" Being a Millennium Fellow reaffirms my faith in the power of youth to lead change. As President of the Bengaluru-based student volunteer NGO, Girl Up Mukti, I am excited for the magnitude of impact I can create in the lives of young girls. I wish to target the problem of lack of awareness around menstrual hygiene that contributes to the larger problem of gender inequality and work towards a solution. The stigma surrounding menstruation is taught to menstruators so early on that even menstruators are hesitant to talk about it amongst themselves. I wish to initiate a conversation on a public platform, normalize menstruation, and also sensitize both menstruators and menstruators about the biological phenomenon. I wish to make this conversation holistic. Menstruation is not a phenomenon exclusive to women, lack of awareness of this aspect has alienated a significant fraction of the population from conversations around menstruation. I intend to change this through public dialogue. I firmly believe in the saying, “If I can see, I can be it.” As a media student, I understand how much representation matters, how much seeing someone like you talking about issues you care about, can motivate you to speak up as well. I wish to initiate and amplify this representation. "