who we are
PERIOD was founded in 2014 by Nadya Okamoto and Vincent Forand when they were both 16-year-old high school students. Nadya was inspired to start the organization after hearing real stories of homeless women and period poverty while her family was experiencing housing instability. Nadya recently published her debut book PERIOD POWER: a Manifesto for the Menstrual Movement. Period’s three pillars are service, education, advocacy. One of the most important things we do at PERIOD is provide free, safe, and accessible menstrual products to people in need across the nation through our network of PERIOD chapters. Our Chapters fundraise, host product drives, and establish relationships with local service partners such as homeless shelters, free clinics, food pantries, LGBTQI+ resource centers, domestic violence shelters, and other non-profits that distribute products, in order to fulfill the needs of their communities. A crucial tool for fighting period poverty and stigma is education. By spreading factual information surrounding menstrual health, we are able to debunk myths, encourage people to speak up about their experiences with their period, and help advocate for their own health. We have two educational programs available for chapters to run in their communities. PERIOD TALK strives to facilitate conversations around periods and empower menstruators and non-menstruators to advocate for period health. By delving into period health, activism, and self-advocacy, this program helps guide chapters’ first steps in becoming the best PERIOD WARRIOR they can be! We aim to advocate for systemic change through policy and legislation regarding menstrual equity. Reaching out to state representatives, canvassing, and lobbying are all important in making period poverty a mainstream issue and one that our legislators will prioritize. Our Chapters have the opportunity to stand as the face of PERIOD and advocate for legislative change in their respective states by meeting with state representatives. They testify on issues such as free and accessible period products in all school bathrooms, prisons, shelters, etc., as well as ending the Tampon Tax in the remaining 35 states, and work on the local level and meet with school administration to advocate for free period products in their school bathrooms.
our Co presidents:
ESHAL AHMED
Eshal is a co-president and founder of PERIOD @ Montgomery County. Ever since she attended the UN GirlUp Summit in the summer of 2019 and heard about the PERIOD initiative, she knew she somehow had to be involved, as menstrual hygiene is something she has always been passionate about; she does not understand why so much of the world considers it a taboo, and Eshal wanted to change this stigma. Eshal focuses on battling multitudes of people, places, and ideals when working with human rights, such as PERIOD, with organizations such as the United Nations GirlUp foundation, Asian Advocates, new/gen, and more. When not advocating, she can be found reading or horseback riding!
WAMBUI NGUGI
Hey guys! This is Wambui, she is one of the three co presidents and founders of PERIOD @ MoCo. Wambui has always been into the world of advocating music and STEM. She is one to whole heartedly advocate for what she believes needs change, though some problems may not be as prominent as others. From sharing discussions with her friends about the plethora of injustices in the world, being active and educating others in the BLM movement, and starting a MoCo PERIOD club chapter with her friends. Wambui is ready to tackle the world wide stigma surrounding the (warped) Menstrual image, in working side by side with the new MoCo PERIOD team to bring service, education, advocacy, and awareness to this issue.
