Samantha's ZOY wants to talk about more than periods

Samantha Ruth Prabhu’s menstrual care brand ZOY is trying to widen the conversation. At an event in Chennai themed Wellness Beyond Your Period, the Engal Thangam actor, who joined the company as co-founder last year, sat on a panel that went well past period care to talk about hormonal balance, intimate hygiene, the safety of menstrual products, nutrition and the way women’s health shifts across different stages of life.

The panel had real range. Alongside Samantha and ZOY founder Maheswari Moorthy were Vithya Ramraj, the hurdler from Coimbatore who came back from the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya with gold in the women’s 4x400m relay, a mixed relay silver and a 400m hurdles bronze that broke PT Usha’s 42-year-old national record; Shitija Nahata, founder of Fit Chef and a nutrition and wellness coach; Shiny Surendran, a sports and holistic preventive dietitian; and gynaecologists Dr Padma Ramakrishnan and Dr Narasa Narayani.

Samantha’s point was about choice. Women, she said, need to be aware of their own health and to understand the quality and safety of the products they use, so that what they pick is a considered decision rather than a habit.

Maheswari Moorthy said she started ZOY on the back of 16 years in the textile industry, with the aim of making safer, better-quality menstrual products. The range now covers herb-infused sanitary napkins, napkins with antibacterial technology, herbal wellness liners, disposable and reusable period underwear and a reusable menstrual cup.

The company says the larger aim is women’s overall health and awareness, with menstrual care as one part of it, which is why the panel spent as much time on nutrition and hormones as it did on pads.