In 2008, Celeste Mergens was volunteering at an orphanage in Kenya when she saw an issue that she couldn't ignore, and decided to try to help improve it. Through some trial and error, and lots of listening, humility and determination, she founded Days for Girls, which champions women's health and menstrual equity. Days for Girls has now served 3 million women and girls in 145 countries. In this episode, Celeste shares stories of Days for Girls (including iterations of the washable pads they provide--she says the first one "was a horrible design, and I could say that because I designed it!")--and the other educational and stigma-shattering goals of the organization. Celeste also shares her personal journey from a childhood filled with poverty and shaming, to setbacks in her educational goals. Celeste's insights and perspective into the "seasons" in life, and her belief that all of her experiences taught and led her where she needed to go, are proof that no divide is impossible to bridge. She recently released a book, entitled "The Power of Days."
In this episode:
02:05--How Celeste got the idea to start her organization, Days for Girls, and what it does
06:33--Celeste's childhood, growing up moving often, sometimes homeless, and how that impacted her outlook
11:19--Turning our weaknesses into strengths; reframing our interpretation of experiences
14:39--Celeste's career journey (engineer, roofer, writer's conference founder)
21:58--What inspired her to start an organization to strive for menstrual equity
25:41--The importance of listening, getting feedback from the community to iterate and reiterate on the products and services
31:22--What inspired her to write her book, "The Power of Days"
33:17--Her advice to others interested in starting non-profit organizations
34:35--The importance of gratitude (her license plate even reads GRATA2D!)
Want to know more about Celeste and Days for Girls?
Want to know more about "What It's Like To..."?
In 2008, Celeste Mergens was volunteering at an orphanage in Kenya when she saw an issue that she couldn't ignore, and decided to try to help improve it. Through some trial and error, and lots of listening, humility and determination, she founded Days for Girls, which champions women's health and menstrual equity. Days for Girls has now served 3 million women and girls in 145 countries. In this episode, Celeste shares stories of Days for Girls (including iterations of the washable pads they provide--she says the first one "was a horrible design, and I could say that because I designed it!")--and the other educational and stigma-shattering goals of the organization. Celeste also shares her personal journey from a childhood filled with poverty and shaming, to setbacks in her educational goals. Celeste's insights and perspective into the "seasons" in life, and her belief that all of her experiences taught and led her where she needed to go, are proof that no divide is impossible to bridge. She recently released a book, entitled "The Power of Days."
In this episode:
02:05--How Celeste got the idea to start her organization, Days for Girls, and what it does
06:33--Celeste's childhood, growing up moving often, sometimes homeless, and how that impacted her outlook
11:19--Turning our weaknesses into strengths; reframing our interpretation of experiences
14:39--Celeste's career journey (engineer, roofer, writer's conference founder)
21:58--What inspired her to start an organization to strive for menstrual equity
25:41--The importance of listening, getting feedback from the community to iterate and reiterate on the products and services
31:22--What inspired her to write her book, "The Power of Days"
33:17--Her advice to others interested in starting non-profit organizations
34:35--The importance of gratitude (her license plate even reads GRATA2D!)
Want to know more about Celeste and Days for Girls?
Want to know more about "What It's Like To..."?
Celeste: Dignity can't wait. and for me, whenever I see an issue, my brain starts connecting if thens If you did this, then this would happen. And what if you did this? And this one was a game changer. I could not stop my mind considering. What could happen and what they needed
And the rest is history. Hello, and welcome to What It's Like To, the podcast that lets you walk in someone else's shoes and live vicariously through their unique experiences. I'm your host, former journalist Elizabeth Pearson Garr. And each episode, I'll be asking a new interviewee all the what, why, when, and wheres of how they do what they do.
Elizabeth: If they can do it, so can you.
One of the many reasons I love doing this podcast is that I get to meet amazing people with incredible life stories. This episode is certainly no exception. When my guest Celeste Mergens was five years old, she was homeless. Today, she's the founder of an award-winning global organization called Days for Girls International that has reached more than 3 million women and girls in 145 countries and champions women's health and menstrual health equity.
Celeste is also the author of a new book called The Power of Days. Celeste, welcome to my podcast.
Celeste: So happy to be with you.
Elizabeth: We have so much to talk about. everything that went on in between the little girl, Celeste and where you are today, that's quite a trajectory.
Celeste: It sure is. That's a lot of dot dot dots.
Elizabeth: That really is. Well, why don't we start though? Can you just describe a little bit more about what your organization does and how you got there? Was it a light bulb moment to create this organization?
Celeste: It sure was. You know those moments your whole life is going to change, only you don't know it yet? It was a series of those. I had been helping with a friend's foundation and helping them create sustainable solutions for their school. And in the process learned of an orphanage near health model that we wanted to explore.
And so we met the children. I was smitten by them immediately Fast forward, 18 months later, an election that was so close that it burst out into this horrible post-election violence that half a million people were displaced by. And in that process, the orphanage had way more children than even possible.
1400 children in a small space.
Elizabeth: And in what country was this?
Celeste: This was in Kenya, that's important. Thank you for asking. And every six months we would come and help and we were due to be there very soon. And we had sent all the resources we can. So imagine you get a call that they're completely out of food and have been for days and you're scrambling for that solution.
And then you wake up with it going through your mind. Have you asked what they're doing for feminine hygiene? It was like, Oh, What I never thought to ask that I ran to the computer This was 2008 and got an immediate answer. That was just nothing. They wait in their rooms and it turned out they were sitting on pieces of cardboard for days.
We knew we wanted to change that, and also knew that though I found a place that was only 200 a month for 500 girls, to have single use products, I knew that if we sent support in the future and they needed more food than hygiene, food would win, and it should. So how do you create something that they can count on month after month?
And so we made the first washable pads and got there, delivered health education with it, had this incredible conversation. And the first beautiful girls come out and say, thank you so much because before you came. , we had to let them use us if we wanted to leave the room and go to class. I was hoping that didn't mean what I feared it meant, but it turned out they were being exploited in exchange for a single disposable pad. And that was the moment Days for Girls was born.
Elizabeth: Oh, my goodness. There's so many layers to this. you said 2008, that wasn't that long ago, and to think that this has gone on for so long, is it because men have been in power and people just overlook this?
people are concerned, of course, about food and health, but this is an integral part of good health. And to think that all these girls are getting exploited just for a natural thing that happens as part of your bodily process for decades of your life.
Celeste: And imagine how you feel when you're vulnerable for days of each month and you're not able to have the dignity and opportunity that you would otherwise. And now imagine you learn it's not just there. today we've reached 145 countries on six continents.
That's how global this issue is, even where we are, and today we've reached over three million women and girls. In my observation, we would rather talk about anything than menstruation. Between you and I, I think we would even rather talk about diarrhea, than menstruation, and why is that?
I actually just recently proposed in a pitch for television program that we should all take the TP test. We should put onto the conveyor at the grocery store. A package of toilet paper and a package of period products and see if there's any difference in how we feel on those going on the conveyor. And if there is, ask ourselves why, where it came from, and if we might make a new decision because the truth is none of us got here without periods.
Periods connects us all. And it's a healthy part of a healthy body, and we could celebrate that instead, but it is one of the world's most prevalent taboos.
Elizabeth: So let's go back a little bit. And how you got there, how you developed even the skills and abilities to create an organization and the heart to want to do this. Can we go back to the little girl that I referenced? you and your family were homeless for a period of time?
Celeste: My family faced a lot of challenges, mental illness among them. and we were just on the road, quote, for the next, better place. So there would be times when we lived at state parks or along the side of the road or at friends' places or family's places.
We had homes sometimes between, but we moved 32 times before I was 13 years old and stopped counting. And
Elizabeth: goodness. Did you go to school? Just
Celeste: I did. I did. And I really learned to make friends quickly and to adapt. And honestly, interestingly, I believe I also learned to read culture, because every place, school, community has its own culture.
And so I And I think that's helped the global work that I've done, but it didn't feel like it at the time. It was very difficult to keep up. I still did well in grades. I still got opportunities, but sometimes do think, what would have happened if I could have been in one place? There is immense gifts with every experience we have.
And one of them is a moment that I often share, because it opens the beginning of the book, The Power of Days. That was a surprising aha. And I used to think of it as one of the worst moments in my life, because I would replay it through my mind again and again. I was about five years old. I was walking down the pathway of a state park barefoot and enjoying the warmth of the sidewalk and this dog walks into view and it's got a sparkly collar and leash and it goes straight to a woman's hand who has a half eaten apple in her hand and my five year old remembering it's enormous, I'm sure it was regular size, she threw it into the dumpster that we happened to be near and I'm staring at the dumpster trying to decide if I could get in and still get back out and not get stuck in there.
When I realized that she's looking me up and down, and she says, where are your shoes, girl? And I remember what I said, because I did replay it again and again, and I said, I'm toughening my feet. And in that moment, it was like... There is a mirror that turned and I could see what she saw when she looked at me.
I felt the impression that she saw me as dirty and small and unkempt and unworthy. And for a moment, I felt that way. I felt poor and ashamed and I was looking at my feet. And by the time I looked up, she had already walked away. But this feeling in me was I am not from here. I am not from this place.
I am not what you see. And that moment, though, it felt awful in the moment. I recognized just maybe six years ago, was actually a gift because I got to be asked at such a young age, are you the poor girl? Are you the girl with no home? Or are you something else? And that understanding that we are not our circumstances and we don't have to buy into someone's feeling about who we are.
We can hold our own hope and assurance. And we can accept our own definitions. We have people that identify as things that have, they've gone through and we don't have to do that. I wanted development years later to be about that, to be about listening to the wisdom of all those we serve, recognizing that we all have strength.
I wanted that. I wanted it to be sustainable and held by those who hold the issues in their community, not by someone from the outside, but to hold hands and say, what do you want? Let's lean in together. And that I believe came from that early, early moment. So in a very real way, lucky, lucky me.
Elizabeth: Hmm. Well, that's a lovely perspective. I think that and other experiences you had probably built your compassion also for other people and to realize that the way that we treat people, the things that we say, seemingly throwaway line that this woman probably didn't even remember later that day making, impacted a little girl throughout her life, into this woman's life, it changed the course of your life, could have really devastated you, you being, you took it and grew from it, but other people, it can really wither them to think, you're judging me, you're saying [00:11:00] that I'm nothing because of my circumstances, so we have to be very cognizant and careful and intentional about what we say.
To other people our words matter, and our actions matter.
Celeste: You're so right. And it's so easy to make a mistake, right? Which is part of the message of this book, we get to decide how we're going to frame our interpretation of things and that we can actually give each other grace. We're all going to mess up. We're all going to fail forward. We're all going to have times that we didn't do what we intended to do or someone misunderstood or we misunderstand and that's actually part of the journey here.
And if we could allow ourselves to recognize that we all have strength, we all have weaknesses, every one of us, I certainly do. And we can actually turn the very weaknesses we see in ourselves into strengths. It is because I'm a stubborn woman, that can be a weakness, that I am so tenacious. It is because when I was a little girl, I just wanted to go, what else?
Tell me what else? Why? That same why that was so annoying to some became my calling card, like, ooh, what else could we learn here? I think that we see our own weaknesses as a stop sign. And in truth, we can recognize every strength you have is also your weakness. Every weakness you have is also your strength.
And it's good that we're all different. If we weren't all different, we couldn't solve all the problems here on Earth, and we need each other. We need the different way we see things. We need the different way we do things. We need different kinds of understanding, and it is good that we're not all the same.
Elizabeth: I so believe that, too. I mean, things that I'm not good at, I think, thank goodness other people can do those things will lean into those things and are skilled at things that I can't even handle. And the other thing that you just said, is that We shouldn't be scared to lean into our weaknesses because it's so easy to give up on things that feel hard.
Certain things, of course, you just happen to have a better skill set and other people take that on and make that their career or their passion. But sometimes you can turn that thing that feels challenging into something that you can actually grow from. Like you mentioned,
so much of life is. failing, I have failed so much more than I have succeeded. And like my career path has been so zigzaggy all you're seeing is the things I've done. You haven't seen all the times that I've gotten rejected from things and the, jobs I've applied to that I didn't get.
Absolutely. And if you're afraid to take the shot, then you don't take the shots that will change your life, right?
Celeste: Days for Girl's design for a pad went through 30 or 31, iterations and holds two Patents for its genius today, but that wasn't got it right. The first time that was trying it over and over again to get it just right.
And we still are listening. You cannot be an innovator unless you're willing to fail, unless you're willing to go, I don't have to get it right. I just have to keep getting it better, innovator.
Elizabeth: So did you know kind of from a young age, that you had it in your heart that you were going to do something to help other people? Has that just always been a part of you?
Celeste: Always, always part of me. And in fact, if anything, I've had to learn to put myself in the equation because I would always consider others before myself and that whole put the oxygen mask on first.
This is a skill I'm still working on.
but I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wanted to be a scientist or an engineer. I started engineering. Speaking of failing, I dropped out. I had a catastrophe happen in our family and, I didn't know how to breathe, let alone keep going to class, and that was devastating because imagine as someone who experienced poverty, that was my ticket.
That was my way to care for my sisters and not be in that state anymore. So
Was success in school. That's what you felt was your ticket. Exactly, and I tested out of as many classes before I even started as I could. And then just took the heaviest load. I could 16 and a half credit hours of electrical engineering is a load and, and I just wanted to get through and then imagine you crash and burn. I just felt like that's it for me. What future can there be for me? And even felt like. there is no purpose for my life anymore. And the truth is that, thank goodness, that voice of, yeah, it's hopeless, didn't win the day because so much joy has been ahead.
But it hasn't all been easy. I haven't always been a fearless little girl who said, I'm toughening my feet. Sometimes I have had to remind myself, especially imagine you're now going in front of the minister of education or health of Uganda and you're walking in and you have some of the answers, but not all of them.
And you're there to invite them to be part of the solution. I would often use one of Oprah Winfrey's guides that she said she used for her success. She said that succeeding in her career, interviewing some of the world's brightest minds She would always consider being more interested than being interesting. So each room I walk into, I remember that it's my job to be more interested in learning from those around me, inviting them, and then worrying about being interesting and that it is my job to, in my case, honestly, and truly let them know they're loved, that my one job is when I leave that room, they will know someone saw them.
Elizabeth: And I think that came from so many years of feeling invisible. When you are in poverty, you're pretty invisible. Unless, for the people that look at you and go, poor thing. And who wants poor thing? Which is part of, like, Days for Girls, we don't do that. It's not ever poor thing. And as a woman in engineering and a woman in science and a woman in roofing, I roofed because it meant more income for my sisters and family and I, so at 14, I was roofing houses and all of those places. Ironically, though, I was one of the only women in sheet metal and roofing and, a young woman at that, you'd think you'd be highly visible. And while that could be true, they didn't talk to me, they talked to the men and visible, being heard is a big deal. as a result to me,but being visible for the right reasons, not being visible because you're like eye candy or you're being whistled at or that kind of thing. I think all women want to be noticed. Because of what we're contributing, what our ideas are, not just because we're the only woman in the room or you look pretty or just because you feel like you're the token woman or something, you want to be recognized for who you really are.
Celeste: Absolutely. When I was there in engineering, actually first day of my first EE course electrical engineering course, the guy in front of me turned around and said, so what are you doing in engineering? I said, well, I love math and science and my chemistry teachers and everyone has always said I should go with science or engineering.
Here I am. And he just turned around, looked back to the front again. Um, We have too many of those conversations and, ironically, in my belief, one of the reasons, this untouchable thing that we don't want to talk about, menstruation is one of the keys to unlocking equity for everyone.
Who would have guessed? It was not on my list. It was shocking to me that today, I'm a... world expert in sex and menstruation Did not see that coming.
Elizabeth: So yeah. How did this happen? So you were an engineer where you said you flailed out or something, but then how did your career take a turn and get you to this place?
Celeste: I focused on my family for a while. And I honestly thought now all the other doors were closed to me. You know, I wouldn't be able to be the intellectual leader I had so hoped. I wouldn't be at Microsoft or other, but I would, be a mom to amazing human beings and that was a wonderful thing.
And,
Elizabeth: And a great contribution to the world in its own right.
Celeste: Takes every skill anyone has ever had, hardest job ever, Truly, and rewarding, and, I thought that was it. So it's kind of interesting, it's taught me that seasons happen in life, and that you don't have to think it's only one basket that you bought into, right?
And I had the gift of founding a writer's conference. And I didn't want it to stop.
I was like, I love this every day. I love this. Why would this stop? And then it became really clear that, I needed to be moving on. And if I had not Days for Girls would not have happened. Because I wouldn't have been available to go with my friend to Kenya, which led to all of the things that opened the door to Days [00:20:00] for Girls.
To me, that's one of my aha moments, I was upset, I didn't want to stop doing what I did before, and I felt like I was deeply, regretfully being punished for this. Like, why? And yet, all these incredible things were ahead. And it's just remarkable to me, seasons,
and I've had people say, well, why did you need to scramble to create something right away? Why couldn't you have waited for the next six months? You know, just take them next time. And that always mystifies me because I'm like. So six months of them waiting in their rooms and not being able to go to class, not able to care for themselves.
And I already know about this. Why would you wait? Dignity can't wait. and for me, whenever I see an issue, my brain starts connecting if thens If you did this, then this would happen. And what if you did this? And this one was a game changer. I could not stop my mind considering what could happen and what they needed and all the questions that I could ask to questionnaire solutions that would work for them.
And the rest is history. Their stories led to a better organization, better solutions. More passion and that's what led to the book. I needed to share their stories. I needed to elevate their voices I wanted others to see the miracle that happens when you come together. This is proof for the power of "we" what happens when we come together.
Elizabeth: So just to be clear, because you did allude to it when we started talking. So when you were there, you learned that girls and women, when they were menstruating, they were having to stay in their houses andThey were menstruating on cardboard, right?
They didn't have any thing. And so they were just stuck during the time of their period.
Celeste: if they did venture out, they were getting bribed to get a pad or something and they might get sexually exploited.
No, they were. So imagine you're in a room and there are bunk beds end to end and side to side that you have to crawl over the first sets of beds to get to the back assigned bed. And you have two or three girls on each layer of the bunk so that 50 are in a small space. And now imagine how do you sit and wait on a piece of cardboard in that room for days. So, I knew what that room looked like and this was what I saw when they said nothing, they waited in the room. I'm like, how is that possible? And then learned they sit on a piece of cardboard I was just like, oh my goodness.
And it wasn't until we got there, with the washable solution that they could count on a month after month. And this conversation about without periods, there would be no people. Your body's actually amazing. And it's part of being a healthy woman. This is an amazing thing you're doing. And this is how it works.
And this is how babies happen. just this wonderful conversation about "you matter". And your health matters and yes, they confirmed they were being sexually exploited by some of the teachers and the director in exchange for a single disposable pad.
Elizabeth: think they're also being sidelined for up to a quarter of their lives, all of their self-worth, everything they can contribute to their culture and their society, they're being stuck inside. for all this time, for up to, five days, six days a month, So they can't do anything it's just completely wasting human talent and acting as if these young girls and women are worth nothing.
Celeste: All over the world.
Elizabeth: Appalling.
Celeste: It is. And it's not just somewhere else. Here, what does a homeless woman do? What does a girl who's a foster girl and has a new family, is she going to have the courage after going through so much trauma, in most cases, to say, oh, I need a pad? What does someone do that's choosing between money to get more fuel for the gas tank, to go to the next job interview and a pad choose, she chooses more fuel.
So this isn't somewhere else that this is happening. And the roots of it are our shame of something that we could change our mind about. We could decide that menstrual shaming isn't happening on our planet anymore. And that's one conversation at a time and each of us, including me.
has to or had to choose how am I gonna feel about this because we were taught to fear it not want to talk about it be ashamed by it and we can change that in our lifetime This is something we can change and it turns out it's a way bigger deal than I ever guessed.
Elizabeth: So your first step was you had this idea of the washable pads straight away and you figured out how to manufacture them in the U. S. and get them distributed in Kenya. That was your first step?
Celeste: Yep, and I wish I could say it was a beautiful design, It was not, it was a horrible design and I could say that because I designed it
Elizabeth: But it was a first step and that's what's important is to take the .
Celeste: I And it And it freed them from the rooms, and they were able to go to class, and it wasn't as good as it could be, but it did the trick. people didn't believe it when I got home. There's no way this is anywhere but that orphanage.
And, and I just said, Please ask others. I mean, this is my first learning of it. So ask others. And then pretty soon people from India and Guatemala and Philippines and other countries in Africa were saying, yes, it's here too. What is the pattern you used? Which gave us a chance to do what? I recognized early on was important.
Get their feedback so that we could find out what's working, what's not working and engineer the design of the pad to suit their needs in the best way possible. Our first design looked like a pad and it was white. Raise your hand if you would put a stained pad in your front yard to dry. No, never. And, was six layers sewn together.
So a lot of water and drying time And so everybody together came up with one that could unfold and be flat when drying and when washed but fold up in three layers, six layers total when you put it all together. and now you've got the absorbency and wash with little water and dry quickly all things we needed and colorful.
So it hid stains in places where that's so culturally important That's what happens when you listen and respond with design that suits the needs of those you serve with, and, perhaps we owe that to an engineering career that got a really fast sideline. I'm just so grateful all along the way, for the experiences that taught me to listen.
Elizabeth: Have you had any experience of friction of, Americans coming in, telling us what to do.
Celeste: Not so much, with those we serve with, I think because of the attitude we come with, it's not, let us fix it for you. It's not, you don't know what you're doing. it's not that because that's not true.
Understanding them and their needs and working together on the solution is integral to the work that Days for Girls does and how we do it. But we have had people on occasion who are saying we don't want this for our women. Thankfully, not often. But I have personally also had people look at me. I have Hispanic and First Nation heritage, as well as English and Irish and I've got all the things. And, and so looking at me, you wouldn't know so much. My heritage is Latina and Spanish both. and so I have had people say, who are you?
You're a white woman of privilege, and how dare you think you have a part in this. Really, to my face, say that. And who knows? Maybe they're right. I don't know.
I called on the opportunity to come together to create a solution together from the very beginning. And so in my mind
It is such a shame that in our efforts to be more inclusive, we are being exclusive of who can speak and who can stand and who can talk. And I hope that the whole conversation will come to a place of inviting, of connecting and of honoring the strength of all of those who can make a difference in this world. And that's everybody.
Elizabeth: What has the process been like of growing the organization. You mentioned talking to a health minister in Uganda or something. Were you originally equipped to lead an organization and manage people and connect with health ministers and all of this? How did you personally have to stretch and grow.
Celeste: For sure I had to stretch and grow. I am a lifelong learner. I love reading. And I've been a leader for most of my life, thankfully. So I had that to tap into. I'd say, however, that I was always humble in the approach.
And, and I think that's important. And I was always learning as much as I could before I showed up in that room about the background, about the history, and that is part of being humble, Recognizing I don't know everything. And so I'm coming to ask if this works for you and what you need and how we can show up.
And Here's what we have to offer. Does this work for you? Do you have any questions? And I would love to hear what you need and what, you know, and invite that we could come together that this approach from humility and educating myself as much as possible before arriving in the room, was important
Elizabeth: And I believe in showing up, I believe in saying yes, and I believe in doing it with humility and educating yourself to the fullest extent possible.
Celeste: I think one of the exciting things about having more experiences and getting older is that we just have that much more to draw upon and we're all products of our backgrounds and all the choices that we make and even people who have had say one career went maybe straight to medical school after college and have been a doctor the whole time,
Elizabeth: you still have so many experiences outside of your career and you are this combination of everything that you've done and taken in throughout your life. And all of that has impacted who you are, and especially those of us who maybe haven't had the most linear career path, it sounds like you and I.
So then look where it takes you, look at all of these things from the time you were a little girl, this has informed your work today. It's beautiful, and I think it's a great... message for like young people starting out that everything you're doing, even if you feel like, Oh, I did a complete 180 from that job.
And now I'm doing this. It's all worthwhile. It's all forming who you are as a person. So, tell me about the book. When did you get the idea to start writing a book? What was the process of writing a book?
Celeste: You would think with a master's degree in creative writing and literature and having written since I was seven that that would have been the first thought, but no, I was so, so involved in the day to day and trying to be present for my family as well as 18 hour days. that that wasn't my first thought.
And it honestly was the stories of those we serve and serve with that I just went. Their stories are amazing. and the more I collected and the more I tried to share with people, the more I realized that a book would give people the opportunity to one, know about the issue of menstrual equity and period poverty and two be able to see the miracles that happen in this a beautiful strength across the whole planet of people saying, I've got this part, you've got that part, let's go.
it's miraculous, right? And I, wanted to share that.
So, what do you do, aside from writing, now that... the book is out, what is kind of your day to day? I'm sure it changes. I know you have a lot of passports filled with all of your travels.
I have.
Elizabeth: How do
Celeste: Well,
Elizabeth: start, how do you keep it going? How do you find a new area to work with?
Celeste: Today Days for Girls is held by people all over the planet. And about a year ago, I stepped down from global CEO in the day to day to being focused on the founder and finishing this book and speaking and, I do less of the day to day, and that's been an interesting adventure.
It just came to a day when I realized it's time. and I was as surprised as everyone else.
Just letting go and pushing back so someone else can lead and they can keep up the ethos of the org and they can hold is the most challenging part so far.
Elizabeth: Yeah. It's your baby.
Celeste: It is, you're like. They've got this, they've got this, they've got this, they can do this, and they do.
And, I know that this is another season. And I know that my contributions in this amazing life are far from through.
What would you say to someone out there who is thinking about starting some organization, you know, maybe is interested in global health or feels like there's a need out there that they would love to address?
Do it. Check first to see what other orgs are out there, to see if there's one that matches the focus you want. Do you know, today, there are hundreds and hundreds of Menstrual health orgs Hundreds. You would think, why do we need all those? Well, they take a slightly different focus. Some of them are really, really local.
Some of them are a certain peoples that they focus on. Some are Advocacy focus, and that's good, and hooray, we'll reach them all, right? However, you don't want to reinvent something that is exactly what you hoped to do. So, look first, and then, here's what I know.
When you are doing your purpose, it does not feel like a weight, it lifts you like a sail, I still wake up early in the morning, I get to do this and this and this, I have to bribe myself, like you cannot start working until you work out, um, because I'm so excited to get started,
Elizabeth: That's a pretty great sign that you're in the right lane.
Celeste: It makes hard things, a delight. and that's how you know. So, chasing your purpose, living your purpose. Hey, it's worth it all.
Elizabeth: I think you answered my last question, which was, why is your license plate gratitude?
Celeste: Oh, thank you for that. It is. GRATA2D. Yeah, well, it's a superpower and we don't think of it that way necessarily. And did you know a memory takes just a second to make? Just like a microsecond. That's why when you go to get something in the other room and realize, hey,what was that I was going for? And then you back all the way up and then you go, Oh, yeah, that's what it was. It's not because you lost your mind for a moment, you just didn't pause quite the microsecond it takes to make a memory. And so you have to pause just for a second and go keys. I'm going to get the keys.
And then go and that won't ever happen to you again. so the truth is gratitude is a super memory maker and the more gratitude we pour into our lives, the following things happen. One, we remember our teammates, our family, our friends think about us and care about us. We take that all the way to the cellular level because we chose to focus on them and what happened with gratitude.
Also, what we appreciate, appreciates. It's just like when you're, first get a new car and then all of a sudden you see that car everywhere and you did not see it the week before, is because your attention is now noticing because it's part of your life. So when you show gratitude and think with gratitude and look for gratitude, start your day and end your day and throughout your day, gratitude, more of the things you appreciate are magnified and show up in your life.
Gratitude is effective with parenting but not the kind like write your thank you note or, oh, yeah, thanks for that. Not that
genuinely.
Elizabeth: Not the passive aggressive gratitude.
Celeste: Yeah, not that one. you don't want that one. This is about, even if you don't say it out loud in a way that says, thank you, you just like, take that breath and go. I saw that. When we see the good in our lives, more happens. You see these lines to the side of my, these are not wrinkles. These are twinkles because I'm one happy girl because I am one grateful girl.
Elizabeth: So beautiful. Really inspirational. I think we can all learn a lot from that. Thank you so much, Celeste.
Celeste: So happy to have been with you.
Elizabeth: What a great example of seeing a need and seizing the opportunity to help. Here are some of my takeaways from my conversation with Celeste:
1) Number one. You never know when your path is going to change. Stay open to new ideas and new opportunities.
2) So much of how we look at our lives is in the framing of our experiences. Celeste credits her childhood with its many moves and frequent homelessness with giving her the skills to become who she is today.
3) We are not our circumstances. We don't have to buy into someone else's assumptions about who we are.
4) Four, we're all going to mess up, but we can turn our weaknesses into strengths. Don't give up just because things feel challenging.
5) If you want to innovate, you have to be willing to fail. Try again and fall down, get back up, fall again, and just keep trying.
6) Six, can we please just get over menstruation being a taboo topic of discussion? Like Celeste said, without it, none of us would be here. It's a healthy part of a healthy female body. Period. Get my little joke? And finally, number seven, what we appreciate appreciates. Focus on gratitude.
My big thanks to Celeste Mergens for taking the time to talk with me. Her new book, The Power of Days, is available now. For more information about Celeste, her book, and Days for Girls, go to the show notes for this episode at what it's like to. net. If you like listening to interviews with impressive women who built organizations by following their passions, check out episode 37 with Aishetu Fatima Dozie the founder of Bossy Cosmetics and episode 40 with Nancy Mueller, the Nancy behind the multimillion-dollar company, Nancy's Quiches.
If you're not already following this podcast, please do. And please tell a few friends about it, too. I'm Elizabeth Pearson Garr. Thanks for being curious about what it's like.