Empower every girl. From the inside, out.
One of our co-founders, Dana Roberts, has been an educator for over 20 years. A few years ago, she was teaching a class, entirely of 5th grade girls. And, believe it or not, half of the girls began their period in Dana's class, except her daughter Sterling (see them pictured with Kymani on the left, Dana in the middle, and sister Sterling on the right).
That year, Dana made a decision for her daughters and for all girls in her care that there would be a better selection of products that met the needs of a young girl's body, mind, and spirit. And furthermore that she would develop tools and grow a community that made parents, coaches, caregivers of girls smarter and more courageous about making a girl's transition into womanhood a truly empowering rite of passage -- not a "condition" to overcome or just deal with.
Dana stitched together cute handbags for the girls in her class. Each bag contained all the products a girl starting her period had to have. The girls called it their "First Purse."
As an educator and a mother of two daughters, Dana had unique insight into exactly how to prepare and empower girls. Dana often says, “All girls need to be armed with information, with preparation, and with products. We have to show them that we're out here to make sure they're okay.” That's why at RedDrop, it is our purpose to care for and empower every girl from the inside, out.
Another of our co-founders, Monica Williams, and family friend of Dana, had an infant daughter at the time of Dana's epiphany.
Dana would share these tear jerking, wonderful stories to Monica about the "First Purse." Monica always thought to herself, "this is so brilliant, I wish I had that as a teen," but then pause. With her own daughter only 1 year old at that time, first periods seemed so far away. In Monica's imagination, her daughter would never have a period. So, silly to think about preparation or products, right? Now, 10 years later, Mackenzie is starting to grow-up in real life AND Monica's imagination!
That’s when Monica started looking into just how to prepare her daughter, and herself. Immediately, she was overwhelmed by the number and kinds of products stacked on long store shelves. And then she would get frustrated (maybe even a bit scared) when she came up short. There was nothing for her daughter.
Let’s take a closer look at what this means.
Girls, moms, dads... very often teachers, coaches, school nurses and camp counselors... we have to figure it out, on our own, nearly every time.
When you consider that girls have something like a "first-period" for 6-12 months after they start, not knowing how heavy, how long, what color the next period will be. Monica took it personally that nothing really existed specifically for pre-teen girls like her daughter. So she made it a personal mission to build a business that would fix the problem.
At RedDrop, we know that school age girls need more than a pad. So, we are here for them and the people who care for them.
“It's nice to know that there are caring people behind such everyday products as pads.”
- Katie, mom of 3
“I feel like I know Dana, from watching the Sunday Empower Her talks to the RedDrop Minutes on FB. I know she means what she says. Y'all really tell it straight. We have to take care of our girls!”
- Barbara, mom of 1