“Elevating and Celebrating the Female Voice”, Madame Gandhi Gets to Know Her Normal

Checking yourself is an intimate thing. It's personal. Checking yourself is loving yourself. Doing a monthly breast self-check allows you to truly get to know your body and build a positive relationship with your breasts.We recently had the opportunity to do a photo shoot with the incredible photographer, Lindsey Byrnes. We got to showcase 3 women, in intimate, home settings. These women shared these moments with us; moments showcasing self-love and self-care, and our relationships with our bodies.

We are so grateful to get to know these inspiring individuals and to share not only their thoughts on this personal topic, but also on bodies, gender, and the world.

Meet one of those individuals, Kiran Gandhi aka Madame Gandhi. Kiran is a musician and activist with a mission "to elevate and celebrate the female voice". She is a truly talented and compassionate person. Don't miss her new single, Bad Habits, which comes out today, October 12th!

If you were an animal, what animal would you be?

A fish.

When was the last time you laughed?

When my bestie Lara was making fun of me having a brain freeze on camera in the middle of this big shoot with Lizzo and a whole step squad!

How has social media impacted you and your work?

It has allowed me to be the change I wish to see in the world by showing what it looks like to produce, manage and perform your own music, and control the narrative. It has allowed me to showcase other incredible female and trans-identifying musicians and exemplify that we do not need to over-sexualize our bodies in order to be seen. It has allowed me to meet collaborators, inspire new fans and contribute to a more global dialogue about feminism today.

What is one thing you would change about the world right now?

Stop Kavanaugh. White cis male entitlement to womxn’s bodies must end now.

When you think of the future, what do you see?

Joyfulness, colorfulness, queerness, education, awareness, connectedness, abundance.

When you think of women globally, what do you think of?

I think of a universal race, humanity, brown skin, a melting pot, and a lot more shared experiences than differing experiences.What is something you do for yourself? How do you define self-care?

I meditate twice daily and work out for 2 hours daily. Self-care is something that enables me to control my emotions, show up as my best self for others and makes me feel joyful.

Do you feel like you have a relationship with your boobs? If so, how is it? If not, why not?

I used to think my nipples were really small when I was growing up, but I used to love my breasts and their size and proportion! I dated someone for a while who loved my nipples which made me have this reconnectedness to them like they were a rare superpower instead of hating them! Now, at 29, I want them to be healthy so that I can one day feed a baby! The fact that womxn feed the next generation of humans is profound! We have to keep ourselves healthy and happy. Mental and physical health go hand in hand.

We hope to have inspired you the way you inspire us. Have you started checking yourself since getting to know Keep A Breast?

Yes, absolutely! I want to know what my “normal” is and connect even more to lumps that are common and normal for me, vs. ones that might show up unexpected. I want to feel educated in knowing what is right for my body vs. unnecessarily painful. I want to know what I can be eating better to make sure my lymphatic system is clean and clear.

Why yellow?

My name is Kiran which means ray of the sun in Hindi. Yellow reminds me of life-giving energy and joyfulness, which is also symbolic of the female spirit and essence to me.

Tell us about your new single, Bad Habits!

It is an uplifting percussive drum anthem about being your best self! It talks about how independence movements in India and Nigeria were largely inspired by the suffrage movement by women in the 1920s to get the vote, and the organizational non-violence tactics they used!

Download our Check Yourself! app on the Apple App Store or Google Play to learn to do a breast self-check & set up an automatic monthly reminder. Early detection is the key.