The PERIOD Mission

One of the biggest things I’ve learned my sophomore year is importance of getting out of my comfort zone. This meant introducing a movement to campus, enduring some criticism for it along the way (especially on reddit!), creating and organizing a team and learning how to lead from scratch. A year ago, I wouldn’t have imagined I would be in the spot I am now. That’s when I viewed a TedTalk on Youtube and decided to cold-email a girl in Portland, Oregon to interview her for a blog post. That interview lead me to interning under the non-profit and eventually to starting my own chapter her at OSU. Through research, I became interested in how period poverty was rooted in policy and how that leads to systemic gender inequity. Our team decided to collectively focus on tackling policy and we have made huge strides ever since starting last October. From making and delivering hundreds of carepackages to women’s shelters such as the YWCA; organizing a press conference at The Ohio State University focused on bridging the policy efforts being made on a school, city and state level; advocating for policy change in DC with members of our OSU Chapter; making menstrual hygiene products free and more accessible around campus (with a pilot starting next fall to get products into the residence halls)! We have worked on a state level with the issue of the Pink Tax and partnered with the Co-Sponsors of the bill. I had the amazing opportunity to testify on this issue at the Statehouse as well and I am currently leading a National campaign aiming to end period poverty in schools along with my male, non-menstruating friend Ameer. I am excited for what the future holds, but my sophomore year I’ve learned to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. I encourage everyone around me to take a few risks because one email and one conversation may lead to something larger down the line.