twin girls, and her dog, Alfie.
