Fall Issue, 2014

school after their first period. The discovery marked the beginning of her mission for girl-empowerment. Ruiz initially attempted to talk companies into donating female hygiene products to people in need. But after receiving several rejections, she decided to make her idea a self-sustainable project. “I was lucky because my family and friends supported me financially.” In 2013, the business and economics alumna founded Sheva with a vision for social impact. For every box of sanitary towels or tampons purchased online, the company would donate a month’s supply of napkins to girls in Guatemala. “I was born in Guatemala but I lived in the city,” said Marisabel Ruiz, a 26-year-old who founded Sheva.com. Her online store sells female hygiene products and donates sanitary towels to those who cannot afford them. “I didn’t know that rural areas in my home country also have girls who use newspapers, dried leaves and cloth as sanitary pads. They leak easily and are very unhygienic.” Ruiz was first made aware of the subject two years ago whilst, as an exchange student at HKU, she took part in a summer service trip (Impact For Peace) organised by CEDARS. “We went to Kolkata, India to teach children English and I found out that some girls were skipping classes because of their menstruation,” said Ruiz. “After some Internet research, I realised that Guatemala is as bad.” According to Ruiz, only 12% of India’s women use sanitary products and more than 50% of girls in Guatemala drop out of “The magic of Sheva is that you have to use female hygiene products every month. There is always a need. Women can regularly help other women by buying women stuff!” commented Ruiz. Sheva, which was launched in October, receives at least 1,000 hits per day. “We also took quite a lot of orders in the first two weeks. I can’t tell you exactly how many as this is our secret,” said Ruiz. “But most orders were from the United States.” The company is based in New York and Guatemala. Ruiz aims to expand her business so as to serve The magic of Sheva is that you have to use female hygiene products every month. Women can regularly help other women by buying women stuff! Girl Power meets eShop She + Vagina = Sheva www.sheva.com 4 Cover Story