The Missing PPE: Why Every Worksite Needs UNICORN
Everystall
My first job out of college was driving a Frito-Lay truck. I wasn’t a great driver, and I was one of the only women working out of a warehouse in Londonderry, NH. The warehouse had no period products. My truck had none. And the supermarket backroom bathrooms I delivered to? Also empty.
When my period came unexpectedly, I cried in the back of my truck. I bought products at a store, missed my delivery window, and when my boss asked why, I was too embarrassed to tell him the truth.
Every woman has a version of this story. You’re away from home, caught off guard, and left to ask yourself: Do I leave work? Do I improvise with toilet paper? Do I ask around and hope someone can help?
And if you’re “lucky,” you find a dusty metal machine that’s jammed, empty, or coin-operated. If you hit the tampon lottery and actually get a product, it’s often a cardboard applicator tampon or a giant pad that looks like it’s been there since the 1980s.
This is why we started UNICORN.
We are improving the workplace by putting period products where they belong: in every stall, right next to the toilet paper. Our dispensers are sleek, simple, and free. The products are organic, sustainable, and high quality, the kind of products women actually want to use. It’s a small change with a huge impact on wellness, empowerment, and productivity.
The Trades Can’t Wait
This isn’t just an office problem. It’s even more urgent for women in the trades.
At a women in construction conference, I asked how many attendees had been on a job site without access to period products. Every single hand went up. The stories were all the same: lost time, stress, and the quiet shame of scrambling in a workplace that simply wasn’t built with them in mind.
Think about it: we invest heavily in PPE, safety standards, and mental health awareness on worksites, yet we overlook a basic need for half the workforce. Why should women building the future be left without the basics of dignity and care?
Imagine a small dispenser in a porta potty, a work trailer, or a site bathroom. Easy to install, easy to refill, and always there when needed. That’s UNICORN’s vision.
A Call to Action
Women in construction: this is your moment to speak up. Just as we’ve demanded safer worksites, fair pay, and opportunities to lead, we must ask for better infrastructure for basic needs. Period products aren’t perks. They’re not luxuries. They’re workplace essentials, just like hard hats, gloves, and steel-toe boots.
If we want to retain more women in the trades, if we want them to thrive, we need to design workplaces that work for them. That means period products in every stall, every site, every time.
The missing PPE is right in front of us. It’s time we fixed it.
About the Author: Thyme Sullivan is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of UNICORN, the company transforming bathrooms worldwide by making period products as standard as toilet paper. After 25+ years leading at PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, and Nestlé, she now channels her expertise into building a movement backed by partners like JPMorgan Chase, American Express, and Blackstone Thyme is redefining what leadership looks like, smart, bold, and unapologetically changing the game for women everywhere.