“Old power works like a currency. It is held by few. Once gained, it is jealously guarded, and the powerful have a substantial store of it to spend. It is closed, inaccessible, and leader-driven. It downloads, and it captures. New power operates differently, like a current. It is made by many. It is open, participatory, and peer-driven. It […]
Yesterday, Thursday, 21 March, was Human Rights Day, a public holiday designed to commemorate the progress South Africa has made in the promotion of citizens’ basic rights. To rectify ills of the past, we now have a progressive constitution that outlines the freedoms we’re entitled to – it exists to protect us, but also to […]
This week Carrie Leaver of Social Agents South Africa shows us why real social change begins with truly understanding your beneficiaries and their needs. In a small town in Kwa-Zulu Natal, a group of student teachers were overwhelmed by their Grade 8 and Grade 9 learners failing to pass their tests, exams and the school term. In this […]
The past month of our Startupbootcamp journey has been a whirlwind of inspirational encounters, impactful endeavors and pitch planning! Here’s a little look into what life at Brownie Points has been like the last couple of weeks…. Meetings, meetings, meetings Week 7 of our Startupbootcamp journey proved to be one of the most […]
We all have big dreams but many of us live our entire lives without attaining those dreams. Well, what if you knew there was a quick and sure-fire way to not only reach your biggest goals, but to help those in need to do the same too- would you do it? Well, this is your chance. […]
We are very excited to announce that Brownie Points is in the top 10 selected startups to team up with Startupbootcamp Cape Town! Startupbootcamp – backed by sponsors: Old Mutual, RCS, BNP Paribas Personal Finance, Nedbank, Woolworths Financial Services and PwC – helps high-growth startups achieve in just 3 months what would normally take 18 months or […]
We live hectic lives these days, and sometimes making time to volunteer can seem like an impossible task. Yet, volunteering can have significant benefits for not only the organisations you help, but for your career and relationships too. Here’s how… 1. The more time you give away, the more time you feel you have In […]
We are so pleased to have IkamvaYouth as one of the first Brownie Points Nonprofit Partners. Since 2003, IkamvaYouth has equipped learners from disadvantaged communities with the knowledge, skills, networks and resources to access tertiary education and/or employment opportunities once they matriculate. We caught up with Hetile Mabunda from the IkamvaYouth team to find a out […]
Theodora Lee is a YouTuber, blogger, copywriter and business owner specializing in digital content creation. If you haven’t yet, visit her blog and YouTube channel.
Theodora explains her role in The Lily Cup Project below:
As a South African advice and lifestyle YouTuber with over 200K subscribers, giving back is part of what I do. With a fairly affluent international audience, I think it’s important to leverage my views for positive change, beyond self and career gain.
I’m also a proud South African and a woman. Something I feel strongly about is menstrual health. I have an entire YouTube playlist dedicated to periods! When I speak about that ‘time of the month’ online, I speak as though we can all afford the luxury of sanitary products each month. When I learned how many girls in South Africa can’t afford sanitary products and are suffering each month, because of something so natural, I wanted to do something. I needed to raise awareness about what many of us haven’t stopped to think about before.
So I teamed up with a Swedish menstrual cup company called Intimina. They make reusable menstrual cups that can be used for up to 10 years! I told them about the situation and how I wanted to make a change and empower women who are using newspapers, re-using dirty pads and getting unsafe and untested injections to ‘make their shameful periods disappear.’ Thankfully, Intimina jumped on board and decided to donate 4000 Lily Cup Compacts to the cause in exchange for an awareness video.
I needed to get my audience involved in some way and I knew that distributing 4000 cups would take more than just simply handing them over. So I thought I’d start a fundraising campaign to help with additional costs. Money needed to be raised to help NGOs Bunang Baswa and The Dream Factory (NGOs I selected at the start of the project) to distribute the cups, along with highly important education on how to use them and period health in general.
My viewers were moved by the video and jumped at the opportunity to help. Within a few days we reached our target of $2500 and the number keeps climbing. The money can now also be used for supplying every girl with new panties and soap when they receive a Lily Cup after the workshop we’re currently putting together to educate and uplift the girls on menstrual and sexual health.
Moreover, we hope to empower these girls and inspire mentorship in their own communities surrounding the taboo topic of periods. We want people to speak out and in a way become proud and stand up for their periods.
Even though The Lily Cup Project is empowering 4000 girls, which is incredible, I want the word to spread. I want Lily Cup Project to create waves and inspire simple, yet impactful changes in SA, like free bathroom dispensaries to include sanitary products and not just condoms. That would be something…
Theodora Lee is a YouTuber, blogger, copywriter and business owner specializing in digital content creation. If you haven’t yet, visit her blog and YouTube channel. Theodora explains her role in The Lily Cup Project below: As a South African advice and lifestyle YouTuber with over 200K subscribers, giving back is part of what I do. With […]