A monthly record of The Sattva Collective’s journey, for our community, and for anyone who wants to understand what building something meaningful actually looks like from the inside.
May was the month everything became real. Not that it wasn’t real before. The articles were real. The women who wrote to us were real. The conversations happening in the Sattva Women’s Circle were real. But May, our first anniversary month, was the month The Sattva Collective stopped feeling like something we were building and started feeling like something that had already been built.
Something worth documenting. Something worth protecting. Something with a future worth planning for.
Here is what happened.
We turned one.
On 14th May 2026, The Sattva Collective CIC celebrated its first anniversary.
One year since the website went live. One year since the first article was published. One year since the founding decision that South Asian women navigating midlife and menopause in the UK deserved a space that was built entirely for them, not as an afterthought, not as a culturally diverse footnote in someone else’s menopause campaign, but as the whole point.
In twelve months, operating with no external funding and driven entirely by community commitment, The Sattva Collective has:
- Published over 60 original articles, cultural essays, health guides, and interviews
- Hosted monthly Sattva Women’s Circle community gatherings
- Been featured in eight national and regional media outlets: Eastern Eye, Asian Image, DESIblitz, Asian Voice, London Daily Digital, Legacy Woman Magazine, FORCE Magazine, and South Asian Heritage Trust
- Built a growing directory of culturally aware practitioners and organisations
- Developed and scheduled an interview series featuring South Asian women and allies doing important work in the midlife and menopause space
- Grown a Substack community of subscribers across the UK and internationally
The anniversary was marked by a full rewrite of every page on our website, bringing the copy, voice, and story of the organisation in line with where we actually are now, rather than where we were when we launched. The site finally reflects the full year of work behind it.
We founded Sattva Day.
Also on 14th May, because the date deserved more than one milestone, The Sattva Collective announced the founding of Sattva Day: South Asian Women’s Midlife Awareness Day.
Observed every 14th May, Sattva Day is the UK’s first annual awareness day dedicated entirely to South Asian women navigating midlife and menopause. In May 2026:
- The Sattva Day page went live at thesattvacollective.org/sattva-day
- A founding blog post and Substack announcement were published
- A dedicated blog category was created to archive Sattva Day content year on year
- The day was submitted for listing on the National Day Calendar and awareness-days.co.uk
- The official campaign hashtags #SattvaDay and #SouthAsianWomensMidlifeAwarenessDay were launched
Sattva Day now has a permanent home, a documented founding year, and submissions in progress with national and international awareness day directories.
We confirmed the Summit date.
The Sattva Collective’s first annual Thrive Through Midlife & Menopause Summit is now confirmed for:
Friday 14th May 2027, 5 PM-9 PM, The Centenary Hall, Bedford.
The date was chosen deliberately; 14th May 2027 will mark the Summit, the second anniversary of The Sattva Collective, and the second annual Sattva Day. Three significant moments, on one day, in one room.
The evening format, 5 PM-9 PM, was chosen in direct response to what the Sattva Women’s Circle community told us: South Asian women in midlife navigate work, school runs, and caregiving responsibilities, making daytime events inaccessible. The Summit is designed to work around their lives, not in spite of them.
Planning is underway. Speakers and tickets will be announced in due course. Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest updates.
We opened our first business bank account.
In May 2026, The Sattva Collective CIC opened its first Virgin Money business bank account, a significant milestone for an organisation that had been operating without one since its founding.
The bank account unlocks access to formal funding, grant applications, and financial infrastructure that is essential to the organisation’s growth and sustainability.
We submitted our first funding application.
Also in May, The Sattva Collective submitted its first formal funding application to the Communities Fund (Aviva), under the Financial Well-being priority.
This is the first of several funding applications planned for the coming months, as The Sattva Collective builds the financial foundation needed to sustain and expand its programmes, events, and community resources.
We built our LinkedIn community.
In May, The Sattva Collective launched a LinkedIn group, a space for South Asian women, healthcare professionals, coaches, advocates, and allies who want to be part of this conversation.
The group, The Sattva Collective: Community, Conversations & Collaboration, is open to anyone committed to changing the conversation around midlife and menopause for South Asian women.
We reached out, and doors began to open.
May saw a significant expansion of The Sattva Collective’s outreach. Among the connections made and conversations initiated this month:
- Pitch submitted to Hear Her Stories for a feature on TSC’s founding story and mission
- Pitch submitted to Luxurist Magazine for a TSC feature and interview with the founders, Zamiha Desai MBE, responded personally and warmly, expressing interest in meeting
- Article submitted to South Asian Heritage Month for publication on the SAHM website in July 2026
- Pitch submitted to DARPAN Magazine (Canada), taking the TSC conversation to the global South Asian diaspora
- Letters sent to Mayor Sadiq Khan and multiple South Asian civic mayors and borough leaders across the UK, inviting support for Sattva Day and TSC’s work
- Interview with Tafiq Akhir, Mr Menopause, published, one of the most powerful conversations in the TSC interview series to date
- Interview with Dr Shila Patel received and scheduled
- Interview requests sent to multiple contributors, including Dr Supatra Tovar, Lisa Raja, Resham Ahdan, Mangala Rao, Darpan Bhasin, Vikram Sinai Talaulikar, and Bhavin Swadas
What May tells us.
Looking at this month in full, what stands out is not any single milestone. It is the accumulation.
A bank account. A funding application. An awareness day was founded. A summit confirmed. A storytelling campaign was launched. A magazine editor replying personally. A growing archive of interviews. A community on LinkedIn. Mayors receiving letters. A website that finally tells the full story.
None of these things happened by accident. They happened because the Sattva Collective is now, after a year of building, moving from founding to growing. From establishing to expanding. From one woman’s conviction to a community’s momentum.
The silence around South Asian women’s midlife experience is not gone. But it is cracking. And every month, every article, every gathering, every story shared, every door opened, lets a little more light in.
The Sattva Collective CIC is the UK’s first community-led initiative dedicated to supporting South Asian women through midlife and menopause. www.thesattvacollective.org
Want to support the work? Every contribution makes a difference. crowdfunder.co.uk/p/the-sattva-collective-cic
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