35: Ruby Raut: Co-Founder WUKA, on mission to promote sustainability

SHOWNOTESMy guest for the 35th episode of The Elephant in the Room podcast is Ruby Raut co-founder and CEO of WUKA. Founded in 2017, WUKA is a female-led start up, making the UK’s first ever reusable and leak-proof period wear. The business idea came to her while studying environmental science and learning that 200,000 tonnes of tampons and pads end up in landfills in the UK. WUKA stands for Wake Up Kick Ass because the belief is that nothing should hold women back during their period. The mission is to make sustainable lifestyles accessible to everyone, because sustainability should not be a luxury, and periods are not a luxury. Ruby is also determined to break down the continuing stigma around periods.In this episode she speaks about growing up in Nepal, moving to the UK to find her purpose. Her journey to becoming an entrepreneur. We also spoke about 👉🏾 Challenges she faced starting a business as a women in a new country👉🏾 Period poverty in the UK👉🏾 Government support for sustainable and eco-friendly products 👉🏾'Axe the Period Pants Tax' a campaign calling on the UK Government to remove the unfair 20% VAT charge on period pantsListen to how this gutsy young women is on a mission to create a more sustainable world and empower women 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾https://periodpants.org/Memorable passages from the podcast👉🏾 Thank you very much Sudha for having me, I mean, it's been quite a while since we spoke and it's been I think a long dream coming to the podcast. So yeah, I'm very, very excited to be here. 👉🏾 So I grew up in Nepal, very Eastern part of Nepal, it's almost like my home is very border to India. So now, and then I say to my friends, you know, like I used to walk to India. And also because we have the open border system. You don't need a passport or anything, So I walk and I'm like in India? So I was born up in the mountains. But later on my family moved to more like a Terai area, closer to India and I came to UK when I was 20. So majority of my life, I lived in Nepal. Family of five Mom, Dad and three sisters. So we didn't have any brothers in the house. So often my sister thought that I was the brother figure in the house. It's nice actually, I miss my sisters and it was really nice to grow up in a household where there was no discrimination between boys and girls. 👉🏾 It didn't. So, I came here. Like everybody comes to Western country or developed country, more finding an opportunity right? So that's what I did. Also, I think when you, are stuck in like the developing country like Nepal you are stuck with quite a lot of things that you actually don't agree with.And I almost flew away from there so that I can explore more about myself and who I am. I knew that being in a very slightly more conservative society I thought that I will never progress. So it was my escape coming to UK either for pursuing education, earning more money, looking for more opportunity, cultural diversity, those kind of things.👉🏾 It was total culture shock for me because I was the girl who I think handful saw any white person or any person of other colours, you know, other than my or people who are of different cultural background, like religion wise as well. I'd never...