Journalism graduate student Kelsie Radziski wants people to have more information about reproductive health, particularly uterine health.
For her capstone project, she launched a Substack newsletter, Period Pulse. Designed with a careful eye toward her target audience — young New Yorkers who aren’t sure where to turn for information about their bodies — Period Pulse is full of illustrations and charts, soft colors, and advice and information from experts.
“I am a person with a uterus and these things affect me and affect people I know and care about,” said Radziski. “Things like period poverty and endometriosis disrupt people’s lives and, with this newsletter, I hope to provide an accessible source of information that’s also authoritative and engaging.”
Radziski’s newsletter went live in February and will continue through the semester and, she says, beyond.
“As people’s habits of media consumption continue to change, it’s important that our students, at the graduate and undergraduate levels, have the chance to experiment and explore different forms of media,” said Laura Lindenfeld, dean of the School of Communication and Journalism (SoCJ) and executive director of the Alda Center for Communicating Science. “Kelsie is blending science and health information, traditional interview-based journalism, engaging graphics and data visualization with elements of marketing and audience outreach to contribute to a conversation about issues that affect half of the world’s population.”
The weekly newsletter is a novel approach to the traditional, required capstone experience. Commonly, journalism students’ capstone projects consist of one in-depth and far-reaching piece of journalism, rather than an ongoing project.
“The journalism industry is continually reinventing itself as technologies and audiences change,” said JD Allen, SoCJ lecturer and Radziski’s project advisor. “More and more, people are opting in to what kind of news they want to see, and they want that news to come to them directly. Subscription-based newsletters like Kelsie’s can serve that need and help build trust over time between content creators and subscribers.”
So far, Radziski has written pieces about period poverty in the U.S. and internationally and how to break the cycle of period poverty; the causes of endometriosis and how it affects people’s lives and health; and mifepristone, a drug used for medically induced abortions that will soon become available at pharmacies in several states including New York.
“Part of this project involves not just creating the content, but figuring out how to reach prospective subscribers and folks who would be interested in the content I’m putting out,” she said. “I hope to continue it and find a way to share information about a topic that simply isn’t part of the regular conversation in this country — reproductive health and wellness.”
Read or subscribe to Period Pulse.
Go Kelsie, go! This is revolutionary, what a wonderful thing. Finally, someone has taken the lead. Women all over will appreciate this immensely. I will share it across platforms! As someone that suffers from endometriosis, and the lack of respect received from men and colleagues and society and the WORLD whilst enduring my endometriosis, I know I truly appreciate this!