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Period Poverty + Menstrual Equity with Nadya Okamoto · QUESTION EVERYTHING

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The following podcast is a Dear Media production. Big Things
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: happen when you're pretty, pretty bold, pretty clever, pretty strong.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: I'm Danielle Robe and each week my guests and I
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: have conversations that put a new spin on pretty. This
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: is pretty smart. When I think about young people changing
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: American society, I think about Nadia Okamoto. She's a twenty
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  Speaker 1: three year old menstrual activist, Harvard grad and founder of August,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: a lifestyle brand working to reimagine periods.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: I never planned to be like an organizer or an
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: entrepreneur or anything like that, but period poverty just became
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  Speaker 2: an issue that I was obsessed with.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: At sixteen, she founded Period, the largest youth run nonprofit
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  Speaker 1: organ women's health. It distributes menstrual hygiene products and advocates.
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  Speaker 3: For ending what is known as the tampon tax.
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  Speaker 1: She published a book, period Power, a manifesto for the
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  Speaker 1: menstrualm movement. She was the youngest Asian American to run
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  Speaker 1: for public office in US history. She's in Adida's ads
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  Speaker 1: with Pharrell. She was on Team Vogues twenty one under
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  Speaker 1: twenty one list, Forbes, thirty Under thirty, Bloomberg's fifty One's
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: to watch in Style, Glamour, and People Magazine's versions of
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: women changing the World lists. I mean, I've never read
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: off a longer intro, and it's not like you can
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  Speaker 1: cut any of that out.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: If you believe in feminism, if you believe in empowering
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  Speaker 2: global communities or breaking the cycle of poverty, then you
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  Speaker 2: are a period warrior.
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: All right, I'm a period warrior. Sign me up.
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  Speaker 1: She's astonishingly accomplished for a person of any age, but
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  Speaker 1: Nadia's drive to make a difference is undoubtedly fueled in
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: part by her own trauma. She describes living through homelessness, abuse,
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  Speaker 1: and sexual assault. Her story is remarkable, and she's the
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: master of her universe, so I'll let her tell it.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: So you just turned twenty three. I did, what's your
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  Speaker 1: relationship like with your birthday? Because mine is very sortid.
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  Speaker 2: I just I hate my birthday, like I hate celebrating
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  Speaker 2: my birthday.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, it's gonna get really sad, Like I just
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  Speaker 4: get really depressed.
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  Speaker 2: And I think I feel a lot of shame on
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  Speaker 2: my birthday because I grew up with a lot of
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  Speaker 2: shame about being born in the first place, because I
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  Speaker 2: was the first child my mom actually had me when
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  Speaker 2: she was twenty three, which is wild too, whoa. But
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  Speaker 2: at the same time, I think, like I grew up
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  Speaker 2: knowing that my mom had to go through a lot
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  Speaker 2: because she chose to have me, and had to go
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: through a lot of abuse because she chose to have me,
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  Speaker 2: and that being twenty three, not really having family support,
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  Speaker 2: and like having to raise a kid during law school
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: all of a sudden, like I think I do, I
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: am working through a lot of my own personal guilt
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  Speaker 2: with like my being born that I have a hard
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  Speaker 2: time on my birthday.
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  Speaker 3: Sometimes I have good news for you.
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  Speaker 1: I obviously like had a different upbringing than you did,
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: but always cried on my birthday every year until thirty.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: So I think you have a good seven more years
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  Speaker 1: and then something will shift.
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  Speaker 4: For you, I'm hoping.
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  Speaker 1: So I hope something changes earlier, but you at least
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: have thirty to look at as a benchmark.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, So, Okay.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: I didn't even know where to start our interview because
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: I met you at the Makers conference years ago, and
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: I want to tell you about what my experience was
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: with you because I.
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: Think it's super interesting.
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  Speaker 1: But before we get there, can you give everybody the
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: backstory about where you grew up.
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  Speaker 2: I was born in New York City, lived mostly in
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  Speaker 2: New York until I was nine, and then moved to Portland, Oregon,
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  Speaker 2: and then started a nonprofit. When I was sixteen, moved
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  Speaker 2: to Harvard to start college.
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  Speaker 3: And Okay, hold on, we have to back up.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: So you started the largest women's health nonprofit when you
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  Speaker 1: were sixteen, But why so?
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  Speaker 2: I started a nonprofit when I was sixteen called Period
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  Speaker 2: the Menstruam Movement, and it was really focused on ending
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  Speaker 2: period poverty and period stay. I had never heard of
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  Speaker 2: period poverty before. It was not like a concept. I
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  Speaker 2: was searching for stories on. I ended up talking to
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  Speaker 2: a lot of homeless women to and from school during
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  Speaker 2: a time when my family was experiencing housing instability, and
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  Speaker 2: heard about their using toilet paper and socks and brown paper,
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  Speaker 2: grocery bags and cardboard to take care of their periods,
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  Speaker 2: and just became absolutely obsessed with this issue, right, like
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  Speaker 2: just so angry still today, even like how is this
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  Speaker 2: such a natural need and yet people don't have access
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  Speaker 2: to it and they have to use what like trash
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  Speaker 2: recycling And at the same time learning that at the
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  Speaker 2: time twenty fourteen, forty states in the US had a
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  Speaker 2: sales tax on period products.
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  Speaker 4: Considering them luxury items.
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  Speaker 2: Meanwhile, products like rogaine and viagra were considered essential goods,
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  Speaker 2: like medical necessities.
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  Speaker 4: And I don't know, it's it's.
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  Speaker 2: Kind of the thing where I never planned to be
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  Speaker 2: like an organizer or an entrepreneur or anything like that,
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  Speaker 2: but period poverty just became the issue that I was
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: obsessed with. I would I couldn't go to sleep, I
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  Speaker 2: was thinking about it. I would get out of bed
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  Speaker 2: doing more research every time I like uncovered another fact
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  Speaker 2: around how it was a leading cause of absenteeism for
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  Speaker 2: girls in school.
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  Speaker 4: I just got more and more pulled in.
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  Speaker 2: And so yeah, I mean I would say that for me,
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  Speaker 2: it's just been it was just the cause where I
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  Speaker 2: was like, I have to I have to do something,
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  Speaker 2: like I'm going to I'm going to start something.
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  Speaker 1: I like when you say it's a natural need, because
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  Speaker 1: as I was watching some of your videos, particularly the
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  Speaker 1: Makers Want, Actually you were talking about how if you
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  Speaker 1: believe in everybody's right to fulfill their greatest potential, how
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  Speaker 1: can you deny them access to the tools that they
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  Speaker 1: need in order to do so, Which was a nice
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: way of fra I've never heard it frame that way.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, well that's.
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  Speaker 2: Why I you know, and it's kind of controversial in
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: some circles that I say this, but like I think
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: menstrual hygiene is a right, Like I don't. I think
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  Speaker 2: that it should not be treated as a privilege because
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  Speaker 2: you know, when we talk about sanitation and how closely
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  Speaker 2: linked it is to not only overall health, but like
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  Speaker 2: economic and social mobility, Like hygiene is a part of that.
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  Speaker 2: Sanitation is a part of that, right, yea, And menstrual
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  Speaker 2: hygiene is such a you know, we can talk about
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  Speaker 2: period poverty, we can talk about the stigma associated with
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  Speaker 2: periods like this is something that holds people back from
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  Speaker 2: discovering and reaching their full potential. And so if you
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  Speaker 2: believe in feminism, if you believe in empowering global communities
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  Speaker 2: or breaking the cycle of poverty, then you are a
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  Speaker 2: period warrior.
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  Speaker 3: All right, I'm a period warrior. Sign me.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: It's not a luxury, it's a need, that's it.
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  Speaker 1: So when you were talking to these women that were
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  Speaker 1: affected by homelessness, you started learning some things about yourself.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I mean I was in those conversations.
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  Speaker 2: I was sixteen, and I think it was just constant
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  Speaker 2: privilege check, to be honest, because it was at a.
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  Speaker 4: Time when my family had moved out of our place
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  Speaker 4: to live with friends for financial reasons.
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  Speaker 2: And I think my sixteen year old head was like
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  Speaker 2: this is awful, Like why does my family deserve this?
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  Speaker 2: I was so stressed about money, like and you know
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  Speaker 2: when you're sixteen year like the world hates me, Like
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  Speaker 2: the world is against me.
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  Speaker 4: And I think it was like they would like the homeless.
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  Speaker 2: When I would speak to regularly, they'd be like, you're
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  Speaker 2: going to the most expensive private school. It doesn't matter
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  Speaker 2: if it's on scholarship or not, like look where you are, right,
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  Speaker 2: And I think just hearing their stories, it was a
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  Speaker 2: lot of learning around like every moment, like the privileges
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  Speaker 2: that I had even in having a family, having a
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  Speaker 2: roof over my head, having food, like all of these things,
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  Speaker 2: and the fact that even in my family's financial situation,
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  Speaker 2: I had never had to I had never had to
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  Speaker 2: resort to like not having period products for weeks on end, right,
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  Speaker 2: and so, and I think that that's.
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  Speaker 4: Been something that has been sort of a theme in.
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  Speaker 2: My entrepreneurship journey even now, right, like I'm in my
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: last semester of college and I go to the most
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: well endowed university in the world. And I think that
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  Speaker 2: one of the reasons I am so passionate about impact
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  Speaker 2: is because, you know, I in kind of both living
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: my life and then also being of these institutions recognizing
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  Speaker 2: like the extreme wealth inequality and inequality and access to
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  Speaker 2: resources and everything.
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  Speaker 4: And I think that I sort of see for me.
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  Speaker 2: My work is one of the ways that I feel
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  Speaker 2: like I can try my best to reconcile the privileges.
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  Speaker 4: That I do have.
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  Speaker 3: That's so beautiful.
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  Speaker 1: It's not about what you get, it's about what you give, right, Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: So it was cool because I've known you for a
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  Speaker 1: little bit, and as I was researching for this, I
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: actually learned so much more about your story. And I'm
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: gonna be honest with you, my heart hurt for you
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: as I was reading a lot of this. You had
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: to deal with a lot growing up, and you had
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  Speaker 1: to wrap your mind around a lot. There was a
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  Speaker 1: video I watched that you talked about jealousy and you
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: talked about your dad, and I was bawling watching it.
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  Speaker 1: Please go into as much or as little detail as
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: you feel comfortable with, but just so we can of like,
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  Speaker 1: I'll be on the same page. Are you comfortable sharing
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: a little bit about what you went through as a kid.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, as long as there's a trigger warning for podcast.
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  Speaker 4: Listeners, for sure. So I grew up in New York
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  Speaker 4: City and.
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  Speaker 2: My dad and myself, you know, I was a daddy's girl,
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  Speaker 2: and I think that I felt like the favorite in
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  Speaker 2: many ways because of my body, right, like being the
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: pretty sister, or I think just growing up in the
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: with these practices with my dad were like touching while
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  Speaker 2: I was sleeping and penetrating stuff while I was sleeping,
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  Speaker 2: Like that was sort of this hidden secret I had
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: with my dad. And I don't think I you know,
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  Speaker 2: in the moment, I didn't do anything about it. I
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  Speaker 2: just knew that it was this thing that felt uncomfortable
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  Speaker 2: that I you know, I knew at the time that
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  Speaker 2: I shouldn't tell anyone else, right, And I think that
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: there was a big part of me that told myself, well,
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: maybe if I end and I stay with it, like
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  Speaker 2: it's not going to touch my sisters.
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  Speaker 4: And as I grew older, a lot of that.
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  Speaker 2: Became, like, you know, my dad very much treating me
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: like a you know, like a girlfriend in some ways, right,
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  Speaker 2: Like from anything from how he greeted me all the
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: way to going to events and basically posing as his girlfriend,
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: right because he we would go to these fancy New
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: York events where no one in his world knew that
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: he had three daughters who lived across the country. Wow,
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  Speaker 2: And so that Yeah, So I think it was a
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  Speaker 2: lot of just like a lot of confusion around boundaries
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  Speaker 2: around my body and who my body was for, and
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  Speaker 2: that really influenced a lot of how I thought of
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: myself growing up obviously, right, Like, I think that mentality
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  Speaker 2: pushed me to get into these dangerous situations later on
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: when I started dating, right, suddenly I was seeking out,
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: not seeking out, but like finding myself repeatedively, repetitively in
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  Speaker 2: these relationships where like my body was used where I
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: was used, right, because that's what felt familiar, And when
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: things were stabilized, that's when I would freak out because
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  Speaker 2: that's not my normal.
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  Speaker 4: Right, I'm wondering.
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  Speaker 3: I know you've done a lot of work, like where
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  Speaker 3: are you at now?
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  Speaker 2: Well, the last year has been a lot of work
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: trying to process trauma. I spent several weeks in residential
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: rehab last.
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: Summer where I was really working through a lot of it.
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  Speaker 4: But I'll say that it's never done right.
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  Speaker 2: You know. Even yesterday last night, I was texting my
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: sisters and I was like.
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: I really miss dad, Like I really want to see him,
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: and I'm in New York City. I know my dad's
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: in New York.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: City, and like, you know, and I was crying on
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: my birthday and I was like, I want to spend
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: time with my family, and I know my grandma's here,
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: I know my dad's here. I know that they're alive,
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: and well because my dad was just on TV with
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: Ryan Reynolds.
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: Oh wow.
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  Speaker 2: Like it's all of this stuff wrapped into one where
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: no matter how much work I have done, and I
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: have done so much therapy around it, like I'm not
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: triggered by it, but I still have that mindset of
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: when you grow up with abuse, your conditioned to think
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: that it's normal, right, And so even now when I
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: know things on paper are wrong, you know, I can
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: still have those moments where I'm like, you know, you're
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: kind of back in that scared little girl feeling of
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: oh am.
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: I making it up in my head?
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: Right, And it's really important for me to have like
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: accountability partners to be like no, like let's take a
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: break that you know, and not concoct this it's all
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: my fault.
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: It's all my fault. It's all my fault.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: Right, but really come to the moment of like, no,
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: this is something that was really wrong that happened to me,
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: and it is so screwed up that justice cannot be
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: served because the system my case was one of the
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: thousands that slipped through the cracks of the New York
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: Police Department. And I think it's something that instead you
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: learn to you know, I don't want to spend my
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: energy work like going after that, but instead, like I
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: let it sort of fuel me in my wanting to
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: heal and wanting to further understand who I am and
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: how trauma's affected me, and it fuels me in my work. Right, Like,
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: I am very passionate about talking about mental health because
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: because to me, like mental health is something that is
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: what I have to grapple with because of what I
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: grew up with, right and to me, a lot of
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: my anger or trauma before and now I think I
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: really use it to fuel the work that I do.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: I would say that so much of why and why
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: I love what I do is that organizing and doing
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: the work of fighting for gender equality has really been
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: the way that I started to dissociate my self worth
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: from my body.
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: And instead with my voice.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: Right. But I think that the big thing of twenty
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: twenty was I kind of took that route to an
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: extreme where suddenly I only felt that my self worth
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: was from my voice and my work. Right, So if
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: I was not working, I felt like a worthless piece
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: of shit. Like that was my mind went from zero
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: to one hundred really quickly, and a lot of my
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: work over this past year has been really doing the
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: work to say no, like I am worthy because I'm worthy,
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: not because I work, right. I am worthy not because
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: my body can be used or how my voice can
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: be used to build something or make money or something
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: like that, but like I'm worthy because I'm a human,
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: you know.
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: And I say all that to say, like that's the goal.
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: I don't think I'm really there yet, but like that's
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: my current focus for mental health.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: It's so interesting you say that, because I this is
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: actually the next thing I wanted to get into with you.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: I want to tell you about what my experience was
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: at the Maker's conference with you, and then I want
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: you to tell me what your experience was that day
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: in hindsight. Okay, So the Maker's Conference was a conference
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: of women and some men and some gender nonconforming people
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: that were all there to discuss, think about and push
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: the agenda of gender equality forward.
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: And there were a ton of speakers.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: Jamila jim Mill was there and Jada Pinkett Smith like
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: people with so much charisma and like a lifetime and
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: a resume of really impressive things. And on the last day,
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: Nadia O Kamoto gets on stage and you shared your
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: story what you were doing with period and menstrual equality,
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: and you brought the house down Like I had never
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: been so taken by a speaker on stage. You were
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: so comfortable, you had this incredible mix of vulnerability and
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: strength and confidence, and I couldn't believe that you were nineteen.
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: I like, that's crazy. I could not believe it.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: And I just looked at you in complete awe because
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: I don't think I'm thirty now, Like I don't think
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: I could ever get on a stage and speak with
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: such strength the way you did. And I have a
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: feeling that I wasn't the only person who felt that way. Like,
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: I think everybody who left that conference, if you ask
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: them about the highlight of the conference, if you asked
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: them like one, two, and three, everybody would have put
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: you on the list. So what was your experience like
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: that day, Because I hearing your story, you were actually
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: like maybe in a different space.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I mean for the last few years,
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: like after my book came out in twenty eighteen, I
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: was just all like, you know it, So I would
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: say from like a darker mental health place, Like I
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: loved what I was doing, like work, work, work. I
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: was gunning for it. Like I started to feel the
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: pressure of what started as a nonprofit and trying to
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: raise a few dollars here and there became something that
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: was employing other people, that was actively supplying and replenishing things.
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: A period products.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: So there's a lot of pressure to just keep going,
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: keep going, keep going, you know.
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: And there's also this whole other element of like celebrity
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: activism that I think you must have felt, if we're
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: being honest.
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well I think that I saw it as like
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: a vehicle, right, Like for me, I need to get
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: people to talk about periods, right, So I need to
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: get on stages and talk about periods, you know, like
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: it was very much that angle. And but for me,
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: like I remember going to Makers having no idea like
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: how I was going to feel because Makers is something
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: that I knew about right Like throughout high school, I
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: would be so depressed before I started period.
• 17:36
  Speaker 4: I would watch Makers videos.
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: It was like the same year Makers started putting out
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: these short videos of like badass women. And I think
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: that for me, like I never I never rehearse my
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: speeches ever, Like for me, the only way I can
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: do it is I just get on stage and I
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: talk from heart. However, my co founder Vince was speaking
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: with me and it was the first time ever we
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: were ever going to give a speech together, the first time.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: So I had to make slides and we split up
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: the slides the day of.
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: So we split up the slides.
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: I don't even remember.
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: Vince like, you do these slides. I do these slides.
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: And then he was like, Okay, let's practice, and I
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: was like, no, I don't.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: I can't, but I'll just know that I'll do this
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: and when I look to you, that's when you you
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: do your part.
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: So Vince and I are very different.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: I like that he for speeches, he has to have
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: it very thought out, very prepared.
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: Everything's practice. For me.
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: I'm like, no, too much anxiety. I just got to
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: go go just put me out.
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: So I made the slides. We did it.
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: We didn't even rehearse it. He got there like an
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: hour before. We're like getting it all together, and we
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: go backstage. We're shuffled back and then we just walked
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: on stage. And Yeah, I feel much more comfortable in myself,
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: in my body and who I am when I'm on stage,
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: not when I'm sitting by myself, not when I'm sitting
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: in social circles. Like I feel better on stage, Like
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: I feel more less anxious when I'm on stage.
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: It's just a weird thing.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: I mean, you are a gifted orator, and I don't
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: say that. I've never said that to anybody. It's it's
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: unbelievable to watch.
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: Thank you, But it was fun.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: It was I just remember, like I was so nervous,
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: but then I just I just get so excited because
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: you know what it is. It's when I started all
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: this work and I was sixteen, and you couldn't really
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: say period, like it wasn't what it is now, right,
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: It wasn't like this cool thing to be a period activist,
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: and people make fun of me so many no's, Like
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: it was so hard to get anybody to talk to
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: me about it, right, So when I had on stages
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: and I'm like we're talking about periods and the maker's
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: audience goes yeah, I'm like.
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: You know, like I still feel that way.
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: Like we even last night, like we had an event
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: one of our community events for August and it was
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: like twenty people showed up to talk about gender inclusivity
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: in the period space, and I like get teary eyed
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: every time because I'm like.
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: They coming to talk about periods.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: And I mean I remember thinking like I couldn't even
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: say the word period in high school.
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: You know, it's different.
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: Now it's different and it's so so exciting and yeah,
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: and the thing is is like I still get just
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: as worked up now as I used to, and I'm
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: really excited because like now, so I started on the
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: nonprofit side and now I'm on the company side. So
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: now I'm like closing our seed round.
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: We raised capital and we're like putting out new.
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: Products that I believe in that I wish I would
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: have had that I wish I could have.
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: Been giving out a lot more.
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: And I think I also see this as sort of
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: like a natural next frontier of like what I want
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: to do with my activism, right, Like, I think over
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: the last year, we've had this these conversations about like
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: how companies and capitalism are so much of the root
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: of many issues and inequalities. Yeah, and so I do
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: think that I've sort of been able to combine a
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: lot of what my passion is for periods, for this industry,
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: for the space, the need to like change culture, but
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: also like with my co founder's you know, skill and ability.
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: Around operations and building.
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: So I'm very excited for the future. Nervous, nervous, nervous, nervous, but.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: Very excited conscious capitalism. Yeah, I'm there with you. What
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: is it like to have people have such a vested
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: interest in your accomplishments Because I feel like you had
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: a lot on your shoulders as a kid. You were
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: like making real money and probably helping your family out.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: I can't even imagine what that experience is like.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: Well, I think that I have a very weird like
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: it's this weird thing in my family where.
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: Even though I think.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: I did feel a lot on my shoulders for my family.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: My mom is also really brilliant, you know, Like my
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: mom went to Harvard.
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: My mom is.
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: So smart and was so resilient and also working. And
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: I think because both of us are, she taught me
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: to speak up when I disagreed with things.
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: My mom and I were clashing.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: A lot a lot in high school, right, and so
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: I think that it was a little bit of one.
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: You know, I'm the oldest of three daughters, of three girls, right,
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: I from a very young age was had to become
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: sort of like a sort of like a mini parent,
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: right Like my sisters and I used to fly multiple
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: times a year between New York and Portland, and we
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: would all sleep on the plane, but I would stay
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: awake just to make sure my sisters were safe.
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: Like that was kind of That's how that was.
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: Really my first role growing up was like just make
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: sure my sisters are safe. Like my sisters just need
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: to be safe. And I think that that's very hard
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: when you grow up with things that are not so safe. Right. Yeah,
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: I had like most of my memories and I actually
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: land this in rehab, Like I don't have a lot
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: of memories for them from the first decade of my life. Right,
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: But a lot of the memories I have were of
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: trying to get my sisters in a safe space when
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: it didn't feel so safe outside of the room, right.
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: And I think that while there was a lot of pressure,
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: once I started making money, I think that that I
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: was more traumat by that pressure. Right.
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: So even now.
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: I'm fine, I'm like living in my dream apartment. Everything
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: is good. Not everything, but like you know, like things
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: are good. I have health insurance as of this week,
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: like all these things.
• 23:12
  Speaker 4: And yet like I.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: Still feel that pressure because that just doesn't go away, right,
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: It's conditioned into you.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: Well, I don't think we ever get over anything. We
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: kind of just learned to live with it differently exactly. Yeah,
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: what's your relationship like with ambition and accomplishments now post rehab?
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: You're still a really highly ambitious person and this I'm
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: so interested in the nuance of it for you.
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: So last year I had a big year of being
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: held accountable by I think other organizers in the period
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: space who felt that I had led from a place
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: of wanting to collect accomplishments rather than share success, right.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: And it's something that I heard a lot about on
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: social media. Actually right was I started to hear these
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: waves of conversation, how you know what are Naudia's intentions
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: in doing this nonprofit work? Right? And it was a
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: really big wake up call for me because I had
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: I had always thought I went into this because I
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: wanted to serve periods.
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: Right, like like when you start.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: I never thought, like when I was sixteen, Oh, I
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: think I can win a lot of awards from doing
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: stuff about periods, you.
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: Know, I think I'll get on under thirty for periods.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but like that that wasn't really something I was
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: thinking about. But it was a big wake up call
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: of like, you know, the first time you get one
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: of the awards, it's like so big. And then for
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: the last few years, every time I won an award,
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: I can't name any of them for you because I
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: have so much impoxic syndrome. More about it, Like when
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: I got bad at I'd Forbes thirty and thirty, I
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: like was like hmmm, and then.
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: I freaked out. I had a panic attack, and then
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: I went back to work.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: Like I would go accept awards, and then I would
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: go accept awards, and then I would rush back give
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: a speech, rush back to my hotel and cry like
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: I just didn't feel like I deserved it.
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: And then when a lot of the you know, on social.
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: Media people started last summer talking about like what were
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: my intentions, it was like a really big thing where
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: I had to step back. And while in rehab, it
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: was a lot of like, well did I get lost
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: in that?
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: Right?
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: Like is am I leading from the same degree of passion?
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: Am I?
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: And I had to check in myself, am I really
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: passionate about periods? Right? And like there were moments this
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: sumhere where I was like I needed to ask myself that, right,
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: is this really something I'm passion about?
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: Is this really what I want to do?
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: And then within five minutes, like there was a lot there,
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: but like I just kept coming back like, Yeah, this
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: is the.
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: Thing I need to talk about. Like it's again period.
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: I can't describe it. It's just the thing that I
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: yet upset.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: The world needs people to have really specific things, yeah.
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: And for me, like that is my specific thing, Like
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: it's just I. And even while in rehab, like I tried,
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: like I read a book a day on capitalism. Then
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: I was like, Okay, I'm going to learn about climate
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: change because maybe that's what I need to do. And
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: it's just like, I think that there was so much
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: of me because I was I felt, you know, that
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: there were people out there who didn't want me in
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: the period space, right, and so there was a lot
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: of you know, work I was doing, like, well, please
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: just let me be excited about something else.
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: Right, And it was not. It was like this is what.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: Can I interrupt you for a second, Yes, I want
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: to ask you about this because when I look at
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: some of your like activist peers, I get anxiety looking
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: at everybody on Instagram because it seems to me, like
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: and correct me if I'm wrong, because this is coming
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: from like a voyeuristic place, But it seems to me
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: like there is this competition online for social media activists
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: to be like the most woke, and then there's also
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: a competition of course for like who has the most followers,
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: and like, I'm wondering what it's like to be a
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: twenty two year old activist on Instagram, which sounds probably like.
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: A dumb question.
• 26:59
  Speaker 4: No, no, well, I'll say I'll say this.
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: It just feels like a lot of pressure.
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: No, but I'll just say this.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: I think what was hard was I I have I like,
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: do not when I introduce myself and when I have
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: introduced myself, I have never said Hi, I'm Nadia and
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: I'm an activist like that. I just I would always say, oh,
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: I founded this organization, right, like, this is what I do, right,
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: Like I've never.
• 27:21
  Speaker 4: Had activists in my bio, Like I.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: Think media and journalism like they will put activists like
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: because they that's what they see my do, right. But
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: I think what's interesting is over the last few years,
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: youth activism has become a very specific thing, right, like
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: very much. Yeah, it became this thing with expectations, and
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: I think that they're there.
• 27:42
  Speaker 4: I mean, and I don't I want to say, like.
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: There are so many things that I do take accountability for,
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: Like yeah, I when I when I wanted to grow
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: my organization, like I am very ambitious, Like I knew
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: that I wanted to go there with the nonprofit. I
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: knew that I knew that in order to try to
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: take down the tampon tax I felt that the whole
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: world needed to talk about the tap upon tacts because
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: we need to put public pressure on so I, you know,
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: blindly and maybe I should have slowed down more. I
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: went for that. I was like, we need to get
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: the whole world talking about this.
• 28:11
  Speaker 4: I'm going to bring in the biggest sponsors I can,
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: the biggest people that I can, and we need to
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: talk about periods. We need to.
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: Gather all these people together under one movement and go
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: forward and talk about periods. Right. And I think that
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: whether it be my naivete or something, is like by
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: the standards of what youth activism has become, I don't
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: think that that really matched like maybe how I should
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: have been thinking, you know, like I was going for big, big,
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: big all the time, so so I would say like, yeah,
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: it's and the hard thing is like it's stressful now,
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: which is it is just like you're a young person
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: on social.
• 28:43
  Speaker 4: Media, so everyone you're being watched all the time.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: I actually wasn't even going to get into some of
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: like the I don't know if we'd call it like rehabilitation,
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: because I resent it. I think you are a powerful
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: voice and like no one does everything right. You're trying
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: to like move things forward. I just don't think that. Listen,
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: I'm not in your world. Maybe there was more to
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: take accountability for it, but it doesn't seem like there was.
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: To me, I think there was a lot to take
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: accountability for in terms of like even how I thought
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: of my own identity, like being Asian American, How does
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: that play into the dynamics of things? And it's something
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: that I'm going to continue to learn, right, Like, I
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: think that that's kind of what twenty twenty was. I
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: think for everybody was like, let's all take a self
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: check moment, and like, for me, how it is is
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: just learning to try to learn and grow every single day.
• 29:37
  Speaker 4: And at the end of the day, even though rehab
• 29:39
  Speaker 4: was really.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: Really hard, and I'm very thankful for it because it
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: was the first time I ever slowed down since.
• 29:45
  Speaker 4: I was sixteen.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: I was really excited to see you share some of
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: your learnings from rehab on social media because a lot
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: of people don't talk about like specific diagnosis or anything
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: mental health related because it still feels kind of stigmatized.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: So this summer, you learn that your PTSD is accompanied
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: by disassociation and depersonalization, and I'm wondering if you can
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: share with me how that shows up in your life now.
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: So PTSD post traumatic stress disorder. I have complex PTSD
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: two not.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: Basic, PTSD complex.
• 30:25
  Speaker 4: But it's kind of insane.
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: It just means, like you know that when we talk
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: about trauma responses like your fight, flight, freeze or fawn mode,
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: like when someone's in terror, they either run away or
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: they want to like fight it back, or they want
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: to like free like they get scared, they freeze, or
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: they like kind of fawn, which is like the new one,
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: which is like, oh, you kind.
• 30:45
  Speaker 4: Of play Like I think of it as.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: Oh, when I'm in situations and I'm kind of with
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: this like older guy and I'm kind of scared, I
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: like just pretend to like appease because I don't want
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: that danger. Right, So for me, PTSD is like flashbacks
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: all the time, something loud, not even s freaking out
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: like panic attacks.
• 31:02
  Speaker 4: I'm sweating, and then also like my body.
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: Is constantly in that hypervigilance all the time, So like
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: when the feeling you get when you need to run away, right,
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: like that feeling when your heart's beating and you're sweating,
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: Like I'm like that all the time. My hands are sweating,
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: like every everything's kind of in that mode already. And
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: depersonalization and dissociation are other forms of how that manifest.
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: So dissociation is when you just kind of like your
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: trauma trains you that in order to get through the moment,
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: you just have to check out, right, And it's very
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: common and when like with sexual assault, of like you
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: just the only way to get through it, it's you're
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: not going anywhere, is you just check out. But for me,
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: my association happens like kind of constantly. Right, There's so
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: many speeches I gave that were so much fun. But
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: I'll look at pictures and I have no recollection. Wow,
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: it was none, like even with Makers. Makers was in
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: the I know, I remember in moment it was so
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: much fun. It was so so, so much fun. But
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: when I look at pictures, I can't remember what it
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: feels like. Like I don't remember what that felt like.
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: I just know that I didn't from from what I see,
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: you know, And it's really sad because you know, you
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: like the best way to describe it is it feels
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: like you're watching your life on a movie, Like you
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: just you're kind of there, but like because your mind
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: is always freaking out back here.
• 32:26
  Speaker 4: It's like that's dissociation.
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: Depersonalization is when you can't feel your body right so
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: when like it's like the whole self harm thing where
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: like you just feel so numb, Like your body feels
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: so numb, and there's so much emotions wrapped up in
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: your body.
• 32:40
  Speaker 4: You just your body checks out right.
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: And I remember my first somatic therapy session and rehab
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: they asked me, like the therapist asked me, oh, can
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: you feel your butt?
• 32:50
  Speaker 4: Like can you feel your butt sitting on the chair?
• 32:52
  Speaker 4: And I was like, what do you mean?
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: Like it was such a dumb question to me, And
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: she was like, can you feel your butt? Like can
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: you actually consciously feel these parts of your body? Right?
• 33:01
  Speaker 4: And I just couldn't.
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: Wow. And I think that's why, like in high school,
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: self harm was kind of a constant thing for me,
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: or working out to me is really important, Like I
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: have to work out it every day because it's the
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: only way that I feel like here. So yeah, I
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: think understanding more about my I knew I had PTSD
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: before from high school and things I went through in
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: high school, but I learned more about it while in
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: rehaben it was the first time that I started medication
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: to which has been really life changing.
• 33:26
  Speaker 4: And just being able to like feel.
• 33:28
  Speaker 3: Here, like feel I'm so happy to hear that.
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Yeah, I thank you for talking about so
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: many of the hard things with such candor.
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: Of course, I mean I think that there's a part
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: of me that has for the last several years, since
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: the beginning, which was like, yeah, it's not easy to
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: talk about, but you know, in my darkest moments, the
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: feeling that I felt the most was feeling so alone
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: and misunderstood, right, Like, And I think that for me,
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: makers is an exams. Like when I'm feeling down, I
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: watch stories of people talking about how they got through things.
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: M h, right too, I go to YouTube.
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but I think that what is missing is like
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: and what I want to be more honest about moving
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: forward is like I'm always asked on these panels like
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: how did you overcome depression?
• 34:17
  Speaker 4: Or like how are how did you over get through
• 34:20
  Speaker 4: all of that?
• 34:21
  Speaker 3: Right, and like I'm not through it.
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: Always been more honest about it is like dude, I'm
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: still going through it, Like I'm I'm still like yeah,
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: I've made lots of progress, and like I'm I'm very hopeful,
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: like I've never felt as happy as I do now
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: meds therapy combined.
• 34:37
  Speaker 4: But also like I love what I'm doing.
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: I'm so excited for this company, Like I'm so excited,
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: but like beyond that, I'm like, I'm still going through it,
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: and like I'll be going through for the rest of
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: my life.
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: There's a quote I love that says that the people
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: that have been through the most have the most to give,
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: and it so rings true with you. So yeah, I
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: feel that from you. Thank you, You're getting me excited
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: about August. Can you tell me more?
• 35:02
  Speaker 4: August is a lifestyle period brand.
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: We've just been really focused on building our community and
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: really focused on just how we can serve young menstruators
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: and be more sustainable and impactful.
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: Had you come up with the name August?
• 35:16
  Speaker 4: Bobby Hundreds named my company?
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: What Yeah? Bobby is has been like a role model
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: I've looked up to for a while, and when I
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: thought about how I wanted to build a company, I
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: was like, I don't take any inspiration from these period
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: companies out there, because I truly believe that over the
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: last century, period products have been sold by perpetuating negative
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: stigmas around periods. Right, buy our product to hide your period,
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: forget it you have a period, all that stuff. I've
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: actually taken a lot of inspiration from streetwear, right Bobby's book,
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: Like this is not a T shirt. It's like, it's
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: not actually about the product, it's about what the product represents.
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: It's the brand tells the story, and it's about this
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: culture shift. I'm obsessed with streetwear from like a cultural phenomenon.
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: I'm such a nerd about it, Like I am not
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: cool enough for streetwear, no, nor am I wealthy enough
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: for but I love studiating it. And so I called
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: Bobby and I was like, hey, well, first of all,
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: I want you to be involved, and I want you
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: to invest.
• 36:09
  Speaker 4: And also like we need to come up with a
• 36:11
  Speaker 4: new name.
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: And we had been doing all of these naming sessions
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: and then Bobby spends ten minutes on it, sends me
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: an email and one of the names.
• 36:20
  Speaker 4: Is August, and I was like, August. What looked it up.
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: August means majestic dignity, and that's exactly what we're trying
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: to do with periods is make them dignified.
• 36:30
  Speaker 3: Oh that is so good.
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: Also, I feel like I need to learn more about him.
• 36:34
  Speaker 3: He sounds pretty brilliant.
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: He's yeah, he's he's amazing, And I mean I think
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: that that it's been so much fun. Like I just
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: feel like, like Furious is just so much fun because
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: I'm such a dark about it, Like there's just so
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: much we can talk about.
• 36:49
  Speaker 3: Let's talk about it. What do you think? What do
• 36:51
  Speaker 3: you think needs to be spoken about? More so right now?
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: What are you not hearing in the ether?
• 36:56
  Speaker 4: Well, I would say something.
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: I actually we just had this campaign go out and
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: for the first time ever, I talked about period sex publicly.
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: Because people think I love period sex because I'm all
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: about periods, and they think that, like they think that
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: I love periods, But the honest answer is no, I
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: love working on period care because I hate getting my period.
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: My period is like I feel shitty, like it's hard,
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: Like I can't imagine not having products, which.
• 37:24
  Speaker 4: Is why I'm passionate about getting products to people. Right,
• 37:27
  Speaker 4: So I always get this question of how did you
• 37:28
  Speaker 4: learn to love your period? I'm like, I don't learn
• 37:30
  Speaker 4: to love my period.
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: I learn to love like the fact that I am
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: human and my body is working. But people also assume, like, oh,
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: I must be all about period sex. No, Like for me,
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: that is shame that I'm still trying to dismantle within myself, right,
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: and that is something that I will probably be working
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: on for a long time. And I think that it's
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: a part of I think that overall, we have not
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: had enough conversations about how your period affects every other
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: part of your body, right, How when you're on your period,
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: you how you poop more when you're on your period,
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: You feel more depressed on your period?
• 38:05
  Speaker 4: Can you have sex on your period?
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: Yes? Like you know, I think that that That's what
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: I'm excited to talk about.
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: Besides tampon tax. What does menstrual equity really mean?
• 38:16
  Speaker 4: I see it as like equitable access to menstrual hygiene.
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: Right. So, and the term was coined by Jennifer weis Wolf,
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: and I think it's it's kind of become like a
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: staple word within this space too. But I think for
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: me personally, I want to see free period products in schools, shelters.
• 38:34
  Speaker 4: And prisons.
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: Right, Like, every day I've been on the phone with
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: someone who's experienced having a period while in prison.
• 38:41
  Speaker 4: Those stories will anger fuck better you. It's so ridiculous, Like, yeah, just.
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: Talking to this woman who was telling me about how
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: they were sent to solitary confinement. So with like one
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: pad to prove that they were using it all and
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: like was there for multiple days. Like wow, free period
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: products and school shelters in prisons, you know, on the
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: tampon taks making them more accessible, so food, stampsture cover,
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: period products.
• 39:03
  Speaker 4: All of those things.
• 39:04
  Speaker 3: I love this.
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: You're making me excited about periods. I never thought I
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: would say that. I've always hated mine.
• 39:09
  Speaker 4: No, but that's what I'm saying that.
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: For me, it's I'm not excited about periods because I
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: love getting my period.
• 39:13
  Speaker 4: I don't like getting my period.
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: Which is why I get excited about making sure that other.
• 39:18
  Speaker 4: People have period brush.
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: You know, the only thing that ever made me feel
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: better is my mom said to me one time that, like,
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: you have to be really grateful because it means that
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: your body is working healthfully, and you know, you have
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: to like shift your mindset about it, which did help
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: a little.
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: But still I don't think anybody enjoys it. So I
• 39:36
  Speaker 3: love this vantage point. It's super interesting.
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Okay, so you've basically been given every award for
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: being a woman, Like I've never seen so many lists
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: of awards in my life. Like, I don't even I
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: didn't even know how to intro you because it was
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: like every magazine has named you something, and you've done
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: all this work around being addicted to your work, and
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: I'm one. Now when you look back in the mirror
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: at night, who do you see? Like, who who's staring
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: back at you?
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: Hm? Oh, that's a hard question. So I have borderline
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: personality disorder. That's another thing I was diagnosed with. And
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: part of it is that you struggle to have any
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: sense of identity, like that you were sort of not
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: like if you were grown up. You were growing up
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: and you maybe didn't feel like you had the authority
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: to define who you were. And so I think that
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: when I look in the mirror, I just see someone
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: who's like really curious, Like I'm always really curious, like
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: I want to learn more, Like I actually get excited
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: to try new modes of therapy. And yeah, I think
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: that I'm I feel like I'm just kind of starting
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: to learn, like, you know, I don't know.
• 40:48
  Speaker 4: I think I think I just see someone who's really curious.
• 40:50
  Speaker 2: And I also think that I see someone who just
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: like never really got to be a kid, you know,
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: I had to grow up really fast, and like I
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: love what I do. I love of work, and I
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: love being a young entrepreneur and like, I'm so thankful
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: for that. But I also know, like I didn't get
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: to have a college years. I didn't get to I
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: never partied in high school like you know, I don't
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: really go to class now, and all my you know,
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: past through relationships ended because I wanted to work more,
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: you know, And I think that for me, I just
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: see someone who is I think curious and also like
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: I don't know, I just finding new things about myself
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: every day.
• 41:30
  Speaker 3: I think that's a great answer.
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: So I always ask these They're not rapid fire, but
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: I'm truly curious to hear your thoughts. So the number
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: one tip you have in asking for a raise, I.
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: Would say, ask for a number that kind of scares you,
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: Like ask for a number that you know. Whenever I
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: ask for you know, more, for a deal or something like,
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: I ask for a number that scares me so much
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: that I think that there might be an eighty percent chance,
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: they just say, okay, go up yourself, Like.
• 42:01
  Speaker 3: No, wow, I love that.
• 42:03
  Speaker 2: So I think, whatever you feel comfortable, If you feel
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: comfortable with the number, like yeah.
• 42:09
  Speaker 4: I guess that could work, then, like I would ask for.
• 42:11
  Speaker 3: Hire it's a great one.
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: A book that shifted your perspective, something you think everyone
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: should read.
• 42:18
  Speaker 4: One hundred Years of Solitude.
• 42:21
  Speaker 3: Quick answer, she knew? Okay, I pick.
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: I have fifty two questions here from the pretty smart
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: card deck. I pick at random. Oh, this is a
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: hard one. What is the title of your memoir for
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: this season of your life?
• 42:34
  Speaker 4: It's the name of my podcast, Tigris Rare.
• 42:38
  Speaker 3: I love that last question. What is the smartest decision
• 42:42
  Speaker 3: you've ever made?
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: I think my smartest decision was to just stop trying
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: to deny myself what I want.
• 42:58
  Speaker 3: When do you do that?
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: Like, I am very ambitious, and I don't think I
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: ever share what I want in my life because I
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: know that it scares people, and it scares me, you know.
• 43:09
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think when I when.
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: I used to feel and I still feel like I
• 43:14
  Speaker 2: have this societal shame on me for thinking so big, right,
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: for thinking like what I want to build or what
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: legacy I want to leave right, And I think that
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: when you dream really big as a woman, you're like
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: called narcissistic.
• 43:28
  Speaker 4: And I think that for me, I don't even think
• 43:30
  Speaker 4: I say, I don't say it out loud. I only journal.
• 43:32
  Speaker 3: About it, but you don't even tell your boyfriend.
• 43:35
  Speaker 4: No, I don't.
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: Wow. Yeah, Like sometimes I will, like if if I
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: get drunk at dinner, then I start kind of rambling by.
• 43:44
  Speaker 4: I don't like. I don't think. I think my journal is.
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: The only space where I still feel comfortable to really
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: write about what I want, because like I just as
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: much as I would ask for a number that's in
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: my negotiations that scares me, Like I think for me,
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: I said, dreams for myself that are kind of terrifying too,
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: you know, but they make me really excited. And I
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: think that the best decision was like I used to,
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: I used to actually write write them down and then
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: I would cross it out and then like try to
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: write it in a way that was like I maybe
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: if someone found it right. And then recently, like I
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: think really in the last few months, I started writing
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: it down and then just leave it there and then
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: like close my journal. And I don't think I built
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: up the courage to really own it, mostly because I
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: don't think society is ready for women to like go
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: out there and tell you, like what we're what we
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: want to do, because like then people judge you.
• 44:31
  Speaker 4: And I don't like that you know.
• 44:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you get to just do it.
• 44:35
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's kind of, that's kind of.
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: I think the decision for me, like my new twenty
• 44:39
  Speaker 2: twenty one mindset is like I'm not going to share
• 44:41
  Speaker 2: with you, like share everything that I don't want to share,
• 44:44
  Speaker 2: because like this is just going to be about the
• 44:46
  Speaker 2: journey for me, and I'm really excited for that.
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: So tell me if this is an okay reframe. I'm
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: going to say, the smartest decision you ever made was
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: to be ambitious full hardly, to like recommit to my ambition. Also,
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: statistically successful on entrepreneurs overwhelmingly have had tough upbringings because
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: they assess risk differently, So I think that's really interesting.
• 45:07
  Speaker 2: Well, and also when you have rough upbringings, you feel
• 45:10
  Speaker 2: comfortable and risk because that was your upbringing, right, so
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: you assess it differently constantly truly.
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I can't wait to see what you do and
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: who you impact. And I'm so grateful for your time.
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: Thank you, nod, thank.
• 45:24
  Speaker 4: You so much. I love you so much, and I'm
• 45:26
  Speaker 4: so thankful for your having me here.
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: You're so sweet. I love you too. All Right, today's
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: a good day to have a good day.
• 45:51
  Speaker 3: I'll see you next week.