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Good morning, Fearless readers:
The goal of Fearless is to empower all Iowa women in both work and life, and that means we want to tell the stories of women all across our state.
We need your help. What women in your neck of the woods are doing cool things? Who in Iowa is making a lasting impact? Who might have something interesting to say?
Feel free to email me suggestions at maceyshofroth@bpcdm.com so we can connect with women in all regions of our state. Editorial coverage will not be guaranteed, but I'm excited to learn more about what's happening in Iowa.
In this week’s Fearless e-newsletter, you will find:
- A story Maanya Pandey, the young founder of the nonprofit Love For Red.
- A closer look with Alissa McKinney, executive director of Above + Beyond Cancer.
- In the headlines: The 2025 YWRC Louise Rosenfield Noun Community awardees were announced.
- In case you missed it: We announced our 2025 Forty Under 40 class.
- Lots more!
— Macey Shofroth, Fearless editor
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Love For Red fights period poverty in Iowa
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BY MACEY SHOFROTH, FEARLESS EDITOR
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Rowena Crosbie and Maanya Pandey. Photo by Duane Tinkey.
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Maanya Pandey’s life is a balancing act.
The Waukee native is in her junior year at the University of Iowa. She’s majoring in public health on the pre-medicine track, preparing to take entrance exams for medical school. She’s a member of a South Asian fusion dance team.
She’s also the founder and president of Love For Red, a nonprofit she began when she was 15 to help address period poverty in Iowa. Her organization has provided over 150,000 menstrual products across the state of Iowa since 2020. Powerful local women like Rekha Basu, Roxanne Conlin and Rowena Crosbie offer their support on Love For Red’s advisory board.z
"It’s slightly incomprehensible," Pandey said. "I go from studying for the MCAT to having a board of advisers meeting where I’m interacting with such amazing, successful women in Iowa. Then I go home and I’m just like, ‘Did that happen?’"
That balancing act is worth it for her if she can help alleviate the burden of stigma and inaccessibility that comes with menstruating for many women and girls.
Founding Love For Red has taught her to dream big and be a change-maker, she said. She hopes her organization can make that opportunity more accessible for other girls and women, too.
"One in five students struggle to afford period products, and that causes over 80% to miss school. It’s not like you stop menstruating when you go to work, so it affects your work too," Pandey said. "Menstruating is nothing new. It clearly has consequential effects on people’s livelihood and their ability to live, work and succeed."
A problem at home
In 2020, Pandey was 15 years old and adjusting to online schooling during the pandemic when she came across an Instagram video detailing how incarcerated women managed their periods.
She learned many of these women had little access to female hygiene products, unable to purchase more due to low wages and often resorting to unsanitary measures. She soon discovered the issue of period poverty was prevalent everywhere, even in Iowa.
When she couldn’t find other organizations dedicated to solving the problem, she created her own.
"I went to my parents and told them, ‘I want to do something about this.’ And my mom was like, ‘Is that really an issue here in the U.S.?’" Pandey said.
Research shows it is. According to the National Institutes of Health, nearly 16.9 million menstruating women are living in poverty in the U.S., and two-thirds of those women are unable to afford basic menstrual products. The inability to afford these products is linked to higher rates of depression and puts women more at risk for health issues such as urinary tract infections.
"Students risk missing up to nine weeks of the school year due to their period. The chronic absenteeism is connected to higher dropout rates, lower rates of graduation, failing, suspensions, all of those things. It has a direct correlation to your success," Pandey said.
Crosbie, president of Tero International and a member of Love For Red’s advisory board, had been a part of a committee in her rotary club addressing the need for menstrual products and education in Uganda. Like Pandey’s mother, she was also surprised to learn the issue existed much closer to home.
"I heard the need we have in Central Iowa and I thought, ‘Seriously, Waukee?’" Crosbie said. "So many of us enjoy privilege. We know what’s going on with our bodies and we’ve got access to products and to hygiene. But there’s so many girls and women here in Iowa, around the United States and around the globe that don’t have that."
Service, advocacy and awareness
Pandey said Love For Red has donated to 55 schools across Iowa since its founding, plus community organizations such as the Des Moines Y Camp and Des Moines Refugee Support. There are over 90 schools on its waiting list, and over 30 schools requested products on a single day last October.
"It’s just because of capacity right now that we can’t donate to all of them at the same time. We’ve been focusing especially on the schools where staff are spending their own money on period products," Pandey said.
Crosbie added that they haven’t found a way to purchase hygiene products at wholesale prices, so each product has been purchased at full retail.
"It could really accelerate the difference you can make if you could cut your costs in half," she said.
The need continues to surprise them. Pandey has built a team of volunteers around her. She runs the Iowa City operations while her mom helms efforts in Des Moines. Schools and organizations reach out with requests for products, and the Love For Red team provides "period packs," often assembled by groups of volunteers, that include a variety of different types and sizes of products.
The organization also has a student ambassador program, where student leaders manage the product needs in their own school. The idea is to involve more people in talking about and addressing the issue of period poverty in hopes of combating the stigma around talking about periods.
Love For Red does this through a three-pronged approach: service, advocacy and awareness. The service element lies in the donation of products. Advocacy and awareness take the form of educating people about period poverty and the female body and attempting to change the conversation around the topics.
Breaking the stigma
Crosbie recounted the story of when she was first taught to feel shame around the topic of menstruation.
"My mom sent me over to the grocery store to get [menstruation products], which I didn’t even really know that much about. As I was walking home, it was in a paper bag. A bunch of friends were playing on the street, and for whatever reason, they needed a bag, so gave them [my bag]. My mom was horrified. I didn’t understand what was so top secret about it," Crosbie said.
Pandey has seen this type of shame often in her work. Love For Red provides education about period poverty and stigma with after-school groups and at festivals and events. She explained she often sees people get visibly uncomfortable or immediately turn around when they see the topic they’re discussing. She’s heard from girls who received no support from their parents and had to figure out how to deal with their cycles themselves.
She and Crosbie believe that if more people talk about the subject, the more these young women won’t have to navigate this experience in silence.
Love For Red’s advocacy has also taken them up to the Capitol for a Day on the Hill each year. They’ve met with legislators to demonstrate the needs in Iowa schools and convince them that this is an issue they should care about. This year, they campaigned for grant funding for schools to purchase menstrual products. One of the volunteers even spoke with Gov. Kim Reynolds.
Even at the Capitol, the group has run into folks’ discomfort talking about the menstruating experience.
"Finding areas of support has definitely been a challenge because our topic is very taboo. I think the world has made it a scary thing to talk about," Pandey said.
While the work is aimed at helping women and girls across the state, it’s also built Pandey’s confidence and understanding of what she wants to accomplish. As a young woman of color, she’s grown used to people not taking her seriously.
The more she uses her voice, the louder it gets. Her future goals include studying and caring for women’s health as a health care provider.
By then, she hopes Love For Red is no longer needed.
"I’d like to be able to get the problem of period poverty in schools solved in Iowa, and then be able to go to something else. We started with prisons — it’d be really cool to be able to go into that arena, and then continue on with community organizations," Pandey said. "We had an adviser member mention domestic violence shelters, and I think that would be really cool to get into, too. The ultimate goal is to not exist and not have a need for us to be there."
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A Closer Look: Alissa McKinney
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BY MACEY SHOFROTH, FEARLESS EDITOR
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Alissa McKinney. Photo by Duane Tinkey.
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Alissa McKinney decided she was ready for a change. She’d worked on multiple political campaigns and spent nearly 20 years fundraising for nonprofits. She landed a position at a for-profit business and decided to take the leap.
It only took nine months for nonprofit work to call her back.
McKinney began serving as executive director for Above + Beyond Cancer in February 2024. Founded in 2011, the nonprofit provides therapeutic programs for cancer survivors and their loved ones.
Her past experience as director of development for Blank Children’s Hospital prepared her to lead the cancer nonprofit as it plans sustainable growth, she said.
"I was in the health care space for so long, so the health care world makes sense to me," McKinney said. "This position means I meet different people, but I’m still comfortable within the health community and understand how it works."
In her new role, she leads Above + Beyond’s fundraising efforts and has been guiding the organization’s strategic planning.
The Business Record sat down with McKinney to learn about her work to expand Above + Beyond Cancer’s program offerings and plan for its future.
This Q&A has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
What is it about nonprofit work that attracts you?
I’ve just always been in that space. Even in politics, although it’s not nonprofit, you’re still very committed to a cause, a person or an ideal. I worked at Blank Children’s Hospital for so long that I was able to share in different patient and family journeys. There’s so much value in that work. So when I went to for-profit work, I was missing that connection to a greater purpose. I really like knowing that I’m making a difference.
Between Above + Beyond Cancer and Blank Children’s Hospital, you’ve spent quite a bit of time working in health care. Why is that a cause you care about?
Everyone’s touched by cancer. When you’ve been in that setting, you see what families and patients go through and how things can help them, even if the outcomes aren’t what they wanted. There are still ways to provide care and comfort to people during that journey. You’re really able to see those dollars and that impact at work.
This job with Above + Beyond Cancer was attractive because I had worked in the pediatric side for so long, I knew it’d be a challenge to be on the adult side. It was kind of an extension of what I had been doing, but a new challenge. We’re walking alongside people who are just diagnosed, or in the middle of treatment or maybe living with cancer. We can make a difference for the survivors and see people on this transformational journey.
What needs does Above + Beyond Cancer fill in the health care space?
We provide things outside of what a hospital provides and outside of treatment that can help people have a better experience as they’re going through cancer, here and after. We have different mindfulness programs. We know exercise can help with better outcomes, so we have several medical, evidence-based programs like aquatics, or hiking and yoga in the park or our new rowing program. Any given week, we provide around 20 or so different classes. There are lots of different things available to people of all abilities. We want to meet the needs that we’re seeing in the cancer community.
Both hospitals in Des Moines have programs and counseling, but we are really around that mind, body and spirit type of programming. We don’t do traditional support groups, but people who participate in our classes build their own community of support throughout their cancer journeys.
Now that you’ve been in your position for almost a year, what kind of goals do you have for the organization?
A long-term goal for the organization is to start growing our programs in other communities. Most of our in-person programming is in the Greater Des Moines area. We have virtual programs, and our hotel program is open to anyone in the state who lives more than 50 miles from their treatment center and needs accommodations, but our Optimal Living Program is really in Des Moines. Rural Iowa is an underserved area. We can’t do programming in every community in Iowa, but how can we provide virtual programming, or how do we work with different cancer centers in the state to help?
We haven’t done a lot of programming in the Black and brown communities, so we’re trying to be a lot more present so people trust us. Not only are we not serving people in some underserved communities, but these communities also have higher incidences of cancer. It’s important for us to be looking at how we can provide programming in spaces people are comfortable coming to.
I was assigned the goal of strategic planning, so we are currently going through that process. This will tell us a lot about where we want to go and how we want to grow. How do we grow in a reasonable way that we can sustain?
Cancer rates in Iowa continue to grow. How does that affect your strategic goals?
Iowa has the second-highest incidence of cancer in the country, and we’re the only state that continues to increase. So I think that makes it even more important that we serve more people in Des Moines, and then we can start expanding outward. We know that because we continue to have higher rates of cancer, we know more folks are going to come to us for referrals.
We want to increase programming folks can use in other parts of Iowa where we’re never going to be able to be present. Bigger cities might be available, but that’s not always convenient. If you’re going through treatment, you don’t feel good and you probably don’t want to drive somewhere. One of our goals this year is to do some new program videos that will be up on our website for folks to use anytime they want. We also want to partner with clinics in different communities. How do we work with their physicians to share information that people can use? It’s building up our communication and our network of medical professionals in the state.
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"I WILL NOT HAVE MY LIFE NARROWED DOWN. I WILL NOT BOW DOWN TO SOMEBODY ELSE'S WHIM OR TO SOMEONE ELSE'S IGNORANCE."
bell hooks
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2025 YWRC Louise Rosenfield Noun Community awardees announced: The Young Women’s Resource Center (YWRC) announced Tuesday the winners of the 2025 Louise Rosenfield Noun Visionary, Impact, Purpose and Ally Awards. The winners are:
- Visionary Award: Emily Abbas
- Impact Award: Jill Lippincott
- Purpose Award: Mary Stuart and David Yepsen
- Ally Award: Frank Vaia
The awards, named for YWRC’s founder, honor community members who empower girls and women throughout Des Moines and support the organization’s work. Honorees will be recognized at the annual YWRC Gala on April 26.
Reynolds appoints UNI student Lucy Gipple to Iowa Board of Regents: Gov. Kim Reynolds appointed University of Northern Iowa student Lucy Gipple to serve on the Iowa Board of Regents beginning Feb. 27. Gipple will serve as the full-time student representative mandated by Iowa Code Chapter 262. She is a native of New Sharon, Iowa, and studies elementary education with a minor in social and emotional learning. She is also involved with Connecting Alumni to Students (CATS), Alpha Phi Sorority and the Panhellenic Executive Team, according to a press release.
McNeil promoted River Bandit's new GM: The Quad Cities River Bandits, the High-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals located in Davenport, announced the promotion of assistant general manager Julia McNeil to general manager this month. McNeil succeeds Paul Kleinhans-Schulz. According to the Quad Cities Business Journal, she began her career in baseball in 2014 and worked her way up the ladder. She joined the River Bandits organization in 2018.
Catherine McAuley Center veteran takes lead with new vision amid unprecedented cuts: Anne Dugger took over as executive director of the Catherine McAuley Center, a nonprofit service provider for refugees, immigrants, women and adult learners in Cedar Rapids, on Jan. 14. Just 10 days later, the Trump administration ended federal funding for programs helping newly arrived refugees. A profile in the Cedar Rapids Gazette details her vision for leading the organization, which she has been with for nearly 10 years.
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How a network of amateur sleuths helps rescue women kidnapped by ISIS (New York Times). No women among 100 highest-paid athletes despite business gains (Sportico). The devastating impact for women and girls if the Department of Education shuts down (MSNBC). Exclusive: Future Family will insure IVF treatments and give you your $40,000 back after two failed cycles (Fortune). The 19th Explains: How Medicaid helps mothers, caregivers and children (The 19th). Iowa City child care centers signal need for help; state, local initiatives may be the answer (Daily Iowan).
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Business Record announces 2025 Forty Under 40 class
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The Business Record is proud to recognize the 2025 Forty Under 40 honorees.
These 40 local leaders, who were chosen by past award winners, are under the age of 40 and have demonstrated impressive career achievements and unparalleled community involvement.
This year’s class is the 26th to receive the award. Together, they join 1,000 past Business Record Forty Under 40 honorees to bring the total number of honorees to 1,040 since the Business Record began the awards in 2000.
– Emily Barske Wood, Business Record special projects editor
2025 Forty Under 40 honorees
- Emily Adreon, assistant director, customer experience, Principal Financial Group
- Adib Amini, program director, University of Wisconsin–Madison
- Joel Anderson, partner, RSM
- Cory Bauer, director, sales and customer relations, Delta Dental of Iowa
- Kayli Becker, chief of staff for philanthropic engagement, Des Moines Public Schools
- Jake Brus, vice president and managing director, Wixted & Co.
- Trent Burley, partner and private wealth adviser, McGill Junge Wealth Management
- La Toshia Burrell, CEO and founder, Redefine & Reveal Massage Therapy & Bodywork LLC
- Spencer Cady, shareholder and attorney, Nyemaster Goode PC
- Angela Christensen, construction project manager, Ryan Cos.
- Diana Echeverria, community impact manager, United Way of Central Iowa
- Tom Florian, vice president of membership and strategic marketing, West Des Moines Chamber of Commerce
- Robert Gavora, vice president, MercyOne Iowa Heart Center
- Manuel Eduardo Gutierrez, senior analyst, corporate development and strategy, Principal Financial Group
- Becky Hammond, vice president - client service leader, employee benefits and shareholder, Holmes Murphy
- Rajee Harris, chief operating officer, real estate operating company investments, Principal Real Estate
- Rocio Hermosillo, co-founder and CEO, Team ELLLA
- Anthony Hughes, director of marketing, Prairie Meadows
- AnneMarie Johnson, staff relations manager, ChildServe
- Tim Johnson, YouthBuild director, Great Oaks High School
- Alex Lynch, director of regional community integration, Greater Des Moines Partnership
- LB Lyons, vice president for advancement, Grand View University
- Ashley Mataloni, assistant vice president and shareholder, Innovative Captive Strategies
- Krystal Mikkilineni, shareholder, Dentons Davis Brown
- Erin Moran, senior director of communications, Young Women's Resource Center
- Max Mowitz, executive director, One Iowa and One Iowa Action
- Julian Neely, director of advancement and community investment, Polk County Housing Trust Fund
- Kaity Patchett, executive director, Capital Crossroads
- Jessie Phillips, chief development officer, Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa
- Danielle Propst, planner, ISG
- Becky Reif, attorney, Ahlers & Cooney PC
- Alex Rich, senior account manager, Trilix
- Quinlan Riser, financial adviser and vice president of business planning, Echelon Wealth Strategies
- Zachary Rus, engagement director, Ellipsis
- Alyssa Saunders, vice president of operations, Anthologic
- Anna Squier, associate principal and architect, MA Architecture
- Daniel Van Sant, director of disability policy, Harkin Institute for Public Policy & Citizen Engagement
- Ronnie Wells, annual fund manager, Des Moines Performing Arts
- Jillian Williams, associate general counsel, Hubbell Realty Co.
- Jami Yoder, business development associate, Sammons Financial Group
Event information
Date: April 1
Time: 4 to 7 p.m.
Where: Prairie Meadows
The Business Record invites you to help us celebrate the 2025 class of Forty Under 40 honorees at a special event April 1 at Prairie Meadows. Businesses interested in reserving a corporate support table can inquire about securing one now. General admission tickets go on sale Feb. 28.
Each of the honorees will be profiled in the March 21 edition of the Business Record.
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At its core, Fearless exists to help empower Iowa women to succeed in work and life. We believe that everyone has a story to share and that we cannot progress as a society unless we know about one another. We share stories through featuring women in our reporting, featuring guest contributions and speakers at our events.
We are always looking for new stories to share and people to feature. Get in touch with us!
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