Community Impact Special: TeenClean's Radio Transcript

Ms. Peri: Welcome to Radio Biryani! Today, we have a very special guest with us, Riya Kannan, the co-founder of Teen Clean. Riya, thank you for joining us.

Riya: Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.

Ms. Peri: To start off, can you tell us a bit about Teen Clean and what inspired you to start this nonprofit organization? 

Riya: Of course. Teen Clean is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting hygiene education and providing access to hygiene products for students and communities around the world. We were inspired to create a nonprofit that other teenagers could access as a resource for basic hygiene practices and in turn, grow their self-esteem. Growing up as a child of an immigrant, many discussions about menstruation and body care were stigmatized. We wanted to create a safe space for anyone to be able to safely understand their bodies and grow confidently. Me and my co-president Hitha wanted to create a platform for young people to explore this topic and advocate for its importance. 

Ms. Peri: That’s truly inspiring. I understand Teen Clean has grown quite a bit since its creation. Can you tell us about the scope of your organization's reach? 

Riya: Absolutely. Although Teen Clean was founded to only be an educational platform, we had a small Instagram page with roughly 50 followers, half of which were our own friends from school—so as we began to gain traction, we soon realized that we had the passion and the outreach to actively incite a positive change in the lives of the less fortunate. Teen Clean has expanded significantly, even across the globe. We reach over 4000 people per month through our Instagram, and we’ve now established over 17 chapters across 3 countries, 14 states in the US and 16 cities, with more than 100 members in leadership positions, who are actively involved from the get-go. Our reach continues to still expand and grow and we hope that this growth will allow for many powerful future initiatives. If Teen Clean is something you’re interested in, you can still apply to start your own chapter, intern with us, or apply for the executive board. 

Ms. Peri: Wow, that's impressive growth. Can you give us an overview of some of your key projects? 

Riya: One of our current projects is the India Project. The name actually began as a filler for something more catchy, but it just stuck around. We’re quite proud to say that this is our first global initiative project. Essentially, we are raising money to build toilets and hand washing stations, as well as providing clean water for rural Chittoor schools and orphanages in Andhra Pradesh. We’re holding a free art workshop at the Lexington Clubhouse on Saturday, July 20th to raise awareness and eventually raise more money!

Ms. Peri: Let's dive deeper into these projects. Can you tell us more about the Hygiene 4 Health initiative and its impact so far?

Riya: Hygiene 4 Health is another project we are undertaking in which we are gathering resources, such money and donations, to create medical hygiene supplies for local orphanages in Delhi slums. These medical supplies are to be given along with hygiene kits, where we provide crucial sanitation devices along with first aid supplies. Many major slums often suffer from inadequate sanitation, so we recognize that often, homes and underfunded orphanages do not have the resources to help prevent the spread of germs and deadly illnesses, causing a public health issue. Similar to The India Project, which is taking place in Andhra Pradesh, we’ve recognized the need to provide clean water in these areas, as countless lives could be saved with basic sanitation, and knowledge of how to prevent these diseases (like diarrhea, respiratory disease, reproductive disease, and much more).

Ms. Peri: That is a very important, but overlooked issue in many major cities, so it’s fantastic that Teen Clean is working to fix it! I remember you mentioned that this nonprofit began as an educational platform, so I was wondering, are there any educational projects as of right now?

Riya: Yep! We planned the Empower Her initiative to hold workshops at local schools for young girls in Singapore. Singaporean communities often stigmatize discussions over women’s health, including knowledge about their bodies and menstrual health. To combat this, our officers in Singapore are conducting workshops and educational seminars in order to teach these integral topics. A unique aspect of this project is our focus on empowering these women to love their bodies, through the use of the education that Teen Clean has to offer. Our interactive website, Instagram and Tiktok all offer alternative education options for those needing to access hygienic education! These platforms are constantly being utilized to update with information and we are always trying to cater to what our audience wants to see. Our Instagram handle is teenclean_org, and website is teenclean.site! 

Ms. Peri: The empowerment aspect of this project is so meaningful! Make sure you guys check up on their socials for more information! What other goals does your organization have?

Riya: We believe that hygiene, especially in the environment around us, should be accessible to all, a right that should be guaranteed for all and validated as much as the right to food and clean water. So, our chapter in North Carolina has a passion to help the environment by organizing community clean-up drives and workshops to promote a cleaner environment. More locally, we are helping our chapter in Allen, TX create hygiene care packages for local homeless shelters and womens’ shelters!

Ms. Peri: Your work is great! Can you share any success stories or memorable moments?

Riya: Of Course yeah! Being able to work so deeply with Teen Clean’s ideals has greatly changed my perspective on a lot of things, and has definitely made me a much happier person, knowing the positive impact we can make in even one person’s life. One memorable moment I’d like to recall is a specific event we attended—it was an International Women’s Day Conference where my co-president Hitha, our outreach officer Siri, and I had attended this conference in order to raise money for those in period poverty and share our message to those who were interested in our journey. But the moment that the event really struck a chord in me was when, at the end of the speech, the photographer who had been recording the event just handed us a 100 dollar bill in appreciation for our efforts, because he was so moved by our words. That was really heartwarming to me, because it was truly the first time I realized that Teen Clean was going to be something bigger than ourselves. And getting to meet people through outreach events and fundraising and being able to see our work pay off when it benefits someone in need, is truly, truly heartwarming because there's so many compassionate people out there that really want to make a difference.. 

Ms. Peri: That’s really touching to hear. Well, to me, it’s clear Teen Clean is making a significant impact. How do you manage and coordinate so many chapters and projects?

Riya: My co-president, Hitha Atthipathla, manages most of the structural aspects. With our outreach officers, she does a great job with keeping in touch with the applicants, schedules, interns, officers, chapters and much more! Both of us have worked to create the organization that is here today. Additionally, my vice president Arthi is such a great asset to our social media as well as support in our initiatives. She has been there the entire journey, and has helped us with so much of it. We truly need to give credit to our great officer team, with HR officers, finance officers, social media managers, and more! Our chapters are also amazing, as each chapter operates semi-autonomously, letting them meet their community's specific needs while aligning with our overall mission. All in all, communication is key, so we have regular meetings and use different platforms to stay in touch with everyone. 

Ms. Peri: What are some of the challenges you’ve faced, and how have you overcome them?

Riya: Hitha, Arthi, and I have had challenges with marketing and fundraising, specifically having enough outreach to ensure our events go as smoothly as planned, but we’re definitely a lot better off now than we were when we first started. Starting an organization from scratch and ensuring it succeeds when you have big ambitions for it is a little daunting to handle but we overcame it through hours of hard work and our very driven team! 

Ms. Peri: That’s wonderful. What’s next for Teen Clean? Do you have any upcoming projects or goals you’d like to share?

Riya: We’re very excited about the future, as I mentioned we have our three global initiatives, The India Project, Hygiene 4 Health, and Empower Her, but there will definitely be more to come! But in terms of long-term projects,we’re planning the launch of an online platform offering hygiene education resources and interactive workshops. This will allow us to reach even more people and make a greater impact. Our immediate goal is to expand our reach by establishing more chapters in additional states and countries and allowing those new chapters to propose ideas for growth as well! By expanding into these new regions in the world, we can bring awareness to issues in other countries that we may not even be aware of, so having these different perspectives from our overseas officers would be very crucial in helping those around the world. 

Ms. Peri: Before we wrap up, how can our listeners get involved or support Teen Clean?

Riya: There’s always room for more members in Teen Clean, so we would love for more people to get involved! Please follow us on Instagram and Tiktok (our username is teenclean_org on both) and access our website, teenclean.site to access our blogs, applications and more! We’d love for you to volunteer your time, donate hygiene products, start a chapter, become a member of our internship team, become a member of our executive or general leadership board and more! We also encourage young people to participate in our competitions and events. For more information, you can visit our website and follow us on social media.