Tarangini Mohan

Indian social entrepreneur revolutionizing menstrual health education in rural communities through sustainable solutions.

Tarangini Mohan (b. 1991), founder of Aisle, has empowered over 300,000 women across India's tribal areas since 2015. Her organization combines traditional knowledge with modern science to create biodegradable sanitary pads from banana fibers and bamboo.

Born in Kerala's Wayanad district, Mohan witnessed how menstrual taboos forced girls to drop out of school. She devised EcoFlow—a machine enabling villages to produce low-cost pads locally. Each unit creates livelihoods for 15 women while recycling agricultural waste. Her TED Talk highlights how she convinced male community leaders to support hygiene workshops.

Mohan's Padman Fellowship trains grassroots activists to combat period poverty. In 2022, she collaborated with MIT researchers to develop pH-sensitive cloth detecting reproductive health issues. Despite threats from plastic pad manufacturers, her model has spread to Nepal and Bangladesh.

Featured in the BBC’s Planet Heroes series, Mohan represents a new generation of intersectional activists merging environmentalism with gender justice.