Alejandra Castillo, project coordinator for a volunteer-led period education organization, joins Niiamah Ashong on the Outlier's Edge Podcast to talk about breaking the taboo around menstruation. She shares how her team uses workshops, research and conversations with lawmakers to make an invisible problem visible. What emerged is a model of a leader rooted in a mission much larger than herself, willing to knock on doors until the people who need to hear it do.
Episode at a glance
- Guest: Alejandra Castillo, Project coordinator for a volunteer-led period education organization
- Host: Niiamah Ashong, coach to outlier leaders
- Show: Outlier’s Edge Podcast, released July 5, 2022
- Format: conversation, 47 minutes
- Topics: Breaking the taboo around periods, Making an invisible problem visible, Research as a case for change, From activism to policy, Knocking on doors for a mission, Partnerships that let ideas grow
What Alejandra brought to the conversation
Alejandra Castillo coordinates projects for a period education organization that gives workshops to communities, universities and schools, and she describes it as the first chapter of its movement in her region. Her team are volunteers, and alongside service, education and activism they added research, because they needed information to prove that what they are doing matters. They are moving beyond the city to communities without internet access or information in their schools, planning a menstrual festival with academic and cultural spaces, and they have brought a proposed law to the national congress.
What emerged
Niiamah Ashong names what sets this work apart: a cause that has volunteers knocking on doors, running workshops and doing the research, rooted in a mission much larger than themselves. He invites every leader listening to calibrate what at the core of their own work can no longer continue to exist as it is, and how far they're willing to go so the people who need to hear it hear it. The conversation itself became a model of the future Alejandra Castillo is creating, one where the taboos that held people in the past don't have to grip them now.
Questions this episode answers
Why is menstruation called an invisible problem?
Alejandra Castillo explains that because people don't see menstrual blood, they assume it isn't a problem and that girls and women have already figured out how to manage it. She says girls and women are often searching for a safe place to open up, and when men aren't well informed, that search can meet a closed door.
How can men and boys support girls around menstruation?
Alejandra Castillo says the first step is for men and boys to learn, research and get curious about what menstruation is. She recalls an online workshop where a participant wrote in the private chat that they now knew how to help their sister and how embarrassing it had been for her to open up.
How can research make an overlooked social issue visible?
Alejandra Castillo's organization found there was little data, such as how many people can access menstrual products, so it added investigation to its service, education and activism work. Through that work they learned, for example, that some people in prisons use newspaper or bread in place of a tampon, findings that helped them show the issue goes far beyond a taboo.
How can partnerships help a new idea succeed?
Alejandra Castillo's team partnered with an international digital innovation organization on a hackathon about menstruation, even after the organizer doubted people would want to participate. One team's app is now competing internationally for investment, and Niiamah Ashong points out that by partnering instead of building the app themselves, they created a pathway for an idea to flourish.
How far should a leader go for a mission?
Niiamah Ashong asks leaders whether they are so into their cause that they'll knock on doors, go into workshops and do the investigations, and be willing to be the only one in an entire region doing it. He invites them to find what at the core of their work can no longer continue to exist as it is.
In their words
We needed information to keep going and to prove people that what we are doing matters.
Alejandra Castillo
Are you so into your cause that you'll knock on doors?
Niiamah Ashong
As little as it is, you can make a footprint in the world and you can help somebody out there.
Alejandra Castillo
Key moments
02:04 – Modeling an open conversation
05:07 – Helping men and boys understand
06:09 – Periods as an invisible problem
14:55 – Adding research to the mission
21:37 – From social media to lawmakers
25:13 – Calibrating commitment to your mission
29:17 – Where her commitment began
41:03 – A hackathon idea goes international
46:08 – Her message to every listener
About Niiamah Ashong
Niiamah Ashong is a coach to outlier leaders, host of the Outlier’s Edge Podcast, and founder of the Trailblazer Collective. He coaches leaders who are creating something only they can make: a company, a body of work or a movement. Make a difference with your difference.
Work with Niiamah: 1:1 with Niiamah | World of Difference
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