Aditi Gupta- The Journey to Purpose and Impact

Aditi Gupta, one of India’s finest women in business is well-identified as the co-founder of Menstrupedia, which is considered as one of the most impactful educational platforms on menstruation awareness. Along with this she is also a social entrepreneur, author, menstrual educator and a TED speaker.

She is widely popular for her work in India, mostly for breaking menstrual taboos through comics, workshops, and educational tools that explains periods scientifically and sensitively to young girls. She became a nationally recognized figure after her appearance in Forbes India 30 Under 30, BBC 100 Women, TEDx speaker, World Economics Forum Global Shaper. Moreover, she was also featured by international media which includes major global publications for social innovation.

She was born in Jharkhand and was raised in a well-educated middle-class family that valued education but was culturally rooted. Even though she belonged to a small town where girls education was comparatively low, her parents not only gave her academic support but also the confidence that doesn’t shake in odd times.

Despite all her family had traditional beliefs and they followed menstrual restrictions which deeply affected her but laid the foundation of her future mission. She emphasizes that her periods began at the age of 12 and instead of receiving proper guiding and support she was expected to follow age-old beliefs. She also admitted to use old cloth pieces instead of sanitary pads as buying them was considered publicly shameful. Moreover, she didn’t even learn the science of menstruation until the age of 15, when it appeared in her school textbook. This actually contributed to her realization that millions of girls in India are facing same situations and misinformation.

Initially she was more academically focused and pursued her engineering degree from Hindustan College of Science and Technology. But this didn’t felt satisfactory to her creative side so later she explored to pursue degree from National Institute of Design for post-graduation in New Media Design. This shift significantly changed everything in her life, she met her future husband Tuhin Paul as well as discovered that design can solve social issues. Additionally, the course also helped her learn storytelling-based communication and this was the time where Menstrupedia was born as a thesis project.

During her research at NID, Aditi explored every area related to menstruation including myths, beliefs and their impact. She spent the time of one year interviewing doctors, adolescent girls, teachers and mothers or any other potential individual who could support in the completion of research at its best. It gave her a realization that the information existed but it was not that accessible, friendly or culturally relatable. So, she worked on discovering ways to make menstruation education easily understandable without loosing its main motive to provide right information. This led her to find comics as a way and the idea later turned out to be the major contributor in the foundation of Menstrupedia.

The beginning of Menstrupedia was in 2012 when it was first created by Aditi and Tushin as the website and educational comic. The comic featured relatable characters which described the essential information regarding periods like what they are, why they happen, hygiene practices that a girl should follow, emotional changes as well as a clear description of myths and facts. The comic was impactful because its tone focused more on friendly one and was non-embarrassing.

But the success was not that easy to achieve as it directly challenged the deep cultural beliefs by calling them myths. This caused them facing social resistance and investor’s rejections as they doubted if people would even pay to buy menstrual comics. Furthermore, it also struggled with market skepticism as it didn’t received support from the educational institutions initially due to hesitation in adaptations and the lack of investment led to financial pressure.

Despite the setbacks, public support proved that demand existed which with time, further contributed the Menstrupedia to explode its impact. Now it has become the part of more than 37,500 schools and has expanded its impact in more than 25 countries across world. While nationally it is used in multiple Indian state educational programs as well as NGOs and also educational organizations worldwide. The materials of Menstrupedia have played a crucial role in educating millions of girls and has trained thousands of educators in order to avoid misinformation being distributed.

Aditi’s remarkable work for social welfare earned her major recognitions including Forbes India 30 Under 30, BBC 100 Women, TEDx talks, Global conferences and many more. She also received international speaking invitations and was honoured with social innovation awards.

Her success was not just the story of a woman in business but also the social impact that came as the solution to a real-life problem that women face in their life. Aditi Gupta made her mark through substance rather than glamour. She exemplifies as a woman who transformed the shame she carried into her strength and proved that true empowerment comes when women dare to speak about what society tries to silence.