Period Power with Nadya Okamoto

Welcome to the periodcast! Yep, today’s show is all about menstruation — the good, the bad, and the get me a frickin’ heating pad already. So grab your period product of choice, and join us as we get comfortable talking about the politics of periods, what it’s like to talk about your cycle at work, and why we refuse to keep quiet about this super normal bodily function.

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Our guest is Nadya Okamoto, executive director of PERIOD, a nonprofit she founded in high school that’s dedicated to turning menstrual care from a taboo topic into a basic right. She’s also the author of the new book Period Power: A Manifesto for the Menstrual Movement, which comes out October 16.

Nadya Okamoto, founder, PERIOD & author, Period Power

Eighty percent of our congressional positions are held by men. And if people in power continue to be afraid to talk about periods and do not acknowledge it as an actual need, then where it counts, periods will continue to go unaddressed. So that’s why we need people who don’t menstruate and people who identify as men to be involved.

We chat with Nadya about:

• How experiencing housing instability as a teen led her to see what happens when people can’t afford period products
• Why PERIOD is on a mission to make periods something we celebrate, not hide
• Why she ran for Cambridge City Council at the age of 19 — and what she learned in the process
• What it’s like to be running (and scaling) an international nonprofit at the age of 20

Links on bloody links

• PERIOD
• Nadya’s Instagram
• On Nadya’s city council run
• Pre-order for Period Power: A Manifesto for the Menstrual Movement

Also on the agenda:

• Bringing up menstruation on stage
• Monster post-pregnancy periods
• The unbearable gender-normativity of way too many period-tracking apps
• The magical properties of heating pads
• Stop calling us “girls” already

And finally: if you’re eligible to vote in the U.S., time to check your registration — your state’s deadline might be coming up in the next couple weeks, and you don’t want to miss all the awesome women you could be voting for in the midterms this year.

☞ And there’s always a full transcript.

This episode of NYG is brought to you by:

Shopify, a leading global commerce platform that’s building a diverse, intelligent, and motivated team — and they want to apply to you. Visit shopify.com/careers to see what they’re talking about.

Harvest, makers of awesome software to help you track your time, manage your projects, and get paid. Try it free, then use code NOYOUGO to get 50% off your first paid month.