Thanks for sharing your story with us Shannon. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I’ve always been passionate about reproductive health and equity. I started my career as a Peace Corps Volunteer in a small village in Cameroon, where I spent time in my friends’ kitchens talking about work, family, the lack of knowledge about or access to contraception, and the hardship of yet another unexpected pregnancy.
I went on to work in the non-profit sector, introducing reproductive health commodities and essential medicines for women in low-income countries. At WCG, I am fortunate to get to focus on the issues that I think matter the most. Improving women’s access to contraceptive methods and technologies, and educating women about sexual and reproductive health so that they are empowered to make informed decisions about their own health and well-being.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
We work in challenging places, where a lack of stability and infrastructure, as well as social norms, can combine to limit women’s opportunities.
Funding and support to be able to do the work we do is an ongoing and significant challenge, especially in an environment where women’s self-determination and reproductive rights are not prioritized.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with WCG – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
WCG is an international non-profit organization committed to empowering, educating and enabling women and girls to make informed choices and access critical reproductive health products and services. WCG excels at forming strategic partnerships to introduce and create access to new contraceptive methods globally and to increase women’s knowledge about sexual and reproductive health.
Our team registers new products worldwide, provides technical assistance on quality to manufacturers, develops educational campaigns, supports health care providers to offer improved services, and conducts consumer and market research to create better products and improved messaging. WCG creates options for women when it comes to their reproductive health — no matter where they live.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
In early 2018, WCG in partnership with actress and activist Jessica Biel will launch a new, mission-driven campaign to increase the sexual health IQ of women and their partners using funny, provocative, and empower online content.
Photo credit: http://sdvoyager.com/
This post was originally published in http://sdvoyager.com/interview/meet-shannon-bledsoe-wcg-del-mar/
