Harvard student pens manifesto on menstruation
For Nadya Okamoto ’20, there has rarely been a time when life wasn’t unsteady. Whether living with friends in high school during a time of financial instability for her family or amid her non-stop multitasking as a student/social entrepreneur/public speaker, the junior from Portland, Ore., is relentlessly searching for balance. “I’m a work-hard-play-hard kind of person,” said Okamoto. “People assume because I’m Asian that I have a ‘tiger mother,’ but that’s not the case. I have no pressure from my mom around school or academics. She just wants me to have mindfulness in my life and follow my passions.” The demands of co-founding PERIOD. The Menstrual Movement in high school, running for public office as a first-year, and constant speaking engagements kept Okamoto, 20, off campus as much as on during her first year at Harvard. Since founding PERIOD in 2014, Okamoto has helped expand the nonprofit to more than 230 campus chapters...