Business of the V

Uqora Tackles UTI's In A Whole New Way

U-T-I. Mention these three letters to just about any woman and you’ll likely elicit instant recognition. In this episode of the Busine$$ of the V, Rachel and Dr. Dweck introduce a proactive advance of interest to anyone who has dealt with a urinary tract infection – which is millions of us every year. Jenna Ryan, founder of Uqora, explains how her line of health products is jumpstarting a neglected area of women’s health while becoming a gold-standard business startup at the same time.

Contracted nearly as commonly as the common cold, women are particularly prone to UTIs. A chronic sufferer herself, Jenna was inspired (along with her now-husband) to found Uqora out of a personal desire to foster better options than were available. As many as one in seven hospitalizations and health care visits are devoted to urinary tract health, so clearly the market for at-home test kits and preventative measures is there!

Jenna shares the personal experience that played a role in her decision to start Uqora in 2017 as well as exciting news about the company’s recent acquisition by Pharmavite, the parent of Nature Made, a major drug store vitamin and supplement brand.

In addition to products that promote urinary tract health, Uqora is also conducting research on new, non-antibiotic UTI treatments and providing UTI education and research updates. Maintaining optimal urinary tract health isn’t just smart medically; it’s also key to avoiding the anxiety and emotional baggage that comes with UTIs.

It’s no surprise that Uqora’s website boasts more than 11,000 positive reviews from women who have found relief. Enjoy hearing about the many ways in which Jenna and her team are enjoying a win-win, both as an innovator and advocate for women and as a tremendous entrepreneurial success story in the women’s health care space.

Today's Episode is Sponsored by Attain

Do you get up several times a night to go to the bathroom? Do you wear pads or diapers due to bladder leaks? Attain, by InControl Medical, will stop the leaks and give you back control. Attain is the only FDA cleared at home device, for the treatment of stress, urge and mixed urinary incontinence as well as fecal incontinence. Visit InControlmedical.com for more information.

To hear previous episodes or subscribe to the Busine$$ of the V podcast, visit: https://businessofthev.com

Dame Products Closes the Pleasure Gap for Women

If only 4% of women report internal penetration as their most reliable route to climax, then why has the vibrator industry been built around products shaped like penises? The reasons are clear, as you’ll discover in this episode of the Busine$$ of the V. Women’s sexual pleasure is finally moving into the mainstream and Alex Fine, co-founder of Dame Products, explains why.

Designed by and for women, Dame Products has taken vibrators into a new realm – one that encourages open conversation about sexuality. Alex explains the process by which she and her team at Dame put together their products, paying close attention to details such as shape, colors, safe materials and the experience itself. In an industry historically dominated by men, Dame’s products are all about listening to women. The result? Women’s sex toys are now readily available on the shelves of retail outlets like Urban Outfitters and Nordstrom’s.

Some 70% of women do not orgasm from penetration, but a curtain of silence persists. Where ads for erectile dysfunction products appear regularly on primetime TV, products to support women’s sexual health are siloed or snubbed. After being denied billboard space by the NY public transportation authority, Alex has taken the issue head-on with a lawsuit she believes will expose and demonstrate this double standard once and for all.

The stigma around women’s health and sexual well-being won’t disappear until the shame is lifted. Don’t miss this lively conversation about everything from the economic impact of pandemic on the vibrator business (excellent!) to the colorful way in which a six-year-old Alex was first introduced to human sexuality (healthy and judgment-free!).

To hear previous episodes or subscribe to the Busine$$ of the V podcast, visit: https://businessofthev.com

Period Poverty, Hustle Culture & Self Worth with Nadya Okamoto

This week’s episode features a young woman who is changing the conversation around women’s reproductive health, and more specifically the stigma associated with period products. Barely into her 20s, Nadya Okamoto shares her story both as a serial entrepreneur and as a young woman evolving. She founded and became executive director at age 16 of Period.org, a nonprofit organization with 900 chapters in all 50 states, and has gone on to expand her portfolio. She explains to the hosts how she came to her passion for destigmatizing and reimagining periods – and how she has been shaped by the journey.

 

While still a student at Harvard University, Nadya has created an activist community that seeks to normalize and make more inclusive the conversation around menstruation. This growing and increasingly vocal generation of activists thrives both online and in-person. Nadya inspired this movement first with Period.org and also with her book, “The Period Power: A Manifesto for the Menstrual Movement.” She has more recently branched out as a branding officer for a Generation Z consulting company and is currently launching a new period products lifestyle brand called August.

 

Part of what makes Nadya so powerful as a woman and activist is her candor. She shares with Dr. Dweck and Rachel not only how she came to her passion but also some of the trauma and abuse, mental health challenges and recovery steps that have shaped who she is and how she is moving forward. Currently work on a new memoir and cultivating August (in spite of pandemic challenges), this is a young woman people of all ages are going to be hearing from in the years ahead.   

 

To hear previous episodes of the Busine$$ of the V podcast, visit: https://businessofthev.com

Ceek Women’s Health Changes the Way Gynecological Care is Delivered

As we learn on this episode of Busine$$ of the V, the speculum represented a major advance for women’s health … back in the 1800s! So it’s not surprising that Dr. Dweck and Rachel’s guest often gets the following reaction when she introduces her new take on an old device: “Why didn’t someone think of this sooner?” or “It’s about time!”

Fahti Khosrowshahi, CEO & Founder of Ceek Women’s Health, shares the genesis of her innovative new speculum – from research and development to the patent process and field testing for both providers and patients. The feedback? Uniformly positive! Goodbye to “the metal cowboy,” as some of Alyssa’s patients call the metal speculum that has been synonymous with pelvic exams for generations and generations. The Nella NuSpec Vaginal Speculum has arrived!

 

As narrow as a tampon and made of a gentle, quiet polymer material, this new device improves visibility for practitioners and reduces the repetitive strain injuries many sustain after years of wrestling speculums that are either loud, hard to grip, lacking in visibility or all of the above. Just as importantly, the NuSpec offers women of all ages a completely modern, smooth, temperature-neutral pelvic exam experience.

Long-term Fahti believes the NuSpec’s comfortable design will be transformational for women who are resistant to the cold, metal speculum that – until now – was their only option. Thanks to NuSpec, women will be less likely to dread pelvic exams or avoid important annual and follow-up appointments. On the user side, providers will find the new device, with its comfortable grip and unique lateral sidewall feature, a game-changing substitute for the archaic instrument that was until now the industry standard.

It’s no surprise that Time Magazine named the Nella NuSpec one of 2020’s best inventions. Enjoy this conversation about how Fahti founded Ceek Women’s Health and took the NuSpec from start-up concept to the innovatively designed, patented device long overdue and most welcome in OB-GYN exam rooms of the 21^st Century.  

To hear previous episodes of the Busine$$ of the V podcast, visit: https://businessofthev.com

This is How Ohnut Relieves Painful Penetration

In this episode, Dr. Dweck and Rachel interview Emily Sauer, founder of OhNut, female entrepreneur, maker, IRL community leader, and sexual health advocate with a passion to empower women who are co-creating a deeper understanding of how sexual identity informs our individual and collective lives.

Emily shares how after years of painful intercourse, also known as dyspareunia, why and how she invented the OhNut, wearable rings that feel like skin to control the depth of penetration during intercourse. The OhNut is backed by renowned surgeons, pelvic floor physical therapists, sexual health educators and guided by a medical and scientific advisory board.

If you’ve missed previous episodes of the Busine$$ of the V podcast, they are available at: https://businessofthev.com

Brittany Baretto: Geneticist to Femtech Entrepreneur

Do opposites attract? According to Brittany Barreto, a FemTech entrepreneur who launched her career with a DNA-based dating app, the answer is: Yes! In this episode of the Business of the V, Dr. Alyssa Dweck and Rachel Braun Scherl talk with this upstart geneticist about her burgeoning podcast, FemTech Focus, as well as the many ventures she’s helping to cultivate in the FemTech space. With more than 20,000 listeners in 88 countries during its inaugural year (during Covid19 lockdown), Brittany’s podcast platform has made an immediate impact on FemTech as both a business opportunity and critical key to understanding women’s health.

 

Brittany shares with Alyssa and Rachel her journey from PhD candidate in genetics to her dating app’s meteoric success and (due to a sudden, unavoidable development) heartbreaking failure. Falling back on resilience and creativity, Brittany has reinvented herself and evolved an entirely new career direction. Her podcast, FemTech Focus, provides first-hand insights and incisive advice aimed at thousands of entrepreneurial women whose services and inventions are challenging and changing the FemTech landscape. This lively conversation explores emerging technologies, rapid growth in investor opportunities and the importance of incorporating medical doctors and other hands-on experts in the innovation process – from research and design to marketing and implementation.

 

To hear previous episodes of the Busine$$ of the V podcast, visit: https://businessofthev.com

The Future of Sex with Bryony Cole

Technology invades all the rooms in our house, so why don’t we talk about its impact in the bedroom? Dr. Alyssa Dweck and Rachel talk taboo topics with Bryony Cole, a leading expert in sex tech.  Her global sex tech hackathon events and Future of Sex podcast are considered the pinnacle of industry insights and innovation. Bryony is a sought-after consultant who partners with organizations across the world forecasting trends in the sextech industry for governments, tech titans and entertainment companies and walks our hosts through her trailblazing journey from the very beginning.

The hosts and their guest dive right into stigma and how communication, education and social media are the driving force behind increasing popularity in the industry. Bryony speaks to sex and the pandemic and how the absence of touch has changed our relationships both in the short term and long term as we are able to return to proximity with others.  Alyssa and Rachel spark an interesting discussion about Bryony’s legacy of inspiring others and bringing other, mainly female, entrepreneurs alongside finding success in a budding industry.

The episode wraps with Bryony sharing insight from her years of experience and insight into what’s to come in the future of sex tech with an obligatory unmissable story of a robot encounter.

If you’ve missed previous episodes of the Busine$$ of the V podcast, they are available at: https://businessofthev.com

Bonafide Creates Hormone Free Relief for Hot Flashes

For anyone who still thinks menopause is a forbidden topic, today’s episode breaks right through that barrier. Dr. Alyssa Dweck and Rachel talking facts and welcoming insights from Mike Satow, president and CEO of Bonafide, a data-driven supplement company “on a mission to provide naturally effective solutions to perfectly natural symptoms.” Focused on women’s sexual and reproductive health, the company had a banner year in 2020 with more good things on tap for the year ahead. How Mike went from practicing law to becoming a serial entrepreneur in the health and wellness space makes for an interesting tale.

And, of course, the hosts and their guest touch on all the menopause-related topics that impact such a huge and growing number of women throughout the United States: from the hormonal fluctuations that “affect every cell in our body,” as Alyssa says, to the very real fears and concerns many women harbor about the use of hormone replacement therapy. Mike explains how Bonafide has developed its unique formulations as well as the data the company provides the doctors with whom they partner to reach sufferers seeking relief. His business model is working, with more than 8,000 physicians actively recommending Bonafide products to patients and more than $30 million in sales in 2020.

The episode wraps with a Hot Flash you won’t want to miss related to the huge incidence of sexual dysfunction among women in this country before, and especially after, the onset of menopause.

If you’ve missed previous episodes of the Busine$$ of the V podcast, they are available at: https://businessofthev.com

Cindy Gallop Teaches Us To Make Love Not Porn

In this episode, Dr. Alyssa Dweck and Rachel have a raw and real conversation with Cindy Gallop, founder of MakeLoveNotPorn (MLNP), a social sextech platform designed to promote good sexual behavior and good sexual values. MLNP was launched at TED 2009. Cindy shares how MakeLoveNotPorn birthed from the desire to date younger men and her Ted Talk.

Cindy shares the impact she is seeing from building this online community and platform to educate, share and celebrate real life sex. She is also honest about the challenges of trying to normalize sex in the real world, particularly when it comes to advertising in order to grow. Ultimately, she emphasizes the safe place MLNP is to learn and for reassurance of real world everything.

If you’ve missed previous episodes of the Busine$$ of the V podcast, they are available at: https://businessofthev.com

Pandia Health Makes Ordering Birth Control Online Easy

 

In Episode 3, Dr. Alyssa Dweck and Rachel interview Sophia Yen, CEO and co-founder of Pandia Health, a health platform with the mission is to make women’s lives easier by bringing birth control to women wherever they have the internet and a mailbox. Dr. Yen is a reproductive health specialist who continually researches the data behind birth control and has a belief in using science to customize birth control for each woman.

 

Dr. Yen shares the business model of Pandia Health and explains how their passion is to provide affordable and convenient birth control services to their patients. Matter of fact, the telehealth platform is only $20 per year plus the minimal cost of birth control. In addition, Pandia is a wealth of reproductive health information thanks to its quality content and informative, advertising free videos. Furthermore, Dr. Yen expands on the importance of contraception and hormones based on data and science that she has extensively studied.

Learn more at https://www.pandiahealth.com/. 

For more episodes of Business of the V, visit https://businessofthev.com