Rhea Saranath
I’m Rhea, founder of The Goddess Project and firsthand witness to the obstruction of female potential around the globe. I was born in Washington state, but when I was six years old we relocated to India.
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I vividly remember my first encounter with the menstrual taboo. Laxmi was a local woman who helped our family with childcare. One day, I noticed a dark red stain on the back of her saree. I froze, understanding that I had seen something I wasn’t supposed to have seen, and not knowing how to alert Laxmi without embarrassing her.
But before I could respond, my mom came in, and immediately saw the stain too. She burst into action, and ran out of the room. She returned with a clean saree, pads, and 50 rupees for Laxmi to go and purchase more.
I’ll never forget the panic and urgency of my mother’s actions that day, and the feeling that this was an emergency that had to be dealt with quickly and secretly.
After that incident, I would leave spare sarees and hygiene products in the bathroom for Laxmi. I didn’t want this to happen to her again.
As I grew older, I learned more about the menstrual taboo in India. Women and girls on their periods are expected to stay in the house, stay away from men, and are not allowed to visit temples or religious sites. It’s a type of incarceration, a hiding away that only adds to the shame. It’s even worse for people who don’t have access to hygiene products, which they have often had to forgo purchasing for the sake of feeding their families. Because of this taboo, girls routinely miss weeks of school, and women routinely miss weeks of work – missing out on countless opportunities.
When I returned to the USA, I did not expect this taboo, or period poverty to follow me. But I began to see it everywhere: in the looks the cashier would give you as you checked out hygiene products, in the way they would ask if you wanted a bag even though that’s all you bought, in the way male teachers grew uncomfortable when you asked if you could use the restroom, and even in girls missing school because they did not have access to hygiene products.
In 2017, I helped pass the Protecting Girls’ Access to Education in Vulnerable Settings Act, through lobbying on Capitol Hill and speaking directly with senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, among others.
In 2021, I brought my advocacy work home and founded The Goddess Project. So far, we have donated products to cover more than 200,000 menstrual cycles in Washington state and are currently working to advocate for federal and national bills that strive to tackle period poverty. One of the bills I am focused on lobbying for is the Enhancing Public Access to Feminine Hygiene Products Act, a federal law that hopes to provide feminine hygiene products in public restrooms.
If you would like to support The Goddess Project, please consider donating through the link at the top, or sign up to become an ambassador below.
“One Goddess can create a spark of change, but an army of Goddesses can ignite a blaze.”
Drew Siegel
Hi, my name is Drew Siegel and I am a junior at Scarsdale High School in New York. I’m currently working with a professor at Cornell to research female reproductive cancer, and how socioeconomic differences have an effect on cancer outcomes. The research is illuminating and closely linked to the same correlation in menstrual equity: that those with low incomes have less access to healthcare and hygiene products, and therefore, worse outcomes.
I am also an officer for the Scarsdale Women for Women club, where we have had great success with menstrual hygiene drives just like those The Goddess Project does. In addition, I am an ambassador for Girls’ Global Health, an organization that builds awareness of health issues that girls in developing countries face.
At The Goddess Project, I am working to expand these efforts through educational initiatives and lobbying. In New York State, a bill just passed to provide free menstrual hygiene products in public schools, but we need to extend this to non-public schools, women’s shelters and more. Join us!
Francesca Casciari
Francesca Casciari is a high school senior at the all-girls school Nightingale-Bamford in New York City. Having attended a single sex institution since Kindergarten, Francesca has grown deeply interested in studying women's rights and female empowerment.
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Combined with her academic passions of the ancient world and Classics, Francesca's social justice work focuses on introducing teenagers to the philosophical foundations that both perpetuate and reinforce sexism to this day. Francesca created her website, Being Anti-Sexist, two years ago to further this work, which aligns with Ibram X Kendi's critical work on anti-racism to advocate for meaningful change.
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Francesca is an award-winning Latin student, and has hosted and lectured at the Classics Continuum at the International House of New York. She looks forward to sharing her work this fall at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights.
Giulia De Maio
Hi, I’m Giulia De Maio, a senior at Marymount Highschool in Los Angeles, CA and founder of The Community Cupboard, a donation-run fridge and pantry that serves the families of the Boys and Girls Club of Venice, CA. Our goal is to ensure that no family goes without essentials or healthy food. We include in those essentials menstrual hygiene products.
Going to an all-girls high school has taught me to be confident in myself and not let my gender limit my goals. But I know that not every girl has the same experience. I have grown up surrounded by strong women who have taught me the value of fighting against sexism, and as more and more rights are being stripped away from women, I think it is necessary now more than ever to speak up and do as much as we can. I hope that by shedding light on ways that sexism has been perpetuated by society we can help to bring change.
Neha Raghunathan
Hi, my name is Neha Raghunathan, and I am a freshman at James Bowie High School in Austin, Texas. Listening to my mom, aunts, and other women in my family describe their experiences, I learned that a menstruating woman is considered impure during the monthly cycle and wouldn’t be allowed in temples and kitchens in certain areas of the house or wouldn’t be able to attend weddings or religious and cultural functions. No one dared touch or interact with them physically during the monthly cycle! Married women couldn’t wear flowers on their hair or look attractive.
Some rationalized this physical separation of women from others in the family and community during their naturally occurring monthly cycle as giving their bodies the chance to rest and recuperate and reduce the spread of germs. While giving women rest from household duties as they complete the menstrual cycle makes sense at one level, the very primitive way of going about it in a shame-inducing way results in emotional trauma for them.
Based on preliminary research, I understand that Austin Independent School District has adopted a policy to provide free period products in girls bathrooms in every school. However, many schools do not show evidence of having implemented this policy effectively.
I wish to associate with The Goddess Project to learn from and work with this community of dedicated and passionate ambassadors to destigmatize menstruation and increase resources for girls and women in the Central Texas area.
Jessica Buxton
Hi, My name is Jessica Buxton and I am in my final semester at UC Berkeley studying Molecular and Cellular Biology with an emphasis in Neurobiology. I am currently aiding in research at the Kaufer Lab studying the effects of stress on vulnerable regions in Alzheimer’s Disease. After graduating from Cal, I will be working as a medical assistant at OPA Orthopedics in Seattle while applying to medical school.
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I have always been fascinated with how the body works as well as the health disparities in our healthcare systems. Women are notoriously understudied in comparison to our biological gender counterpart. The impacts of female hormones on both the body and mind are significant and yet understudied. It is still unknown why more women in the United States suffer from Alzheimer’s Disease compared to men!
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While the answers to research questions regarding the effects of hormonal changes, birth control, and menstrual issues on neurodegeneration will require much time and resources in a lab facility, providing free menstrual products to women and lessening the stigma surrounding menstruation does not.
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As a member of the science community and future healthcare provider, I became part of the Goddess Project to aid in effective change that influences all ages of women and future generations. It is my goal to contribute my understanding of the healthcare field and research community to better equip our project with science-supported tools in achieving our goals at not only the middle and high school levels, but also the university and federal levels.