Sylvia's Sisters

Sylvia’s Sisters strives to achieve menstrual equity in Central Virginia and abroad through education, advocacy and the provision of necessary supplies, so that menstruators can thrive at school, work and in all aspects of their lives.

Sylvia’s Sisters envisions a future in which all people have access to affordable and quality period products and comprehensive menstrual health education. We envision the eradication of period stigma and the building of healthy communities in which all menstruators can comfortably manage this natural process.

Our work began with a friendship between two women separated by over 7,000 miles. We were founded in 2014 by Jennifer Taylor, a resident of Chesterfield, Virginia, and we are named after Sylvia Namukasa, a community activist based in the rural village of Kirinda, Uganda. In 2012, Sylvia hosted Jennifer’s son Mike when he traveled to Uganda for a student environmental project. When Mike returned home, Jennifer and Sylvia kept in touch and became friends over email. After Sylvia noticed that a lack of reusable period products prevented girls from attending school in Kirinda, she requested assistance from Jennifer, who mobilized a group of volunteers to sew 300 kits of handmade, washable period products. In 2013, Mike returned to Sylvia’s village to hand deliver the kits. One year later, Sylvia’s Sisters was founded.

In 2016, Sylvia’s Sisters began supplying central Virginia schools with period products, collecting donations via volunteer product drives and monetary contributions. 2016 also marks the year that members of Sylvia’s Sisters joined with the Virginia Menstrual Equity Coalition at the Virginia General Assembly to advocate for the inclusion of period products in local schools and the removal of the period tax; both measures were passed in 2020 and 2023.

In 2017, we began providing reusable pads to Uganda via AFRIpads, a menstrual kit manufacturer and social enterprise committed to hiring women from marginalized backgrounds. To date, we have provided over 11,000 reusable pads to Ugandan menstruators. Sylvia’s Sisters continued to expand and grow in 2019, becoming a partner of the Alliance for Period Supplies (APS), a national network of independent, community-based nonprofits working to end period poverty. APS is an invaluable resource, as our membership provides us with access to the latest data on period poverty and best practices for providing the correct quantity and quality of period products to our clients.

Sylvia’s Sisters expanded its mission during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide period supplies to menstruators from diverse communities in Richmond and its surrounding areas. During this time, we provided more products than ever to long-term partners like Communities in Schools and fostered working relationships with groups serving marginalized populations like Diversity Richmond, the Latinos in Virginia Empowerment Center, MAD RVA, and the Health Brigade.

In 2022, Sylvia’s Sisters underwent a leadership transition as Jennifer retired and Brittany Averette was onboarded as Executive Director. The following year, we increased our period product distributions by 475% over 2022. We distributed 412,115 products to our partners in 2023, serving an estimated 20,606 menstruators. In 2024, we partnered with Virginia Physicians for Women to write menstrual health educational content in printed brochures and “Let’s Talk Periods,” our online learning portal. We also began hosting interactive workshops about menstrual health education led by a qualified nursing professional who discusses basic anatomy and demonstrates proper usage of period products. That same year, we reached a major milestone: over 1 million products donated in Central Virginia since our inception.

As of 2024, we have donated over 1.3 million period products to menstruators in need. However, our latest data shows that we’re meeting less than 1% of the need. There’s more to be done to eliminate period poverty in our community.