Making Tampons Accessible -- Heather Mader & Ali Kight

Fat Joy with Sophia Apostol

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Heather Mader (she/her) and Ali Kight (she/her) teamed up to improve how people who menstruate insert tampons. Designed in 1931 and having gone through almost no improvements since, traditional tampons weren’t designed to accommodate different body types, disabilities, injuries. Ali founded TINA Healthcare to change this, and when Heather tried the first prototype, she knew she wanted to get involved in the design of the product. This partnership is a great example of how companies can co-design with fat folks who have lived experience and wisdom to share- and build a better product for all.

Heather Mader is a personal chef of 20+ years and a working professional artist and teacher of abstract art. She lives in Portland Oregon and when not cooking or painting, enjoys meditating and cultivating her spiritual practice. Please connect with Heather here.

Ali Kight is a Ph.D. candidate from Stanford University in smart materials and biomimetic design for medical devices. She founded TINA Healthcare to translate cutting-edge scientific innovations to solve real problems in womxn’s health. Please connect with Ali on the TINA Healthcare website and on Instagram.

This episode’s poem is called “Never Alone” by Kaveri Patel.

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