Richaa Kalva, a 20-year-old Allston resident and Boston University student, sits at a small table scattered with notebooks full of assignments and to-do lists in the George Sherman Union.
In a patterned purple sweater and colorful yellow mask, Kalva speaks in a similarly vibrant tone about her passion for menstrual justice. She manages to turn this serious topic into an engaging and relatable conversation.
Kalva, a junior majoring in biomedical engineering, is in her second semester as president of PERIOD, a non-profit organization that donates menstrual products in the Boston area. She’s fighting against a culture that has deemed menstruation a taboo subject.
“I wouldn’t call myself a social justice warrior,” Kalva said. “But then when I found this issue and how important it is in public health and how neglected it is, I understood that sometimes you need to do something.”
As president of PERIOD at BU, Kalva has revived the club from its pre-COVID-19 “inactive” state by taking advantage of “easy” Zoom meetings to increase participation.
In the spring of 2021, the club surveyed Boston University students to ask if they had trouble acquiring menstrual products during the pandemic. The survey revealed a general lack of accessibility and inspired Kalva to narrow PERIOD’s focus to campus.
“BU is a pretty expensive school, we think that everyone here is well-off,” Kalva said. “We didn’t know that there was that much of a need in our own campus.”
Kalva credits her dedication to menstrual justice to a high school service project. Her class held a vote to choose between holding a period product drive or an animal shelter fundraiser. To Kalva’s surprise, every boy in the class voted for the animal shelter fundraiser while every girl in the class voted for the period product drive.
“I was so blown away that not one guy voted for the period option,” Kalva said. “I remember feeling so angry.”
With menstrual justice’s lack of visibility clear to Kalva, she expanded PERIOD at BU from a donation-based organization to a source for menstrual health education and social justice career guidance.
“Menstrual justice can be grown when people that are passionate about it are given the tools to pursue careers in it,” Kalva said.
Yeelin Bacchus, a senior at Boston University and the former president of PERIOD at BU, said Kalva’s “open” and “communicative” leadership style has improved the club’s structure.
“She brings a fresh perspective to PERIOD,” Bacchus said. “Now, everyone gets a chance to speak.”
Kalva’s successful leadership of BU’s chapter of PERIOD caught the attention of the international PERIOD organization. Its directors elected her to join Think Tank, a program that manages menstrual justice funds. But the program’s focus on finance left Kalva feeling unfulfilled in terms of service and education, and she is now reevaluating her involvement with the program.
“It’s not the same as doing fundraising work at the grassroots level and seeing the change that you’re making,” Kalva said. “If we’re doing the fundraising and giving it to shelters and students right here that don’t have menstrual products, it feels a lot more impactful.”
Kalva has also become involved with local nonprofit organizations, including the Massachusetts Menstrual Equity Coalition, which sponsors the I AM bill that would require the state to provide free period products in public schools, women’s shelters, and prisons.
“This bill has been in session for so many years at this point and it hasn’t moved,” Kalva said. “It’s frustrating because it seems like such a simple thing to ask.”
Legislation like the I AM bill has helped Kalva realize that she wants to pursue a career in public policy and has emphasized the opportunities that PERIOD provides to make prominent societal and legal changes.
“Having chapters of PERIOD on a campus where students are really motivated and career-driven is super good,” Kalva said. “It translates to not just a club you did in college, but something bigger.”
Kalva is confident that PERIOD at BU will continue to grow long after she has graduated, but her biggest hope for the club is that there will be an increase in members who do not identify as female, whether they menstruate or not.
“It’s just seen as a women’s issue, but it’s a health issue and a societal issue,” Kalva said. “It’s relevant to everyone.”
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