2023 Period Equity Wrapped

We launched joni in 2020 in response to one startling statistic: one in three people who menstruate under age 25 in Canada experiences period poverty. We knew something was broken in the system and set about fixing it. 

Looking back, it was bold to take on industry goliaths in the $26B menstrual care industry. But we weren’t thinking about taking on the big guns. Our mission then and continues to be simple: to help make period equity possible. And you know what? With the support of our amazing community, we're doing just that, while celebrating many victories this year in the process, including:

📌 600 new retailers, including Whole Foods Canada and London Drugs

🤖 The Greater Victoria Business Awards for Innovation

🌿 Synergy’s Ecostar Award for Social Impact

🚀 Innovate BC’s Regional Startup Prize

😇 Goodie Nation’s Lenovo Small Business Award

✨ Dejardins’ Good Sparks Grant

Period Equity Coalition

We also created the SMEC Canada, along with Aisle and Bfree, and our CEO Linda Biggs—who also included as a Top 25 Women of Influence this year—joined CEOs Suzanne Siemens and Madeleine Shaw (Aisle) and Leisa Hertz (Bfree) as expert witnesses at a summit in Ottawa, which contributed to a report on menstrual equity from The House of Commons Committee on the Status of Women that was released in October.

Period Equity Innovations

This year, joni’s Chief Innovation Officer, Jayesh Vekariya, introduced Femtech’s most innovative period care dispensers to the market with impeccable timing. These dispensers, featuring options tailored to serve organizations of all sizes, combined with wholesale joni product subscriptions, offer a turnkey solution to comply with the new Canadian Federal Government Labour Code requirements.

Now that all federally regulated organizations are mandated to provide free period care within their washrooms (as they do toilet paper), joni's B2B services are rolling out services to dozens of organizations, from large organizations such as YYJ Airport and McGill to smaller offices like VIATEC.

Period Equity Partnerships

Speaking of the federal government and period equity, Food Banks Canada | Banques alimentaires Canada was selected to run a $17.9 million national pilot project in a step toward ending period poverty. 

Through this initiative, the organization will distribute free period care through its network of pilot locations across Canada. We could not have been more excited or more honoured to become a product and distribution partner for this essential initiative and this esteemed organization.

Period Equity Ecosystems

The real reason we're celebrating this year's accomplishments is that every single one of our wins helps us move the needle forward on period equity, whether that's increasing period product accessibility, raising awareness, or dismantling period stigmas.

For joni, helping us stay on track—in tandem with our determination—is our incredible community, or as we like to call it, our ecosystem of accessible period care. Every mission takes a village! Our village includes business partnerships, investors, business incubators, non-profit distribution partners, retail stores, and our customers who are directly using our pads and tampons. We’ve been able to grow and accomplish so much this year because so many of you believe in joni and the importance of period equity.

Thanks for your support!