The Period Poverty Project was founded by Andrea Rix and Yasi Henderson as high school sophomores who were passionate about fighting period poverty in their community. In the summer of 2019, Yasi attended a leadership in global health course at Brown University where she was encouraged to create an action plan to tackle an important health issue. Having recently read Nadya Okamoto’s book, Period Power, the reality of period poverty was a prominent topic in her mind. Yasi shared the book and action plan with her friend, Andrea, who was immediately stirred by the fact that she had never even heard of this problem which affects the health, education, and wellbeing of women all around the world. Motivated by their shared passion and awareness of this neglected issue, the pair created the Period Poverty Project in the fall of 2019.

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PPP has now expanded its reach to 10+ student-led branches across San Diego and has led workshops on menstrual equity with 70+ attendees. Through school-based and city-wide menstrual product drives, we have collected and donated over 400,000 pads and tampons to unhoused menstruators, survivors of domestic violence, at-risk youth, low-income students, and migrants living in vulnerable conditions.

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Yasi & Andrea have since graduated from high school, but continue to facilitate product distribution and PPP chapters throughout San Diego. In 2024, Aliya McCord and Emma McHugh joined our executive board as VP of Development and VP of Outreach, respectively. Our team is currently working on period education curriculum and producing a documentary film on period poverty and stigma in San Diego.

 

We are so excited about our future plans and hope that this is only the beginning of our role in the menstrual movement!  - Andrea & Yasi​