Heli Kurjanen is Bloody Awesome

As we kick off our fifteenth year of breaking bloody taboos, we wanted to take some time to show our appreciation for those who are working hard to create change in the world.

Menstruator or not, these people are creating conversation and shining bright lights on ways we can all make the world better. Together.

So let’s get this period party started!

*drum roll, please*

The January Bloody Awesome Award goes to Heli Kurjanen.

Our very own fearless leader, Heli Kurjanen, has been working hard for nearly two decades to change attitudes about periods. Nobody should be ashamed of them; nobody should miss a chance because of them.

But how exactly did she find herself in the menstruation space? Quite simply, she knew there was a better way.

Tired of bleeding into tampons and pads, Heli decided to buy a menstrual cup online, only to find that this particular cup didn’t work for her. But she wasn’t ready to give up on the freedom and flexibility that was promised as a perk of using a cup.

Taking matters into her own hands, she set out to improve the design of menstrual cups - with a focus on safety, ease and comfort for menstruators of every age, shape, size and situation. Little did she know that she was creating the world’s top menstrual cup. One that would go on to be sold around the world, inspiring changes in lifestyles and innovation of other sustainable period products seen on the market today.

But the process wasn’t exactly what you’d call easy.

With it being the early days of the internet, very little information was available on menstrual cups, so she had to depend on her own personal experiences and create conversation with other cup users in online forums to develop her product. Not only that, but there were very few people who believed that the menstrual cup could actually be the future of period care. After all, people had (unsuccessfully) been trying to make this a trend since the 1930s, leaving the majority of menstruators with a variety of misconceptions about this particular period product.

This is why word of mouth became such an important part of Lunette. As people started experiencing first-hand how easy periods can be, they began telling their friends. Who then told their friends. Who then told their friends. Who then took to social media to start telling their friends.

But these conversations sparked so much more than just curiosity about Heli’s new way to menstruate. They began to visibly break down long-standing taboos surrounding menstruation. By talking about your period and the experiences that come along with it, it normalizes something that half the population will regularly experience for the majority of their lifetime.

While this doesn’t mean you have to love your period or even shout about it from the mountain tops, it does mean you should be able to talk about it openly and honestly with the people in your life, which in turn allows them to speak openly and honestly about their own experiences with menstruation or otherwise.

Speaking of open and honest conversation, Lunette spends their time talking about so much more than just bleeding, putting many of their resources behind providing education to the world about hormones, sex, self love, self care, overall health, anatomy and equality.

Want to get in on the conversation? Follow Lunette on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. 

Ready to make the switch to a Lunette Cup, but don’t know where to start? You can check out the size guide here.