June 22, 2023 • 47 mins
There’s no way you won’t be inspired after hearing Nadya Okamoto in the O.R.! She started her own non-profit when she was only 16, and now she’s one of the founders of a period product line that aims to remove the stigma from periods!
Nadya shares her incredible story of finding a balance between work and rest, and she opens up about the toxic reality of “girl boss” mentality.
Plus, you may learn more about your OWN anatomy by the time we’re through!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Scrubbing In with Becca Tilly and Tanya ret An iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Hello everybody, we are scrubbing In.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
We have a very special guest today.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I'm really excited because she's only twenty five years old
and she's done more in her life than.
Speaker 4 (00:23):
I don't know than you've ever done and I've ever
done yues Truly.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I don't know if that's true, but she did attend
Harvard University. She's now known as this huge social media
influencer and a social entrepreneur.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
She went viral on TikTok for being so open about
menstruation and period symptoms. She now has over four million
followers on TikTok and her followers love her realistic content.
I am one of those four million, and.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
She also has her own period product brand titled August.
We are very excited to talk and to learn all
about how she continues to change the stigma behind periods.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Please help us give a warm welcome to Nadia Kamoto
who Hello, Why, Welcome to scrubbing In. Thank you for
having me.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
I'm very excited because I've been following you for a
really long time, and I thought I talked about periods,
and I thought I was really open about like, oh gosh,
my menstrual everything until I started following you.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Next level, it's next level.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
When did you start?
Speaker 1 (01:26):
I mean, I don't even know where to start with
you because I feel like there's so much to cover
and you're only twenty five, and I really want to
talk about like the business process and how you started everything.
But I guess in terms of like your social media
and stuff, how did you get so comfortable sharing all
that and what kind of like sparked.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
That for you.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Yeah, well, it definitely wasn't right out of the gates.
Speaker 5 (01:44):
Like I think people see my tiktoks now and they're like,
oh my gosh, this girl popped out of nowhere, just
like posting her period blood online.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
But in reality, like I've.
Speaker 5 (01:52):
Been in the period out of becacy space for almost
ten years.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Next year is my ten year anniversary.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
So you started when you were fifteen.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
So I started when I was sixteen. I started.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
I had a nonprofit called Period when I was sixteen
years old. And when I was sixteen, that's when I started.
I mean, that's honestly was three years into having like
a fucking Facebook account and an Instagram account and so
social media to me wasn't an influencer thing. It was purely, Hey,
I'm running a nonprofit. I want people to give me
small dollar like five dollars donations and show up at
(02:22):
a volunteering event. We don't have any money. I don't
have any money. Social media is the only free tool
that we can use that's cheaper than printing papers and
posting them around Portland organ So social media for me
started ten years ago doing grassroots advocacy, and I think
I fell in love with social media as this like
free mobilization tool, especially in the realm of like changing
(02:44):
public opinion, and then working in politics. So I would
say that while I'm very, very bold on social media,
it was like six years of working on this, I
mean kind of more than full time alongside school and stuff,
before I actually posted my period blood online.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Got it?
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Can I ask a question, So you're sixteen years old
and you're like, I'm going to start this nonprofit. Was
there someone in your life that you saw doing something
and you thought I want to change.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
This area or like what?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Because I don't at sixteen, I was thinking very differently
than you, it seems.
Speaker 5 (03:21):
Yeah, I would say, my mom is a really big
part of it. My mom is like a single mom,
me and then my two younger sisters, And you know,
I think around in my early adolescence, like we were
definitely going through a lot, Like my mom was really
kind of this strong, resourceful woman who I butt heads
with a lot, but I also really looked up to
just in terms of I could see how much she
(03:43):
was actively sacrificing to like keep me and my sisters safe.
And I will say, like we joke about it now,
how like especially with my other like Asian first or
second generation friends, like the tiger parent pressure is like
to get good grades in school and like your family
the great kind of background sacrifice so much for you
to be successful, like to be a doctor and lawyer.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
I didn't have that.
Speaker 5 (04:06):
My mom was more like I sacrifice so much for
you to like change the fucking world, and like we're
going through all of this and we're putting so much
on the line, and like you have a responsibility to
like reconcile your privilege and do something with it. So
I would say that I definitely have that a lot
for my family. But I'd also say, like I think
(04:26):
that the nature of the period space was I didn't
set into it being like, oh, I'm passionate about periods,
let me start a nonprofit. It was like, wait, I've
never heard of period poverty before. Forty states have the
tampon tax. Wait, periods are a leading cause of absenteism.
It was like learning about the issue, and then I
feel like in school, you know when you do community
(04:46):
service and they have you like sign.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
On the little hour forms and.
Speaker 5 (04:50):
You get it signed by your parent and you like
volunteer and you get credit for it.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
Yeah, So like I think school trained me to be like, Okay,
I am I care about in issue, like a disparity
in the world, so I go volunteer for a nonprofit.
But the thing about period poverty is I was first
turning to the internet looking for organizations addressing period poverty
in my area, in the region, in the country, and
(05:15):
there just wasn't one. There wasn't like an organization focused
specifically on advocacy, education and giving period products to people
in the States.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
And so I think, I guess.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
Honestly, a little bit of it is probably just me
being like impulsive, was like, oh, if it's not there, like,
I guess I might as little start it.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Yeah, but so you started it at sixteen, and how
big is it now? How many people are working for
it now?
Speaker 5 (05:40):
Well, I honestly, I haven't been involved for a few years.
So I in twenty nineteen, I like raised a bunch
of money and replaced myself with an adult executive director.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
I was gonna say, I was like, I think I
did some stuff with Period last year.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (05:53):
So I led the nonprofit for six years as executive director,
and by the time I left, we had distributed enough
Period products address like, uh, I think it was like
one million periods. So we had given out twenty five
million units of Period products. We had registered chapters in
all fifty states, we were working on legislative advocacy approaching.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (06:10):
It became like the one of the largest organizations in
the space. And I was raising like millions of dollars
a year, specifically working with every major Period brand as
a donor for both products and financing. And I think
we had a team of like twenty or something like
with interns and contractors.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
And now it's like, I don't even know it's I don't.
Speaker 5 (06:32):
Yeah, I honestly like I the organization got to a
size where I was like oh my god, I'm in
college one. I don't even know what I want to
do with my life right.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Like I'm at Harvard.
Speaker 5 (06:41):
Yeah, and like well, and I was also I had
just run for office and I was like kind of
burnt out from that, and I was like, I just
don't I'm not the best person to run this, and
like the organization is now when you get to like
a multimillion dollar budget and you're doing some really amazing
expanding program work.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Like experience does matter.
Speaker 5 (07:00):
But I think I started to really feel that where
I was like, oh my I need I need literally
need to just like raise money so I can pay
someone else to take on the organization because I think
it was kind of the realization that I felt like
I was doing a disservice to the organization if I
stayed at the HELM, because it was like I was
I was no longer the best person to run.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Yeah, you were like a little in over your head.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
Yeah, I was totally in over my head. But I
kind of feel like I'm in over my head on
everything that I do.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
So is that way is so in twenty nineteen when
you stepped away from that, is that when you launched
August which is your period company.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Yeah, so it wasn't when I launched.
Speaker 5 (07:31):
It was like, I mean, there's so much that goes
into starting any sort of yeas ran we raised two
million dollars before we launched, and it took us a
year and a half to do that raise because it's
it's like I it was such a steep learning curve
of having to learn like what goes into starting a company?
What is a minimum quantity order? And like how much
does that?
Speaker 1 (07:51):
But not even that, but even just like creating these
products in jail is like so hard because I remember
I well, a few years ago, I was like really
passionate about the I'm patis about uh why am I
blinking on them?
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Now?
Speaker 1 (08:02):
I use them mental cups, yeah, mentro cups, and there
aren't so many in the space, and I was like,
I want to create one that like has a tampon
string that has that same kind of feel because that's
what we're so used to using.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
And then I kind of got into like the Weeds,
the very early Weeds event.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
I was like, never mind, Yeah, this is quite literally
the hardest thing I've ever tried to do in my life.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Yeah, and you did it well.
Speaker 5 (08:28):
I would say that mental cups are also easier because
you don't have to buy so much up a front, right,
Like we're talking, you could get like a few thousand
mental cups and like try it out. That's why you
do see more small mentro cup brands coming out try
it out, put a like cute box on it. Period
products like tampons and pads, the minimum order is like
in the millions, right, So it wasn't like, oh, let's
buy a few and then try it out. It's like, no,
(08:49):
we have to. And also it was that we wanted
to build something really thoughtful, right Because by that point
I had been working in the period space for several years.
I had written a whole book on like why I
thought the industry needed to change, and I kind of
got to a point where I was like, I've worked
with every major period brand either as a nonprofit partner,
as a consultant, or an influencer, and like I one
of my critiques of this space is that product hasn't
(09:11):
been developed in the most thoughtful way.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Right.
Speaker 5 (09:13):
It's been a lot of cutting corners in sustainability, in
terms of comfort, and originally I thought we were going
to do menstrual cups, and then we actually started to
build and talk to a community of young menstruators where
we realized like the majority of them didn't even know
where the vagina was.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
Nobody knows how to use them. It's like very sad
to me.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
No, I still like on social media and in person,
will like meet grown women some of whom have been
given birth, who like would they hear me talk and
they're like, I didn't know pean period blood came out
of the same hole or it came out of different holes.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Wait, They're like, I didn't know it came out of
two different holes.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
And I always know about my pe hole until my
adult Like, like I think I was in college when
I started really examining my vagina, Like I would look
in the mirror and like open it up and like
look in the and I didn't know. Yeah, I thought
the same time, I thought that your pee and your
period like came out of the same thing. I honestly
had no idea until I think I was in college.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Yeah, that's where I'm at.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
She's starting non propitts at sixteen and I'm just learning.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
But China was looking in the mirror, looking.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Into into my flaps at twenty one.
Speaker 5 (10:18):
No, I mean there's still so much, like I feel
like I'm I mean, I'm ten years into like literally
this being like an obsession of mine, and there's still
so much that I don't know right, Like I think
I'm still just learning more about like uterine fibroids and
endometriosis and yeah, all of these other components of your
period and like how hormones and like birth control and
(10:39):
like there's it's such a it's I mean, that's the
beauty of working in periods. And why I'm still like
so obsessed with it is like it just connects to
every part of identity life.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
But can I ask you something like in the business world,
because I was actually talking to somebody she's kind of
like a like a venture capitalist and like raises funds
and like puts money into different companies and stuff. And
she was telling me that the female male space, like
the like the female products in that whole space is
like does not do well. Like it's hard to get
people invested and get their money, and like people just
(11:10):
don't care.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Do you feel that?
Speaker 5 (11:13):
I Mean, Okay, well, there's probably a lot of reasons
why it took us a year and a half to
raise our preseed round.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
But like, yeah, I have.
Speaker 5 (11:22):
I think that it's a harder space one because like
we had investors, We had a lot of investors who
turned us down and simply said, there's just no way
you can start something and ever compete with likeas always,
Like these are companies that have been around since the
beginning of the creation of this market one hundred years ago.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Like it's really it hasn't.
Speaker 5 (11:42):
Even been like one hundred years that like Tampa's and
Pads first entered mainstream market.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
I know, like you, I don't think you understand when
I go to like CBS or Walgrains or like a
store like that to get my products when it's my period,
I only see Tampas and always and I don't use
those brands, And it like infuriates me because I feel
like it is so much harder for us to get
our hands on these products that are cleaner, you know
(12:08):
what I mean, like not gifted and bleach in all
of these things because you have to order them online.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
Is that how you have to order August.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
We just launch on Target. Oh that's huge, Oh congrass,
thank you.
Speaker 5 (12:16):
But I think that like even around like when we
were raising. I will say it's different because we're kind
of in an interesting time, like in the last few
years where like and I think a lot of my
career has escalated because I've been in the right place
at the right time, Like started in twenty fourteen. In
December twenty fifteen was the year that NPR Newsweek we're
writing these articles about how twenty fifteen was the year
of the period where suddenly people realize people at periods
(12:38):
and we needed to talk about it. And then like
over the last few years, we've seen this like more
reproductive rights conversation coming into the forefront. I think partially
because they're very much under attack right now. And I
also think that as the stigma gets chipped away, I
do think that people in the business world are seeing
it as a strong opportunity. So even though it is
hard to tap into, there is more capital than ever before,
(13:02):
specifically looking into investing in products that are supporting reproductive wellness.
I in comparison to other industries, it's not the same
level at all, but like, we have made tremendous progress
because like, compared to ten twenty years ago, this just
wasn't even a conversation. It wasn't even like we weren't
even talking about what ingredients were in your period products
(13:22):
at a mainstream level. And so I think that the
more stigma we break away, the more potential there is.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
But I mean, I didn't even think about it until
I started getting my UTI is like crazy. Yeah, I
didn't even I would never even have thought to change
my period products ever in my entire life until I
started looking into it and realizing like that the tampons
I was using were really harmful. And so I think,
like everybody has to like go through at their own thing,
but I feel like some people may not even experience
(13:48):
that their whole lives, you know.
Speaker 5 (13:49):
Yeah. I also think it's like just what you said
is also why it's so hard to break into the
period space historically, is that the period stigma keeps it
under this like you know, dark curtain.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Yeah, when nobody wants to talk about it and we
carry our tampons and up our sleeves to the bathroom
like everybody were all like ashamed of it in a
weird way.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
Yeah, And it's like most people, I mean, maybe yourself,
like you get into your period, you start using like
usually what your mom just uses right, and so there's
no conversation about it. There's no like trading tips around it.
I think like when you think about makeup, like the
way that makeup is talked about, and I mean, you
are choosing between this lips of color, this this lips
(14:28):
of color. You're not necessarily like combining them.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
It's true.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Yeah, Like all the influencers that you see like doing
their makeup, we see like different types of makeup. I
could see five hundred people doing it in a day, yeah,
and see anybody holding up their tamponing like this one
is well I do, but.
Speaker 5 (14:43):
Like right, but this, But I also think like I
think like when you compare you know, how we talk
about makeup of like, wait, that's really cute.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Tell me about it. What do you like about it
versus your period?
Speaker 5 (14:54):
You're not going around like even thinking like you're not
even thinking like oh girls around me or like people
around me have their peers, much less going around being
like oh, like.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Does it absorb your blood clots?
Speaker 5 (15:03):
Well? You know, like it's just the stigma has completely
limited the amount of innovation that we could see in
this space.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Were you having these conversations with your friends, like when
you were like in high school and stuff. Was were
these conversations that you were having openly with your friends
and you all were talking about the issues or was
this like a single like you had a focus and
that was like your like yeah, kind of your thought process,
but not something you were socially talking about.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
I guess I don't think it was.
Speaker 5 (15:49):
Yeah, it was definitely not something I was socially talking about.
I mean I think that especially in high school, I was,
I mean I was just concerned about like fitting in
and making friends. And I went to high school in Portland, Oregon.
We're like being cool was like enjoying rock climbing and
you know.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
That, And so that's where I belong. I mean, you know,
sporty girl.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
No, No, like yeah, your best on doesn't mean.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
I couldn't be you look like yeah, you know, like
I belong.
Speaker 5 (16:19):
Yeah, you just need some like Birken stuff like yeah.
But but so I think socially it wasn't really something
I was talking about. Plus, I remember, like the first
thing I did when we decided to incorporate as a
nonprofit is me and my co founder, a classmate of
my name Vince. We got up in front of the
whole school and we were like, we're doing a drive,
(16:39):
a collection drive, and we're just going to collect period products.
We've got these bins. Can you just drop period products off?
We'll handle the distribution and stay tuned for like a
packing party. And like the silence and just like the
looks and you know, it was it was just embarrassing.
I think I really used it to fuel me, and
I think every time some when it reacts in like
(17:01):
a weird and comfort way, it fueled me. But like
in my high school social life, I was like, okay,
like not gonna talk about it there, but I use
that to fuel me everywhere else. And like I do
not have any social anxiety if I'm talking to like
a crowd of strangers, and so I think that's where
it's like I didn't talk about it socially, but like
all my free time was like cold emailing people, talking
(17:22):
to any like groups that would listen to me. I
would literally go to like the local stores, like the
local Jiffy Loop and the Jiffy Lube auto mechanic store
and like pitch them fun like hey, I'm raising for
this thing, can you give me money? Like I was
literally a sixteen year old kid walking around Portland trying
to figure out what it meant to raise money, googling
how to raise money. There were times where I would
(17:43):
like make cookies and give them out and like on
the street and like play guitar Like this was me,
Like I was trying everything. It went from that, and
I would just be so excited if someone gave me
like five dollars, then it was twenty dollars, and then
it was like ten thousand dollars and then twenty five
thousand dollars, so like within six months, and honestly, because
of social media and we were like posting here's what
(18:04):
we're doing, journalists were like, what is this? Why haven't
we talked about period poverty? We started like growing very quickly,
and I think a lot of it was because I mean,
once you tell someone about period poverty, it's just like,
oh wow, Like why haven't I ever thought about that?
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Of course?
Speaker 4 (18:19):
Do you ever like kick back with a beer?
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Like you, No, I don't have any of you kick
back with a cocktail?
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Are you if? I like relax?
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Do I not come off as like really chill? But
I'm like, am I like that?
Speaker 4 (18:41):
Obviously?
Speaker 3 (18:42):
High struck.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
No, you meet me here, go get her. I know
you're just like you going to change the world.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Monica Gellerbybes, which I love, which I like, definitely a
Monica Geller vibe. But no, like I look at you
and I just feel like you're doing so much and
you've done so much, and like you're so pat and
I love it. It's like so admirable. But I and I
think I just want to know, like do you turn off?
Speaker 4 (19:03):
Do you or no?
Speaker 3 (19:04):
But like, no, that's a great question because some people.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
I think we had a guest last week that was
she just always works, like she works up until she
goes to sleep, and then she goes to sleep, and
then she gets up and she just works all day
and she's passionate about it and she loves it. And
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. I'm just
curious if you do.
Speaker 5 (19:19):
My life is a little bit more like that than
like having an act of social life. But I would
say that like it's actually been a huge part of
my personal journey. I was actually just telling my assistant
that when we were driving the last time I was
in LA I was here for rehab and I was
in residential rehab for a couple months, like as a
(19:39):
result of like depression, like exhaustion, and just like literal
addiction to work. And I was actually stuck in a
COVID bubble at rehab with three other people who are
there for like addiction to drugs, and I was there
for addiction to work. And like when I say work
a calling, why when I say workaholic, I don't mean like,
(20:00):
you know, glorifying hustle culture. I mean like not pooping
for five days, because like I saw pooping as a
waste of time because I was working like that.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
It was an extreme thing and.
Speaker 5 (20:10):
I talk about it now, but like I definitely I
mean I came into my career at like as hustle
culture and like glorification and rural bossary of like let
me work, I work harder. I represent like you know,
and girl culture has kind of been canceled, and I've
been publicly called out for that too, and I fully
embrace it.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
But like I think what a lot of people didn't see.
Speaker 5 (20:32):
Was I, by age seventeen eighteen, I was like working,
we had we're bringing on like team members. I gave
my first TED talk. Behind the scenes, I was like
very depressed. Struggling with PTSD, doing a lot of work
at night because I had insomnia from PTSD was like
struggling with self harm and on like a regular basis.
In high school, I was passing out from exhaustion and
(20:54):
getting rushed to the emergency room to the point where
like the nurses knew me, and like I would go in,
they would all the tests and then be like, you're exhausted,
you haven't drink water, Like here's an IV bag, you
need to cut back. And I'd be back two months later,
and they got to a point where they just wouldn't
test me anymore because they were like, you just you're
back for exhaustion. So I would say that, like my god, Yeah,
(21:14):
it's like it's been an extreme where I think that
like in an unhealthy way. I mean, so I got
diagnosed when I was in rehab with borderline personality disorder,
which I mean the best way to describe it is
like it's crippling imposter syndrome or feeling like a worthless
piece of as like my base and the way that
I kind of like coped with it was I found
my purpose, like this purpose that I cared so deepy
(21:36):
about that made me feel good, and I just overcompensated
it to an extreme where it was like if I
ever shut my laptop for years, like even in college,
if I shut my laptop, I would just like cry
or have a panic attack. So I's just working until
I was so exhausted I passed out to sleep.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Like it was just not healthy, so wild.
Speaker 5 (21:54):
And part of the hard part of like working through
a lot of those pass is that it's hard to
break when the result of you working that hard is
like external validation, impact numbers and positive media.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
So there was no incentive.
Speaker 5 (22:12):
I also think like after I started the organization, when
I was doing this work, like child Protective Services came in,
I very like suddenly lost connection with my dad. And
this was like while I was talking about like violence
against women from an advocacy standpoint, and meanwhile, like this
domestic violence sexual abuse thing with my family was like
coming to light. And so I was like on the
(22:33):
road speaking writing this book while handling this. So all
that to say, like my relationship with work like now
it is like I love working. This makes me happy.
I not only do August, I like do a bunch
of other things. And I love doing these projects, and
I am very privileged to only have to work on
things that I'm passionate about. But like where I used
(22:54):
to be was like a fucking extreme. It was like
I was not I was like really running away from
so much through work. And I always feel like I
want need to contextualize that, like because for many years
and I regret this in many ways, Like I was
on speaking tour book tour, and I would always be
asked like by these young kids, like people younger than me,
like how do you balance it all? How do you
(23:16):
like manage your mental health and do all these things?
And I feel like my answer, which felt really true
to me at that point, was like, you know, I
really care about the things that I work on, and
I make sacrifices. I don't have like a crazy social
life in high school or college because I'm doing this,
like and I think, in reality, like the real answer
should have been like I honestly just need to go
to therapy and someone needs to tell me to go
(23:38):
to sleep at a bedtime.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Like yeah, And I think that now.
Speaker 5 (23:41):
That's why I'm like very open and honest with it,
because like I recognize that I have a platform and
I definitely was part of that like girl Boss way
too close to the sun, you know.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Yeah, well, especially it's such a like.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Important age where you're soaking in so much, like, oh
I need hustle, is like all I gotta do is hustle.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
I got a hustle.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
When did social media switch from a marketing strategy to
get word out to you being an influencer and like
and using that as your platform specifically?
Speaker 3 (24:18):
What was the shift?
Speaker 5 (24:19):
Well, I mean, I I it started really early on,
when like nano and micro influencers started being like a
whole category business as we're investing in. I would honestly
say that it started when I was at like ten
thousand Instagram followers like TikTok didn't even exist, and the
way I didn't think of it as like I'm an
(24:41):
influencer for like me and what I look like or
my lifestyle. It was like suddenly I had these brands
who were reaching out saying, we love what you're doing
with the organization. Can we quote unquote donate, but it's
really their marketing dollars. Can we give contract you for
compensation for social posts? And so they kind of came
to me and then I started realizing, wait, I can
like negotiate this and then I would just split it.
(25:04):
So because I didn't have an income, like I was
a volunteer with the organization for like four years, you know,
so like I would basically be like, okay, I'll keep
a percentage and then I'll donate it to the organization.
So from the early stage, it wasn't I didn't call
myself an influencer. Now I like I have to recognize
that I am. But like I looked at it as
like this is a revenue stream for the nonprofit. Like
(25:26):
you know, it's harder to get a company or like
a for profit entity to like donate out of the
goodness of their hearts.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
The reality of this capitalistic world.
Speaker 5 (25:36):
Is like, yeah, they want public credit, Yeah, they want
public credit. A lot of this the funds that would
come in are earmarked under marketing costs, right, So I
started using it as like a vehicle to build like
resources for the organization. And like early on when we
had no overhead costs because like me, my co founder,
everybody was volunteer it, we really could track every two
(25:57):
dollars donated went to like pure like sixteen units of
period products to a menstruator in need. So I think
it was really early on. I started TikTok literally like
taking TikTok seriously, like the day we launched the Loking
company August so June twenty twenty one, so like.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Two years very recent.
Speaker 5 (26:14):
And that was because we raised this round and we
knew we had to raise again like in six to
twelve months. And you know, the kind of the metrics
that people the investors look at are like what is
your cost of acquisition? Like how do we make sure
you're not spending so much money to make money? And
so it was like, how do we grow organically? How
(26:35):
do we get people talking about the brand? Wait, TikTok
is this thing, like who are these new celebs coming
out on this platform?
Speaker 3 (26:41):
TikTok. I had not really like used it at all.
Speaker 5 (26:44):
So I started just like posting exorbitance amounts. Like for
six months, I would post like forty to one hundred
times a day. And now now I can show you
like I post like probably ten to twenty times a
day and I just archive whatever doesn't work. But I
was posting so much and then within six months we.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
See two one hundred times a day? Wait, what is
that a minute, you.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Still do ten to twenty ten.
Speaker 5 (27:06):
Yeah, Like if you look at and not a lot
of people see it, But if I look at my
TikTok right, like here's me getting ready and I just
archive like yesterday I posted these seven, but then if
you go into the archive, I've archived like twelve. Also
from that, like, I just started to like, let meking
gamify this platform, figure out how to use it, and
(27:30):
let me see let me see how I can create
it kind of into a funnel to support the business.
And so literally like two six months in, I was
at two million followers. Now then six months later I
was at four million. Now I've kind of like studied
is like algorithms change has become much more oversaturated. So
I've actually been focusing a lot more on like YouTube shorts.
But I like, I definitely think of it as like
(27:50):
a you know, how do I optimize that?
Speaker 3 (27:54):
Are you a genius? I know, I know a literal china.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
I'm like, can I like, I don't know what the
word is. Can you talk to me weekly on a
weekly basis and give me a checklist of things to
do and grow? I feel like because now I'm being serious,
like just me as a person. I think a lot
of people listening to sometimes like you can feel very
stagnant and very like stuck and like not really know
how to just like move forward, and like I feel
(28:20):
like you have no issue with that, you just like go.
Speaker 5 (28:22):
I honestly think that like this is where like my
past mental health disorders have like become superpowers is like
and that and also like growing up in the public
eye and in the activist space, which can be very critical, right,
which is that like now I'm at a point in
my life in my career where I'm like, no, nobody
(28:43):
can say anything that's meaner than what I've already said
to myself or like what someone's already said to me,
like come at me, bro, Like you know, I kind
of feel that way where it's like, Okay, you're gonna
tell me that my period is disgusting, Well, like let's.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
Have a conversation about it.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (28:58):
But like I also think that, like I definitely have
to have boundaries because like I have this history of
like being so addicted to like the metrics, the external validation.
So I like I spend all my time on TikTok
making content like I don't go down, hold scroll. I
don't really scroll, and if I'm scrolling, I'm like looking
for content ideas. But yeah, I'm like very unfiltered, which
means that every now and then I'll like accidentally post
(29:19):
a nipslip very regularly, like because I'll be making content,
or like I'll be putting in my tampon and then
someone will be like, girl, your coucies out and I'm like, oh,
then to take it down, take it down, and like
Mike count will be suppressed for a bit, like because
I'm just like I literally am like because every single.
Speaker 4 (29:34):
Day Coucci since my.
Speaker 5 (29:36):
Giant Volvo or whatever, but like every day I feel
like I'll have like twenty phone calls and then in
between is when I'm making content. So then I'm like,
to me, content is like it's like the means.
Speaker 4 (29:47):
Content is key, That's what they say, But.
Speaker 5 (29:49):
It's the means to an end, not like my end goal,
which helps me remove some of the like stress, yeah right.
Speaker 4 (29:55):
Or like cares too much?
Speaker 6 (29:56):
Yeah? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Have you discovered a good sleeping schedule?
Speaker 5 (30:18):
Okay, my biggest flex is that I sleep eight to
ten hours a night.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
That's my biggest flex.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Who are you I Yeah, and if I go down,
So usually I'm like.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Midnight, go down.
Speaker 4 (30:32):
Because I go down, I can go down to like
eight forty five.
Speaker 5 (30:35):
I'm more of like and then is this where like
to what you're saying about your past cast, Like I
definitely like I wake up, I'm like, I walk my dog,
I'm like working, I do my yoga and then I'm
working and then I go to sleep.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
Like I definitely like that is my routine work from
home in the office.
Speaker 5 (30:51):
We have an office, but I would say that for me,
I try to sleep like eight to ten hours a night,
and like if I don't, I like really feel it,
Like I just don't. I remember being a freshman in
college and I would pull like two or three all
nighters in a row. I mean, and again this was normalized.
Like I really think a lot of the whole hustle
culture I learned in the recent years was at Harvard.
(31:12):
Like I get to Harvard and suddenly, like the culture
around work is so competitive in the sense that like
it's not super obvious of people competing with each other,
but like it's this culture of hey, like how are
you doing? And the flex is to be like I'm exhausted.
I haven't slept in two days, right, like all the
like all my coding software engineer friends, it was like
(31:34):
kind of be complaining but like really bragging about like
how many nights have you spent in the library, Like
I'm so busy that like you don't even know how
tired I am. So but I like I used to
pull these all nighters and like now I cannot do that.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
I'm just like I don't.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
It's so funny today that because when I sleep seven hours,
I feel it.
Speaker 5 (31:51):
Yeah, yeah, I need eight. I think I need like
ten to twelve. Like I'm already Like last night was
hard because I was like on the plane, but I
sleep really well on the planes, and then I.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Got here, I slept, but like usually.
Speaker 5 (32:03):
I'm like a new uh midnight like eight am.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
At least on weekdays, and then pretty good.
Speaker 5 (32:09):
Actually no, I'm like and like it's unheard like for
a lot of my friends who are like especially like
startup founders and like have the pressure of being VC backed,
like they're not sleeping, and for me, it's like I
just think I learned the really hard way about what
that does, and like I'm still paying a lot of
the consequences just like in even in my physical body, ye, right,
(32:29):
And so I think, like now I'm like all about
my sleep, like I don't have. I don't have like
for me self care is not like I don't take
a lot of bath, I don't like meditate. I try,
it just doesn't like, you know, it's not very great
for me. But I love yoga, I love working out,
and I sleep.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
And I love sleep.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
I love hearing that though, because I feel like all
these powerful people like and they write in their books
that they wake up at like four o'clock so that
they can get like two hours of their me time
in before the world wakes up and they work, you
know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
Like that's kind of like the narrative that I feel
like I hear a lot.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
You know, like the Christ Jenners of the world where
she like gets on her treadmill and like answers emails,
you know whatever time in the morning before the day
even starts.
Speaker 5 (33:07):
And so that is not I'm more like a wake
up at eight fifty nine. No, actually, more so, I'm
more of like a wake up at nine oh two
for a nine am zoom, like I blame late to
the meeting, like you know, come on to the call.
I really like, yeah, I'm learning on the job, you know,
Like yeah, I still sleep through my meeting.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
It's like I'm not I'm not that morning girl.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
Wow what was your first I don't know, I don't
want to say. I guess shocking post for like to
TikTok where you got like a reaction because there's one
thing standing in front of a crowd because you said
you don't have social anxiety, there's one. To me, there's
like one thing standing in front of a crowd and
being like this is what I'm I'm passionate about. I'm
trying to raise money for. But when you go on
(33:52):
social media, you're opening yourself up to anyone and everyone
to have an opinion.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
So what when was that where you first posted?
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Because you talked about posting your period blood on social media.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
Yeah, I do have a lot of social anxiety.
Speaker 5 (34:05):
It's just like not with big crowds of strangers, Like
I have a lot of social anxiety, like on like
in here, no, like this is okay, But if this
was mostly because I can connectualize it in my mind
of like this is kind of like.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
A work thing.
Speaker 5 (34:17):
Yeah, like I'm talking about my work but like my
biggest nightmare is like a mingling hangout party like.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
All my friends a small talk.
Speaker 5 (34:25):
I hate, like I will never ever like I get
actual anxiety, will have a panic attack if someone's like,
come meet me at this like house party I'm going
to where I don't know anybody.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
I would literally I'm going off on tangent.
Speaker 5 (34:37):
But like Harvard has these finals clubs, which are kind
of like versions of like you know, secret cools like societies,
and I just never made it past the first round.
And whoever was my plus one would always make fun
of me because I would get so nervous. I would
bring up the weather, like three.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Times in a row.
Speaker 5 (34:51):
I'd be like, hey, how are you, Like the weather's
been kind of crazy.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
Yeah, where are you from? Where's the what's the weather there?
Speaker 5 (34:57):
Oh? Yeah, like the weather's been really rainy, And I
just I have so much solcal anxiety in there. So
it's really weird because when I'm in a crowd of
people or if I'm online, like to me, I I
don't think of like making a video about my tampon
being me and a million people on their phones. I
think of it as me and my phone, like yeah,
and I think that there's there's like I genuinely cannot fathom,
(35:20):
like it doesn't feel like people are watching me, even
if I see the numbers, Like there are some instances
where it's very personal, like when I think of online community,
like August has this inner cycle group on an app
called Geneva that's like Slack where everybody's talking, so it's
more of a conversation. But to me, like TikTok, that's
not necessarily a community. It's like an audience where I'm
getting people's reactions, but like it's it's just me talking
(35:43):
and making content. So there's a bit of a disconnect
in my brain. But I will say, and it sounds crazy,
I think to a lot of people, they're like, you
post your vaginal discharge and you're used tampons online, Like
that's being ridiculous. To me, it just seems like such
an obvious solution where it's like, I know, I ever
showed my period blood online in the first six years
of my career because I didn't feel like I needed to. Well,
(36:04):
as soon as I launched a product, people the first
thing they ask is how does it feel, Does it
actually work, does it absorb? How does it absorb in
comparison to this other pad.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
And I know honestly the visual of yeah, of your
your pads versus the other ones, and like she soaked
I don't even know what you soaked them in.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
I was just like red red liquid, yeah, red liquid.
Speaker 4 (36:23):
And she would like jiggle her product and like nothing
would come out and then she would jiggle. I don't
know what the other was it.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
It was just an always pad.
Speaker 4 (36:29):
I can't always pad it and it was.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Just like the liquid was just like falling all over
and it's.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
Like so cruel.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
But it's like I use these horrible brands for our period, like.
Speaker 4 (36:38):
We like really just because it's it's there.
Speaker 5 (36:41):
Yeah, And I think it's like like to me, I
guess because I'm in this world, Like I don't think
it doesn't feel weird to me. It's just like, well,
you asked to see if it works, so like here
is it working. And part of my frustration with the
industry is like we have normalized sea ads for decades
with blue liquid, blue watery liquid. Your period is not blue,
(37:04):
nor is it like I'm pure watery liquid. Like your
period is goopy and like full of clots and sometimes
it's like thin liquid. Sometimes it's thick, Like it's just
completely inaccurate to assume that it's like water.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
And so I think that when when so like for me, like.
Speaker 5 (37:19):
It wasn't even there wasn't like any processing over like
people are going to think it's weird. It was like
they asked me a question and I'm answering similarly, like
I get so many questions around like what is this
little slug coming out of me? And they're talking about
like vaginal discharge, and I am like, that's what you're ovulating.
Obviously it would be helpful to have a visual representation
(37:40):
of what that looks like. Yeah, So every now and
then if I have like a little goopy thing and
I'm ovulating, I'm like, this is what it looks like,
and like this is what it tells you.
Speaker 4 (37:48):
You're like missus Frizzle for the period.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
You're like Miss Rachel for the for the the community.
Speaker 4 (37:54):
The I don't know who Miss Rachel is.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
She's like the kid, the the little like all the
kids are obsessed in Miss Rachel.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
She like does like educational videos I have the children.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
Yeah, my god, I don't know I am doing you,
But you've got the missus frizzle.
Speaker 4 (38:10):
Yeah, it's so true though, because.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
Then, like how many nights have I woken up and
like grabbed my pad like because I don't want it
to like leak on my like scoot to the.
Speaker 4 (38:18):
Bathroom and stuff.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
It's just like I've had so many horrible night sleeps
because my pads. I have to like sleep like a
pencil because I don't want to move so that like
my blood doesn't get everywhere.
Speaker 3 (38:28):
You just have to wear spandex.
Speaker 4 (38:30):
I know I noticed that you did that.
Speaker 5 (38:31):
I've never I started talking about that online where it
was like everybody's like, my pad ends up not on
my body, and I'm like yes, and like because obviously
from a product innovation standpoint, it's like, okay, how do
we fix that?
Speaker 1 (38:42):
Right?
Speaker 5 (38:43):
We could make it the pad stick to you, but
right now it doesn't stick to you, so like you
need to keep the pad on you. Right, the pad
will work and absorb if it doesn't, you know, physically move,
We're not sticking it onto you, so you need to
hold it in. So for me, if I guess I
have a heavy night flow, I just wear Spandex over
my underwear, So keeps the pad where it.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
Needs to be.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
I know, it's sleeping in Spanish, it feels constrict, like
I vagina to breathe.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
Yeah a little bit.
Speaker 5 (39:07):
Well then you can free bleed and that's your Yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:12):
But I do think, I do think that like that.
Speaker 5 (39:14):
That's also where like the community I've found online from
talking about periods has been so beautiful and so eye
opening that it just completely overrides any of the hate
and the death threats.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
Like if I receive a.
Speaker 4 (39:26):
Death threat, yeah, yeah a lot, Like I.
Speaker 5 (39:29):
Also received these from the beginning of you know, always
like people get very upset about period things, especially because
we're very openly trans inclusive, like we on our box
at Target, even like very proudly amidst all the shoing
around like kind of swirling around. Target is like our
boxes for everyone who men straights, and we very publicly
are like wherefore people who are non binary and get
(39:52):
their periods, people who are transmit and get their periods,
like we are here to be for anyone who menstraights
and so U. But I think even being able to
find community and like support, lend my platform to that
community or to communities to talk about like being disabled
on your period, being in the military on your period,
being you know, having at nometriosis, being plus sized on
(40:13):
your period. Like, there's so many different experiences and like identities,
and we all get together to relate about periods and
it just is so rewarding and so it just completely
it helps not care about.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
The yead stuff.
Speaker 6 (40:27):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
I mean, You're having conversations about things that I haven't
even thought about because it doesn't personally affect me. So
like you're having these conversations that are finally people are
feeling seen because you started talking about them well.
Speaker 5 (40:43):
And I think part of it is, like I also
like there every single day, I feel like I'm learning
about other period experiences, like even period poverty for example, right,
Like I think that period poverty is something that I've
never personally experienced. It's something that I feel like I
can empathize with, just given like my personal background with
like financial instability. But like for me, even when I
(41:05):
hear stories of period poverty or like still hear stories
of like what people use when they don't have access,
whether it be like socks or cardboard or you know
in other countries as well, like using like leaves, And
I think that like I still feel like I'm learning
a lot about that in the same way that right now,
there's so much horrible legislation around periods, reproductive rights, and sex. Said,
(41:29):
like I'm going to Miami in a few days because
Florida Bill ten sixty nine just passed and it basically
bans pronouns from classrooms where like teachers are not allowed
to in law respect pronouns like unless it's just gender
Like there is no trans existence in that law, and
(41:49):
it bans any comprehensive sex said, any conversations about periods
before sixth grade. And even though it's not, the word
period or mentation isn't said in the bill, Like the
author of the bill has said, yes, this means that
people before sixth grade cannot.
Speaker 3 (42:04):
Talk about parents even though they're on their period.
Speaker 5 (42:06):
So it's been nicknamed the don't say period Bill, right,
So like I think that for me, like I still
feel like I'm just learning about what like even periods
in politics, periods in public culture, just because like it's
happening so fast.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
Yeah, Oh my gosh, our girl, I am so impressed.
Speaker 4 (42:27):
I know, I'm impressed. I inspire.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
I just I really appreciate you, and I have a
lot going on so I do appreciate you taking the
time to be here.
Speaker 3 (42:35):
Oh I know that you don't live in La So I.
Speaker 4 (42:37):
Really appreciate you just being here with us.
Speaker 5 (42:40):
Well, I'm so excited that we could make this work.
And I also think like it, you know, I kind
of am in a circle and like in my work
bubble where I'm like everybody talks about periods. But I
love doing podcasts, especially like with different audience who maybe
never heard about this before, because it's like it is
like a good reminder of like, wow, we have so
much work to do, right, Like the majority of people
when I do like speeches or something like they've just
(43:02):
never heard the term period poverty. Or do you guys
know about the tampon tax? Yes, yeah, yeah yeah, But
like the tampon tax still exists in twenty two stats,
and it's like a literal sales tax on period products,
considering them non essential goods. It's not it's not just
like a sale Like I have no issue with like
the concept the concept of a sales tax. It's like
(43:22):
it's because they're considered luxury items. Rogan and viag are
considered medical necessities, right, Like there's.
Speaker 3 (43:28):
So much there rogain.
Speaker 4 (43:30):
Yeah, it's considered a medical necessity.
Speaker 5 (43:34):
Yeah, so is like peanal pumps.
Speaker 3 (43:37):
Wow, I did not know that. I did not know that. Yeah,
Oh bless them. Tanya does keep the conversations I do.
Speaker 1 (43:49):
I do like to keep the conversations going about periods,
but I've never really I don't really dive deep and
I don't really go deep. So I really appreciate you
being here and sharing more of your story and everything
that you've done.
Speaker 3 (43:59):
You for having me.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
Yeah, where can people follow you on TikTok Instagram? Where
can people learn more about your brand? The not Well,
you're not involved as much as in the nonprofit, but
whatever you have going on.
Speaker 5 (44:10):
Yeah, the nonprofit is still going. It's period dot org.
I am working on August, so it's it's August dot
co and it's August is all over social and I'm
at nadiot Lo Kamoto amazing.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
I'm still processing that talking about the weather is a
form of social anxiety because I do that.
Speaker 3 (44:29):
I just realized that.
Speaker 2 (44:31):
Your whole conversation about social anxiety is exactly the conversations
I have, So I'll be processing that along with the other.
Speaker 5 (44:38):
I feel like I'm just like a nerd at heart
where like I love this so much, but it's like
I know how to talk about periods. Like I can
talk to strangers about periods or mental health all day
as soon as it turns to like small talk or anything,
or like what's.
Speaker 4 (44:52):
Your favorite TV show? I'm like, like, what is your
favorite show?
Speaker 5 (44:56):
I watch a lot of TV because I'm always I
always have TV on the back when I'm working doing
emails or anything. Okay, so like right now I'm watching
Silicon Valley. But I'm always, like I think I get
hesitant to tell people what I'm watching because sometimes I'm
like get judged, get judged, and then I don't want
to talk about it. Like I'm like, yeah, I just
been selling Sunset, Okay, Like that's great background TV though, yeah,
(45:18):
it's pretty much good.
Speaker 3 (45:18):
It's good background.
Speaker 4 (45:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (45:20):
Do you last before we go? Do you date? Because
like when you like when you are having conversations.
Speaker 5 (45:26):
Actually, so if you type in my name on social media,
like on TikTok, nadia O Kamoto hot boyfriend comes up
before nadia O Komodo tampon.
Speaker 4 (45:37):
Wow, because I have a hot boyfriend.
Speaker 3 (45:38):
I have a hot boyfriend.
Speaker 5 (45:39):
He's like never had a social media account, but he's
very conventionally attractive and uh yeah, and like even there's
like the searches before, like people you're looking for me
in peers is like Nadia o Kamodo gay, Nadia Komodo
pants because I talk a lot about being like pan
sexual and like how even though I'm dating a cisc
guy right now does not mean I'm like no longer
(46:01):
pans actual.
Speaker 3 (46:02):
So yeah, it's been like, uh yeah, that's beautiful.
Speaker 5 (46:07):
Conventionally there's a lot of like viral videos and he's
from Switzerland and it's really funny because he he's he
has just never had social media. But randomly, like we'll
get a piece in like the fucking uh Irish tabloid,
and the Irish tabloid says something like period uh period
fairy who wears pat to festival touts attractive boyfriend and
(46:32):
it's like, what's funny?
Speaker 3 (46:34):
Yeah, it's wild, but I do date.
Speaker 5 (46:37):
Wow, we're working on like making time, but we it's
like us and our dog and I'm like obsessed with
our dog.
Speaker 4 (46:44):
Yeah, happy for you. That sounds balanced balanced me.
Speaker 2 (46:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (46:48):
Yeah, really cracked the code.
Speaker 3 (46:50):
Yeah, you've really cracked the code.
Speaker 2 (46:52):
And the fact that you're posting ten to twenty times
a day, is just inspired? Watch this weekend as I'm
told to post three to five times a week.
Speaker 3 (47:00):
Yeah, well naughty is posting tended twenty and more unfiltered?
Speaker 2 (47:05):
Yeah yeah, honestly, that's the that's the key.
Speaker 3 (47:08):
It was so great me and thank you so much
for taking the time to be here. Thank you for
having me.
Scrubbing In with Becca Tilly and Tanya ret An iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Hello everybody, we are scrubbing In.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
We have a very special guest today.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I'm really excited because she's only twenty five years old
and she's done more in her life than.
Speaker 4 (00:23):
I don't know than you've ever done and I've ever
done yues Truly.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I don't know if that's true, but she did attend
Harvard University. She's now known as this huge social media
influencer and a social entrepreneur.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
She went viral on TikTok for being so open about
menstruation and period symptoms. She now has over four million
followers on TikTok and her followers love her realistic content.
I am one of those four million, and.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
She also has her own period product brand titled August.
We are very excited to talk and to learn all
about how she continues to change the stigma behind periods.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Please help us give a warm welcome to Nadia Kamoto
who Hello, Why, Welcome to scrubbing In. Thank you for
having me.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
I'm very excited because I've been following you for a
really long time, and I thought I talked about periods,
and I thought I was really open about like, oh gosh,
my menstrual everything until I started following you.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Next level, it's next level.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
When did you start?
Speaker 1 (01:26):
I mean, I don't even know where to start with
you because I feel like there's so much to cover
and you're only twenty five, and I really want to
talk about like the business process and how you started everything.
But I guess in terms of like your social media
and stuff, how did you get so comfortable sharing all
that and what kind of like sparked.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
That for you.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Yeah, well, it definitely wasn't right out of the gates.
Speaker 5 (01:44):
Like I think people see my tiktoks now and they're like,
oh my gosh, this girl popped out of nowhere, just
like posting her period blood online.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
But in reality, like I've.
Speaker 5 (01:52):
Been in the period out of becacy space for almost
ten years.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Next year is my ten year anniversary.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
So you started when you were fifteen.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
So I started when I was sixteen. I started.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
I had a nonprofit called Period when I was sixteen
years old. And when I was sixteen, that's when I started.
I mean, that's honestly was three years into having like
a fucking Facebook account and an Instagram account and so
social media to me wasn't an influencer thing. It was purely, Hey,
I'm running a nonprofit. I want people to give me
small dollar like five dollars donations and show up at
(02:22):
a volunteering event. We don't have any money. I don't
have any money. Social media is the only free tool
that we can use that's cheaper than printing papers and
posting them around Portland organ So social media for me
started ten years ago doing grassroots advocacy, and I think
I fell in love with social media as this like
free mobilization tool, especially in the realm of like changing
(02:44):
public opinion, and then working in politics. So I would
say that while I'm very, very bold on social media,
it was like six years of working on this, I
mean kind of more than full time alongside school and stuff,
before I actually posted my period blood online.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Got it?
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Can I ask a question, So you're sixteen years old
and you're like, I'm going to start this nonprofit. Was
there someone in your life that you saw doing something
and you thought I want to change.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
This area or like what?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Because I don't at sixteen, I was thinking very differently
than you, it seems.
Speaker 5 (03:21):
Yeah, I would say, my mom is a really big
part of it. My mom is like a single mom,
me and then my two younger sisters, And you know,
I think around in my early adolescence, like we were
definitely going through a lot, Like my mom was really
kind of this strong, resourceful woman who I butt heads
with a lot, but I also really looked up to
just in terms of I could see how much she
(03:43):
was actively sacrificing to like keep me and my sisters safe.
And I will say, like we joke about it now,
how like especially with my other like Asian first or
second generation friends, like the tiger parent pressure is like
to get good grades in school and like your family
the great kind of background sacrifice so much for you
to be successful, like to be a doctor and lawyer.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
I didn't have that.
Speaker 5 (04:06):
My mom was more like I sacrifice so much for
you to like change the fucking world, and like we're
going through all of this and we're putting so much
on the line, and like you have a responsibility to
like reconcile your privilege and do something with it. So
I would say that I definitely have that a lot
for my family. But I'd also say, like I think
(04:26):
that the nature of the period space was I didn't
set into it being like, oh, I'm passionate about periods,
let me start a nonprofit. It was like, wait, I've
never heard of period poverty before. Forty states have the
tampon tax. Wait, periods are a leading cause of absenteism.
It was like learning about the issue, and then I
feel like in school, you know when you do community
(04:46):
service and they have you like sign.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
On the little hour forms and.
Speaker 5 (04:50):
You get it signed by your parent and you like
volunteer and you get credit for it.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
Yeah, So like I think school trained me to be like, Okay,
I am I care about in issue, like a disparity
in the world, so I go volunteer for a nonprofit.
But the thing about period poverty is I was first
turning to the internet looking for organizations addressing period poverty
in my area, in the region, in the country, and
(05:15):
there just wasn't one. There wasn't like an organization focused
specifically on advocacy, education and giving period products to people
in the States.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
And so I think, I guess.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
Honestly, a little bit of it is probably just me
being like impulsive, was like, oh, if it's not there, like,
I guess I might as little start it.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Yeah, but so you started it at sixteen, and how
big is it now? How many people are working for
it now?
Speaker 5 (05:40):
Well, I honestly, I haven't been involved for a few years.
So I in twenty nineteen, I like raised a bunch
of money and replaced myself with an adult executive director.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
I was gonna say, I was like, I think I
did some stuff with Period last year.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (05:53):
So I led the nonprofit for six years as executive director,
and by the time I left, we had distributed enough
Period products address like, uh, I think it was like
one million periods. So we had given out twenty five
million units of Period products. We had registered chapters in
all fifty states, we were working on legislative advocacy approaching.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (06:10):
It became like the one of the largest organizations in
the space. And I was raising like millions of dollars
a year, specifically working with every major Period brand as
a donor for both products and financing. And I think
we had a team of like twenty or something like
with interns and contractors.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
And now it's like, I don't even know it's I don't.
Speaker 5 (06:32):
Yeah, I honestly like I the organization got to a
size where I was like oh my god, I'm in
college one. I don't even know what I want to
do with my life right.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Like I'm at Harvard.
Speaker 5 (06:41):
Yeah, and like well, and I was also I had
just run for office and I was like kind of
burnt out from that, and I was like, I just
don't I'm not the best person to run this, and
like the organization is now when you get to like
a multimillion dollar budget and you're doing some really amazing
expanding program work.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Like experience does matter.
Speaker 5 (07:00):
But I think I started to really feel that where
I was like, oh my I need I need literally
need to just like raise money so I can pay
someone else to take on the organization because I think
it was kind of the realization that I felt like
I was doing a disservice to the organization if I
stayed at the HELM, because it was like I was
I was no longer the best person to run.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Yeah, you were like a little in over your head.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
Yeah, I was totally in over my head. But I
kind of feel like I'm in over my head on
everything that I do.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
So is that way is so in twenty nineteen when
you stepped away from that, is that when you launched
August which is your period company.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Yeah, so it wasn't when I launched.
Speaker 5 (07:31):
It was like, I mean, there's so much that goes
into starting any sort of yeas ran we raised two
million dollars before we launched, and it took us a
year and a half to do that raise because it's
it's like I it was such a steep learning curve
of having to learn like what goes into starting a company?
What is a minimum quantity order? And like how much
does that?
Speaker 1 (07:51):
But not even that, but even just like creating these
products in jail is like so hard because I remember
I well, a few years ago, I was like really
passionate about the I'm patis about uh why am I
blinking on them?
Speaker 4 (08:02):
Now?
Speaker 1 (08:02):
I use them mental cups, yeah, mentro cups, and there
aren't so many in the space, and I was like,
I want to create one that like has a tampon
string that has that same kind of feel because that's
what we're so used to using.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
And then I kind of got into like the Weeds,
the very early Weeds event.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
I was like, never mind, Yeah, this is quite literally
the hardest thing I've ever tried to do in my life.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Yeah, and you did it well.
Speaker 5 (08:28):
I would say that mental cups are also easier because
you don't have to buy so much up a front, right,
Like we're talking, you could get like a few thousand
mental cups and like try it out. That's why you
do see more small mentro cup brands coming out try
it out, put a like cute box on it. Period
products like tampons and pads, the minimum order is like
in the millions, right, So it wasn't like, oh, let's
buy a few and then try it out. It's like, no,
(08:49):
we have to. And also it was that we wanted
to build something really thoughtful, right Because by that point
I had been working in the period space for several years.
I had written a whole book on like why I
thought the industry needed to change, and I kind of
got to a point where I was like, I've worked
with every major period brand either as a nonprofit partner,
as a consultant, or an influencer, and like I one
of my critiques of this space is that product hasn't
(09:11):
been developed in the most thoughtful way.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Right.
Speaker 5 (09:13):
It's been a lot of cutting corners in sustainability, in
terms of comfort, and originally I thought we were going
to do menstrual cups, and then we actually started to
build and talk to a community of young menstruators where
we realized like the majority of them didn't even know
where the vagina was.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
Nobody knows how to use them. It's like very sad
to me.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
No, I still like on social media and in person,
will like meet grown women some of whom have been
given birth, who like would they hear me talk and
they're like, I didn't know pean period blood came out
of the same hole or it came out of different holes.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Wait, They're like, I didn't know it came out of
two different holes.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
And I always know about my pe hole until my
adult Like, like I think I was in college when
I started really examining my vagina, Like I would look
in the mirror and like open it up and like
look in the and I didn't know. Yeah, I thought
the same time, I thought that your pee and your
period like came out of the same thing. I honestly
had no idea until I think I was in college.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Yeah, that's where I'm at.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
She's starting non propitts at sixteen and I'm just learning.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
But China was looking in the mirror, looking.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Into into my flaps at twenty one.
Speaker 5 (10:18):
No, I mean there's still so much, like I feel
like I'm I mean, I'm ten years into like literally
this being like an obsession of mine, and there's still
so much that I don't know right, Like I think
I'm still just learning more about like uterine fibroids and
endometriosis and yeah, all of these other components of your
period and like how hormones and like birth control and
(10:39):
like there's it's such a it's I mean, that's the
beauty of working in periods. And why I'm still like
so obsessed with it is like it just connects to
every part of identity life.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
But can I ask you something like in the business world,
because I was actually talking to somebody she's kind of
like a like a venture capitalist and like raises funds
and like puts money into different companies and stuff. And
she was telling me that the female male space, like
the like the female products in that whole space is
like does not do well. Like it's hard to get
people invested and get their money, and like people just
(11:10):
don't care.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Do you feel that?
Speaker 5 (11:13):
I Mean, Okay, well, there's probably a lot of reasons
why it took us a year and a half to
raise our preseed round.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
But like, yeah, I have.
Speaker 5 (11:22):
I think that it's a harder space one because like
we had investors, We had a lot of investors who
turned us down and simply said, there's just no way
you can start something and ever compete with likeas always,
Like these are companies that have been around since the
beginning of the creation of this market one hundred years ago.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Like it's really it hasn't.
Speaker 5 (11:42):
Even been like one hundred years that like Tampa's and
Pads first entered mainstream market.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
I know, like you, I don't think you understand when
I go to like CBS or Walgrains or like a
store like that to get my products when it's my period,
I only see Tampas and always and I don't use
those brands, And it like infuriates me because I feel
like it is so much harder for us to get
our hands on these products that are cleaner, you know
(12:08):
what I mean, like not gifted and bleach in all
of these things because you have to order them online.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
Is that how you have to order August.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
We just launch on Target. Oh that's huge, Oh congrass,
thank you.
Speaker 5 (12:16):
But I think that like even around like when we
were raising. I will say it's different because we're kind
of in an interesting time, like in the last few
years where like and I think a lot of my
career has escalated because I've been in the right place
at the right time, Like started in twenty fourteen. In
December twenty fifteen was the year that NPR Newsweek we're
writing these articles about how twenty fifteen was the year
of the period where suddenly people realize people at periods
(12:38):
and we needed to talk about it. And then like
over the last few years, we've seen this like more
reproductive rights conversation coming into the forefront. I think partially
because they're very much under attack right now. And I
also think that as the stigma gets chipped away, I
do think that people in the business world are seeing
it as a strong opportunity. So even though it is
hard to tap into, there is more capital than ever before,
(13:02):
specifically looking into investing in products that are supporting reproductive wellness.
I in comparison to other industries, it's not the same
level at all, but like, we have made tremendous progress
because like, compared to ten twenty years ago, this just
wasn't even a conversation. It wasn't even like we weren't
even talking about what ingredients were in your period products
(13:22):
at a mainstream level. And so I think that the
more stigma we break away, the more potential there is.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
But I mean, I didn't even think about it until
I started getting my UTI is like crazy. Yeah, I
didn't even I would never even have thought to change
my period products ever in my entire life until I
started looking into it and realizing like that the tampons
I was using were really harmful. And so I think,
like everybody has to like go through at their own thing,
but I feel like some people may not even experience
(13:48):
that their whole lives, you know.
Speaker 5 (13:49):
Yeah. I also think it's like just what you said
is also why it's so hard to break into the
period space historically, is that the period stigma keeps it
under this like you know, dark curtain.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Yeah, when nobody wants to talk about it and we
carry our tampons and up our sleeves to the bathroom
like everybody were all like ashamed of it in a
weird way.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
Yeah, And it's like most people, I mean, maybe yourself,
like you get into your period, you start using like
usually what your mom just uses right, and so there's
no conversation about it. There's no like trading tips around it.
I think like when you think about makeup, like the
way that makeup is talked about, and I mean, you
are choosing between this lips of color, this this lips
(14:28):
of color. You're not necessarily like combining them.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
It's true.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Yeah, Like all the influencers that you see like doing
their makeup, we see like different types of makeup. I
could see five hundred people doing it in a day, yeah,
and see anybody holding up their tamponing like this one
is well I do, but.
Speaker 5 (14:43):
Like right, but this, But I also think like I
think like when you compare you know, how we talk
about makeup of like, wait, that's really cute.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Tell me about it. What do you like about it
versus your period?
Speaker 5 (14:54):
You're not going around like even thinking like you're not
even thinking like oh girls around me or like people
around me have their peers, much less going around being
like oh, like.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Does it absorb your blood clots?
Speaker 5 (15:03):
Well? You know, like it's just the stigma has completely
limited the amount of innovation that we could see in
this space.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Were you having these conversations with your friends, like when
you were like in high school and stuff. Was were
these conversations that you were having openly with your friends
and you all were talking about the issues or was
this like a single like you had a focus and
that was like your like yeah, kind of your thought process,
but not something you were socially talking about.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
I guess I don't think it was.
Speaker 5 (15:49):
Yeah, it was definitely not something I was socially talking about.
I mean I think that especially in high school, I was,
I mean I was just concerned about like fitting in
and making friends. And I went to high school in Portland, Oregon.
We're like being cool was like enjoying rock climbing and
you know.
Speaker 4 (16:05):
That, And so that's where I belong. I mean, you know,
sporty girl.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
No, No, like yeah, your best on doesn't mean.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
I couldn't be you look like yeah, you know, like
I belong.
Speaker 5 (16:19):
Yeah, you just need some like Birken stuff like yeah.
But but so I think socially it wasn't really something
I was talking about. Plus, I remember, like the first
thing I did when we decided to incorporate as a
nonprofit is me and my co founder, a classmate of
my name Vince. We got up in front of the
whole school and we were like, we're doing a drive,
(16:39):
a collection drive, and we're just going to collect period products.
We've got these bins. Can you just drop period products off?
We'll handle the distribution and stay tuned for like a
packing party. And like the silence and just like the
looks and you know, it was it was just embarrassing.
I think I really used it to fuel me, and
I think every time some when it reacts in like
(17:01):
a weird and comfort way, it fueled me. But like
in my high school social life, I was like, okay,
like not gonna talk about it there, but I use
that to fuel me everywhere else. And like I do
not have any social anxiety if I'm talking to like
a crowd of strangers, and so I think that's where
it's like I didn't talk about it socially, but like
all my free time was like cold emailing people, talking
(17:22):
to any like groups that would listen to me. I
would literally go to like the local stores, like the
local Jiffy Loop and the Jiffy Lube auto mechanic store
and like pitch them fun like hey, I'm raising for
this thing, can you give me money? Like I was
literally a sixteen year old kid walking around Portland trying
to figure out what it meant to raise money, googling
how to raise money. There were times where I would
(17:43):
like make cookies and give them out and like on
the street and like play guitar Like this was me,
Like I was trying everything. It went from that, and
I would just be so excited if someone gave me
like five dollars, then it was twenty dollars, and then
it was like ten thousand dollars and then twenty five
thousand dollars, so like within six months, and honestly, because
of social media and we were like posting here's what
(18:04):
we're doing, journalists were like, what is this? Why haven't
we talked about period poverty? We started like growing very quickly,
and I think a lot of it was because I mean,
once you tell someone about period poverty, it's just like,
oh wow, Like why haven't I ever thought about that?
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Of course?
Speaker 4 (18:19):
Do you ever like kick back with a beer?
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Like you, No, I don't have any of you kick
back with a cocktail?
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Are you if? I like relax?
Speaker 2 (18:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (18:36):
Do I not come off as like really chill? But
I'm like, am I like that?
Speaker 4 (18:41):
Obviously?
Speaker 3 (18:42):
High struck.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
No, you meet me here, go get her. I know
you're just like you going to change the world.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Monica Gellerbybes, which I love, which I like, definitely a
Monica Geller vibe. But no, like I look at you
and I just feel like you're doing so much and
you've done so much, and like you're so pat and
I love it. It's like so admirable. But I and I
think I just want to know, like do you turn off?
Speaker 4 (19:03):
Do you or no?
Speaker 3 (19:04):
But like, no, that's a great question because some people.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
I think we had a guest last week that was
she just always works, like she works up until she
goes to sleep, and then she goes to sleep, and
then she gets up and she just works all day
and she's passionate about it and she loves it. And
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. I'm just
curious if you do.
Speaker 5 (19:19):
My life is a little bit more like that than
like having an act of social life. But I would
say that like it's actually been a huge part of
my personal journey. I was actually just telling my assistant
that when we were driving the last time I was
in LA I was here for rehab and I was
in residential rehab for a couple months, like as a
(19:39):
result of like depression, like exhaustion, and just like literal
addiction to work. And I was actually stuck in a
COVID bubble at rehab with three other people who are
there for like addiction to drugs, and I was there
for addiction to work. And like when I say work
a calling, why when I say workaholic, I don't mean like,
(20:00):
you know, glorifying hustle culture. I mean like not pooping
for five days, because like I saw pooping as a
waste of time because I was working like that.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
It was an extreme thing and.
Speaker 5 (20:10):
I talk about it now, but like I definitely I
mean I came into my career at like as hustle
culture and like glorification and rural bossary of like let
me work, I work harder. I represent like you know,
and girl culture has kind of been canceled, and I've
been publicly called out for that too, and I fully
embrace it.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
But like I think what a lot of people didn't see.
Speaker 5 (20:32):
Was I, by age seventeen eighteen, I was like working,
we had we're bringing on like team members. I gave
my first TED talk. Behind the scenes, I was like
very depressed. Struggling with PTSD, doing a lot of work
at night because I had insomnia from PTSD was like
struggling with self harm and on like a regular basis.
In high school, I was passing out from exhaustion and
(20:54):
getting rushed to the emergency room to the point where
like the nurses knew me, and like I would go in,
they would all the tests and then be like, you're exhausted,
you haven't drink water, Like here's an IV bag, you
need to cut back. And I'd be back two months later,
and they got to a point where they just wouldn't
test me anymore because they were like, you just you're
back for exhaustion. So I would say that, like my god, Yeah,
(21:14):
it's like it's been an extreme where I think that
like in an unhealthy way. I mean, so I got
diagnosed when I was in rehab with borderline personality disorder,
which I mean the best way to describe it is
like it's crippling imposter syndrome or feeling like a worthless
piece of as like my base and the way that
I kind of like coped with it was I found
my purpose, like this purpose that I cared so deepy
(21:36):
about that made me feel good, and I just overcompensated
it to an extreme where it was like if I
ever shut my laptop for years, like even in college,
if I shut my laptop, I would just like cry
or have a panic attack. So I's just working until
I was so exhausted I passed out to sleep.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Like it was just not healthy, so wild.
Speaker 5 (21:54):
And part of the hard part of like working through
a lot of those pass is that it's hard to
break when the result of you working that hard is
like external validation, impact numbers and positive media.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
So there was no incentive.
Speaker 5 (22:12):
I also think like after I started the organization, when
I was doing this work, like child Protective Services came in,
I very like suddenly lost connection with my dad. And
this was like while I was talking about like violence
against women from an advocacy standpoint, and meanwhile, like this
domestic violence sexual abuse thing with my family was like
coming to light. And so I was like on the
(22:33):
road speaking writing this book while handling this. So all
that to say, like my relationship with work like now
it is like I love working. This makes me happy.
I not only do August, I like do a bunch
of other things. And I love doing these projects, and
I am very privileged to only have to work on
things that I'm passionate about. But like where I used
(22:54):
to be was like a fucking extreme. It was like
I was not I was like really running away from
so much through work. And I always feel like I
want need to contextualize that, like because for many years
and I regret this in many ways, Like I was
on speaking tour book tour, and I would always be
asked like by these young kids, like people younger than me,
like how do you balance it all? How do you
(23:16):
like manage your mental health and do all these things?
And I feel like my answer, which felt really true
to me at that point, was like, you know, I
really care about the things that I work on, and
I make sacrifices. I don't have like a crazy social
life in high school or college because I'm doing this,
like and I think, in reality, like the real answer
should have been like I honestly just need to go
to therapy and someone needs to tell me to go
(23:38):
to sleep at a bedtime.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Like yeah, And I think that now.
Speaker 5 (23:41):
That's why I'm like very open and honest with it,
because like I recognize that I have a platform and
I definitely was part of that like girl Boss way
too close to the sun, you know.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Yeah, well, especially it's such a like.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Important age where you're soaking in so much, like, oh
I need hustle, is like all I gotta do is hustle.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
I got a hustle.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
When did social media switch from a marketing strategy to
get word out to you being an influencer and like
and using that as your platform specifically?
Speaker 3 (24:18):
What was the shift?
Speaker 5 (24:19):
Well, I mean, I I it started really early on,
when like nano and micro influencers started being like a
whole category business as we're investing in. I would honestly
say that it started when I was at like ten
thousand Instagram followers like TikTok didn't even exist, and the
way I didn't think of it as like I'm an
(24:41):
influencer for like me and what I look like or
my lifestyle. It was like suddenly I had these brands
who were reaching out saying, we love what you're doing
with the organization. Can we quote unquote donate, but it's
really their marketing dollars. Can we give contract you for
compensation for social posts? And so they kind of came
to me and then I started realizing, wait, I can
like negotiate this and then I would just split it.
(25:04):
So because I didn't have an income, like I was
a volunteer with the organization for like four years, you know,
so like I would basically be like, okay, I'll keep
a percentage and then I'll donate it to the organization.
So from the early stage, it wasn't I didn't call
myself an influencer. Now I like I have to recognize
that I am. But like I looked at it as
like this is a revenue stream for the nonprofit. Like
(25:26):
you know, it's harder to get a company or like
a for profit entity to like donate out of the
goodness of their hearts.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
The reality of this capitalistic world.
Speaker 5 (25:36):
Is like, yeah, they want public credit, Yeah, they want
public credit. A lot of this the funds that would
come in are earmarked under marketing costs, right, So I
started using it as like a vehicle to build like
resources for the organization. And like early on when we
had no overhead costs because like me, my co founder,
everybody was volunteer it, we really could track every two
(25:57):
dollars donated went to like pure like sixteen units of
period products to a menstruator in need. So I think
it was really early on. I started TikTok literally like
taking TikTok seriously, like the day we launched the Loking
company August so June twenty twenty one, so like.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Two years very recent.
Speaker 5 (26:14):
And that was because we raised this round and we
knew we had to raise again like in six to
twelve months. And you know, the kind of the metrics
that people the investors look at are like what is
your cost of acquisition? Like how do we make sure
you're not spending so much money to make money? And
so it was like, how do we grow organically? How
(26:35):
do we get people talking about the brand? Wait, TikTok
is this thing, like who are these new celebs coming
out on this platform?
Speaker 3 (26:41):
TikTok. I had not really like used it at all.
Speaker 5 (26:44):
So I started just like posting exorbitance amounts. Like for
six months, I would post like forty to one hundred
times a day. And now now I can show you
like I post like probably ten to twenty times a
day and I just archive whatever doesn't work. But I
was posting so much and then within six months we.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
See two one hundred times a day? Wait, what is
that a minute, you.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Still do ten to twenty ten.
Speaker 5 (27:06):
Yeah, Like if you look at and not a lot
of people see it, But if I look at my
TikTok right, like here's me getting ready and I just
archive like yesterday I posted these seven, but then if
you go into the archive, I've archived like twelve. Also
from that, like, I just started to like, let meking
gamify this platform, figure out how to use it, and
(27:30):
let me see let me see how I can create
it kind of into a funnel to support the business.
And so literally like two six months in, I was
at two million followers. Now then six months later I
was at four million. Now I've kind of like studied
is like algorithms change has become much more oversaturated. So
I've actually been focusing a lot more on like YouTube shorts.
But I like, I definitely think of it as like
(27:50):
a you know, how do I optimize that?
Speaker 3 (27:54):
Are you a genius? I know, I know a literal china.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
I'm like, can I like, I don't know what the
word is. Can you talk to me weekly on a
weekly basis and give me a checklist of things to
do and grow? I feel like because now I'm being serious,
like just me as a person. I think a lot
of people listening to sometimes like you can feel very
stagnant and very like stuck and like not really know
how to just like move forward, and like I feel
(28:20):
like you have no issue with that, you just like go.
Speaker 5 (28:22):
I honestly think that like this is where like my
past mental health disorders have like become superpowers is like
and that and also like growing up in the public
eye and in the activist space, which can be very critical, right,
which is that like now I'm at a point in
my life in my career where I'm like, no, nobody
(28:43):
can say anything that's meaner than what I've already said
to myself or like what someone's already said to me,
like come at me, bro, Like you know, I kind
of feel that way where it's like, Okay, you're gonna
tell me that my period is disgusting, Well, like let's.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
Have a conversation about it.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (28:58):
But like I also think that, like I definitely have
to have boundaries because like I have this history of
like being so addicted to like the metrics, the external validation.
So I like I spend all my time on TikTok
making content like I don't go down, hold scroll. I
don't really scroll, and if I'm scrolling, I'm like looking
for content ideas. But yeah, I'm like very unfiltered, which
means that every now and then I'll like accidentally post
(29:19):
a nipslip very regularly, like because I'll be making content,
or like I'll be putting in my tampon and then
someone will be like, girl, your coucies out and I'm like, oh,
then to take it down, take it down, and like
Mike count will be suppressed for a bit, like because
I'm just like I literally am like because every single.
Speaker 4 (29:34):
Day Coucci since my.
Speaker 5 (29:36):
Giant Volvo or whatever, but like every day I feel
like I'll have like twenty phone calls and then in
between is when I'm making content. So then I'm like,
to me, content is like it's like the means.
Speaker 4 (29:47):
Content is key, That's what they say, But.
Speaker 5 (29:49):
It's the means to an end, not like my end goal,
which helps me remove some of the like stress, yeah right.
Speaker 4 (29:55):
Or like cares too much?
Speaker 6 (29:56):
Yeah? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Have you discovered a good sleeping schedule?
Speaker 5 (30:18):
Okay, my biggest flex is that I sleep eight to
ten hours a night.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
That's my biggest flex.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Who are you I Yeah, and if I go down,
So usually I'm like.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Midnight, go down.
Speaker 4 (30:32):
Because I go down, I can go down to like
eight forty five.
Speaker 5 (30:35):
I'm more of like and then is this where like
to what you're saying about your past cast, Like I
definitely like I wake up, I'm like, I walk my dog,
I'm like working, I do my yoga and then I'm
working and then I go to sleep.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
Like I definitely like that is my routine work from
home in the office.
Speaker 5 (30:51):
We have an office, but I would say that for me,
I try to sleep like eight to ten hours a night,
and like if I don't, I like really feel it,
Like I just don't. I remember being a freshman in
college and I would pull like two or three all
nighters in a row. I mean, and again this was normalized.
Like I really think a lot of the whole hustle
culture I learned in the recent years was at Harvard.
(31:12):
Like I get to Harvard and suddenly, like the culture
around work is so competitive in the sense that like
it's not super obvious of people competing with each other,
but like it's this culture of hey, like how are
you doing? And the flex is to be like I'm exhausted.
I haven't slept in two days, right, like all the
like all my coding software engineer friends, it was like
(31:34):
kind of be complaining but like really bragging about like
how many nights have you spent in the library, Like
I'm so busy that like you don't even know how
tired I am. So but I like I used to
pull these all nighters and like now I cannot do that.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
I'm just like I don't.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
It's so funny today that because when I sleep seven hours,
I feel it.
Speaker 5 (31:51):
Yeah, yeah, I need eight. I think I need like
ten to twelve. Like I'm already Like last night was
hard because I was like on the plane, but I
sleep really well on the planes, and then I.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Got here, I slept, but like usually.
Speaker 5 (32:03):
I'm like a new uh midnight like eight am.
Speaker 3 (32:07):
At least on weekdays, and then pretty good.
Speaker 5 (32:09):
Actually no, I'm like and like it's unheard like for
a lot of my friends who are like especially like
startup founders and like have the pressure of being VC backed,
like they're not sleeping, and for me, it's like I
just think I learned the really hard way about what
that does, and like I'm still paying a lot of
the consequences just like in even in my physical body, ye, right,
(32:29):
And so I think, like now I'm like all about
my sleep, like I don't have. I don't have like
for me self care is not like I don't take
a lot of bath, I don't like meditate. I try,
it just doesn't like, you know, it's not very great
for me. But I love yoga, I love working out,
and I sleep.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
And I love sleep.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
I love hearing that though, because I feel like all
these powerful people like and they write in their books
that they wake up at like four o'clock so that
they can get like two hours of their me time
in before the world wakes up and they work, you
know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
Like that's kind of like the narrative that I feel
like I hear a lot.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
You know, like the Christ Jenners of the world where
she like gets on her treadmill and like answers emails,
you know whatever time in the morning before the day
even starts.
Speaker 5 (33:07):
And so that is not I'm more like a wake
up at eight fifty nine. No, actually, more so, I'm
more of like a wake up at nine oh two
for a nine am zoom, like I blame late to
the meeting, like you know, come on to the call.
I really like, yeah, I'm learning on the job, you know,
Like yeah, I still sleep through my meeting.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
It's like I'm not I'm not that morning girl.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
Wow what was your first I don't know, I don't
want to say. I guess shocking post for like to
TikTok where you got like a reaction because there's one
thing standing in front of a crowd because you said
you don't have social anxiety, there's one. To me, there's
like one thing standing in front of a crowd and
being like this is what I'm I'm passionate about. I'm
trying to raise money for. But when you go on
(33:52):
social media, you're opening yourself up to anyone and everyone
to have an opinion.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
So what when was that where you first posted?
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Because you talked about posting your period blood on social media.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
Yeah, I do have a lot of social anxiety.
Speaker 5 (34:05):
It's just like not with big crowds of strangers, Like
I have a lot of social anxiety, like on like
in here, no, like this is okay, But if this
was mostly because I can connectualize it in my mind
of like this is kind of like.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
A work thing.
Speaker 5 (34:17):
Yeah, like I'm talking about my work but like my
biggest nightmare is like a mingling hangout party like.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
All my friends a small talk.
Speaker 5 (34:25):
I hate, like I will never ever like I get
actual anxiety, will have a panic attack if someone's like,
come meet me at this like house party I'm going
to where I don't know anybody.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
I would literally I'm going off on tangent.
Speaker 5 (34:37):
But like Harvard has these finals clubs, which are kind
of like versions of like you know, secret cools like societies,
and I just never made it past the first round.
And whoever was my plus one would always make fun
of me because I would get so nervous. I would
bring up the weather, like three.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Times in a row.
Speaker 5 (34:51):
I'd be like, hey, how are you, Like the weather's
been kind of crazy.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
Yeah, where are you from? Where's the what's the weather there?
Speaker 5 (34:57):
Oh? Yeah, like the weather's been really rainy, And I
just I have so much solcal anxiety in there. So
it's really weird because when I'm in a crowd of
people or if I'm online, like to me, I I
don't think of like making a video about my tampon
being me and a million people on their phones. I
think of it as me and my phone, like yeah,
and I think that there's there's like I genuinely cannot fathom,
(35:20):
like it doesn't feel like people are watching me, even
if I see the numbers, Like there are some instances
where it's very personal, like when I think of online community,
like August has this inner cycle group on an app
called Geneva that's like Slack where everybody's talking, so it's
more of a conversation. But to me, like TikTok, that's
not necessarily a community. It's like an audience where I'm
getting people's reactions, but like it's it's just me talking
(35:43):
and making content. So there's a bit of a disconnect
in my brain. But I will say, and it sounds crazy,
I think to a lot of people, they're like, you
post your vaginal discharge and you're used tampons online, Like
that's being ridiculous. To me, it just seems like such
an obvious solution where it's like, I know, I ever
showed my period blood online in the first six years
of my career because I didn't feel like I needed to. Well,
(36:04):
as soon as I launched a product, people the first
thing they ask is how does it feel, Does it
actually work, does it absorb? How does it absorb in
comparison to this other pad.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
And I know honestly the visual of yeah, of your
your pads versus the other ones, and like she soaked
I don't even know what you soaked them in.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
I was just like red red liquid, yeah, red liquid.
Speaker 4 (36:23):
And she would like jiggle her product and like nothing
would come out and then she would jiggle. I don't
know what the other was it.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
It was just an always pad.
Speaker 4 (36:29):
I can't always pad it and it was.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Just like the liquid was just like falling all over
and it's.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
Like so cruel.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
But it's like I use these horrible brands for our period, like.
Speaker 4 (36:38):
We like really just because it's it's there.
Speaker 5 (36:41):
Yeah, And I think it's like like to me, I
guess because I'm in this world, Like I don't think
it doesn't feel weird to me. It's just like, well,
you asked to see if it works, so like here
is it working. And part of my frustration with the
industry is like we have normalized sea ads for decades
with blue liquid, blue watery liquid. Your period is not blue,
(37:04):
nor is it like I'm pure watery liquid. Like your
period is goopy and like full of clots and sometimes
it's like thin liquid. Sometimes it's thick, Like it's just
completely inaccurate to assume that it's like water.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
And so I think that when when so like for me, like.
Speaker 5 (37:19):
It wasn't even there wasn't like any processing over like
people are going to think it's weird. It was like
they asked me a question and I'm answering similarly, like
I get so many questions around like what is this
little slug coming out of me? And they're talking about
like vaginal discharge, and I am like, that's what you're ovulating.
Obviously it would be helpful to have a visual representation
(37:40):
of what that looks like. Yeah, So every now and
then if I have like a little goopy thing and
I'm ovulating, I'm like, this is what it looks like,
and like this is what it tells you.
Speaker 4 (37:48):
You're like missus Frizzle for the period.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
You're like Miss Rachel for the for the the community.
Speaker 4 (37:54):
The I don't know who Miss Rachel is.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
She's like the kid, the the little like all the
kids are obsessed in Miss Rachel.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
She like does like educational videos I have the children.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
Yeah, my god, I don't know I am doing you,
But you've got the missus frizzle.
Speaker 4 (38:10):
Yeah, it's so true though, because.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
Then, like how many nights have I woken up and
like grabbed my pad like because I don't want it
to like leak on my like scoot to the.
Speaker 4 (38:18):
Bathroom and stuff.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
It's just like I've had so many horrible night sleeps
because my pads. I have to like sleep like a
pencil because I don't want to move so that like
my blood doesn't get everywhere.
Speaker 3 (38:28):
You just have to wear spandex.
Speaker 4 (38:30):
I know I noticed that you did that.
Speaker 5 (38:31):
I've never I started talking about that online where it
was like everybody's like, my pad ends up not on
my body, and I'm like yes, and like because obviously
from a product innovation standpoint, it's like, okay, how do
we fix that?
Speaker 1 (38:42):
Right?
Speaker 5 (38:43):
We could make it the pad stick to you, but
right now it doesn't stick to you, so like you
need to keep the pad on you. Right, the pad
will work and absorb if it doesn't, you know, physically move,
We're not sticking it onto you, so you need to
hold it in. So for me, if I guess I
have a heavy night flow, I just wear Spandex over
my underwear, So keeps the pad where it.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
Needs to be.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
I know, it's sleeping in Spanish, it feels constrict, like
I vagina to breathe.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
Yeah a little bit.
Speaker 5 (39:07):
Well then you can free bleed and that's your Yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:12):
But I do think, I do think that like that.
Speaker 5 (39:14):
That's also where like the community I've found online from
talking about periods has been so beautiful and so eye
opening that it just completely overrides any of the hate
and the death threats.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
Like if I receive a.
Speaker 4 (39:26):
Death threat, yeah, yeah a lot, Like I.
Speaker 5 (39:29):
Also received these from the beginning of you know, always
like people get very upset about period things, especially because
we're very openly trans inclusive, like we on our box
at Target, even like very proudly amidst all the shoing
around like kind of swirling around. Target is like our
boxes for everyone who men straights, and we very publicly
are like wherefore people who are non binary and get
(39:52):
their periods, people who are transmit and get their periods,
like we are here to be for anyone who menstraights
and so U. But I think even being able to
find community and like support, lend my platform to that
community or to communities to talk about like being disabled
on your period, being in the military on your period,
being you know, having at nometriosis, being plus sized on
(40:13):
your period. Like, there's so many different experiences and like identities,
and we all get together to relate about periods and
it just is so rewarding and so it just completely
it helps not care about.
Speaker 3 (40:26):
The yead stuff.
Speaker 6 (40:27):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
I mean, You're having conversations about things that I haven't
even thought about because it doesn't personally affect me. So
like you're having these conversations that are finally people are
feeling seen because you started talking about them well.
Speaker 5 (40:43):
And I think part of it is, like I also
like there every single day, I feel like I'm learning
about other period experiences, like even period poverty for example, right,
Like I think that period poverty is something that I've
never personally experienced. It's something that I feel like I
can empathize with, just given like my personal background with
like financial instability. But like for me, even when I
(41:05):
hear stories of period poverty or like still hear stories
of like what people use when they don't have access,
whether it be like socks or cardboard or you know
in other countries as well, like using like leaves, And
I think that like I still feel like I'm learning
a lot about that in the same way that right now,
there's so much horrible legislation around periods, reproductive rights, and sex. Said,
(41:29):
like I'm going to Miami in a few days because
Florida Bill ten sixty nine just passed and it basically
bans pronouns from classrooms where like teachers are not allowed
to in law respect pronouns like unless it's just gender
Like there is no trans existence in that law, and
(41:49):
it bans any comprehensive sex said, any conversations about periods
before sixth grade. And even though it's not, the word
period or mentation isn't said in the bill, Like the
author of the bill has said, yes, this means that
people before sixth grade cannot.
Speaker 3 (42:04):
Talk about parents even though they're on their period.
Speaker 5 (42:06):
So it's been nicknamed the don't say period Bill, right,
So like I think that for me, like I still
feel like I'm just learning about what like even periods
in politics, periods in public culture, just because like it's
happening so fast.
Speaker 1 (42:20):
Yeah, Oh my gosh, our girl, I am so impressed.
Speaker 4 (42:27):
I know, I'm impressed. I inspire.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
I just I really appreciate you, and I have a
lot going on so I do appreciate you taking the
time to be here.
Speaker 3 (42:35):
Oh I know that you don't live in La So I.
Speaker 4 (42:37):
Really appreciate you just being here with us.
Speaker 5 (42:40):
Well, I'm so excited that we could make this work.
And I also think like it, you know, I kind
of am in a circle and like in my work
bubble where I'm like everybody talks about periods. But I
love doing podcasts, especially like with different audience who maybe
never heard about this before, because it's like it is
like a good reminder of like, wow, we have so
much work to do, right, Like the majority of people
when I do like speeches or something like they've just
(43:02):
never heard the term period poverty. Or do you guys
know about the tampon tax? Yes, yeah, yeah yeah, But
like the tampon tax still exists in twenty two stats,
and it's like a literal sales tax on period products,
considering them non essential goods. It's not it's not just
like a sale Like I have no issue with like
the concept the concept of a sales tax. It's like
(43:22):
it's because they're considered luxury items. Rogan and viag are
considered medical necessities, right, Like there's.
Speaker 3 (43:28):
So much there rogain.
Speaker 4 (43:30):
Yeah, it's considered a medical necessity.
Speaker 5 (43:34):
Yeah, so is like peanal pumps.
Speaker 3 (43:37):
Wow, I did not know that. I did not know that. Yeah,
Oh bless them. Tanya does keep the conversations I do.
Speaker 1 (43:49):
I do like to keep the conversations going about periods,
but I've never really I don't really dive deep and
I don't really go deep. So I really appreciate you
being here and sharing more of your story and everything
that you've done.
Speaker 3 (43:59):
You for having me.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
Yeah, where can people follow you on TikTok Instagram? Where
can people learn more about your brand? The not Well,
you're not involved as much as in the nonprofit, but
whatever you have going on.
Speaker 5 (44:10):
Yeah, the nonprofit is still going. It's period dot org.
I am working on August, so it's it's August dot
co and it's August is all over social and I'm
at nadiot Lo Kamoto amazing.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
I'm still processing that talking about the weather is a
form of social anxiety because I do that.
Speaker 3 (44:29):
I just realized that.
Speaker 2 (44:31):
Your whole conversation about social anxiety is exactly the conversations
I have, So I'll be processing that along with the other.
Speaker 5 (44:38):
I feel like I'm just like a nerd at heart
where like I love this so much, but it's like
I know how to talk about periods. Like I can
talk to strangers about periods or mental health all day
as soon as it turns to like small talk or anything,
or like what's.
Speaker 4 (44:52):
Your favorite TV show? I'm like, like, what is your
favorite show?
Speaker 5 (44:56):
I watch a lot of TV because I'm always I
always have TV on the back when I'm working doing
emails or anything. Okay, so like right now I'm watching
Silicon Valley. But I'm always, like I think I get
hesitant to tell people what I'm watching because sometimes I'm
like get judged, get judged, and then I don't want
to talk about it. Like I'm like, yeah, I just
been selling Sunset, Okay, Like that's great background TV though, yeah,
(45:18):
it's pretty much good.
Speaker 3 (45:18):
It's good background.
Speaker 4 (45:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (45:20):
Do you last before we go? Do you date? Because
like when you like when you are having conversations.
Speaker 5 (45:26):
Actually, so if you type in my name on social media,
like on TikTok, nadia O Kamoto hot boyfriend comes up
before nadia O Komodo tampon.
Speaker 4 (45:37):
Wow, because I have a hot boyfriend.
Speaker 3 (45:38):
I have a hot boyfriend.
Speaker 5 (45:39):
He's like never had a social media account, but he's
very conventionally attractive and uh yeah, and like even there's
like the searches before, like people you're looking for me
in peers is like Nadia o Kamodo gay, Nadia Komodo
pants because I talk a lot about being like pan
sexual and like how even though I'm dating a cisc
guy right now does not mean I'm like no longer
(46:01):
pans actual.
Speaker 3 (46:02):
So yeah, it's been like, uh yeah, that's beautiful.
Speaker 5 (46:07):
Conventionally there's a lot of like viral videos and he's
from Switzerland and it's really funny because he he's he
has just never had social media. But randomly, like we'll
get a piece in like the fucking uh Irish tabloid,
and the Irish tabloid says something like period uh period
fairy who wears pat to festival touts attractive boyfriend and
(46:32):
it's like, what's funny?
Speaker 3 (46:34):
Yeah, it's wild, but I do date.
Speaker 5 (46:37):
Wow, we're working on like making time, but we it's
like us and our dog and I'm like obsessed with
our dog.
Speaker 4 (46:44):
Yeah, happy for you. That sounds balanced balanced me.
Speaker 2 (46:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (46:48):
Yeah, really cracked the code.
Speaker 3 (46:50):
Yeah, you've really cracked the code.
Speaker 2 (46:52):
And the fact that you're posting ten to twenty times
a day, is just inspired? Watch this weekend as I'm
told to post three to five times a week.
Speaker 3 (47:00):
Yeah, well naughty is posting tended twenty and more unfiltered?
Speaker 2 (47:05):
Yeah yeah, honestly, that's the that's the key.
Speaker 3 (47:08):
It was so great me and thank you so much
for taking the time to be here. Thank you for
having me.
Hosts And Creators
Tanya Rad
Rebecca Tilley
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