MacGyver in Residence, Now We’re Talking

August 2013

Cary, North Carolina

Who doesn’t like a little MacGyver in their work lives?  

Well, we at SHE have got one (minus the long hair).  Tyson is on his way to join Julian, Sylvere, and the rest of our team rolling out our pilot-industrial pad production in Ngoma, Rwanda.  Is he up for the task?  Absolutely!  His preparation is typical of SHE, that is unique and interesting, with years of pulp and paper science, the Marines, and North Carolina farming under his belt.  

SHE's actual MacGyver in Residence, Tyson Huffman

He’ll be pulling out all the stops helping the team with the consistency and quality of banana fiber pulp production and setting up the most efficient processes.  Don’t worry, he’s packed all the gum, shoe laces, and hangers to make anything work!

Belly Dancing and Maxi-Pads Slipper... It's a SHE Soiree!

Thanks to SHE trailblazer and supporter Sara Holdridge, SHE received over $2000 towards our SHE28 campaign in April! Over 50 women from southeast Connecticut came out to Sara's SHE28 FUNdraiser, where they were watched the SHE28 campaign video, received a free belly dance lesson from a teacher who donated her time once she heard of SHE28, and played a "Match that Quote" game using quotes said by notable women. The winner of the game received a pair of slippers created with maxi pads! Guests also donated menstrual products that were donated to a local social service organization. 

Sara writes that "[t]he event ended with a closing circle of all the guests, each of whome were now appreciative of becoming aware of this issue.  We did a choral reading of Jane Conner’s sentiment: 'The women joined hands and danced in a circle and the love and energy of their friendship rose up into the heavens and formed the moon so that even on the darkest night no woman is meant to walk alone.'"

Many people thanked me for hosting this event. My daughters and I were proud and happy to sponsor SHE28."

SHE28 Soirees hosted by our supporters truly help to sustain SHE's menstrual hygiene revolution across the world! If you'd like to host a SHE28 Soiree, please email us at supportshe@sheinnovates.com with "SHE28 Soiree" as the subject!

St. Timothy's Visits SHE in NYC!

Editor's Note: SHE loves spreading awareness about the SHE28 campaign and we love it even better when the audience comes to us. Students from the St. Timothy's school in Baltimore visited the SHE offices in NYC. Ali Sugarman, a junior, writes about her time at SHE.

On Tuesday, March 12th, my 11th grade class came to New York to visit Elizabeth and Connie in the SHE's offices in Soho. Little did we know that behind the walls of an office building is an incredible effort to make sustainable sanitary pads affordable for all. 

Founder Elizabeth Scharpf describes the SHE28 campaign 

St. Timothy's students watch the SHE28 campaign video

After our class learned all about the lack of affordable sanitary pads in Rwanda from Elizabeth, we were challenged by the SHE team to create a marketing campaign using viral marketing tactics that would be both low cost and efficient. 

Brainstorming how to make the SHE28 campaign video viral

Ali presenting her 1-minute pitch to her classmates and SHE Team

The ideas behind these viral campaigns were cool and creative. Maybe you'll see some of them used for SHE campaigns in the future - I love the idea of designing of designing  a maxi-pad dress! Thank you to Elizabeth and Connie for hosting us, it was a great morning. PERIOD.

- Ali

Buckminster Fuller Challenge Selects SHE as Semi-Finalist

SHE has been selected to be one out of 18 Semi-Finalists in the prestigious Buckminster Fuller Challenge, which was named the "Socially-Responsible Design's Highest Award" by Metropolis Magazine. The Challenge is an annual international prize program that awards $100,000 to support the development and implementation of a solution that has significant potential to solve humanity’s most pressing problems. 

SHE is being recognized for its SHE28 initiative, which addresses a global problem: girls’/women’s lack of access to affordable menstrual products and services. SHE28 helps women jumpstart their own business of
manufacturing and distributing locally produced, low-cost, eco-friendly pads. Preliminary evidence (from UNICEF/SHE surveys) suggest that the lack of access to affordable menstrual products/services leads to
significant costs in terms of education, economics, health, and dignity for girls and women. SHE28 is tackling this taboo with a local, ecofriendly, scalable comprehensive strategy to affect social and economic change.

As one of the 18 Semi-Finalists, SHE will be featured in the Idea Index, a searchable database of exciting ideas and solutions to pressing global problems. Finalists will be determined in May and the winner and runner-up(s) will be announced during a conferring ceremony on June 6th.

We are thrilled to make it through the application process and also be a part of a network of social innovators that advance whole systems thinking and design the kind of high impact global solutions we so desperately need. While we hope to win the final prize of $100,000, we are proud to be affiliated with this important Challenge. 

Check out our semi-finalist page and stay tuned!!