You deserve better period care.

Periodica is a Canadian home for period care. Right now it's a reading room, and a marketplace is on the way. Here is who is behind it, and why.

Periodica in one sentenceClear, sourced information about periods, and, later, a marketplace of carefully chosen period care products, all in one Canadian home.

Meet Ella Vaschi, the Editor

I'm Ella Vaschi, the founder and Editor of Periodica.

I live in Vancouver, and I've spent 17 years in leadership roles as an entrepreneur and operational strategist. I've worked in sustainable consumer goods, regulated health products and emerging-market pharmaceuticals.

My background is in organizational psychology. It taught me to watch what people actually do, and to look for evidence before I assume anything. I hold an Executive MBA from the Quantic School of Business & Technology and completed advanced studies at Wharton and BCIT. The skill that ties it all together is turning complex compliance requirements into operations that are practical and people-centred.

I'm a researcher by nature. When something doesn't make sense, I keep asking until it does.

Period care gave me a great deal to ask.

• What are we actually putting against our bodies every month?
• What does "organic" mean on a box? And "hypoallergenic"?
• How are these products tested, and who sets the standards?
• Which claims rest on evidence, and which are only marketing?

Under all of them sat one more question. Why are clear answers still so hard to find?

You can reach me at editor@botanique.care or on LinkedIn.

It started with Botanique

Periodica is run by Botanique Care Ltd. The idea to bring safe and environmentally friendly period products to market was born during my Executive MBA. Researching them took me across North America and Europe, and then to South Korea.

What South Korea taught me

Korea gave me the model for Periodica, a multi-brand marketplace.

In Korea, much beauty and personal-care shopping happens in multi-brand stores and online marketplaces, and period products are right there too. I saw period care treated as part of self-care.

I've also watched the conversation there move quickly. In December 2025, President Lee Jae-myung publicly asked why period pads cost so much in Korea, and he pushed for affordable options. Since then, prices have come down at some retailers. In July 2026, a free public-pad pilot opened in 12 municipalities, with a national rollout planned for 2027.

Korea's quality standards for period products inspired me too. There, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety regulates pads, tampons and cups as quasi-drugs, and since October 2018 pads have had to list all their ingredients on the package. My own hope is that Canada will one day have consistent standards for every kind of period product, the way Health Canada already sets absorbency labelling for tampons.

Then the questions got bigger

I also realized that the information around period products was as much of a problem as the products. So my search for one product turned into a plan for a place, with good products and clear information. In time, it would also have a community that cares about period care as much as I do.

Why a marketplace

No single company can make everything period care needs. Botanique can't either, and it shouldn't try.

Many vendors already make excellent products. Periodica brings them together in one place online.

So Periodica only works if great vendors want to work with us. We choose them carefully, and we want to be a place they're proud to join.

"I'm building a place where the people who make good period care can meet you."

The marketplace isn't open yet. We're choosing our first vendors now.

Vendors know their products best. Each vendor is responsible for its own products, including licensing and claims.

Why "Periodica"

A printed magazine that comes out again and again is called a periodical.

Periodica is a modern periodical, with new pages to read each time you come back.

Periods change over a lifetime.

Each stage brings its own questions, and Periodica will keep adding pages to answer them.

Too much information, not enough answers

Answers about periods come from everywhere: papers, government pages, boxes, influencers, forums, friends. Some of it is excellent, and some gets repeated only because someone else said it first. Finding the clear parts takes work.

So every piece in the Reading Room aims to tell you four things:

Here's what we know.
Here's where we found it.
Here's what the evidence says.
Here's what we don't know yet.

We rely on sources you can trace: peer-reviewed studies, regulators such as Health Canada, and recognized health organizations. We explain the terms and link to the evidence. When something is uncertain, we say so.

The Quiet Corner

Everyone is welcome here

Periodica is for anyone who has periods or will have them, and for the people who care about them. At fifteen or at fifty.

There is no single right way to have a period. Your body is yours, and so are your choices.

What's here now, and what's coming

Open today

• The Reading RoomArticles on period products, cycles and life stages.
• The Quiet CornerA place to take a moment.
• The newsletterNew articles, updates and news from the shop, once a month.
• Tell the EditorYour questions and ideas.

What we're planning

• The marketplace, with products from vendors we've chosen carefully. Once it opens, you'll be able to browse and compare products and read reviews.
• The Finder, a short set of questions to help you find what suits you.
• A Community page, where readers can come together.
• Botanique's own products, when they're ready.

The newsletter will announce each one.

Come in, and write to me

We're still building Periodica, and I want to find the answers with you.

Come curious. Leave knowing more.

— Ella Vaschi, the Editor

Periodica is run by Botanique Care Ltd., Canada.