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Where do you go when you gotta go? | Dr. Marakie Tesfaye

Dr. Marakie Tesfaye is a passionate activist who wants to break the shame around toilets in order to empower women around the world.

Disruptor. Feminist. Toilet Advocate.

Join us at TEDxLogan Circle 2025 to hear Dr. Marakie Tesfaye's inspiring message and be part of the movement towards a more inclusive future.
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Could you give us a brief overview of your talk?

My talk is about toilet accessibility as a human right and a feminist issue. Drawing from my dissertation research on women’s lived toileting experiences, I explore how the absence of safe, private, and dignified toilets shapes opportunity, shame, and survival. This talk invites us to rethink sanitation as a site of justice.

How has your perspective of courage changed over time?

I used to think courage looked like speaking on big stages or leading movements. Through my research on women’s lived toileting experiences, I discovered a quieter, more sacred kind of courage: the kind that shows up when a woman risks shame just to relieve herself with dignity. Courage, I’ve learned, is deeply spiritual. It’s the silent prayer for safety, the decision to hold on or let go, and the everyday act of honoring a body the world tries to silence.

What excites you about giving a talk on the TEDxLogan Circle stage?

One of the most exciting and challenging aspects right now is stepping fully into the spotlight with a topic that was once taboo in my culture. In my dissertation, I worked through the layers of silence and stigma surrounding toilet access, especially for women. Bringing those truths to a public stage is a whole new level of vulnerability and power. It's not just a talk, it's a moment of collective unshaming.

How do you stay grounded?

My ancestors' resilience grounds me, especially the women who carried so much in silence. Their strength lives in my body. I also stay grounded through journaling, meditation, and remembering that this work is bigger than me.

Why is courage important to you as a person?

Courage is how I reclaim what was once silenced in me and in so many women like me. It’s important to me because it’s the bridge between truth and transformation.

What experiences helped you hone your voice of courage?

I began honing my voice of courage through the Jegnit Ethiopia Movement, where we broke silence around menstruation in a country where even saying the word "period" was taboo. It was one thing to feel the discomfort privately, but choosing to speak about it publicly, on TV, in schools, and in policy spaces, shaped my courage. Later, through my dissertation on toilet access, I realized that courage isn’t always loud, it's the quiet, consistent choice to stand in truth, especially when it’s uncomfortable.

How can one be more courageous as a leader and person?

Courageous leadership means telling the truth even when it’s messy, inconvenient, or taboo. It also means daring to be creative, to imagine new possibilities where others see limitations. As a person, being courageous is about feeling deeply, asking hard questions, and using your voice to spark change. Courage fuels innovation and social impact. It's what allows us to disrupt what’s broken and create what’s never existed before.

What is your “Why" in life?

I care about people having dignity, especially women. I’ve seen how something as basic as not having a toilet can shape a girl’s future or make a woman feel invisible. I want to use creativity and honesty to change that to open up conversations, shift systems, and leave things better than I found them.
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Marakie Tesfaye

Dr. Marakie Tesfaye is an advocate for women’s rights and dignity with a PhD in Creative Leadership for Innovation and Change. As the founder of the Jegnit Movement, she addresses systemic barriers in sanitation and menstrual equity. Her initiatives include Birqe, a dignity kit distributed to over 50,000 Ethiopian students and displaced women, and Kebelo, a project that reimagines water-fetching tools for women in rural communities. She also developed Mechot, an app that helps users locate clean public toilets, and hosted Gwadegna, a national TV show focused on sanitation and dignity. Her advocacy contributed to the Ethiopian government’s decision to remove taxes on sanitary pads. Marakie is also recognized for using social media as her classroom, leading bold, viral conversations on patriarchy and feminism through her live series Patriarchy 101 and Feminism 101, challenging cultural norms and sparking critical dialogue across the diaspora as well as for her upcoming book, Holding It In.

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Join us at TEDxLogan Circle 2025 to be part of the movement towards a more inclusive future.
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