"There is a huge social awakening around the ‘hot’ topic of Menstrual Health. But in the real world, we still have a long way to go." Nikki has been working with Mental & physical Wellbeing through her work for the past 20 years. In the past 5 years specifically absorbing everything & anything to do with the Menstrual Cycle. Having co-written the Howami charting book in 2020 she has run numerous workshops with a variety of age groups from 10-12 year olds, right thru to post-menopause cycling-humans. She recently qualified as a Menstruality Mentor with the “Red School” who have paved the way for psychological and emotional impact of the menstrual cycle. She is extremely dedicated and passionate about this topic and the project’s potential.    ​ “Having a Gen-Z daughter and through our work to date, I have witnessed first hand the effect of attention-seeking technology on the psychology of young women. I am thoroughly committed to creating this application that, I believe, will have an enormous impact. By supporting the growth of both ‘emotional intelligence’ and the ‘well-being’ of the future generations of menstruating people.”

“The chance to provide a radical, playful, online space for young people to become mindful of themselves in relation to their menstrual cycle fills me with so much joy! I am also super excited to be working within a team of people who want to be in a business with emotional intelligence at the forefront of communication and operations”. Kate Penning is an Actor, Mindfulness practitioner, Yoga teacher and Menstrual educator and has worked in the wellness field for 14 years. Kate graduated with a diploma in Acting from ALRA (Academy of Live and Recorded Arts), before completing her yoga training with Dru, further yoga training for Kids and Gen Z, then her Mindfulness Training with Mindfulness Now in Oxford and most recently her Celebration day for Girls training with Jane Bennett. As a mindfulness specialist she uses all of these disciplines when teaching young people. Kate originally teamed up with Nikki to develop the Howami book and workshops and could see the potential for helping more and more young women across the world with her unique take on Menstrual wellness. Her mindfulness specialty informs every aspect of the App development and the functioning of the Team.

“I am devoting all of my time to this project as I believe our young women need a well designed and enjoyable App that functions as their ground-point for their uniqueness as menstruating people. I have an almost evangelical belief that tech needs to be beautiful in look and function. Having joined this project from a different creative field, I’m unafraid to look at existing paradigms with confidence that it can be done better!” Dan is a successful Soundtrack composer and Brunel University Business graduate. Whilst watching Nikki and Kate develop the Howami book and workshops, he has recently been moved by the potential of Howami as an Application. As a father of a teenage daughter he has been led by a passion to improve the lives of young women through tech. Dan is used to working creatively on large scale projects and is a fervent believer in the power of positive-use technology that improves lives rather than feeding from its user’s attention.

“When I heard Nikki describe the Howami project, I knew she was on to something. An app helping with a need so central to the well-being of so many young women can only benefit from the passion and energy of such a heart-centred team. Seeing the them in action confirmed that I needed to help where I could. The team’s drive is palpable, their creativity is phenomenal. It’s a joy to work on the Howami project.” Simon has 20 years experience in tech and software engineering. Having worked with numerous startups and built several teams from scratch, Simon knows what it takes for a team to come together and thrive. Simon’s experience has taught him the necessity of user-centred design and helping creators set ego aside to follow an open-minded Lean approach to product creation. His passion is to harness the dark-arts used to create growth-hacking, attention-mining apps and use them for social good. Simon has a teenage daughter, so has a window into the Howami world. He firmly believes that harnessing creativity and intuition through a beautiful, creative app can lead to enhanced well-being for her and other young women.

“While traveling in New Zealand 4 years ago I attended a workshop about the menstrual cycle and was blown away by how little I really knew! I dream of a world where everyone has the opportunity to learn about the power and beauty within the menstrual cycle, and can live in line with their own unique rhythm.“ We are so excited to have Lauren among our Advisory team. She brings a strong skill set to Howami, including Marketing/Media & Business strategy, Tech proficiency and deep insight into practicing and educating on menstrual cycle awareness in the modern world. Lauren comes from a varied background of Customer service, Administrative & Strategic roles (from a Scottish Gin society to an off-road Lord of the Rings tour company!) She currently works in the core team at Red School who train the future leaders in the field of Menstruality, and whose work underpins much of the emotional/psychological aspects we are drawing inspiration from for the Howami App. She has developed an avid passion for this work and has also trained as a Menstruality Mentor through Red School's Menstruality Leadership Programme in 2021.

“As a woman and mother, I believe that it is so important that we bring what happens to menstruating people out of the shadows. Menstruation impacts everyone from the first bleed until the last, whether you personally or to those around you. Celebrating the power and impact of this process is such a radical shift from the past and is most welcome. I am delighted to be invited as an advisor.” Samantha has worked in mental health for over twenty years after studying psychology as an undergraduate at Cardiff University and staying to undertake a Ph.D. Following a few years as a Research Associate at Bristol University, Samantha trained in the NHS as a Clinical Psychologist and has since worked in adult mental health, physical health, and children’s mental health services. During her time as a practising psychologist, Samantha is passionate about sharing her psychological understanding and skills and is delighted to be a mental health advisor for this deeply important programme of work.

“I am thrilled to be part of the Howami team and believe that everybody who owns a uterus deserves to connect with themselves and learn about the incredible ways our bodies work. Education leads to autonomy, which can hopefully pave the way for more powerful, more informed and more joyful ways of living.” We are delighted that Lily has agreed to be our Gen Z Lead advisor. At present she is in her second year studying psychology at the University of Bristol, However, her curiosity in this area began to build its momentum many years before-when she herself was in her early years of Cycling. Her interest became fuelled even more when she discovered the lack of research into women’s mental -health particularly throughout pregnancy and during the postnatal period. Since 2019, Lily’s understanding of hormones and their impact has steadily evolved and deepened, alongside her wish for the progression into accessible education for everyone with a menstrual cycle. Her dedication, passion and drive for the awakening of mental and menstrual health and knowledge is utterly inspiring for us.

"While I am excited to be involved in the creation of a great app, there is a definite focus in the industry on addiction forming feedback in the interest of generating profit. Part of my reasoning for joining Howami was the focus on wellness and health above all else. This seems like a truly ethical and impactful development - something in line with my own values as an educator. I felt that this was my opportunity to help push consumer technology towards the improvement of humanity." As a graduate of games design and development at The University of Plymouth, Danny worked in the games industry for 10 years before transitioning to teaching, spearheading the Games, VR & VFX course at boomsatsuma as a programme lead, working with 16-18 year old students to develop their own games and applications. Danny has teamed with Howami to provide guidance and consultation on app development, and to give insight into the multi-disciplinary aspects of application design.