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.

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](http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Period-Power/Nadya-Okamoto/9781534430204)_, which comes out October 16.

> 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.

>

> — **Nadya Okamoto** , founder, [PERIOD](https://www.period.org/) & author, [_Period Power_](http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Period-Power/Nadya-Okamoto/9781534430204)

[](http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Period-Power/Nadya-Okamoto/9781534430204)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](https://www.period.org)

- [Nadya’s Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/nadyaokamoto/)

- [On Nadya’s city council run](https://www.teenvogue.com/story/nadya-okamoto-explains-what-she-learned-as-a-candidate-for-cambridge-city-council)

- [Pre-order for _Period Power: A Manifesto for the Menstrual Movement_](http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Period-Power/Nadya-Okamoto/9781534430204)

### 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](https://www.voterparticipation.org/2018-election-dates/)—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.

## Sponsors

This episode of NYG is brought to you by:

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