Alyssa Bertram, CEO and Founder of easy.
Easy. is a subscription delivery service for 100 percent organic cotton menstrual hygiene products. We deliver quarterly to women’s doors across Canada and the United States. We serve to empower women both locally and abroad by donating 5 percent of all profits to delivering pads and health education to girls in Kenya through our partnership with ZanaAfrica Foundation.
When and why did you join the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research?
I joined the Society for Menstrual Cycle research because as I began to dig deeper and deeper into the literature regarding tampons, I began to learn of the work being done by women all over to improve our understanding of menstruation. I felt inspired by work done to eliminate taxes on feminine hygiene products and I felt like the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research would connect me with a community of like-minded women who are also passionate about these issues.
How did you become interested in this work?
I became interested in this work during the course of my research leading up to launching easy. Originally, I intended to deliver the tampons that I had grown up using, conventional brands from the drug store. I read one article in particular about the history of the tampon because I believed that to start this service I should be really well-versed on the product I was marketing. I began to learn about the ways this industry has employed tactics to withhold information from the general public about ingredients in menstrual hygiene products that could be potentially detrimental to women’s health. Having had no idea about this, and never having wondered about the feminine hygiene products I was using at the time, I became increasingly more interested in issues surrounding menstruation.
How would you describe the work you do as it relates to the menstrual cycle advocacy/activism?
I think beyond just providing a service, the larger mission for easy. is to contribute to the conversation about menstruation and to raise awareness about the products we are using. Once I began to learn about potential health side effects of some products, I felt passionate that this was information all women should have access to. I believe women have the right to make informed decisions about the products they use, particularly ones they interact with this intimately. In addition, we wanted to couple our somewhat indulgent delivery service with a socially conscious approach. I believe that by making a donation with every subscription, we keep it front-of-mind for women in North America that access to feminine hygiene products and health education is not yet a reality for women throughout the world.
What is your work’s current focus?
Our current focus is ensuring that easy. is accessible to women who would benefit from this service. In addition, we wish to keep up-to-date on menstrual cycle research and issues in the media, so we can provide our subscribers with relevant information in an easily accessible form. We hope that through our work we can add to the conversation and continue to question norms around menstruation. For example, at the end of October we launched an ad campaign called No Shame meant to help people imagine what our society would like like if there were no shame around menstruation.
Where can visitors to our blog read about your work?
Interested readers can check out the easy. website and the blog that covers menstrual-related issues and stories such as paid menstrual leave and the need for organic menstrual products.
