Miki Agrawal considers herself the Joan of Arc of underwear. The publicity notes for her book, “Disrupt-Her: A Manifesto for the Modern Woman” (Hay…
Miki Agrawal considers herself the Joan of Arc of underwear.
The publicity notes for her book, “Disrupt-Her: A Manifesto for the Modern Woman” (Hay House), out Tuesday, refer to her “overcom[ing] an attempt to burn her for witchcraft.”
In Agrawal’s case, that old black magic refers to her creation of companies focused on things some people don’t care to discuss in polite company.
One is Thinx, which makes “period-proof underwear” and which Agrawal says is worth as much as $100 million; another is Tushy, a $69 bidet feature that clips on to any toilet. The tagline: “For people who poop.”
And then there’s the martyrdom. In 2017 she was forced to walk away from Thinx after a sexual-harassment claim that alleged, among other things, that Agrawal conducted at least one meeting via FaceTime while on the toilet. (The claim was dropped after the case was settled, and Agrawal told The Post the allegations were false.)
Agrawal concedes that her “body-positive” company could sound “weird” and was often “misunderstood.”
“I spent the last eight years dedicating myself to liberating women and talking about something that’s taboo and making it not shameful — making it powerful for women,” she told The Post. “And to have that turned into something so contextually misaligned was the hardest thing I ever had to go through in my life.”
“Disrupt-Her” details the 40-year-old’s trials and tribulations and also serves as a rallying cry for women (and men) to challenge the status quo.
But at what point does disrupting your life look like blowing it up?
Growing up in Montreal, Canada, Agrawal was always aware of disruption. Her father is Indian and bucked the tradition of arranged marriage when he wed Miki’s Japanese mother; the two who would go on to build a company that taught children about electronics. Agrawal recalls being hauled into the principal’s office as a 10-year-old after asserting herself over the boys at recess. She says the principal told her she made the boys feel “insecure.”
After earning a business degree at Cornell, Agrawal moved to Manhattan in 2001 and worked as an investment-banking analyst at Deutsche Bank and later in TV production. She also played soccer for the New York Magic until a torn ACL sidelined her in 2003.
Although the then-27-year-old had no food-service experience, in 2006 she opened the gluten-free pizza shop Wild in the West Village. Agrawal talked Tao owner Richard Wolf into mentoring her, and Paul McCartney, Jon Bon Jovi and Meryl Streep all flocked to the restaurant. (There is now a second location, in Park Slope.
