How Aditi Gorasia Is Ending Period Poverty with Ads on Pads

What if period equity wasn’t just a cause but a business model?
What if advertising could fund free period products without putting the burden back on women?

That’s exactly what Aditi Gorasia is doing with Ads on Pads, a social enterprise changing the game. In this episode, Aditi shares the deeply personal story behind her mission to eliminate period poverty in Aotearoa and beyond.

From handing out free pads as a Women’s Welfare Officer at the University of Auckland…
To launching a startup where brands advertise on period product packaging to fund access for those who need it most…
To pitching to global brands, standing firm on values, and saying no to ads that don’t empower…

She’s building a business that’s commercially smart, values-led, and impact-first.

 We cover:

• Why profit and purpose must co-exist

• The challenges of being a young, Indian woman founder in a male-dominated startup space

• The power of lived experience in shaping ethical entrepreneurship

• And why sometimes not putting pads in the bathroom turned out to be the greatest gift of all, the chance to hear real stories

Aditi doesn’t just talk equity. She lives it. Whether it’s saying no to alcohol and diet pill sponsors, or choosing people over profit in her earliest deals, her leadership is bold and brave.

Some key learnings include

1.  "Only money can do money’s job." Social impact needs sustainable funding and that’s not a dirty thing.
   
2. Don’t wait for permission. If no one else is solving it, maybe it’s your job.
   
3. The best data is often in the stories people are too scared to tell, unless you create a safe space for them to share.
   
4. Your values aren’t marketing. They’re your compass. Use them.
   
5.  Changing the world doesn’t start with shouting. It starts with listening.
   

Tune in to the full episode now on Spotify & YouTube

Know someone who needs to hear this? Share it.

Enjoy

Prajesh and Tane

Episode Transcript

(00:04):
Hey everybody, it's Prajesh herein Tana here.
Welcome to our podcast, Baskets of Knowledge chats with a
difference. In our podcast, we invite guests
from around the country and around the world to talk about
how they got to where they at the moment.
It's about a journey, it's aboutan experience, it's about their
life. Good to go to everybody.

(00:27):
Welcome to another episode of Baskets of Knowledge.
It's just me today. Thane can join us today.
He's away doing some other cool things as he always is.
And it's always like to share something that I've put into my
basket of knowledge before we introduce our guest.
Over the last week, the one thing that I've put into my
basket of knowledge was the phrase choose your heart.

(00:49):
You know, every day in life we have, we have options, we have
opportunities, we have things that come to us and every day we
have a choice of choosing your heart.
And that can be as simple as when the alarm goes, you can
choose to stay in bed, or you can choose to get up.
You can choose to go to the gym,you can choose to, you can
choose to get healthy and unhealthy.
Every day you choose your heart and everything that you do has
a, has an impact. The reason I thought about that

(01:12):
is because when we think about life and choices, we all have
choices in life every single day.
And every choice that would makeone choice is going to be easier
than the other choice depending on your value system.
So as I reflected about this, I have put up a little poster in
my, in my office that just says choose your heart, just to
remind me that, hey, whichever way we go, there's going to be

(01:32):
an impact. So it just depends on whether
you want to impact the world, your health, whichever way it
is, positive or negative, you have that choice there.
So that's that's my little beauty to the world today, but
it's not about me today. As always, we are very
privileged and very lucky to have guests on our podcast that
we think we're amazing. We know that everyone's amazing,

(01:54):
that everyone's got a story to tell.
We wish we could interview everybody, but we have a job to
go to and Boston not be happy ifI did that there.
So we're not going to do that there, but instead, if we're
going to find some people that have some time dedicated to
share their story. And today's guest is someone
that we have been wanting to geton the podcast for a while.
And it's because someone that those of you that listen to us

(02:16):
very often, you know, that I useLinkedIn as my, as my
playground. And I, I followed this person
for a while because I saw the, the money that they do.
And it's really inspirational, really aspirational and also
really impactful in what they do.
It's someone that I think we should, we should watch, not
because of what they're doing, but the impact that they're
going to have in the world as, as you'll figure it out and

(02:39):
learn. As in today's episode, it is my
privilege, my honor, and my pleasure to invite Aditi to Boss
Knowledge. Welcome, Aditi.
Thank you so much Kyoda, and nice to be here.
Fantastic Aditi. For people who know nothing
about you, who are you today on the 2nd of June?
Who am I today on the 2nd of June, on the 2nd of June Today I

(03:00):
am half a founder and half a daughter.
So it's a public holiday here incase we have any overseas
listeners. And I, I am trying as a founder
to find figure out what that means for me.
Like I didn't realize it was 1 till Friday.
Because when you run your own start up, what is what's a
weekday once a weekend? But as I, I'm now kind of more

(03:23):
than a year into my journey and I've learned that in order to do
this in the best way, I need to prioritize all the things that
are important to me. So today I'm half a founder,
half a daughter trying to spend time with people that are
important to her and take care of them.
But on the whole, I I am a founder.
So I have a company called Ads on Pads where we are trying to

(03:46):
make period products free for everyone in the community.
And we do that powered by ads. So essentially ad space on the
packaging of period products helps us give those away for
free and create period equity inthe community and fight period
poverty as well. I love the way you started this
off because as as you said before, as a founder, what is a

(04:06):
weak day? What is a weak we can it all
just merges into one and every founder that we've had on has
always said that, Hey, there's no such thing as working too
hard and balance. It's just if you want your thing
to succeed, you've got you've got to go going home, But also,
as you said, you've also got to remember the people in your life
that are important to you. You know, you're your family,
your final people that are important to you.
So I love the way you you phrasethat at the start there and you

(04:30):
speak about being a founder. But if we go back a little bit,
you know, this is where you are today.
If we spoke to Adithi at year 13and said Adithi at year 13, hey,
in 2025 you're going to be a Co founder of an amazing
initiative. What would you have said to us
at that time? I think 2 veins of thought

(04:50):
right? Like in a, in a weird way, she
wouldn't have been surprised. I think I'm, I've grown up quite
privileged in that sense. And I, I'm, I'm so grateful for
that in the sense that I, I grewup in a business family.
So it was always expected of me to have my own business at some
point. You know, my parents were both
business people. Their parents were business
people. So I, I carried that privilege

(05:14):
and I, I knew that at some pointI would do something of my own.
So being a founder wasn't, wasn't a shock for me.
On the same vein, I think some part of me was like, no, I'm
going to be a corporate lawyer in the way that sometimes like
we, we get so stuck in our, in our thought process in when we
are at that age. And I was always, I think I was

(05:35):
always good at speaking. I was good at making a critical
or logical argument. And I thought, OK, well, what's
the best path for that? What's hard?
It's law. So I'm going to be a lawyer and
I'll just do that at uni. And that's the path I'll I'll
end up on. But yeah, obviously things,
things happened a little bit differently.
I'm not a lawyer spoiler. So yeah, things moved on.

(05:57):
But I, I don't think I would have been surprised, which is
really nice to say. And I hope that more women grow
up that way. Feeling not surprised that like,
oh, like, yeah, if I want to be the CEO of something, I can be
the CEO of something. That's not weird.
I like that because, you know, you spoke about the the impact
that your family has has around you and you know, I think

(06:19):
they're saying this is proximityis power and the proximity.
When the proximity is your family and they're in that same
space there, it can either be itcan either be forward motion or
backward motion, depending on onyour family values.
And I say that because IA lot ofwork that I used to do before, I
would be in communities where some families don't believe in
education. So going to university is not
something that people think about.

(06:39):
It's a first in family as well, but it's pretty awesome.
So it's people breaking the cycle there.
And then obviously you have people like yourself and other
people that have family that arein that space that they go, Hey,
this is, this is something that's just in your DNA because
it's just the way, the way in the world.
This is really beautiful for youto, to, to hear them and say,
this is this is it. But I, we're all rebels.
We all go, Nah, this is, this is, this is what we wanted.

(07:00):
It's a bit like myself, My, my, I grew up in a family where my
parents are both in the medical profession, in different kinds
of profession. And I was like, no, I'm never
going to go in that space. They never, never not going to
do. I did my first year in computer
science and then my master's andmy PhD was in the health sector.
And I was like, how on earth didI end up getting in the health
sector, which is what I wanted to avoid?
So it's, it's pretty crazy how that happens.

(07:22):
And, and as you started your journey, you started, started
studying law, I guess, when did things start shifting for you to
go actually law? Cool, but not really my GM.
I mean, a couple of things happened.
So I started at the University of Auckland and I, I kind of
started with a commerce and a law degree of conjoint.
So I was always like, up until that point academic came really

(07:45):
easily to me, like I'd never hadto try to study.
They just kind of happened and they worked out quite well.
And then it got to university where you kind of can't just
phone it in. You kind of can't just like wait
till the last minute and hope you know everything because the
stuff you're learning is completely new.
And it is often like opinion based.
And so I think after the first year, I actually didn't get into

(08:08):
law school. So it took me another year to
get in, by which point I realized I actually just didn't
like it that much. Like I couldn't.
The idea of me sitting there every day doing the reading,
doing the research, looking at the paperwork, it's like, I hate
this. But conversely, when I look at
things in my business degree, like the degree aside, right?

(08:28):
Like, 'cause you, there's only so much you can learn in the
classroom. The things, the conversations
I'm having with the people that the networks we're building that
I was excited about and I felt really passionate about.
And I think that very quickly made me realize that I was doing
maybe a law degree out of this. Like this notion that I should
because everyone around me was like a doctor and engineer

(08:48):
lawyer. So I was like, well, I have to,
you know, without feeling that pressure and realizing that
actually as great as this path is, it doesn't feel right for
me. And I'm, I'm forcing myself
through it. Whereas like the natural path of
a business is so exciting. I'd done, by that point, you

(09:09):
know, I'd done young Enterprise at school, which I, you know,
to, to date is one of my, my best memories at school.
I'd done an accelerator program in Wellington off the back of
high school and, and all of those things were the things I
kept going back to, the things Iwas excited about.
And so eventually I dropped thatlaw degree quite quickly as
well. And, and that's a, that's a,

(09:31):
that's a big moment because as you said before, you know,
people around here doing those professions and for you to have
that after decision to go, Hey, I need to drop this year because
so many people, sometimes peopleare going, oh, but what if, what
if I need to do this year? So it's really beautiful that
you, that you had, that you followed your passion.
You know, there's this interesting thing that I see in
schools where people say follow your passion and some of them go
like, oh, but your passion is not going to get you a job.

(09:53):
But if it's really your passion,it's, it's kind of, it's going
to come out anyway in some stage.
And sometimes there's some people that, that don't allow
themselves to believe in that, that passion comes up when
they're in the 40s, if after their 60s, because they realize,
oh, damn, what have I been doingall my life?
It's not OK. So it's really beautiful that
you were able to, you know, havethe courage to do that there.
And when I was doing my, my reading about you, I noticed

(10:16):
that one of the things that you did when you were at the
University of Auckland, you werethe women's wealthy officer.
Is that correct? And was that when when things
started resonating for you aboutwhere you might sort of veer
into the in your future, I guess?
Yeah, for sure. So I, I've always been really
passionate about equality, gender equality in particular,

(10:38):
and I'm creating safe spaces forwomen to succeed in.
And so when I was at university,I like ran for the woman's
officer. I got elected alongside someone
else. So there were two of us.
There was always two of us, which was very lucky, and we had
the space on campus called Women's Space, which still
exists at the University of Auckland.
Essentially a safe space for women on campus to go and rest,

(11:02):
to relax, to study, to have their lunch and to have
conversations. And as part of that, in our
office, we actually had three period products that were
donated by a company at the time.
And so anyone that needed a product could kind of come into
our office and ask for one and grab one.
At the time, we, for whatever reason, didn't have the common
sense to just put them in the bathrooms to avoid the, the
drama of someone having to come and ask us.

(11:24):
But because of that, as they came in, they would often feel
the need to, to justify themselves for taking a product.
And in that they would tell their story.
So they would say things like, Oh, I'm, I'm so grateful because
I've had to pick between period products and food all week.
So actually I've just been staying home and skipping class
because like I can't not eat allweek and I can't just like free

(11:46):
bleed on campus. So I've just been staying home
and skipping class and like I'lljust figure it out.
Or they would say things like, you know, like, oh, I've got an
exam in an hour and I wasn't supposed to get my period.
And I don't know when it's happened and I'm I'm freaking
out. I don't know how I'm going to
set this exam now. And I think just those things
really triggered for me that this is an issue that's

(12:08):
happening again. As I say, I grew up really,
really fortunate. And that's a challenge that I
personally never had to face. I was lucky in that whenever I
needed a period product, it was readily available either in my
home or kind of wherever I was. And I started researching the
problem and realized that more than half of the women in Alto
have struggled to afford a period product at some point in

(12:29):
time in their life, which to me in a country like this is a
staggering number. And whatever capacity that looks
like as well, right? Like when you think of of places
that face like extreme forms of poverty or period poverty, you
don't necessarily think of Altera.
You think of kind of, you know, Asian countries, like you think
of India, you think of, you know, different places in, in

(12:51):
Africa, for example, you don't think of New Zealand.
And I think that's been one of the the biggest failures on our
part as a welfare state. And a big part of that as I
started doing that research was realizing that it's just because
we never talked about it. You know, you, you do talk about
like you're in school and you bring a can of food to school

(13:12):
and we donate that. We do gold coin donations.
We do. We talk about kids education.
At no point in time was I told to bring in a box of sanitary
pads to school to donate to the woman's refuge.
And because of that lack of conversation is where this
problem has existed. So I started getting really,
really passionate about that as at my time, during the woman's,

(13:32):
as my time during women's rightsofficer at Auckland Uni.
But I didn't necessarily have a solution at that point.
And slowly over time, that crafted.
And, and, and the reason I askedthat question is because, you
know, all seeds are planted at some point and then they, they
grow at, at certain points if you want them.
And I love the fact that you mentioned that the stories are

(13:54):
what really gave you the plant of the sea.
Because as you know, when, before we started recording, we
mentioned that everybody has a story.
And as you said, everyone that came in shares a story.
And if we go back a little bit, if you had put out the pads in
the bathrooms, you never heard the stories, you might have a
whole different conversation happening today.
So it's the way life works out is really quite interesting,

(14:15):
isn't it? If I think it'd be that way
there, so you finish up at university and then off you go
and have an adventure with your working world.
What is that like for you as youwent to Unilever and in the UK
and worked in those big corporate, corporate spaces?
I think those all helped me get to the point I am today.
So after I finished university and I, even though I knew at

(14:38):
some point I wanted to have my own business, the, the best path
went was like, well, OK, well, Ishould get a grad program
because that's what everyone around me was gearing for.
So I, I ended up getting into a grad program at Unileva that was
really, really competitive to get into.
So I was like, well, it's competitive, so I should take it
because I've gotten it, which isagain, that kind of the, the
kind of mentality that I, I kindof had ingrained and I, I ended

(15:02):
up having, I'd say honestly the best foundation to my career I
could have asked for just the basic level of critical
thinking, strategic thinking, like the level of discipline
that you create in your work, how to have a conversation with
someone even when it's difficult, how to negotiate
basic things, how to write an e-mail that is structurally

(15:24):
sound and is firm but kind. The basic things that actually
till date have helped me so muchin my career.
I learnt there and then I think through that I, I had another
opportunity come up with Zuru, which is a big start up here,
running a brand called Monday Hair Care and launching that

(15:45):
internationally. And in that experience, I was
kind of thrown into, you know, conversations that probably a 22
year old shouldn't be allowed tohave, would wouldn't at
Unilever, you wouldn't be allowed to have till you were
like 60, you know, So I was, youknow, I was negotiating with
like senior directors at Walmartwhen I was like 22 and launching
brands into Sweden and Mongolia and, you know, countries that I

(16:06):
didn't even know existed at the time.
And that in itself, I mean, it taught me how to do that, but it
also taught me that actually, noambition is too big.
If I can go away and I can do this with someone else, If I can
take, you know, a brand that's just launched in New Zealand and
turn it into $100 million brand for someone else, I can do it
for myself. And I think that's, I mean,

(16:27):
outside of obviously I did take away a lot of the hard skills
from that job, but outside of that, I think that's the biggest
thing it unlocked for me is thatit's OK to want more and, and,
and there are ways to get it. And I did that and then I moved
away to the UK before which I'd kind of had a cut, like a brief
stint in building ventures and realized that, you know, lo and

(16:48):
below, behold, turns out I do love building start-ups.
I just wasn't ready to do it formyself.
So I went into corporate venturebuilding and strategic
consulting in the UK for a couple years and built startups
again and again and again for different companies.
And that taught me how to go from like, you know, you want to
build the $100 million business,What does that mean you should

(17:10):
be doing on Tuesday and Thursdayand Saturday to try and get
there? So it taught me how to take that
big problem and digest it into really small, everyday
actionable bits that actually get you there.
Because I think so many people have the ambition of like, I
want to solve period poverty, but where do you start?
So it taught me where to start. And I think with all of the

(17:32):
combination of that career, whenI came back to, to Altera a year
and a half ago, I was very much in the, the boat of, you know
what, it's now or never. I feel like I have the passion.
The passion remains. There's this problem that I
haven't been able to get out of my head in a decade that like,
you know, niggles at me all the time.

(17:53):
I have a solution that I think might work that is worth a try.
And I now feel like I have the experience base to give it a
proper shot. So the culmination of those
three things made it feel like this was the right time to try.
And I think without my corporateexperience, I wouldn't, I
wouldn't have that background and I wouldn't probably have the

(18:15):
the confidence at success that Ifeel today and that.
And that's so true. And I thought this is out there
for myself as well. What I'd love to do was about
how you mentioned it's about thebasics.
You when you get the basics right and you learn those
correctly, they help you in every single day in life.
You know, you spoke about the way you have an e-mail that we
have a communication, but also the way you start building

(18:36):
confidence in yourself with those conversations, you know,
whether you're 22 or 42. So when you learn the basics and
how to have that it, it allows it to happen.
But what I loved was how you realized that actually I'm doing
this for other people, what I kind of did for myself, you
know, because a lot of a lot of times, you know, we do things
for other people and then which we do really well, we can smash
that. But then when we have our own

(18:57):
self belief, like, I don't know,I don't know.
But you're like, hey, you've just done it for somebody else.
I was coaching a client yesterday, last night and the
exact same conversation. She was crushing.
She's crushing and doing some amazing stuff for her company
and she wants to do stuff for herself and she just has no
confidence. I'm like, but right now you've,
you, you were doing so well and you're doing the exact same
thing, but you're not doing it. And it's really the confidence.

(19:20):
Sorry, she's doing it, but the confidence.
It's really great to hear how you are actually, Hey, let me
switch the focus a little bit ofthat that niggling that that you
had, which we all have all the time.
So it's really beautiful. It's like Simon Scoobs book, you
know, everyone has a dream. What step are you going to take
to have the dream this? It's really beautiful to hear
that there. So you come back to New Zealand
and is this when the idea for the product started off or was

(19:42):
or was the idea or the idea was already there, but the naming
and the actual actualization, did that come back when you when
you came back to New Zealand? Yeah, I mean, so the idea for
the product came actually prettyquickly when I thought of the
problem. And it basically happened where,
you know, I was passionate aboutperiod poverty.
And I there there's a brand called, I think Libra here.
And on the back of the sanitary pads on the sticker that you

(20:04):
peel off at the release paper, it's called, they put fun facts.
So they'd realize very quickly that when you're changing your
period product, you're not doinganything else.
You're not on your phone, you'renot doing anything.
Most people are just reading those fun facts.
So they've chosen to capitalize that space.
To create more affinity with that brand.
So I think reading that, I realized that actually, if I'm
spending so much time reading these facts, and I know my

(20:26):
friends are as well because we joke about it or we talk about
them, then there's there's spacehere that people are giving
attention to. So many things are paid for by
ads. Why can't this?
So I think that's where the ideakind of sparked quite a while
ago. But again, I kind of did nothing
with it. I was like, oh, you know, print
advertising is so hard. Physical products are really
hard, you know, like should I just focus on, you know,

(20:50):
creating a consulting agency because that's what I know how
to do. And I, I love helping other
people build their businesses soI could do that.
Should I focus on something thatrequires less capital
investment? And I did have a couple of
people that I talked to kind of displayed me in that process as
well and say, look, you know, like physical products,
particularly healthcare productsare so difficult.
You, you know, you're better offpicking something else.
So I had a couple of other ideasswimming in between, but I think

(21:14):
when I, when I came back and I was like, cool, I've got 3 ideas
that I think have legs, which one am I going to pick?
I did all the research behind all of them, you know, the
sanded like what you're supposedto do.
I did like, here's the size of the prize for all three.
Logic aside, this was the one where I was like, if there's
something I can give my all to, it's this, because this is

(21:35):
what's been calling to me. And at the end of the day, and I
walk, if I walk away from this and I've made no money, I've
lost everything. But I've helped even 10 people,
like go up, go about their day or fulfill an opportunity
because they've had access to something they didn't before.
That in itself is a success. So I think in a weird way, for

(21:55):
me, it was like the most conservative approach to protect
myself from failure because if you've helped any person, then
it's really hard to feel like a failure.
Not that I don't some days, you know, everyone does.
But I think that's why when I came home, I knew I wanted to
start my own business. I had a couple of, you know, I
have a thing in my notes app on my phone of like ridiculous

(22:16):
business ideas that I might dream up or, you know, write
out. And I'd say 90% of them are pure
trash, as they should be. That's the one that really stuck
out, and that's the one I doubled down into.
And the name, the name kind of just came organically.
I can't remember quite when it did.
Yeah. But I, I was, I yeah, I was just

(22:38):
like, how would I explain this to someone in the easiest way
possible? What am I doing?
I'm putting ads on pads. And, you know, a lot of my best
friends actually call me ads as well, which is like a, a nice
nickname to my name. And it was my take on pads.
So in a, in a narcissistic kind of way, it just fit and I

(22:58):
thought it would be a placeholder name, but it's
actually built quite a bit of affinity around it.
So I think it's it's sticking around.
That's and that's exactly what it says, exactly what it's
doing, it's on, that's exactly what you're saying.
And just, it just happens to be the first two initials of your
name, which is quite, quite awesome.
But what I what I really enjoyedabout that was the fact that you

(23:19):
spoke about this is this is morethan just about making money.
It's about the impact. You know, right at the start we
spoke about, you know, he said half, half of females in New
Zealand really struggle to get pure products.
So even if he's helped 10 people, you know, the impact
that you have, the flown impact is really massive.
What is it like for you now to try and find people to start

(23:42):
putting ads on the pads? How do those conversations go?
I think the conversations today,luckily a lot easier than they
were a year ago. I think when I first started,
that was the biggest challenge. And to be honest, it continues
to be the biggest challenge is to get the right advertisers on
board. Because I mean, one thing was
very clear from the get go is that we weren't just going to
let anyone advertise on it. You're, you're catching people

(24:05):
in what is a vulnerable moment, right?
Like you're changing a period product often.
If you've get grabbed a furry pad, there's a chance that
you're the kind of person that can't afford one as well or
you're just caught off guard. The last thing you need to see
is like an ad that's like diet pills or, you know, like
something that has historically pulled women down.
So the one the one hard line we set up for ourselves was we want

(24:27):
to work with brands that we think can empower people with
periods rather than prey on them.
And that also means things like we don't advertise things like
alcohol. You know, that would be really
easy. Alcohol companies have so much
money like the a rose a company would kill to advertise to a
bunch of women. And we've had those offers come
in. I mean, it's hard to turn them
down. It's hard as a new business to

(24:48):
turn down money. But I think if we stray, stay
true to our cause, then things will come.
So early days, I'd say it was challenging.
We had a lot of people be like, oh, well, a, there's no data,
there's no case studies, no one does that.
People advertise on a billboard.How do I know advertising on a
pad is going to work? B It's risky, you know, for a

(25:10):
brand, as much as we like to saywe're kind of, you know,
progressive now and there is no stigma around periods, There is
a very big and deep stigma in and around periods.
And a lot of brands say, look, at the end of the day, we just
don't know how our customers would react, you know, and we've
had conversations where people are like, well, you know, I
can't, I can't go and advertise on a sex toy next, you know, can

(25:30):
I? So it's just the, the, the, the
perception that people have of periods and of sexualizing them
and making them feel like it's something that they can't
associate their brands with thatI'd say it's taken some time to,
to kind of dismantle and it willcontinue to take time.
We're, we're very early in that process.
A year on, I think things have turned, which I'm very grateful

(25:54):
for. We had a couple of early
supporters of the brand, which really, really helped, like a
couple, I'd say a couple of gearshifting ones for us were Breast
Cancer Foundation, which was ourfirst major partner.
And I think to have, you know, being a charity, but to also
have a strong message to share on our packaging, being able to
pull data and insights out of that campaign for them.

(26:17):
And also them having a really credible name in the New Zealand
space meant that we were able totake that case study to other
places, to charities, to government, to, to corporates as
well with a name that they'd heard before.
So they were like, oh, if they're doing it, I mean, I kind
of get it. But I, you know, if they're
doing it, then it must not be something that's too dodgy or
risky. Um, similarly then I think early

(26:39):
days, what I prioritized rather than revenue was building case
studies in different, different industries because I wanted
people to know that they could advertise things that weren't
just traditionally for women on them.
You know, you're not just advertising other pads or like
heating pads or, you know, lipstick on them.
We, you know, we kind of picked quite deliberately that we would

(27:01):
have a charity, we would have a healthcare proposition, we would
have an ice cream. So that was eat kind of that we
did and we would have an app because we wanted very, very
disparate things. So prioritizing early building
case studies rather than revenuebecause our biggest problem was
lack of data. That's meant that today when

(27:24):
someone says, well, I just don'tknow if this works or not, I've
got like 20 case studies to be like, hey, here's proof it
works. And because now we've had a
couple of those companies come on board, people are also a
little bit insulated to the riskit might hold for their brands.
Work in progress I would say still it's still a challenge to
get the right brands on board, to get them on on board long

(27:47):
term as well to work in our leadtimes.
But it it's a lot easier today than it was when we started.
And that's, that's a real, real great story there to tell us, to
talk about how maybe people havestarted shifting in their
thinking about periods, about how it's, it's a normal thing
that happens. But also what I love about your

(28:09):
messaging is the core values. It's so easy just to put any
message in, Hey, the money is money, but it's not about that.
It's about the principles that you have asked have around your
products and the bigger picture,which is about women's
well-being and Women's Health, which is bigger than money,
essentially. You know, we all love money.
But hey, there's also a bit moremore to that day.
And I love how you said that they have the right people, the
right value driven will come when they come.

(28:32):
But what is it like for you as ayoung founder that is a, that is
a woman that is never getting the space here?
You know, we, we all know that the, the gender pay gap is
massive. The number of female
entrepreneurs is versus male entrepreneurs is, is so
disparate. The number of CE OS, you know,
whenever read Alexa Hill's comments about, you know, the
number of female CE OS versus males is just ridiculous.

(28:55):
So we throw that on there. We throw your gender and then we
throw your the race that you're actually, you're actually Indian
as well. You know, I'm putting those in
because I know how hard it is inone of those.
But then you add an agenda as well and it makes things could
be harder, could be easier. What is that like when you're
navigating those places? Which are you as an identity?

(29:16):
I think it's a, it's a hard one to answer, right, Because it's
not look, I'm, I'm very lucky inthat I've never fixed that
discrimination in an overt way. But most of us have.
It's not overt, right? It's in, it's in the little
things. It's in like the, it's, it's not
in the exclusion, it's in the lack of inclusion, if that makes
sense. No, it's the little way.

(29:37):
So it has been like, you know, alot of the, there's this like
big like startup bro network kind of that's almost unsaid in
a way where I, I don't fit in. Like I'm not going to play footy
with them. I'm not going to go to the rugby
games with them. I'm not going to go go golfing
with them because it's just not something that I was ever like
raised to do. So I don't have an interest or
an ability to do it. And I think also as a woman, as

(29:59):
a young Indian woman, I have about like 20 million response
disabilities outside of my business as well.
So unfortunately, I can't like on my one hour off from my
business, go and play golf with you to try and build that
rapport. So I like they're the little
things that you definitely notice that is that I don't feel
as naturally well networked as some of my male counterparts.

(30:24):
I think outside of that as well,I think there's a bit because
the topic I'm speaking about is so inherently female or dubbed
as inherently female, Often people kind of close up in and
around it. So the people I'm approaching
more often than not are men because they are the decision
makers or companies still. But most of the time they'll

(30:46):
want to kind of pass me on to a female colleague, even if that
colleague has nothing to do whatthey're doing.
Well, I'm like, no, you're the head of marketing, so you need
to sign this off. And they're like, no, but my,
like there's a girl in my supplychain you should talk to because
she's in, she's a girl. So.
And so I think just the, the little dynamics of that because
we're tackling an issue where traditionally either now they're

(31:07):
at the point where they're like,oh, no, no, like I get it.
It's not wrong. But like it's probably not the,
the thing I should be talking about, right?
Like you need someone more an expert in that area than me
where it's like you're a 40 yearold man.
Like you should know how a woman's body operates.
Or if not, you should be willingto listen without, you know,
without having to create stigma around it.
So I think those little things definitely happen.

(31:29):
I think on the flip, what I've noticed as well is sometimes
it's actually a real challenge getting across to women in a
business as well. Because for so long we've been
the torchbearer of our own issues.
So if I'm approaching a woman ina business and I want her to
champion my 'cause it's actuallyreally difficult because she's
already championing 10 differentcauses to do with women and
she's already fighting that battle internally for to add

(31:52):
another one is kind of like thenshe's running herself as the
office feminist. So as, as much as you, you
really want to get behind these things.
We notice that people for their own reasons, sometimes really,
really struggle to even if they believe in the cause.
And I think those are some of the challenges that I've
probably experienced. I mean, as a woman founder, but

(32:14):
also inherently tackling a largely female issue that's been
uniquely difficult. I will say it's gotten a lot
better. Like I think, you know, it's
not, it's not as overt as it used to be.
I feel quite, I'm lucky in that I am naturally quite an
extroverted or confident person.So I'm actually very comfortable

(32:36):
calling people out on it in a way that is more jovial than a
tacky. Like there's a unfortunately as
a woman, there's a game you haveto play.
And I'm lucky that I've learnt to play it because of the, the
maybe the wealth of experience that my corporate past has given
me. But yeah, there is, there are.
There is some slight nuance to it in that I'll never like.

(33:01):
It's really hard for me to be inthe club even though sometimes
you get invited to it. Yeah, and, and I asked that
question because that's a reality that we face, you know,
people, you know, thought I spoke to you about we see this,
you know, we see the the fantastic news stories, we see
all that there and which is an amazing success to what you're

(33:21):
doing. But the grind is still real for,
you know, this grind is real. The challenges are real.
You know, you are still a human being living your life, you
know, and being a founder is 1, which, as you said, is one part
of your manifestos that you do. And you know, sometimes we, we
forget about that when we just ha, this sounds amazing, but
actually there's a lot more behind behind the story there.

(33:42):
So thank you. Thank you for sharing that.
And what I, what I really, what really sparked me there was the
fact that you spoke about, you know, when you live in a, when
you're what marginalized, whatever that marginalization
is, whether you are, are female,whether you're Mali, Pacifica,
whatever, disabled, when you have all these values that you
really strongly believe in and you are the person that is

(34:05):
voicing them. Adding something else just adds
more, a more burden to that person there because they've
been, as you said before, we're humans and we just started
labeling people and correctly and correctly, we started
labeling people. And sometimes people just go,
no, because I think I just don'twant this.
I believe in it, but I actually can't have another something
else on my, on my shoulders because my shoulders.

(34:25):
Thank you for using that. Because this is something that I
obviously you don't think about that because you go, Oh, we'll
just get it done. So thank you so much for that
there. And I think people listening as
well. This is a clear reminder as well
that hey, don't just delegate these things just because a
person ticks a certain box and they can be the right person for
it when they're already doing all the other things that you're
already delegated to them because they believe in that

(34:47):
they, that's a really great awareness point there.
Thank you. What is it like for you?
Sorry. It's a big reason as well.
Like I wanted to share this that, you know, a lot of people
are like, oh, why don't you justlike ask women that can afford
it to donate products for women that can't?
Like why don't you just like do like a buy one give one model
and a big like, honestly, financially that would make so

(35:08):
much sense, right? Like it would make life a lot
easier. And there are so many people
that are willing to do that. Women are so generous and they
want to help others. But my biggest issue with that
is it puts the onus back onto women as something they're
already struggling with. So we always talk about like,
we're, we're trying to fight period poverty, but more than
that, we're trying to fight period inequity.

(35:29):
The fact that I have to shell out, you know, like 30 to $50.00
a month that a male counterpart doesn't, over the long term,
that money adds up. What, you know, like if I'm
investing $50.00 a month, what can that do instead?
So if then again, I like the onus of looking after other
women is placed solely back on me, all we're doing is just

(35:49):
stretching that inequity further.
And so it's a big part of why that like, even within our
business model, that like delegation model doesn't make
sense to us. It's like this is a, a business
problem owned by the community. So the community and the
business should solve it. We shouldn't put this entirely
back onto one group just becausethey're closest to it.
In the same way that like it's quite annoying that at every

(36:12):
company I met, I get put on the like diversity and inclusion
committee because I'm like the one brown girl there, you know,
like it just doesn't make sense.So let's not add more onto the
piles of people that are alreadydealing with the problem.
I think there are ways to tacklethat in a way that's that's more
inclusive and other solutions toit.
Yes, it's really funny. So that because I remember when

(36:34):
when the whole Black Lives Matter thing happened and I sort
of, I remember Liz Mills and I sort of remember how Liz Mills
were like, oh, from now on we'regoing to have we're going to
have one person of color on our on our board and whatever.
And I was like, well, why is it all?
Why is it happening now all of asudden just just because you are
taking a walk? And I remember one of my, one of
my friends who is a person of colour and he was nominated into

(36:57):
a board and he, he, he declined it.
And he was like, I've been trying to get on this board for
years and years. I've been, I've been a trained
at Lismos for 20 years or so andnothing is 0.
But then when this happens, all of a sudden you want me to be
he's like, no, this is the most ridiculous thing because now
you're just taking a tick box exercise.
You're not you're not getting meon because of my skill set of my

(37:18):
knowledge. And you can actually think about
how many times does that happen in life just because companies
or people that just say, hey, wewe just want representation.
And you know, a lot of people's people that have come on the
podcast have always said, yeah, we put them to the table, but no
one listens to us. We're just there, but no one
listens to our voices. Yeah.
So it's really beautiful this year the way you've said that
there. So thank you for that there.

(37:39):
Yeah. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's
always food for thought when we,when we do this thing, exercises
here, talking about food for thought and exercise.
How did it feel like when you when your product was at your
alma mater at the University of Auckland, when you were able to
go back and go, hey boom, here we are?
It felt really, really gratifying to be honest, because

(38:01):
I mean, obviously I went to the university, but also that's
where the idea and the passion was born.
Those were like, in a weird way,like that's where I heard the
problem and that's where I wanted to fix it first.
So prior to the University of Auckland, which we don't like,
that was our big launch. Prior to that, we'd actually
launched in a few smaller placesas well because again, building
those case studies was really important.

(38:22):
Even a University of Auckland, like I'm, I'm so grateful they
took a leap on a small new business, but even them they
needed some kind of like, hey, you've done this before.
You're not going to provide us with, like, newspaper instead of
pads, you know, and you're not going to give us pads one month
and not the next. So we kind of worked with, you
know, I was lucky. I reached out to a friend that
owns a cafe and he was kind of one of our first early

(38:45):
supporters. And we stocked a local cafe.
I paired it with a Pilates studio.
Like had my brothers sit there at night putting ad stickers on
top of pad packaging till like 2in the morning.
And then we just put them in theCafe.
And we use that to start building case studies and prove
that actually like the Pilates studios was getting calls and

(39:06):
customers because because we puttheir advertising out there.
And so those little things helped us get into the
university. So when we finally did launch in
the university, I think it was such a gratifying moment because
every part of that university set up.
Like now I'm lucky that I have afew systems more automated, but
every part of that was done withour hands.

(39:27):
Like I had stayed up all night, like building ad ad slots onto
dispenses, onto hundreds of dispenses with like tape and
like cuts on my hands and stuff to try and get it ready for the
university to launch. And I'd gone and I'd put them up
in every single space and I'd helped take photographs of them

(39:48):
and checked every single room out that they were in to make
sure they were in the right place, that they were stocked.
So it felt so incredible becausewe were so deeply a part of that
process. And there were spaces I knew.
So I knew in like intuitively how many students would be able
to access them, what moments that would help them in as well.

(40:11):
And I think just how supportive that university was as well of
me because I was an ex student. And because I was trying to
solve a problem for that currentstudents, like, I think it would
have been very easy for them to be like, oh, you know, we're not
sure we'll just buy it from Countdown.
Obviously there was like wrong. There was a strong commercial

(40:32):
case for which, you know, we there was a business reason they
did it too. But I think having those early
supporters and early champions and in turn US taking the time
to nurture those and prioritize those relationships has felt so,
so gratifying. Like I think we have, we're now
lucky that we have a couple of stockists, we have a couple of

(40:53):
universities and are opening up more.
And I, I do like, I kind of oversee those, but I'm able to
automate that process a little bit more.
But with the University of Auckland, I almost like almost
all the time I'll hand deliver their orders still.
I mean, part of it is because I'm in Auckland and I can do it,
but the other part is because they supported us so well early

(41:14):
on that I want to make sure thatevery single thing that they
receive is always perfect. And it means that I get to have
like a 2 minute chat with them every time I drop off the boxes
and talk about how we can make this and build this further.
That's so beautiful and I love that it's, you know, a full
circle moment, but also the factthat shout out to the University
of Portland for supporting, supporting you along the way

(41:35):
because they could see they've been like a cool idea, but
actually now. So it's really, really awesome
that that's come through. I think I'm going to change the
focus of the conversation just alittle bit.
You know, your business is a bigpart of you, but how do you find
time to relax? You know, I just said before, as
a founder, you, you do all thesethings here.
Plus you're, you know, as a, as a young, as a young Indian
person, you have lots of other commitments that we have to give

(41:57):
them to you. What is your way of just living
life away from the business? Do you know what I'm still
learning that I don't as the, asthe honest answer?
Like I'm, I, I try and take timeaway, like conscious time away
from work. Like I think when I started the
business, I was ending my night on like e-mail and WhatsApp in

(42:19):
bed. I was like, I would wake up and
before I'd even open my eyes, myfingers had opened my e-mail on
my phone and then my eyes. That would be the first thing my
eyes saw. And so I, I think those little
things I've kind of like got ridof because that's just, but
like, that's not the life I wantto lead.
And if I'm doing that, I'm not going to last very long doing

(42:41):
this. Like I'm just not, I'm not that
person. I'm not the person that can work
constantly without stopping for like 20 years to make this
succeed. I'm going to need some balance.
But what I haven't learned yet is how to not feel guilty every
second I'm not backing. So that is probably something
that I'm still in the process of.

(43:02):
If someone has an answer that would be probably really
helpful. But I do try and find a balance.
Like my family's really good with that.
My my partner is really great aswell and helping remind me that
like a balance is healthy and that because I do creative work,
I need to take the break there so that I can be creative.

(43:23):
And I did. I kind of forced my hand this
year a little bit. So we got a puppy and so
naturally that that has taken upa lot of my time and energy.
Like I can't, you can't not tendto the puppy because you are
working. You can't not take him for a
walk. You can't not play with him in
the garden. So because I've kind of forced
my hand a little bit in that relaxed area.

(43:44):
So little things definitely help, but I'd say it's a big
work in process, like progress. It's one of the the biggest
things I'm trying to work on is like that balance between like
working too much and then like not working and then feeling
like existentially guilty about the fact that I haven't done
anything that's like shifted theneedle in like 24 hours, you
know? So I don't know, I guess is the

(44:08):
only Sir. Yeah.
And that's that's a great thing because you know, that's the
honest truth. You know, this is this is
essentially a baby that you're building and you are creating.
And when it's national for us togo high, if I'm not looking
after anybody comes my baby, which is the business, what's
going on there? But I love the fact that when
you have a puppy and the puppy doesn't actually care, the
puppy, OK, you, you come and play otherwise, you know, it's

(44:31):
really awesome how you've, you've washed your hand in a
way. And and it is a it is a it's
something that just happens withprogress and time.
But the awareness is, is really beautiful that you have that
awareness piece there, which is which is fantastic.
Yeah. So that because I'm the same,
I'm super guilty of that there. Super, super guilty of need to
be on my computer, need to be posting a LinkedIn and be

(44:52):
posting on this and you're doingthat there.
But actually you don't have to. You don't have to if you want
to. So now, thank you.
Thank you for sharing, sharing that there everything.
And you know, as you as you sit here and you think about where
you are today, what is it like for you when you, when you start
seeing your name and you start getting called up by RNZ and you

(45:12):
have those interviews coming through about, about something
that's been, you know, to think back to what you said before,
this is the stories you heard when you're the University of
Auckland. It is the period, period
inequity that you've seen. But now it's going to be coming
mainstream with the conversation.
Whereas, you know, 10 years ago,the word period mainstream would
not happen. How does it feel like for you

(45:33):
when you're when you've been called to speak about this?
I think I'm really, really excited about it.
I think less, less because like,I mean, the part of it is really
exciting that a business that I've built gets to talk about
these things in front of a lot of people.
But it's more, it's, it's what you said.
It's like, it's kind of like theGlee of talking about something
that's been taboo for so long insuch a public setting.

(45:55):
Like, yeah, talking about periods on the radio, talking
about periods on the TV, like talking about them so openly on
LinkedIn, like a place where people don't talk about those
things. You know, that I think in a way
I, it's like I get a lot of Gleeout of pushing the boundaries.
And that's been really, really exciting because the more I do

(46:15):
this, the more other people do this.
We talk about periods, we talk about things that we're not
supposed to in these public forums, the more that the next
generation of women is accustomed to hearing it and
open to talking about it. So I think that in itself is
really exciting. But I, I think with that, I
think there's, there's the flip as well.
Like there's been so many moments.

(46:36):
Like, you know, earlier this year we were supposed to have a
television interview that was like kind of all scheduled.
And then I get a message saying,actually, do you know what?
We've rethought it. And this doesn't feel like the
kind of thing that we should be discussing kind of in the
morning, you know, So it's like the little things.
There's, there's the flip of it that happens as well.
And I think again, as an early founder, as a solo founder, I'm,

(47:00):
I'm trying really hard not to, but I'm so focused on the things
that don't happen rather than the things that do.
So I'm, I'm not able to always recognize the winds of like, Oh
my God, it's so amazing that we got a chance to talk on R&Z
because I'm also thinking about the fact that like, Oh my God,
what could I have done differently that we could have
gotten a chance to speak at, at this thing as well and make the

(47:22):
message even bigger. So I guess that's another
balancing act. I'm learning is like is is
letting it take its time becauseI can do everything I can to
accelerate that process, but some things just take time.
I love it because it it's quite funny.
It it goes back to what I said at the start to choose your
heart. You choose your heart, whether

(47:42):
you want to choose the fact thatyou dwell on the negative or you
choose your heart to celebrate the success.
And as humans, what do we do? We always focus the negative.
This is just what we do. What I should have done that I
should have done that. And we just the energy just go
the self. Now.
Thank you for showing that there, which is, you know, it's
the truth. You know, with every success,
there's so many other failures that come along the way.
And as humans, we focus on thosefailures just just inherently

(48:03):
here's what we do. I think that we've been speaking
for almost an hour and, you know, time has just flown.
And there's so much in your story which we could get into.
But I know time is precious. And there's a public holiday,
and you probably might be waiting for you.
So I'm going to ask you our final question, unless there's
something else you'd like to addwhich I haven't covered because
there might be something else that you might Actually, this is

(48:24):
pretty cool. Is there anything else that I
haven't covered that you thoughtwe'd like to share?
No, I mean, I guess I'd just love to love to ask you about
like your experience in and around periods.
Like when was the first time youyou kind of like learnt what
that was? What was that like growing up
for you? Who taught you about them, if at
all? And what does your like?
How how comfortable has this episode been for you?

(48:46):
Like, how comfortable do you feel talking about it?
Because there's no, you know, like that's the thing that we're
trying to do as well. Like just because we want to
talk about periods and we want to yell at them, you know, yell
about them from the rooftops, doesn't mean we're angry at the
people that can't yet. And I think that's the one thing
we're trying to create with our brand is that this is an open,
safe space to talk about the things you've never been allowed

(49:08):
to talk about. And therefore it's OK to make
mistakes. Yeah.
What? What a great question.
I love that because so I'll talk.
So I grew up in Zimbabwe, grew up in Africa and in Zimbabwe it
was way easier to talk about sexthan it was to talk about the
period. So going through school, because
when I, when I was growing up, HIV, AIDS was a massive pandemic
in Zimbabwe. So in every school lesson, you

(49:31):
know, health lessons, you talk about sex, you talk about how to
put in a condom, you talk about safe sex or no sex.
Essentially ABC abstain and abstain.
We'll still we had this ABC thing, which I can't remember.
Obviously it was so well trained, I forgot, but nobody
ever talked about periods. And here's the crazy thing,
because I went to a COVID school, had COVID primary
school, that was not mentioned. So and I grew up in a family of

(49:53):
three boys. So just my mum, my dad and three
boys. So talking about a period was
not even, not at all in the conversation.
That was not even a thing. And oblivious, oblivious, you
know, because then you go to high school and in Africa when I
was growing up, there was no COVID schools.
You just went to all, all boys school.
So the fact that you talk about that didn't happen.

(50:14):
That was not a thing. Did not even know about it.
Just you learn about in biology class, but that's about it.
You learn about the menstrual cycle, you know the the
thickening and the uterus. You learn the biology, but you
don't learn about the reality ofwhat actually happened.
So oblivious. The first time I remember this,
the first time I was like, what is going on here was when I went

(50:35):
to university in South Africa and I would go to the temple or
to the minder on, on Sundays andI would go with a couple of
friends. And then one day one of my
friends was like, I can't come to the, to the men there.
And I was like, what are you talking about?
And she was like, no, I, I actually can't come to the men
there. And I was like, what are you
talking about? I'm like, well, I can't just
come to the men there. Why are you being so weird about
it? And she was like, I can't come

(50:58):
to them. And I was like, and I was like,
horrible. I was like, whatever, what's up
with her? And then later on they were
like, it's because I'm, I'm going, I'm on my peer.
And I didn't realize that when you appeared, you can't get them
in there. And that's when I was like,
whoa, like it's going on you Because I had to know about it.
It was. So I was being really

(51:18):
uneducated, but being really like it.
What are you doing? And that was my first
introduction to the world, to the world of the period, you
know? But again, it was really
uncomfortable because I was like, how do I talk about this
now? This is so strange for me at
that point in time and just being real, I was like, oh, now
what do I do? Then it became really good for
me whenever the mender time I was like, oh, are they coming or

(51:38):
they're not coming? What do I say?
That was like really, really interesting.
So that's that's when I started thinking about it.
And then my friends are really awesome.
They educated about me all especially especially in
traditional Indian culture, you know, talking about this is
really typical. People don't talk about it dog
all that's not a thing that you talk about.

(51:59):
You just you're just told what you can't do, not what you can't
do. You can't do that there.
You this, you know, the word dirty always comes to play.
Oh, you can't do that because it's dirty or whatever.
Like, oh, this is strange. At that time, I don't think too
much about it. And then it's only when I moved
to New Zealand and I was workingin a hall of residence, that's
when I realized the impact. And this is, it was really quite

(52:21):
strange because this is when I was like, this is really crazy
because in those times in the hall of residences, people would
have the bit of like bottles of free condoms.
And I was like, what about free 10 phones free.
I, I asked a question that and they were like, what are you
talking about? We don't do that there.
Because that was when I realisedthere was some, some this is so

(52:42):
weird. Why are we putting out all
these? It's easy to have sex, safe sex.
But what about the fact that females are every month, you
know, you're going through a period where that's a 10 phone
repair or whatever. And at that point they're like,
Oh, shut down pretty quickly. Don't talk about that.
And I just forget about it. But the more I started working
with working with all sorts of people, like I started getting

(53:04):
educated. So the conversation about
periods is it's now become pretty easy for me.
You know, I, I will when I, I manage A-Team.
And this is very funny. I started working in October
last year and I have most of my team is, is females.
And in my one on ones, my first one-on-one to them, I sit to

(53:24):
them, Hey, when you're having a period, just let me know so I
know how, wow, what I can do to support you.
And they were like, projection. What did you just say?
And I was like, I'm being honestwith you.
And they're like, but you can't say that.
And I was like, what, what, whatcan I say?
I was like, I understand that when you're going through your
periods, things are different for you.
And if you just let me know, then I know how to what I can do
as a manager. And they were like, no one has

(53:45):
ever said that to us before. And I was like, well, let's be
real here. But that also will come through
my learning through, through time working with, with the
really amazing female mentors that have just told me straight
up that, hey, this is what's happened now lies.
So you better just call it the way you talk to us.
You better what you talk to us at the times.
And those were my, those were my, my, my, my teachers.

(54:09):
I guess because I don't know, I'm a male, I don't know.
However, one of my one of my oneof my colleagues has caught me.
Julie, it's it's not your fault if you don't know, but it is
your responsibility when you do know.
And that has shifted the way I thought about, you know, most of
the things that are not in my mywheelhouse.

(54:29):
Once I know if I'm not enabling or helping, then I'm just as
assault. So that's your question.
If you asked me this question 10years ago, I'd be like, oh,
yeah, actually this conversationwon't happen because I'd be
feeling so weird to talk about people like, what do you talk
about? What?
Fast forward 10 years, through life experiences, through
talking to people like yourself and other people, it just

(54:49):
becomes it's a normal thing because it's, it's biology, you
know? So yeah, thank you for asking
the question. Hopefully that helps you.
Yeah, no, of course. And I, yeah, like the experience
you talked about is, is so familiar to me.
It's so common. It's, it's honestly largely
similar to the way I would have grown up as well as I've
actually seen a lot of the people in my life go on that

(55:10):
journey, like including my, my father and my brothers, that
kind of thing that, you know, I would never have spoken about
these things or would never knowwhat to talk about here.
So I think that that experience is very familiar.
And I'm so grateful that more men are choosing to go on that
journey. And it's part of what we're
trying to do as well is, is helpthem go on that journey without

(55:32):
feeling, you know, ridiculed fornot knowing.
Because there's, you know, there's so much about periods
that even people that have them don't know because the research
hasn't been done. The information just isn't
there. No one's ever talked about it.
So it's really, really difficultto learn about it unless you
really go out of your way too. So it's giving, you know,
helping each other have more 'cause to go out of our way to

(55:54):
learn about these things becauseit affects so deeply the people
in your life. Yeah, and, and, and I could put
a shout out to you because you know, when you put, when you
post some LinkedIn and stuff, when I look at them, I learn.
I'm just learning from you. I was like, oh, you don't know
what you don't know. And when you, when people like
yourself and anyone in those spaces where you don't know it,
you know, if I could quite easily just unfollow you and be

(56:15):
like, this is not my world. But the fact that you put it out
there is it's a learning. It's a learning post.
So I need to make it and thank you for doing that there,
because I can imagine there's lots of headers out there that
are going. What are you doing for this?
Also, a lot more people out there, they're going, thank you
for posting that there because Ididn't know about their, their
and the language. And you know, I always think
about language and when you don't know what words to use,

(56:36):
when people put that stuff and go, oh, I cannot use the
languaging because I understand it.
Yeah, no, thank you so much. Yeah, that's the go on.
It's a good push as well becauseI barely ever post anymore.
So it's a good push to to get back on there.
Yeah, it's, it's because, you know, like, like you said right
at the start, even if one personreads your post or one person,
one person's life is changed by your parents, that's one person.

(56:59):
But the ripple effect is, is massive.
You know, it's one person, but the whole circle has changed.
Yes, so, so, so thank you. Yeah.
Thank you. No worries.
That was a very fun question. So thank you for asking that
question there. And as we as we round up Aditi,

(57:20):
we have a tradition with this podcast to ask our guests the
final question. And our podcast is called Basks
of Knowledge. And every week we ask our guests
to share a piece of knowledge toput into our basket.
And you've shared a lot today, but is there any particular
piece of knowledge that you go ahead?
This piece of knowledge is pretty something that's helped

(57:41):
me mobile. I think the one like this is so
I, I mentioned that my family comes from a business background
and one of the, one of the things that my dad says quite a
bit is, is, is I'll translate itas well.
He's basically say he's like by Sanu Gam by Saj Karisake.
So means that only money can do money's job.

(58:03):
And I think so often when peopleare starting for purpose
businesses or social enterprisesor charities, they're so drawn
towards solving the problem thatthey forget or feel almost
guilty about looking into profit.
But at the end of the day, only money can solve what money is
meant to do. And a big and a big part of what
we talk about as a social enterprise is the fact that we

(58:26):
are a business like we are not acharity.
We've had people come and try todonate to us and we don't take
it. And so often people chat of like
businesses would be like, oh, we'd work with you if you were a
charity. But the difference is that we
know that New Zealand has more charities per capita than any
country in the world. And we know that they're all
fighting for the same pot of money.
And we know what that when there's an economic downturn,

(58:48):
people stop donating to those charities.
So in order to become self funding and self, you know,
sufficient and actually solve the problem in a, in a scalable
way, money is so, so important in order to keep founders
motivated towards solving socialproblems.
Money is so, so important because naturally we're people

(59:09):
that are ambitious and want things out of our lives and we
could be doing high paying corporate jobs instead.
So I think that's the one like piece of knowledge that I, I try
to share So often it's, but particularly with women is just
because your job is to help people doesn't mean that it's,
you know, it doesn't mean that profit is a dirty word or you
know, that those profit and purpose can't come together.

(59:33):
They can live together, and moreoften than not, when it's a
woman running the business, theycan actually help each other as
well. So yeah, I guess that's the the
one piece that I hope someone that's thinking about solving a
social problem is able to take away.
That's so, so true. And, and I, and I, I love that
because the other day I was on apodcast and somebody asked me

(59:53):
what the government and blah, blah, blah.
And it's like, hey, let's forgetabout that for a second.
I said money is important because money might not buy.
Like Simon Sinek said, money might not buy your happiness,
but it's going to buy your options.
And you know, and as you said before, you know, yes, you got
to have money to make money and it's as simple as that, this.
So I love that. Kudos to your dad.

(01:00:14):
That fantastic draughty club or Hindu club.
This is beautiful. Thank you for that and thank you
for sharing your story today. Any last words before we sign
off? No, I mean, thank you so, so
much for having me and for for sharing your story and your
journey as well. I know it's not always easy to
to talk about your experience, particularly when, you know, it

(01:00:34):
paints us in a, in a more ignorant light than than we are
today as well. So thank you so much for sharing
that and for for having me. And yeah.
And if anyone would like to comeon board and support us, give us
feedback, you know, share their story with us as well.
You can always find us at ads onpads, on Instagram, on LinkedIn,
on TikTok as well. So just flick us Adm and we, we

(01:00:57):
love to hear from people in whatever capacity.
Right, so all, all our listenersout there challenge you to
simply the message on any of those platforms there because
you know, learning, we all learning and we all care all
here to help people in differentways.
So thank you so much and we'll put all those links in the show
notes as well so you can get in touch with this awesome, awesome

(01:01:19):
for profit organization social enterprise.
I do thank you so much for listeners out there.
Thank you for jumping on. It's been a real pleasure
listening to and talking to Aditi today.
My challenge for your part, second challenge as well is
don't forget to keep smiling. Don't forget to find something
that makes you happy. And most important of all, don't
forget to put something to your boss kind of knowledge.
Until next time, talk you to byebuddy.

(01:01:41):
Peace. Thank you.
Thank you for listening to Bastards of Knowledge.
Yeah, we hope that you found something useful to put into
your bastard knowledge. And as we said before, remember
to put something little into your Bastards of Knowledge every
week. And as always, feel free to

(01:02:01):
like, comment and share this podcast.
Thanks, everybody. Bye.