Howami

30/01/2026

What I Wish I’d Known When I Got My First Period

Most people don’t remember their first period because it was empowering.

They remember it because it was confusing, awkward, or quietly frightening.

Across NHS guidance, UNICEF resources, and countless personal stories, one theme keeps coming up: the lack of preparation matters just as much as the biology.

Many teens describe thinking something was “wrong” with their body.

Others hid it, panicked, or felt ashamed. Not because periods are shameful, but because no one had helped them understand what was happening before it happened.

What we wish we’d known is simple, but powerful:

That periods are normal and everyone’s timeline is different.

That irregular cycles at the start are common.

That emotions, mood shifts, and tiredness are hormonal messages, not personal failures.

That being prepared, even with something as small as a period kit, builds confidence.

And most importantly, that talking about it makes it less scary.

At Howami, we believe emotional literacy should begin before the first bleed, not after.

When young people understand their bodies and rhythms early, they feel safer in themselves and more able to ask for support when they need it.

This isn’t just about periods.

It’s about trust, language, and helping teens feel at home in their bodies.

Prepared beats surprised.

Conversation beats silence.

We’re building with that belief at the centre🌙

28/01/2026

Why Howami?
Because confidence in girls drops sharply during early adolescence. Because so many young people are afraid of failing. And because nearly all of them want to feel more confident but don’t know how.

At Howami, we believe self-understanding begins with noticing. Not fixing. Not perfecting. Just gently observing the emotional and physical rhythms of the body.

The menstrual cycle is complex and cyclical - just like we are and within it lies a powerful lesson: There is no final failure, only endings that make space for new beginnings. By supporting young people to show up exactly as they are, day by day, we hope confidence grows from within and mental wellbeing strengthens over time.
✨ Save this if it resonates
✨ Share with someone raising or supporting a young person
✨ Follow www.howami.co to explore self-awareness with care.

26/01/2026

Emotional literacy should come before algebra 💭📚 When young people understand and regulate their emotions, they’re better able to focus, persist, and learn.

Emotions aren’t a distraction from learning.
They’re the foundation.

When we support emotional awareness early, we build confidence, resilience, and wellbeing that lasts a lifetime.

✨ Let’s start with understanding, not pressure. 💚

23/01/2026

Why understanding the menstrual cycle builds confidence at school 🌱

Girls who understand their cycle don’t just manage symptoms, they understand themselves.

That means they:

✔️ Know how their body and emotions shift

✔️ Anticipate low energy or intense days

✔️ Speak up with confidence instead of feeling shame

Cycle awareness isn’t only health education. It’s emotional literacy that helps girls stay present, engaged, and confident.
Howami makes this learning fun and meaningful and helps young people explore their inner world so they can communicate what they are experiencing.

Teachers and wellbeing leads, when we normalise self-understanding, we build stronger learners.

🔗 Dive into insights at https://www.howami.co/

21/01/2026

As parents, we’re all navigating screen time, trends, and what truly adds value to our children’s lives.

We are starting to understand that the menstrual cycle doesn’t just show up once a month, it shapes emotions, energy, and self-esteem, especially in early adolescence.

Howami was created to support teens and parents through this transition, without scores, pressure, or data tracking. Just daily moments of reflection, learning, and self-connection.
✨ Because understanding your body should feel safe, empowering, and even fun.

09/01/2026

🌱 The Four Inner Seasons: What Every Parent/Carer/Adult Should Know 🌱

It’s getting cold outside and just like the Seasons our bodies and minds go through these natural rhythms too. When we see the menstrual cycle as four inner seasons, we get a gentler, more compassionate way to understand teens’ emotions and energy shifts.
✨ Inner Winter (Menstruation): A time to slow down and rest.

🌷 Inner Spring: New energy, curiosity, hope.

☀️ Inner Summer: Confidence, connection, social joy.

🍂 Inner Autumn: Reflection, depth, emotional sharpening.

As adults, carers and parents we can use this seasonal lens to check in with teens, offer support without judgment, and help them honour their changing needs rather than pushing them to fit a fixed expectation.

💛 When we notice patterns instead of dismissing feelings, we build stronger relationships.

18/12/2025

Hello friends! We've got a little survey for you to fill in if you've got 5 mins.. (and a young person in your life who is menstruating). As always, thanks for your time, we really appreciate it! it's helping us create the best tools for you so that menstrual wellness in young people is more commonplace and difficult conversations are made easier. Please share this if you can. x

A short, gentle questionnaire to help us understand common experiences parents have when supporting their daughters. Your answers are completely confidential and will help us design better tools and guidance for families.

28/11/2025

Recently the Princess of Wales called on business leaders to prioritise 'time and tenderness' alongside profit and success, when thinking about family and raising children, in her first public speech for two years.

Yes! I agree!

But how to do this and feel connected to your family when you are busy, maybe working away, or have long hours? Or just find it hard to talk about difficult things like emotions…

It came up recently in conversation that running my own business gives me the ability to be there for my daughter in a way that I wouldn’t perhaps be able to if I was working for someone else.

But what’s most important beyond the time we give them is that there is an open dialogue and easy conversation about feelings, emotions and if they are female, periods.

This isn’t always easy, and picking the conversation up when puberty hits, if this hasn't been the norm from the beginning, can be even trickier..

We are designing something so that whether you spend lots of time or less time with your family, the Howami App can maintain a level of openness, as it acts like a bridge of communication to the adult portal so that you feel in-the-loop with the daily emotional unfolding of the young person in your life.
(As the young person shares what they choose to share with you).

We want teens to feel connected, as well as and seen and heard by their adults.
Communication is key to maintaining a good relationship throughout the turbulent teenage years and Howami exists to make it easier.

Help us get this out there!
The link is in the comments to sign up to our wait-list.

26/11/2025

Women’s Hour yesterday had a great article talking about the effects of puberty on young people and how it affects their involvement in sport at school.
Isabelle Kyson is doing great work in raising awareness of this.

When a young person embarks on their cyclical journey (usually sometime around the beginning of secondary school) a whole new way of living opens up for them.

Going from linear to cyclical is no small thing!

If they don’t know about this, then they meet it without any understanding about how changeable things can be on a day-to-day basis.

We want young people to be fully aware! So at Howami we are making tools to notice unique patterns from the start.
We encourage self-discovery in a fun and engaging way - this is about noticing, embodying and understanding and then connecting with a trusted adult or a friend to share where they are at.
It’s a great communication bridge into the more difficult conversations.

Isabelle is fighting to get more education around periods into the National Curriculum which is currently having a long overdue overhaul - we support her wholeheartedly!

Be part of our audience build and help us get Howami into the world - including schools!

Link is in the comments 👇

Created by Isabelle Kyson, directed by Greg Woodward in conjunction with Podoma.'Out of the Race: Why Girls Quit Sport' follows 17 year old athlete and filmm...

24/11/2025

This is where the fun really starts to happen - in the actual design.
Working out what’s most needed in the prototype, so that we can test our riskiest assumptions.

We want:
💫 Young people to be engaged with their cycles.
🩸 Whole Cycle Awareness to be commonplace.
💡 A fun and immersive UX and UI.
🦺 A safe, shareable daily readout.

A massive shout out to our in-house designer and master builder Dan Berridge.
Dan is taking the Prototype build in his stride, problem solving while staying open to mine and Nikki’s input and suggestions. Even with Nikki stepping back a bit lately by the power of three we are mighty!

Nikki, Dan and I have put years into the back story, the on-the-ground work, user journeying/testing and refining, and now weeks into the making.

The prototype will be ready to be tested in the New Year.

Get in touch if you and your young person would like to be part of that journey!

Sign up to our waitlist where you’ll hear occasional updates from us as to how we’re getting on. (link in the comments 👇)

(photo - behind the scenes!)

19/11/2025

Moods aren't always random!

It’s so easy to just see 'behavior'. But, if we’re also a menstruator, we have to remember from our own journey, that when our moods change (and wildly sometimes), and sometimes all seemingly in a few hours, it’s not that we’re ‘going bonkers’ its our internal system shouting out that something needs addressing!

Each hormone has a personality:
Estrogen’s like: Lets connect, create, fix the world!
Progesterone says: Lets slow down, stay at home, make things comfy
Testosterone charges in with: Lets get this show on the road!

So if you think along these lines, mood changes are an indication that we’re shifting phases.. A little bit like we’re in a car and we’re needing to change gear - We naturally adjust our driving accordingly don’t we..
Maybe we’re approaching ovulation, or into the Luteal comedown, or menstruation is on it’s way..
Cortisol can also then jump in and start pressing buttons like an over excited toddler… screaming to us that we actually do need to make these gear changes.

It’s certainty not always easy as an adult to remember all of this, our lives are in full swing, s**t happens, and many of us have such busy existences these days! who’s got time to feel in and listen to these internal whispers??
It really is hard enough for us, let alone our children who are new to cyclical living! - BUT we know that when we do listen in, things get much MUCH easier.

That’s why we’re building tools to help out with this self-understanding.

Follow us if you don’t already, join our waitlist (link in the comments). Help us to help you and all the young menstruators in your life.

27/06/2025

Join Kate on Sunday 29th from 18.00 - 18.45 GMT for the last free webinar in June.

🩸As intro into the Course we'll be discussing menstrual awareness for home and school settings and how this can strengthen your relationships.

Sign up here: www.howami.co/course