The Sisterhood Bandana: Molly Hayward of Cora

Can you share more about CORA's mission – how you started and how the story has evolved?

I’ve always been interested in economic development and social impact through business. When I had the opportunity to volunteer in Kenya many years ago, I heard from many girls that they were missing school and staying home during their periods. It was during that trip I knew I wanted to create a brand that could represent the modern, conscious woman while helping to provide period products and education to girls in need around the world. Shortly after my trip to Kenya, I created and launched Cora. 

Millions of girls lack access to adequate menstrual products around the world. For every month’s supply of Cora sold, we give a month’s supply of sustainable pads to a girl in a developing country such as Kenya and India. In India, we partner with an organization that supports adolescent girls’ education and produces an innovative, plant-based, biodegradable brand of high-quality sanitary pads.

At Cora, we believe that every woman should have access to safe and effective ways to manage her period. Since 2016, we’ve provided five million pads to girls in need in India and Kenya, as well as 100,000 products to women in need in the U.S. to ensure they can experience their periods with the health and dignity they deserve.

How has your own relationship to yourself and other women in your life evolved since founding CORA?

Cora has opened up a new world for me. The journey has  brought me to a deep place of understanding the collective consciousness of women, where things stand today. I believe we are all trying to goto a place where we feel whole, well, and free. So that has become my mission, to make myself whole, well, and free, and that process has brought me closer to so many incredible women that I feel honored to call friends and sisters. It’s a long and difficult road, and not one I would want to walk alone.

You describe Blood + Milk, Cora’s online journal, as “a community and resource for the awakening woman.” Share more about how you define the "awakening" woman? 

The awakening woman is the curious woman. She is smart and thoughtful and runs her world, but she senses a depth in herself that unfolding itself to her, and she is on that journey of  exploration and revelation about her body and her relationship to it.

What is one “small” change we could make to further empower ourselves and the women in our lives?

Start saying no to the things that don’t light you up, and yes to the things that do. When we (and the other women in our lives who follow our example) prioritize what holds meaning and joy for us, we reclaim the natural power that is inside of us and the whole world shifts. 

Shop our Sisterhood bandana here and learn more about Cora here.