What lift.period is
Our special guest today is the creator of lift.period. Please welcome Lauren Busby! @lift.period
I am so excited to introduce you to my friend and fellow girl empowerer, Lauren Busby from lift.period. Lauren, thank you so much for joining us!
LAUREN: Thank you for having me. I’m so happy to be here.
I know about this amazing, exciting product, but I want to share it with the girls. So in a nutshell, will you share with us what lift.period is and who you help?
LAUREN: Lift.period has a box for new menstruators with period products that have different options to explain exactly what they have available to take care of their period, and how to use those different options. And just kind of answer all those questions about their changing body because it’s a really confusing time in their life. A lot of times we don’t have people giving us straight answers about it; we can feel awkward and we can take on our parents’ awkwardness. I saw a need for a box to explain what’s going on with their body — there’s nothing weird about what’s happening to them. Here’s how we solve and take on their period so they can gain period freedom as quickly and as young as possible, move on with their life, do things they were actually meant to do, and not have their period hold them back.
Period Freedom
That is incredible! You mentioned period freedom. Why is that important to you? What does that mean to you?
Can I just tell you, I did not receive period freedom until I was about 31-32 years old when I started using a menstrual cup. It blew my mind, I had no idea! First of all, I didn’t even know about the menstrual cup until I was talking about it on Instagram, “Oh, my cramps hurt so bad!” So many people suggested a menstrual cup. I did not even know they existed until my 30s!
Oh, I barely learned about it last year.
LAUREN: So I ordered one immediately and tried it. And of course, everyone is different, every body is different. But this worked so well for me. Immediately I was like, Oh my gosh, your period doesn’t have to take over one week of your life every single month? It blew my mind. Because you know, as menstruators, we tend to plan for that time like, Oh, darn it, I’m going to be on vacation while I’m on my period, or we kind of think of the things we won’t be doing for that week. It just consumes more of our thoughts and our minds than we even realize. So once you find something that works for you that you feel comfortable and confident in — I literally don’t think about my period. I just throw in my cup a couple days before and check it at the end of the night. And then one day I start, have it in for three days, and then it’s over. It does not consume my thoughts at all. It blew my mind in the last couple of years of having period freedom how much more I could accomplish, because I wasn’t being held back every single month with, Oh, am I bleeding on my pants? Oh, my tampon! You know what I mean? That consumes our thoughts more than realize. I wish someone would’ve told me about this when I was 11 or 12. I wish this was an option from the beginning. Because I remember being in middle school in high school and thinking, I would love to go swimming at their house but I can’t; I’m on my period. I don’t wear tampons yet. I don’t know how to do this. I remember missing out on stuff in life because of my period. And now that I have period freedom I want to give it to everyone! Because I truly feel it will change your life. To take care of something that’s always been this nagging thing at you, and not have it nag you anymore, and you just get to do what you were meant to do on this earth is mind-blowing. So I want it for everyone!
Olive’s Box
I love that you took this personal experience that you had and saw a need, in the whole world and for half the population. Especially for the new menstruators that this is uncharted territory, and you’re like, I can help with this. This doesn’t have to be hard. This doesn’t have to wreck us for a whole week every month. So I think that is incredible. I’m so excited for the Olive’s Box. Explain to us what the Olive’s Box is and what products come in it.
So I have a box here! This is Olive’s Box. It is named after my first daughter, Olive — I have three girls. She is my oldest daughter, she is eight, and so she’s just becoming that age where her body’s gonna start changing. Menstruators can start any time between eight and 14 years old. This is perfect because I would have put something like this together for her. And I am an open book, I talk to my kids about everything. I realized the more I talked to my kids, the more I realized that for some of my friends it doesn’t come that easy to talk to their kids about it. And so I was just like, If I would put this together for Olive to make her feel more comfortable and confident in her period, what if I put this together for other people so I’m not just helping the menstruator but I’m helping the parent that doesn’t feel as comfortable with this. I think our parents’ generation was kind of like a hush, let’s not talk about it generation — to no fault of their own because they came from a generation that was No, absolutely not, we do not talk about it. So it’s kind of a run off of that generation. And I feel like ours is the first one that we’re like, Whoa, wait, this isn’t good not talking about it. It’s actually detrimental to hush it to the side because we’re not teaching menstruators about their bodies.
It perpetuates shame, too, by hiding it. What’s there to be ashamed about? This is a part of life.
LAUREN: Exactly! So when I saw that I was naturally good at this, it was so funny because I remember doing an Instastory talking to my son on video about periods. I said, Landon, are periods weird or awkward or gross? And he was like, No, not at all. And everyone messaged me, Oh my gosh! I wish that you could teach my kids about periods. And I was like, That’s a random thing, I’m really good at talking about periods to little kids. What a weird thing that I have!
Not weird. It’s awesome.
LAUREN: I thought, if I were to put this together for my kids, I can help other adults by just sharing that information. A lot of times I think, Does this help the menstruator more or does it help the parent more? and I don’t know, because I really truly think it helps both of them so much. It kind of teaches them how to talk about periods with their kids as well. So we’ve kind of incorporated both of that into this thought.
So in the box, you open it up to find, first of all, so much product. A lot of people told me why don’t we just put a little bit of product in like a teaser. But I was like, no that’s not the point. I want them to practice with these things. The whole point is like getting to know these products. And so you need a lot of products. So you open it up and first you find our pamphlets. And in our pamphlet, it has different pages for everything that’s in the box–like a menstrual cup, tampon. And in the top corner of each page it has a QR code. So if you have a phone, I suggest that parents let their kids use their phone to explore this. You just scan the QR code and a different video for each page comes up. I explain exactly how to use that product, the pros and cons, any tips and tricks about the product and all of that in video form as well as just explaining it to them in the pamphlet.
Okay, that’s remarkable. What a valuable resource the pamphlet itself is. You put so much thought into this, especially as a parent thinking what would I want for my kids. This is amazing.
LAUREN: Well as I was writing the pamphlet, I just kept thinking, Oh, but I want to say this too. I’m just better on video form, I want to talk to you, and I want to tell you it’ll be okay. So as I kept thinking of more things, I thought why don’t we just make a QR code for every single thing, and it will almost be like a course that’s included in the box. So you’re getting a lot of product with an online course.
And it helps people who are different learners. You’ve got a resource that’s hands on, and you’ve got videos that you can reference – you’ve thought of it all.
LAUREN: There is a journal with a pin included. So we’re going to talk about tracking our periods and how awesome that is, cycles, our moods, everything with our periods. And if you knew that from such a young age, as your hormones were raging, imagine how much that would have just saved you to know your period’s coming up and kind of process those feelings. I just feel like the earlier that we teach these menstruators this, the better. So we do have a journal to teach them how to do that and there will be a video on how to do this.
Next is a zippered bag. This is a bag that they can put their period products that they enjoy in here, and put it into their backpack or their locker or keep it the car or whatever it may be. It’s small enough to throw into a backpack, but big enough to hold a lot of product.
Each box comes with three pairs of period underwear. And, again, someone said to just cut the cost down and only include one. But I was like No, but the whole point is for you to try it for an entire cycle, because maybe that’s what you’ll prefer. So we thought you’re wearing one pair, one pair is clean, and one pair is dirty. So it could get you through a whole cycle.
Brilliant. Because what’s one pair gonna do? You have a period for several days.
LAUREN: Exactly. Next, in the bottom of the box, we have tampons – regular and super. We have pads. Everyone gets a menstrual cup inside of this little drawstring bag, and it’s all sealed up there. They have panty liners and they have wipes. In your bag you could throw a couple of wipes, a pair of period underwear, a pad, whatever. And let’s say you are at school and ohhh you just started your period. So you grab your bag, go into the restroom, take off your bloody underwear, wipe yourself up with the wipes, put on your period underwear, put your bloody underwear in [the bag] and take care of it when you get home. And you’re ready to go. It’s not this Oh my gosh, I’m not prepared moment.
No Shame
You’re taking all of the shame out of it, putting so much confidence into it, and empowering girls. And you know, I am all about empowering girls. What an incredible resource and help for girls, helping them feel confident about themselves and their bodies as they are growing into them and adapting.
LAUREN: And just getting them feeling confident. That’s so much of empowering girls is making sure that they feel confident, and how are they supposed to feel confident if they don’t know what the products are? They don’t know that they have three holes – like did you know that you have three holes and not just two holes down there? The questions that we feel awkward asking, because if you bring it up to a parent, they may act awkward–they take on that shame. No, you have three holes And there’s actually a vagina in between. We talk about that stuff. I have a whole video on pubic hair and what your options are. I just felt like the more we talked about it, the less stigma there was and the thing there was and then they can ask more questions. It’s proven that teaching women about their bodies has never made society worse; it’s only made society better. So I’m like, let’s do this from the beginning, let’s make it not awkward from the beginning. Because it really isn’t awkward. We’ve been bleeding since the beginning of time. It’s no longer a sit down once and tell you what’s happening with your body moment. It’s like, we talk about it all the time. We talk about all of these things in the videos because I just want to answer all the questions that I wish I could have answered for me. It’s such a weird time – you don’t feel like it’s your body, you’ve got breasts forming, you’ve got hair in places you didn’t before, you feel kind of crazy. And I feel like it’s almost the first time that we make women feel crazy, if that makes sense. It’s the first time that girls feel, especially with their hormones, Oh you’re just on your period. Stop dismissing on their periods. Let’s talk about these feelings. Anyway, so I’m just very passionate about how we can’t empower girls until we explain what’s going on. Because it’s very normal, and we tend to feel bad about ourselves when we think we’re the only one. And I’m here to say – you’re not. Let me tell you everything that’s going on, so that we can help you the best we can and you feel more confident going forward.
Create conversations
That is incredible. And I love that you are helping both new menstruators and parents by creating opportunities to have these conversations. Like you said, it’s not just one chat and then you’re on your own or you’re good. It’s a lot of discussions, it’s a lot of new questions over the years as things change. So I love how you were empowering both girls and parents and everyone by coming from your own perspective.
LAUREN: I even thought of the single dads. Women are awkward enough about it let alone a dad.
This isn’t just a female conversation.
LAUREN: No, not at all. So to think of that single dad that’s like Oh, I can get her the supplies she needs but I don’t know how it feels. I got you!
I know that there will be a lot of dads that will really appreciate that, not having to do all the work. I would love for you to explain the value offered with lift.period. With these boxes, it’s all in one – like one stop box.
LAUREN: i they ended up working their way up to the menstrual cup, it literally could be the only thing you buy for your menstruator the whole time they live with you. When you think of the longevity – a cup is good for 10 years – this could literally be the only thing you ever have to buy for them for menstruating and preparing them the best way you ever could. Granted, they may choose tampons and pads and need to refill them, but if they got up to a cup, this could be the only thing you ever have to buy is what I’m saying – which is amazing.
We have enough pads, tampons, liners; all of these things are meant to cover an entire period. So between period underwear and all of those other things we at least have you covered for like a good four or five months of period stuff. I went and researched all of these things, trying to get the best quality, make sure they are organic, things that were good for their bodies. There’s no way you could put this together on your own cheaper than what we’re selling it for. And so it’s almost like you’re getting a better deal by buying it with the products and prices we have. So it’s almost like this is just free on top of it – I will explain everything to your kid. And I will help them feel like it’s not too scary.
Celebrate This Time
You can’t put a price on confidence and empowerment. Also the time to collect and research and find all of these products, there is huge value itself.
LAUREN: And there’s something to be said for just celebrating this time of their life! Like I know it might sound dumb, but getting a package in the mail and saying This is for you! And it’s this box you get to open. I mean we are the parents of the surprise egg children that watched really dumb YouTube videos of unboxings, watching other kids open toys. We are the parents of those children, so when I thought of what is exciting to this generation, it’s getting something the mail and opening something they love. So to celebrate this time by saying Hey, there is so much in this and it’s all for you because this is exciting time in your life and it’s for you to help you. I just was like, Oh my gosh, we’re not just here to explain things to you and be educational; we’re here to celebrate. This is exciting and we need to change the narrative. It’s no longer this Oh, sorry, welcome to the club. This is gonna suck for the next thirty years. No, let’s not do that to them. Let’s say Oh my gosh, welcome to the club! This is exciting. Your body is changing. That means you’re becoming an adult, and you are going to change the world. That’s what I want to emphasize – this is exciting! Congratulations! It’s actually proven – they did a study (I would have to send you the source for it). They talked about the way you start menstruating determines how you will handle menstruating for the rest of your life. Isn’t that interesting? If you have parents that were really awkward about it the first time and really felt shameful, there’s a good chance you’re gonna have a really rough go with menstruation the rest of your life. But if you have excitement of like, Oh my gosh, you’ve got this! This is amazing! Your body is doing incredible things! It knows what it’s doing! It mentally makes you feel Oh, I can handle this.
I love that you are helping people start out on the right foot.I know I’m going to learn a lot from the box myself. How can people order a lift.period box?
LAUREN: They just go to LiftPeriod.com. They will find our Olive’s Box right there. They can order it, shippings included, we got you. Just come buy the box, we’ll take care of the rest.
That’s wonderful! And is there an option to gift a box to someone?
LAUREN: There is! We have a gifting option, it’s a different amazing purchase button. We were giving the option to purchase a box and we were going to give them to nurses in middle schools. We did kind of run into a little snag with the underwear, specific sizes. But I actually talked with a nurse that said it would be more beneficial to give bags to them with most of the period stuff, but not some of the stuff that doesn’t help them. Like, if someone comes to the nurse’s station who just started their period, they don’t want to hand them a huge box that they have to carry for the rest of the day. So for every donation box, you are actually gifting five bags full of period products to a middle school. Every bag will include pads and tampons and wipes and a menstrual cup, so they’re still getting a ton of stuff and they’re still getting the pamphlet and all the resources. But they’re not getting the box because that was a little hard for them to carry class to class.
Giving Back
I think that’s an incredible option to give people the opportunity to give back to other menstruators. I know you want period freedom for all menstruators, so tell me how lift.period is giving back, too.
LAUREN: That’s actually a great question, it kind of goes back to the name of lift.period. The whole point of this is, if you can help your menstruator with this, help them gain period freedom, you should be able to help lift someone else who doesn’t have that opportunity. That’s why I love the word lift; we can’t rise unless we’re lifting people along the way. So that was very important to me. For every purchase of an Olive Box, 10% of the profits will be going into a charity. Right now it goes to an organization that helps those in Las Vegas with period inequality and period insecurity. It’s a great organization, I’m so excited to team up with them and donate to them. We are not successful unless all of us are successful. That’s what makes you a part of this club of menstruators – we all care deeply about one another. I could absolutely disagree on every level with another woman about something, but if she needs a tampon, I’m giving her a tampon. That is the secret code of menstruation; in the end, we have each others’ backs. So I loved that, with lifting one another, it doesn’t even matter; it just comes down to our human decency of We will lift people.
I love the origin and meaning behind the name lift.period. That is beautiful. It has been so wonderful talking with you, Lauren, and I want other people to learn more about lift.period and you. So where can they find you?
LAUREN: I am @lift.period on Instagram. You can also go to our website liftperiod.com.
Great! Lauren, thank you so much for coming on to our podcast. It has just been a pleasure. And I am so excited and grateful for you and what you’re doing to help empower girls. Thank you so much!
LAUREN: Same thing goes to you. I love that you’re doing this because not enough people are in this realm. We need more people talking to these young women. I love your podcast. I love everything you’re putting into the world. We need more of it. So anytime! I don’t see anyone as competition. I’m like, Yes, more people need to be talking about this! So thank you so much for having me. I’m so happy you are doing what you’re doing. Every bit helps, and it just gets me so excited that so many people are passionate about this.
Yes, we love our girls and we want them to feel it. So thank you so much, Lauren. We’ll talk to you again soon – about the next box 😉
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