Meet the Founder of the Nation's First Menstrual Hub

The walls are a boisterous pink and adorned with crocheted uteruses. The shelves are stacked with boxes of menstrual pads, tampons, and menstrual cups. Across from me sits a woman wearing a sequined headband fitted with Mickey Mouse ears and sunglasses that rival those from Elton John’s collection. The woman’s name is Lynette Medley, and she is the founder and CEO of No More Secrets MBS, a nonprofit organization through which she has opened up the nation’s first menstrual hub and uterine wellness center. Located in Germantown, Philadelphia, this comprehensive sexual health center aims to address socioeconomic and health disparities marginalized communities across the U.S. experience.

Within the past year, 11.3 million U.S. citizens could not afford menstrual products, often being forced to choose between products and food. Lynette Medley has counted herself among those millions, having lived in period poverty herself. Her firsthand experience, as well as the experiences of her community, led her to create a center that could combat this widespread issue.

After launching a crowdfunding campaign in October 2020, Lynette Medley and Nya McGlone, No More Secrets MBS’ COO, opened the first menstrual hub in Philadelphia, called The SPOT Period. The SPOT, which stands for Safety Programming for Optimal Transformation, provides an array of products, from traditional pads and tampons to more sustainable alternatives like menstrual cups, so people have the ability to choose what makes them the most comfortable. Ideally, Medley would like to distribute only sustainable, long-lasting products, like cups, that can save a woman thousands of dollars in the long run, but she knows that for religious and cultural reasons, many women get uneasy at the idea of inserting products into their vaginas.

The SPOT donates 63,000 menstrual hygiene products per week, totaling over 17 million distributed products since The SPOT was founded. The organization receives these products through private donations and partnerships with popular feminine hygiene brands, such as Always, Diva, and Kotex. Every person they serve receives a six-month supply of products for themselves and every member of their family who has a period.

The pandemic served as something of a turning point for Medley and McGlone in their understanding of period poverty as the tip of a larger iceberg. During the pandemic, their average of 85 product deliveries per week skyrocketed to over 300 deliveries. As they visited people’s homes, they witnessed how their community was suffering from the lack of access to clean water, bathrooms, food, and the internet because of the shutting down of public facilities. That is why they incorporated the solutions to these problems into the menstrual hub and the services provided within it. Inside The SPOT, there are now two large bathrooms where people can clean themselves, adjacent to which is a community room that houses computers with internet access. The SPOT also hosts educational workshops where topics like sexual health and menstrual hygiene management are discussed, and HIV and COVID tests, and flu vaccines are administered.

The SPOT even has connections with local hospitals to allow nurses and medical students to conduct menstrual risk assessments and engage with community members. Medley hopes the rotations will level the power dynamics between the residents of her community, who are mostly low-income Black people, and health care providers; community members often mistrust health professionals, and health professionals often lack experience working with her community.

“When [one patient] told the nurses [working at the SPOT] she had 12 children, they almost fell out of their seats,” Medley said of one interaction. “The rotations will allow health professionals to develop sympathy and empathy … [and] will absolutely lead to better care.”

While many organizations struggle with the white savior complex — the belief that white people know what is best for communities of color, and only they have the skills and power to “fix” the communities’ problems —No More Secrets is rooted in the community it serves. When organizations don’t intimately understand the communities they serve, they give them what they think they want but not necessarily what they need. If organizations aren’t founded in places in which the founders have roots, Medley suggests they partner with local groups that understand the unique strengths and limitations of the community.

When asked how teens could help, Medley answered that monetary and product donations, which teens likely have limited access to, are not the only ways to support the organization. Spreading awareness through social media, setting up donation boxes at their parents’ offices, or volunteering with the SPOT are all helpful ways to get involved.

No More Secrets’ next big project is their Flow to 50 States Campaign, in which they aim to open up a menstrual hub in every state. So far, they have opened up hubs in Delaware and Maryland and plan on opening satellites in historically Black colleges and universities as well. To learn more about the campaign or donate, visit No More Secrets’ website.

Talking about periods is still taboo, but the fact that 50% of people spend about 50% of their life with a menstrual cycle seems like enough of a reason for everyone to learn and care about that experience. No More Secrets will continue the fight to end the poverty associated with periods and the social stigma that surrounds it.