The Menstruality Podcast - How to End Period Poverty and Create Menstrual Equity (Chelsea VonChaz)

Episode Date: March 31, 2022

Period poverty has a huge impact on women, girls and people who menstruate all over the world. Too many people don’t have access to menstrual products, safe, hygienic spaces in which to use them. This isn’t just a potential health risk - it can also affect their education, well-being, and sometimes their entire lives.One in 10 girls in Africa miss school because they don’t have access to menstrual products, or because there aren’t safe, private toilets to use at school. In India, approximately 12 percent of its 355 million menstruating people cannot afford menstrual products. In the US 23% of college students can’t afford to buy period products. Thankfully, brilliant, passionate people like Chelsea Von Chaz, the founder of Happy Period are working to end period Poverty. Happy Periods distributes free period products to support 100,000 periods a year, through over 40 cities in the US. We explore:Why period products should be provided for free in all public bathrooms, just like toilet paper or soap, and especially in schools.The long term effects of period poverty for women, girls and people with periods, and how this is amplified for Black, Indigenous and People of Colour as well as other marginalised people such as the LGBTQ+ community. How we can all contribute to the movement to end period poverty and create menstrual equity, through education, improving access to period products, and advocacy for marginalised groups in need. ---Registration is open for our 2022 Menstruality Leadership Programme. You can check it out here. https://www.redschool.net/menstruality-leadership-programme-2022---The Menstruality Podcast is hosted by Red School. We love hearing from you. To contact us, email [e-mail]---Social media:Red School: @red.school - https://www.instagram.com/red.schoolChelsea Von Chaz: @chelseavonchaz - https://www.instagram.com/chelseavonchaz/Happy Period: @wearehappyperiod - https://www.instagram.com/wearehappyperiod

Welcome to the Menstruality Podcast, where we share inspiring conversations about the power of menstrual cycle awareness and conscious menopause. This podcast is brought to you by Red School, where we're training the menstruality leaders of the future. I'm your host, Sophie Jane Hardy, and I'll be joined often by Red School's founders, Alexandra and Sharni, as well as an inspiring group of pioneers, activists, changemakers and creatives to explore how you can unashamedly claim the power of the menstrual cycle to activate your unique form of leadership for yourself, your community and the world. Hey there, thanks for tuning in today and welcome back to the Menstruality Podcast. Period poverty has a huge impact on women, girls and people who menstruate all over the world.

Too many people don't have access to menstrual products and to safe hygienic spaces in which to use them and this isn't just a potential health risk it can also affect people's education, well-being and sometimes their entire lives. In researching today's episode I learned that one in ten girls in Africa miss school because they don't have access to menstrual products or because there aren't safe private toilets to use at school. In India approximately 12% of its 355 million menstruating people cannot afford menstrual products. In the US 23% of college students can't afford to buy period products. Thankfully brilliant passionate people like Chelsea Von Chas the founder of Happy Period, are working to end period poverty and create menstrual equity.

Happy Period distributes free period products to support 100,000 periods a year across over 40 cities in the US. And today we explore why period products should be provided for free in all public bathrooms, just like toilet paper or soap, the long-term effects of period poverty, and how we can all contribute to the movement to end period poverty and create menstrual equity. So let's get started with the brilliant Chelsea Von Chaz. Chelsea, thank you so much for saying yes to being on the menstruality podcast. We're so happy to have you. And I'd love to start our conversation by doing a cycle check-in. So where are you at in your cycle and how is it impacting you today? I'm actually in the luteal phase which kind of makes sense because I have been experiencing a few ups and downs like as far as energy it seems like my

ovulation is like from five to eight days or between five and eight days and then just kind of jumping into the luteal phase it seems like luteal phase just is so long um and I definitely feel it when my energy drops down so yeah that's where I'm at right now I love the humor you bring in to your feed for happy period and on your account as well around luteal phase and periods in general. Yes, it's necessary. I think it's super necessary for folks to just be able to have some type of lightness to it because most of the time it is it's a serious matter because we're either anxious or maybe a bit stressed and we're dealing with our pain. So I think it's okay to have some type of lightness and humorous feel to it. Oh, you do it so well. Thank you. Yeah. I really want to introduce this amazing nonprofit you've created to our listeners, Happy happy period would you like to tell us about it

yeah it's it's seven years old now and initially when we first started happy period it was a a project essentially that brought me my parents my girlfriends brought us all together and we decided that we would help out the community in Los Angeles called Skid Row help them out for providing period products to them and we didn't necessarily do it through the shelter. We did it ourselves, guerrilla style, and we would just, you know, go shopping and purchase products for people and put them, create these period care packages and these period bags, which essentially were like the happy period yellow bags. The idea for it came to me because I saw this girl crossing the street and I can tell that she was experiencing houselessness and her bottoms were stained and she had a period stain on the back of her butt.

And then when she crossed the street, she, I do remember her taking a dump essentially, like, you know, just pooping. But in mind you, this was like in broad daylight in the middle of Hollywood. And it was a really busy intersection. And it's unfortunate that there's not a lot of spaces, or even places that public places that would allow anyone to just go in and use the restroom, or spaces that would just have pads and tampons just available like how you know toilet paper is or even running water is in the bathroom or in the restroom yeah because it's like well who could blame her if she if she's on her period and she has diarrhea or she's constipated and she just was like I just need to poo you know what I mean like and this is we don't know the state of mind

that she was in we don't know like you know she's been through, but also I think any human being that was in the first 24, maybe 48 hours of their cycle of the menstrual cycle and their symptoms were very heightened, just extreme symptoms from cramping, bleeding, stomach aches, or nausea, constipation, diarrhea. And some of us actually have all these things at once. You know what I mean? Like, and, but just imagine having all of that. And then you are living on the streets or then you are experiencing homelessness and you're just walking and walking for hours, or you may live like on a certain block or something. And, but you don't have access to just go in and take a shower whenever you want to, or you don't have the access to just to be able to just go somewhere to use the restroom to take

care of your period to manage your period, you know, privately. So that's essentially how Happy Period came to me and how it got started with me and my girlfriends. And it just grew from us distributing period care products to folks who are experiencing homelessness to now us being a catalyst bridging menstrual health education and access to safe period products, essentially for everyone that identifies as Black, Indigenous, person of color that identifies as a woman, a girl, or a femme, or just a gender expansive human that has a period. So we have developed a program that is centered on educating people about periods with the intention of empowering one to be not only just to be more comfortable with their period, but by learning their menstrual cycle or even considering their menstrual cycle to be a fifth vital sign to help them advocate for their own body and also to help them learn you know to just learn about their own body so it's so incredible to hear how it began

and how it's grown and I was reading through what you've achieved over the last seven years and I read that before the pandemic you were supporting a hundred thousand periods annually through donating free period products yeah from just like doing our volunteer events on a monthly basis because I kind of made it this thing where we would have our period meetups essentially or more so like the happy period gatherings where we would pack up things to give or to drop off to shelters so we would do that once a month and we did it once a month for like like, maybe like four years straight. And then we started to go into other cities. And we essentially grew over to like 40 cities here in the US, because we would host events,

you know, in LA, and then someone that came to our volunteer event in LA may have lived in San Diego, really, or may have lived in Atlanta, Chicago. And then they would create an arm or a chapter in their city essentially, and do the same thing where they would pack period products and period care packages with their friends or their church or, you know, or their Girl Scout group and provide it to provide those products to the nearest shelter. Cause I think that's something that, you know, should be kind of a normal thing, just like how, you know, for Thanksgiving holiday times, you know, everybody's rounded up to give out turkeys or give out hands or give out plates of food. Sometimes, you know, certain times of the

year, especially in certain cities that get cold, the same thing goes for coats or socks and mittens and hats, you know what I mean? But yeah, I think like periods should be included in that, but definitely not at one specific time of the year. I think that should go down every month, just like how we have our periods. So that was kind of a reason why I decided to make it every, you know, at least once a month that we would do the volunteer events. And yeah, it just grew from there to the point where, yeah, we were providing, we were supporting over a hundred thousand periods a year. And, and honestly, sometimes I think that count is still a little on the lower end to what we were doing because we got so much support from brands um brands like the honeypot

company and Cora and thanks and Rhea you know what I mean like we just got so many so many brands that were down with what we were doing so it it, you know, got to the point where we were distributing like 75,000, you know, period products of pads, tampons, and liners for one city at one time, you know what I mean? Or just pallets that we, you know, had to distribute. It took us months sometimes to distribute, but we got it done. So yeah, it was really busy for a long time. And I read that you've just won an award the health product leader of the year at the anthem award so congratulations thank you yeah that was pretty cool um because we were recommended to apply um and um yeah and I think there were

like a couple of people who may have been involved with the Anthem that had heard of us or that were familiar with our work. And, yeah, that was pretty cool. the year for me and the organization as far as like us creating our period protection essentials dispenser, which is essentially a vending machine that provides or dispenses out period products that we're looking to provide for free in public spaces. So we launched that at the top of 2021 during Women's History Month or International Women's Month. And yeah, it was pretty, pretty cool for us to do that. And that also came out of just us figuring out how we were going to pivot due to COVID. And yeah, and it was well received, because we essentially installed the machine at first at a women's center, Women and Children's Center in Compton, California. So that was pretty cool

for us to like finally be recognized for doing that, because that was essentially like another project that we that just kind of came out of the sky but um but it was a really cool thing i'm glad that we did so that was awesome for anthem awards and things like that deserve to be uh considered um to be a leader of the year when it comes to that i really hope that other organizations follow suit with what we're doing i'm not really like a big person to think like, oh, this is, there's a copycat or this person's copying me. My whole thing is, no, I think you should be doing what I'm doing. So that way it won't be so much pressure. It won't be so much pressure on me to do it. And maybe you'll do it better. Or maybe we'll figure out how to collaborate,

you know, and do it together because there's so many, there's so many public spaces that need to have period products for free. You know what I mean? My goodness. Like I had one machine that was in one space and now we're going to put another one in a school. So it's like, you know, we have institutions, we have libraries and courthouses and, you know, so many places that just is like, yo, wherever there's free toilet paper, I think there should be free period products. That's just how I feel. Yes. Yes. To that vision. I love it. I'm totally with you. Yeah. Yeah. It just it just makes the most sense to me, you know. But yeah. And then the second award was for the fundraising category for Best Partnership and Collaboration.

And we were able to secure that award through our partnership with a couple of brands that collaborated with us for our period care pop-ups. We do these period care pop-ups that we started. We actually started the first one right before COVID, like February 2020. We hosted, or excuse me, a school allowed us to come in and create an activation inside of the cafeteria for some teen girls. And we kind of like decked out the cafeteria to make it look like it was almost like a gifting suite slash classroom kind of a kind of a feel um but yeah it's like essentially our period care pop-ups is where we introduce periods or the conversation of periods um and menstrual care

methods to students um and then of course in the end they get free stuff they get a lot of like period care products from tampons, liners, period panties, pads, and everything's all organic, you know, clean, safe product, and they don't have to pay for any of it. And again, like it's kind of like our way of introducing menstruation in the conversation, but also introducing them to menstrual care methods that they can essentially carry on, you know, for themselves. So that was pretty cool for us to get an award for that as well, because that was another pilot kind of idea that we did before the pandemic happened. And then of course, once that happened, you know, we had to take a pause on it, but we're back, you know, doing that again, because we kicked that off again in December of 2021, where we were essentially were invited back

to the same school. And yeah, they allowed us to, to teach some of their teens, like about 25, 25 or 30 teenagers about periods and menstrual cups and period panties and, you know, and how to take care of themselves, how to identify like, you know, if this, you know, the cramping is excessive or the excessive bleeding, am I clotting? Could this be endometriosis? Could this be fibroids? What is PCOS? Like, you know, we kind of bridge all of that for them and at the same time give them a safe space to just talk about it and to ask whatever questions come to mind. How it's really moving me to hear you talk about this

because it feels like you've come full circle in a way. I was watching a video of you presenting at, I think it was the Doula Expo. And you told the story of your teacher, Miss Jackson. And how she, when you were younger, when you were at school, she said to you to like give her a special sign if you needed to go to the restroom and she showed you her stash and it just it's amazing to feel how now you're doing this for young girls I know I thought I thought that's you know I think

that's like the freaky thing that's also kind of cool because you never know you have this idea of what you're going to be when you grow up and it's like you know the universe is like no you're going to do this but yeah I didn't really you know I didn't realize that till later and then I also just growing up though because I had her I had Miss Jackson I had my aunties my mom and my grandma like everybody talked about like prepped me for periods or didn't really hide their period around me and so when i went out into the world i was the exact same way but maybe times maybe times two because i was just very comfortable talking about my period i thought it was silly to it, not even to be judgmental of other others, but I just always figured like, well, what's the point in me hiding this? Who am I

offending? And if I'm offending somebody because I have something in my hand and that means something is really wrong with them. But yeah, it's pretty cool that I'm now taking that I've taken that up a notch, you know, and I just think that's, that's just a really great story that I have to continue telling because it just made such a huge difference. And, and yeah, we were like nine, 10 years old. So it's like, you know, it was pretty cool for our teacher to also share like,, because she was, at that time, she was in her early 40s, so, yeah, it was kind of cool to, like, hear our teacher talk about this, and then, like, she shows us, like, oh, I still get my period, which was funny, because we were, like, damn, we're gonna be bleeding for this long like dang this sucks but you know we

weren't disrespectful but I don't remember in our minds in like in the bathroom like dang this jacks has still got her period how long we gonna be doing this for so yeah yeah I love her I miss her so it's really clear that you have this strong calling and I'd love to know why, when you first realized that this was what you needed to do, or, you know, you shared the story about how you created happy period, but like, how does it connect with your own experience with your cycle? Like I know in your mid twenties, you were diagnosed with fibroids. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I just love, yeah, I just love doing research and just love learning about my body and I just like filling in the you know the gaps for myself because there's so much they

didn't teach you where they don't teach us in school right that they need to teach us and um yeah and then the world just does not create spaces for us to talk about these things so yeah it's kind of like um it's a lot it's a layer of things yeah it's my own experience with my body from me having horrible periods as a teenager and then into my 20s and then my fibroid experience and then my experience navigating health care system on top of me seeing the experience for folks who are not as privileged as I am and how they deal with their period and how they are just completely ignored. It's like, yo, with my privilege, I'm ignored to some degree because my period is still silenced. silence people still like, oh, I don't want to hear about it. I don't see it type of thing. But they are definitely, you know, ignored even much more extreme than that, in my opinion, because no one's really considering, you know, the fact that we don't, you know, we don't stop bleeding just because of a circumstance, like periods don't stop for earthquakes, periods don't stop for hurricanes,

periods don't stop if you're homeless, periods don't stop if you anything um except pregnancies for the most part or menopause you know but other than that it's it's likely going to it's likely going to happen you know um so yeah I'm still trying to figure out like when exactly because it's hard it's so much was happening in the beginning of just creating the organization and it just grew very fast. And then I had all my personal things happening. So it's kind of hard for me even now to pinpoint exactly what I knew. But I just remember just really soaking up all this information and doing my own research and and applying things to myself and educating myself about menstruation or just like women's wellness, um, the body, and also educating myself to the, um, the issues that a lot of gender expansive folks deal with when they are experiencing homelessness when they are doing sex work you know

like it's just so much it's so many layers to the issue of period poverty so I just had to sit down and pause um and just educate myself can we talk about period poverty because I was yeah I think I think I was maybe it was from research I read from you or as I was researching this podcast, I read that a quarter of students in the US won't go to class because they're on their period. 23% of college students can't afford to buy period products and 51% of students would wear them longer than recommended because they didn't have any more to use so that's just one example of really shocking statistics around period poverty can you help to educate our audience more around the extent of period poverty I think it kind of well the statistics and the data they're really good for painting the picture but I always think

about the long-term effects of period poverty especially when someone decides to not go to class or go get an education because they're on the period but where there's no but there. The other layer is thinking about someone who actually has a job or has a career, has work, and they choose to not go to work and make money because of their period. And I think a lot of people don't think about the fact that like folks who have maybe from PCOS to endometriosis to fibroids, how those conditions can really just interrupt your life and daily activities to the point where you may not even want to go outside. And one may figure, you know, kind of feel like, well, how is that poverty? Well, you know, if they can't get an education, that's, that's the key there. If they can't go out and make money, then that's the key

there. And then on top of that, like, if there is no menstrual health education, then how would someone know that they potentially could have fibroids or endometriosis? And, and also how would they know how to deal with those things on a daily basis, you know, as far as treatment or healing themselves, you know, and just keeping them in that state. And I also think we should take into a factor of like the fact that, you know, there are so many unnecessary hysterectomies that are performed. And a lot of times these hysterectomies are performed unnecessarily because there is a lack of education or just a lack of education on both parts from the physician or doctors not being educated about that specific

patient's body long-term. And then that patient not knowing enough information and data about their body and them not being able to advocate for themselves. So that's a huge problem in my eyes. And then of course, like there's the whole layer with when it comes to, I guess just more so people have to understand that it's about menstrual equity and menstrual equity has a few avenues to it. There's education, there's the accessibility and the advocacy part. So making sure people are educated about their bodies, making sure people have the access to the products that they need and using

that and being able to help them advocate for their own bodies. And even like with the accessibility part, we have to think about the tampon tax, the pink tax, the way that we don't have free pads and tampons in the restrooms, you know what I mean? Like, it's just, it's so loud to me of the disrespects. Like, you know, it's kind of given like, oh, fiend for yourself, or you'll just have to deal with this. But that's, you know, that's wrong. And I think it's silly, you know, that somebody allocated water and soap and tissue for public restrooms, but they didn't think or don't think it's important to do the same for pads and tampons, which essentially are

medical items that could, they're not as expensive as people think. Yeah, they're expensive to purchase because of the retail markup with brands and distributors, retail companies. But when you look at like what it costs to make it, it's very doable, especially when some things cost just like 10 cents or less, you know, whether it's a pad or a tampon or a liner, you know what I mean? So, so yeah, it's, it's messed up because over long-term, if someone can't go to school because they don't have the pad or a tampon, that's just not fair. That puts more responsibility on schools because I think schools should provide these things anywhere you know like if you're not providing pencils book it's that's an issue but I think they should also look at period products as supplies too

Chelsea is so inspiring if you're feeling moved by what she's sharing here and you want to contribute to the hashtag happy period movement you can go to hashtag happy period.org and make a donation to support Chelsea and her team to do their work to end period poverty and as you listen to Chelsea and her incredible leadership in this work and if you're feeling stirred to step into your own form of leadership whether that's to work to create menstrual equity or to end period poverty or to educate different communities around the menstrual cycle or conscious menopause we warmly invite you to explore our menstruality leadership program. We start next month. There's a couple of places left and you can find out more about the program at

menstrualityleadership.com. Okay, let's get back to Chelsea and remember you can contribute to her work at hashtag happyperiod.org. You've also done really powerful education work around the fact that we don't all bleed the same. Yeah. There was an interview that you did with Thinks and you said, when I announced I was making a menstrual health program to serve underserved communities, especially for Black menstruators, people got really mad at you someone said we all believe the same the truth is we don't white women don't have the stresses that come from racism and the other factors stemming from these issues which is so true so this is an issue of racism as well oh for sure I think that's the issue that gets ignored um the most unfortunately um which well it doesn't

surprise me because I think folks who are racist and have not been oppressed because of racist because of racism they they just they don't have that experience and they don't know so they're just going to be ignorant to that so I think's, when it comes to period poverty and just periods, people, people are still going to ignore it just the way they ignore it in, in other industries or for other reasons. But yeah, but it's true that we have different stresses. And then of course like culturally white women have have had more of a space to um talk about periods and experience their periods differently versus where black women we have culturally have had to experience that our bodies are not even our own and there is no space for us to even talk about having a period, let alone like having a body or having our own, you know, choices of our bodies. And we also have not had the same

experience dealing with hospitals or institutions. It's pretty awful that institutions are still, you know, just as racist as they have been, you know, historically, and not much has changed for us, especially when it comes to us having more advantages because of technology, but we're still dealing with people. We're still dealing with doctors that think that Black women or people of color can deal with pain better or differently, or can just have a, you know, higher pain tolerance. We're still dealing with the, you know, the system feeling or believing that white women should be heard or are more innocent and black women just automatically are aggressive. You know, it's just, it's really sad, but no, we, our experiences are not the same when it comes to, when it comes to bleeding.

We are not listened to the same. I think we may have some factors that could be similar as far as, you know, if there is a white male doctor that has patients that are Asian, that are black, that are white. misogynistic in his ways or bias um or just has like a very like patriarchal attitude then it is very likely that all of those women have the same um have very similar experiences from this doctor that's an asshole but i get can guarantee you that the women of color will have a much worse experience than the white woman um because of his of his medical biases and his experience and whatever thoughts that he has um so yeah I think that's just really important for folks to just to understand or just have at least try to understand and have some type of grasp on um because that's a huge reason why peer poverty you know continues to exist yeah thank you thank you so much for sharing that Chelsea I can imagine that a lot of people listening like me are feeling

really fired up by this because a lot of what you're saying is so obvious now that you've said it and yet it's not something that was at the front of my mind like the fact that we have toilet paper and soap and public toilets but not period products and half of the world is experiencing periods it's crazy when you think about it that way so yeah I'd love to ask you what you think each of us can do to join this movement to end period poverty and do what we can to contribute um I mean I think there's just there's there's a lot of factors into it and I think folks should just really take the time first to educate themselves um educate themselves about menstrual equity just period um that as a term and that whole concept. And I think it's also important for folks

to really understand their own privilege in this conversation. Because I think there is a lot happening in this space of just periods, like the innovation of periods has changed so much. Finally, it was so overdue. But the innovation of of periods has changed so much. Finally, it was so overdue, but the innovation of peer products has changed so much. And then, you know, and just with technology even, and everything just with social media, helping, actually helping us to educate ourselves, but also helping us to have the conversation, right? I always like to use the example with that when it comes to like menstrual cups. I think it's great that we have menstrual cups. I think it's great that we're having the conversations about

menstrual cups, but I always tell people who use menstrual cups or have used menstrual cups for so long that are just huge fans of it, you know, die hard fans fans advocate for the product. But I always remind them to definitely check their privilege because a lot of times, you know, people have their own solutions in their minds. Like, you know, why not just give homeless women menstrual cups? So why not just give the homeless community menstrual cups, you know, and I have to remind them that, you know, these are folks that may not have access to running water on a daily basis. These are folks that may not have access to a safe and private facility to manage the period. And these are also folks who may have a condition with their mental health that may not be the best, may not be the best solution for them to be able to remember that they have something inside of their bodies

or to even grasp what the cup is, you know, because I've seen that firsthand and also heard that firsthand about folks who are unfortunately experiencing houselessness and then, you know, not remembering who they are or where they are and let alone, you know, being able to remember if or when they put a tampon in, you know, like, it's just so many factors that go into it. So I always just tell people, you know, even in that, you still have to check your privilege, especially if you are doing the work when it comes to period poverty. And, and also with that, like for, because I, realized that it is or has been essentially like a very white, like a white feminist led space or just kind of this white, white women centered initiative for a very long time. And I've always like been vocal about like, I think that needs to change,

especially I think folks should step down in some positions, or move to the side, or even be quiet, and maybe more so listen, and let other people have the opportunity to tell their own narrative. I talk about that a lot, especially when folks are doing menstrual equity or working in peer poverty globally, especially like having conversations about women in Nigeria or Uganda or Kenya or India. You know what I mean? It's like I've always told folks to let these women, let these folks talk about their own experiences it's not anyone's job to go out and try to push some type of like savorism attitude on them or white savorism especially um so I always tell folks like you know it's probably best for you to not say anything or not, you know, not take up so much in the in the space, you know, I know that's kind of tough for people to hear. But it's much tougher for someone who is a black or brown body to hear someone who does not look like them tell the world that they're

in such a horrible condition or horrible situation that they need to be saved but I see it all the time so I have to mention it you know thank you for calling it out and there's also so many great organizations within those countries that are doing brilliant work and a lot of our attention could go on supporting those organizations as well yeah I think it's super important just to do to look into organizations that are on the local front even grassroots organizations like no matter where you are I just think it's using social media especially Instagram and TikTok using these platforms to to check out and to find these organizations that are doing amazing, amazing work, you know. And they've been doing the work, too.

I think that's something that may surprise a lot of folks, that a lot of these organizations have been doing this work for years. And we're kind of the ones, you know, in the Western world that are late to the party. We're catching up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, I think we're actually the ones catching up you know like especially like hearing the story of like Padman you know what I mean like I think that's a really cool cool story that folks should know about and how that happened a while ago a long time ago maybe you share that story yeah I mean um I don't remember his name

off the top of my head right now but Padman is essentially the story of a man that decided to um be an advocate and an ally for the women um with periods that were in his community, him witnessing them having to deal with their periods in a way where, you know, they were just very expressive when it comes to them not having the period products that they need or not having enough product. And then on top of that, like the products are, you know, expensive for them. And on um, and on top of that, like in, in India, just like many other countries where it's majority, um, black, brown folks, folks of color, the stigma, um, surrounding menstruation is so, it's so heavy and, um, it's so, it's such a taboo, which is crazy, because taboo, as the root word, means menstruation or means period, which is I think that's kind of cool, but also funny at the same

time, because we're not talking about it. So the, you know, the folks are not talking about their periods openly, and they're not educated about their periods. So the he saw that, you know, the folks are not talking about their periods openly and they're not educated about their periods. So the, he saw that, you know, this was an issue and decided to do something about it in a way that was not, um, or from what I've read that the women felt like he wasn't, um, he wasn't being negative and he wasn't being overbearing. And he did something that they felt was extremely helpful. But essentially, he decided to create pads for the women, buying a machine, inventing essentially like parts for a machine for folks to be able to make pads for them. And they dubbed him the Padman. And yeah, I want to say they,

well, I know they did come out with a film about it, but I just remember like years ago, because this was almost 10 years ago, but years ago, like them doing, just seeing a lot of interviews and press surrounding him. And I just thought that that was really cool. And, you know, and it was just a great example of how men can be allies in this, you know um I mean for me that's in my opinion that's something more on like an accomplice level um which is which is even better um but yeah I think everybody should like google the padman and if you have an opportunity to look at the film definitely check out the film because it's really cool I'll look it up and I'll put the I'll put the link in the show notes I'd love to hear about your relationship to your cycle because obviously you're really passionate you're really connected to this your life must be really

full as a creative and a non-profit leader and an entrepreneur I'd love to hear how your relationship to your own cycle has changed since you've been doing this work? I would say it stayed the same but maybe I look at it more so as a pause now where I don't really do anything like I try not to do any work I try not to move around too much and yeah I just looked at it as a pause and for the sake of just being, being still and resting. So I think that's probably the main thing that's, that's happened or that's, that's changed, but I've always talked about it. I've always had a name for it. I've always tracked it. I've had a period journal for over five years now. And yeah, I think it's just shifted a bit on my end because I just choose to understanding my privilege. Like I can just not do anything. So I get it. Like no one,

a lot of people may not be able to do that um but yeah I just decide to to relax and do and do nothing is there any self-care that you do when you're on your period that you that really helps oh my goodness I I do a lot of um I try my best even though I slack sometimes but I do a lot of teas and herbs. I make sure I have like my dong quai or raspberry leaf. And I have a lot of essential oils that I use to just kind of keep on my palms or rub on my neck or rub on my stomach. There are some products that I live by now when it comes to my seven days of pause. Um, the honey pot company has an amazing body bomb. That's really good for just rubbing on my stomach. Um, it's super, um, super relaxing. Um, I really like, um really like, I used to really like these chocolates

from Whoopi and Maya. And I hate to say that I think their company is no longer in business, but you may, some people may be able to find like the remaining products um if they have access to like dispensaries um if they're not selling online but whoopi and maya used to have like these amazing um chocolates um with cacao like cacao based um cbd infused chocolates that were amazing and um sometimes i would even dip it like like make a hot chocolate out of it. And they do have some THC products, like if people are into, if people are into cannabis, or CBD products, I think that's a big thing. And then most importantly, like I do acupuncture on a regular basis. I think that's something that I don't, I know some people may not be

as hip to for period care, but I always talk about it because if I can get a session surrounding my period, I would get it like around, I will have a session maybe around day four or day five of my period but I do acupuncture all the time like I go at least once a week um but that's that does wonders for for period care I would say that's kind of something that has helped long term for sure that's great do you experience like when you're at the other end of your cycle when you you're ovulating, do you have more creative energy at that time? Like, do you organize your work differently around your cycle? Yeah, I definitely have a lot more energy, I think, just to put it into different places, whether it's like more energy to do a lot better when it comes to either stretching or working out or just walking more, being outside. And then as far as creative energy, for sure, just have more of a space to have ideas

flowing or just to dive into my work because I always have something to do. I'm never not busy yeah ovulation I'm I'm much more more open creatively and physically like more frisky for life I guess I love that physically more frisky for life how do you navigate the premenstrual phase as an entrepreneur as a creative as an entrepreneur, as a creative, as an activist, does that, does that bring up challenges for you? I don't think so. I think, I think maybe like when I did have the fibroid issue, cause I had surgery in May, 2021. So I'm all, all better now. It's like I have a whole new uterus. But I definitely would say maybe before the surgery, that was a huge challenge. But even like trying to think like before the pandemic, I don't think I really had too much of a challenge just kind of navigating the space. And I think what really helps is just being able to talk about it or just being able to, being in the space and helping people have their conversations or encouraging other people to talk about what they're dealing with and their issues. And then, of course, just listening to other folks, you know, express their concerns or express their experiences with doctors

um you know like it's I think just really having an outlet is helpful truly so true and I'd love to hear if you have had experiences of you're on your bleeding or maybe like on day one or two but you have to show up for something you have to show up for an interview or yeah to how do you handle that do you have any tips or or guidance for when that happens honestly well I mean I I let go of cannabis back in September of 2021. But before that, cannabis was very helpful for that. Because I don't do like medicine as far as prescription meds. Unless and and honestly, like unless that I have no other option. And my period when they get really, really bad and I just want to go to sleep, then maybe I'll have something. But I guess what I'm really like pointing to is that a lot of over-the-counter things just never helped. So once I went towards

like the natural remedies, that's where I was able to feel real treatment and long term treatment. So just really getting into herbs and teas and essential oils and and not eating like crazy, horrible things before the bleed. Um, yeah, but when I just was like, no, I'm completely off of medication, I would just turn to, um, you know, to self-medicate essentially with cannabis. So, yeah, but I still just advocate for folks to at least figure out, just try something and figure out a way or figure out like um just a remedy or method that works for them because that's what I did I honestly just used to experiment on myself and I still kind of do to this day I mean because it's it's my body you know I kind of would rather to take time to experiment on my own self than to give a doctor a chance to do the same and then it just go completely wrong maybe one day my part of the world will catch up with yours when it comes to cannabis yeah no yeah I was like I understand like it's it's different places and you know and it's it's

unfair because it's such a amazing natural medicine and it, it doesn't have to just be, you know, taken in the way that the world just views it, you know, with smoking, you know, I'm totally down for folks to be able to at least, you know, have it for, for pain management, you know, I think it's, it's pretty horrible that the world, the rest of the world hasn't caught on to something that's so amazing that has been here for for a long time that has these amazing like healing properties so yeah I like the world that you're trying to create Chelsea I think that what you're doing on so many levels is so beautiful and um I'd love it if you could speak about how our listeners can connect with you and support the work of happy period you know I always like

tell folks to just um for me like continue to have the conversation with me online. I'm, I'm pretty engaging on social media. So I do like connecting with people talking to other folks about their experiences with their periods, and, or even their experience, navigating like healthcare. So yeah, it's like, connect with me online at Chelsea von Chazchaz.com, at chelseavonchaz on Instagram. I'm also on Twitter and Facebook. But we definitely get a huge part of the period posse community for Happy Period on Happy Period's Instagram. I think that's where a lot of people connect with us the most, especially when we're just taking in, you know, in real time news about menstruation of what's, you know, what's happening and what's going on

here in, in America, especially with a lot of our states are removing the tampon tax over time, but there's still like so much, much more work to do. So if anyone's interested in supporting eliminating the tampon tax, I would suggest that they reach out to the period equity organization, period equity.org. They're amazing doing work for policy and, and law changes when it comes to menstrual equity and for happy period, go to hashtag happy period.org and connect with us, with us there. Is there a way that people can donate? Yes, the donation is enabled. Pretty cool, like Facebook or or meta more so it is now, but Facebook and meta they've made it.

It's really cool. Like there's different ways and how people can support us as an organization online so you can donate to happy period through our facebook um through our instagram um facebook is or excuse me meta gotta get used to it meta um has um been a huge support of non-profits especially happy period um we were like one of the first um or maybe like one out of like the first hundred because i remember there being at least 100 but still a small group of charities that were able to try out like the facebook page for non-profits and to have the donation links. And the other cool thing is like 100% of your donation is covered. So whatever you donate, Happy Period receives 100% of that. So Facebook Meta, they do not take anything, any taxes or know service fees or anything like that they don't they don't take

anything away from from the donation so if anybody's interested in donating you can donate through to us through facebook or excuse me meta donate to us through our meta page um and also instagram instagram is it's it's essentially the same from the same platform so so you can donate to us there and then of course um through our website great I'll put the links in the show notes as well so people can find them all easily there awesome yeah I read that you're doing 100 talks in 2022 to bring change for menstrual education yeah yeah I think I'm I'm only, it's March, and I just did one in Houston, Austin. I just came from Austin for South by Southwest. So maybe that was talk number 17. Great. but we'll see because I'm counting I'm counting podcasts I'm counting like my panels and all of my speaking engagements um and I'm also counting um the workshops that I'm doing so um yeah it was

just a number that I had in my head like to do um and also a challenge to a friend because I have a friend who is a singer performer and he had a goal um last year to do a hundred features and it was funny because like he was really for this I think he actually asked I have to ask him if he completed it, but yeah, it was really funny because he, he set the goal, the top of the year. And I remember when he got to like in the forties, he was like, man, this is a lot. Why did I do this? Why did I do this? This is a lot. But he was like, well, I'm just going to, I'm just going to keep going. I think he actually did make it to a hundred. I have to ask him, but, but yeah, I was just inspired and I just figured like, oh yeah, that's actually, that's actually really good. And I think it's so doable,

especially with you know, the opportunities now to just talk virtually, even like how we're talking, you know what I mean? Like, I think it's, I think that's really, really cool. So, so yeah, I, I'm going to keep it at a hundred. I'm, I think it's, I think that's really, really cool. So, so yeah, I, I'm gonna keep it at a hundred. I'm, I'm still, I'm still going. But yeah, I'll probably end up doing double time, like the next month or two. Well, we're glad to be part of it and we'll share this conversation as far and wide as we can, because I think what you're doing is, is so amazing and so important. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

There was a beautiful thing I read from you where you said that happy period was your personal expression of freedom. And you want everyone with periods to be free. I think that's such a beautiful statement. And yeah, what you're creating in the world is magnificent. And we're rooting for you every step of the way. Thank you so, so so so much sophie i really i really appreciate it and thanks for having me on thank you thank you for being so patient with my crazy schedule i understand it now you're doing 100 talks i appreciate you yeah i'm counting counting it all you so, so, so much for still having me.

Wow, I've learned so much speaking to Chelsea. I hope that you're inspired to help to contribute to this movement to end period poverty. If you want to contribute to Happy Period, you can go to hashtag happy period.org and make a donation there and if you are loving the podcast as always we would love it if you could leave us a review on apple podcasts it helps us to reach more people and until next week keep living life according to your own brilliant rhythm