Our Mission & Vision

Our Mission is to ruthlessly make sustainable periods easy.

Our vision is threefold:

Environmental
To give everyone the opportunity to access environmentally friendly products to reduce harmful waste damaging our earth.
Social
To work towards ending period poverty, increase quality menstrual hygiene education, and break down social barriers surrounding menstruation, using business for social good.
Equitable future
To create sustainable employment opportunities and cultivate an environment for our employees to excel and continuously advance.
Why Ruth?

The name Ruth is special to us because we wanted to pay tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a powerful role model who fought for justice, equality, and female empowerment. RBG stood for women equality and fought her way to try and eliminate social injustices. We, at Ruth, are ruthlessly fighting with you to save the Earth one sustainable product at a time.

Ruth is also a symbol of generosity and kindness - in alignment with our goals of giving back to the women, girls, and people who menstruate, in most need of menstrual products. Together, let’s solve period poverty one menstrual pad at a time.

We want to make sustainable periods easy, and we hope you can join us.

Root for you. Ruth for you.

Founder's Story
Nicole Sanchez and Anka Chan
Nicole and Anka met at the University of Alberta in 2018 when they joined Enactus - a student group focused on social entrepreneurship. They led a project aimed at tackling menstrual waste and launched initiatives to open up conversations surrounding menstruation and sustainable periods. This led them to launch their company Ruth in January 2021 - providing an innovative solution to the issue of menstrual waste with disposable and biodegradable pads.

Collectively, they have been supported as female founders and trained through Founder Institute, NEXT 36, and the League of Innovators. Ruth is proudly backed by Community Foundations Canada and NEXT Canada.


Nicole Sanchez
She/her | Co-founder

Nicole has always wanted to make a positive impact, and she thought that starting with a business degree with the hopes of later pursuing law would enable her to do that. When she came across a project wanting to create a sustainable alternative to menstrual pads while empowering menstruators at the same time, she was introduced to the world of entrepreneurship. As she continued to develop the project and helped turn it into a business, she was shocked to find out the realities associated with menstruation - the amount of waste produced, the lack of innovation, the stigma, and the lack of education. Driven by her personal values and Ruth’s mission and vision, she leads the team in executing their marketing strategy and business development.

Anka Chan
She/her | Co-founder

Anka is a science lover whose Neuroscience journey transformed once she was introduced to the world of sustainable menstruation. Understanding that period waste is a huge and growing issue, but personally finding it difficult to use the reusable menstrual products led her to launch Ruth. She has a huge heart for underserved communities and seeks to give back to those in most need. She contributes to Ruth’s mission of making sustainable periods easy through continuous product development and business strategizing.

Ready to make a switch?