What we do
How it Started
Co-founders Margo Seibert and Caroline Angell are old pals from our college days. In 2015, we were volunteering regularly for a neighborhood dinner program at the Church of the Epiphany on Manhattan's Upper East Side. While doing so, we came across a Huffington Post article outlining the challenges of the homeless period. We decided to speak to some of the dinner program guests about their access to menstrual hygiene products.
Through these conversations and research, we discovered that policymakers did not consider menstrual hygiene products essential, and that cultural taboos surrounding menstruation were deeply embedded.
As menstruating people, this had an enormous effect on us. We'd always been lucky, able to care for our periods in whatever manner we chose. We'd never been faced with the difficult decisions that people in transient and low-income situations have to make about their menstrual health and hygiene.
And that's how Racket was born. Our mission is to make as much noise about periods as it takes to normalize the conversation, and draw attention to under-prioritized menstrual hygiene needs. We want to help menstruators ask for and gain access to what they need to take care of their periods. And we are committed to encouraging a sense of agency that allows them full societal participation.
How it's Going
Racket Timeline
2015
Here we go...
Racket conducts its inaugural product drive with the Broadway community, to benefit the NYC Rescue Mission. 10,000+ products (that's ($5k worth!) are gathered and assembled into 260 kits for menstruators with limited resources and access.
2016
Lawsuit Filed
RACKET co-founder Margo Seibert was one of five plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit against the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance aimed at abolishing the tax on tampons and pads.
VICTORY!
New York State will no longer tax menstrual hygiene products due to the combined efforts of the class action lawsuit, legislative leaders, writers and activists.
LEGISLATIVE PROGRESS
The New York City Council passes a legislative package, spearheaded by Julissa Ferraras-Copeland, providing menstrual hygiene products to all NYC public schools, homeless shelters, and correctional facilities.
2017
THE RACKET GROWS
Racket partnerships increase as theatre companies, arts initiatives, publishing houses, nonprofits and other businesses begin to run their own product drives. Menstrual Equity gains traction in the media and cultural conversation.
SECOND BROADWAY DRIVE
With the help of 18 Broadway shows, Racket collects 25,000+ menstrual hygiene products to benefit Covenant House.
RACKET CONNECTS TO SVA
The Products of Design Department in the School of Visual Arts hosts a volunteer gathering for the Racket community, and their talented students devote an afternoon to brainstorming design solutions with Margo and Caroline to further the cause of Menstrual Equity.
2018
THIRD BROADWAY DRIVE
Casts, crews, orchestras and fans in the Broadway and Off-Broadway communities collect 20,000+ products and assemble 700 period kits to benefit Native Health, serving transient menstruators in need.
MAKE YOUR OWN RACKET
With the help of design students from SVA, Racket creates a start-to-finish “how-to” packet for our drive model, broadening accessibility and encouraging agency in support of the Menstrual Equity movement.
PERIODS WITHOUT SHAME
Racket collaborates with friends in the arts to create a social media campaign combatting period shame, aiming to normalize the conversation — everyone is connected to menstruation, whether you have a period yourself, or you love someone who does.
2019
REACHING FURTHER
Racket’s reach expands! New partnerships form as communities in need connect to communities who want to give.
RACKET GOES TO THE BORDER
Racket sends product donations to the border of Arizona and Mexico, partnering with Cruzando Fronteras (Crossing Borders), an initiative to send aid to families held in shelters in Mexico while awaiting movement on their US immigration and asylum petitions.
2020
PERIODS DON’T STOP FOR PANDEMICS
Racket pivots to a ship-direct model, raising funds to send products to our partners and help support their needs while the stay-at-home order is in place.
2022
RACKET GOES INTERNATIONAL
Racket sends menstrual hygiene products to humanitarian organizations in the Czech Republic providing housing and support to Ukrainian refugees. Here at home, Racket collects products for our NYC neighbors providing support for asylum seeke
2023
SUPPORTING HUMANITARIAN INNOVATION
Racket connects with Solidarity Engineering, a women-led initiative that uses engineering and creative problem solving to proactively protect the public health of communities in crisis. Donated menstrual hygiene products benefit their border mission.
Wanna Get Involved?
The Team
Caroline angell
Co-Founder
Caroline Angell grew up in Endwell, NY, the daughter of an electrical engineer and a public school music teacher. She has a B.A. in musical theatre from American University, and has worked as a director, teacher, and theater practitioner in Washington, DC and New York City. Her debut novel, All the Time in the World, was published by Henry Holt in 2016. Caroline lives in the Upper East Side’s Yorkville neighborhood, where she writes fiction, works as a freelance event planner, and is an active member of the Church of the Epiphany. She feels blessed and honored to continue making a racket alongside her longtime pal Margo, in pursuit of menstrual equity and dignity for menstruating people everywhere.
Margo seibert
Co-Founder
Margo Seibert is a performer, artist, writer, and mother of two now living in the Catskills of NY. She met her longtime pal, Caroline Angell at American University where she was pursuing her BA in International Relations. Margo began her acting career in Washington, DC and then made the move to NYC in 2010. Over the last twenty years as a professional actor on stage and screen, Margo has originated roles on and off Broadway, at regional theaters, and on TV. She has performed at Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and released her own album 77th Street in 2018 on Yellow Sound Label. Margo has always been passionate about women’s health and the power of de-stigmatizing bodies. She continues to make a racket about menstrual inequities to help empower the next generation to experience the freedom of living in their full humanity without shame.
KEvin Munhall
Kevin is a Breath,Stress & Performance Coach & Consultant and the founder of Habit Disruption. His clients include CEOs, Finance Executives, CrossFit Coaches and TV actors as well as major companies & universities. He believes that being able and willing to talk openly about how our bodies function is a prerequisite for building equality, decreasing mental health issues and helping us live more supported, communal lives.
Becky Hermenze
Becky Hermenze is a performance artist, comedian, and writer based in New York City. Most recently, she was seen in Becca Blackwell's "Snatch Adams and Tainty McCracken Present It's That Time of the Month" at Soho Rep, co-presented by the Bushwick Starr. She has developed new works with companies such as Elevator Repair Service, Radiohole, and Half Straddle/Tina Satter. Becky is a strong believer in menstrual equity and accessibility, as well as destigmatizing periods in mainstream media and culture. She has been a member of Team Racket since 2015.
Our Community
We've been lucky to have many organizations and individuals support our work at Racket.
Many thanks to:
The Church of the Epiphany NYC
Episcopal Charities
School of Visual Arts Products of Design Program
Broadway Series
Period Piece
The Interval
KB Jones and the Kontraband
Hachette Book Group
Little, Brown, and Company
Women's Project Theatre
Girls Pint Out
greyhealth group
Everyday Inferno Theatre Company
Guerrilla Lit
Care2
Partners we serve:
Covenant House
New York City Rescue Mission
The Hope Program
Sauti Yetu Center for African Woman & Families
The Hoboken Shelter
The Hetrick-Martin Institute
Solidarity Engineering
CHiPs
Freedom House
The Ali Forney Center
T&T Health and Wellness
Bells of Hope (Ukrainian Initiative in the Czech Republic)
Church of St Joseph of the Holy Family
Ma'i Movement Hawai'i
Borough President Mark Levine's Asylum Seeker Support Initiative
Native Health
I Support the Girls
Cruzando Fronteras
Actors' Equity Association Falat Holiday Basket Drive
Hetrick-Martin Institute