Founder of ‘Female Viagra’ Cindy Whitehead wants to make women ‘really f*cking rich’
Cindy Whitehead is known as the founder of Addyi, a non-hormonal “female Viagra” pill that was just approved by the FDA.
After two previous attempts at getting the drug approved, Whitehead finally succeeded in selling the drug to Valeant, a multinational pharmaceutical company for $1 billion.
Catching up in an interview with Fortune, Whitehead revealed that she’s turned her success in a direction that benefits women financially.
Cindy tells Fortune, “Women should be unapologetic when it comes to building wealth.” When asked to elaborate on what she meant, Cindy reiterated that money is equal to power.
“We talk all the time about how women need a voice. We don’t need a voice — we need power. Money is power.”
Whitehead’s strong stance can be read as controversial, but she seems about hard-hitting truth, just as any successful entrepreneur would be.
“I say that confidently because the data shows that when women have that power, they pay it forward. They invest in other women, and they invest in their community. I want to help with access to capital, make early bets on these bright women, and give them access to mentoring.”
Cindy then goes on to simply say,
“I want to make other women really fucking rich.”
“I firmly believe that when women have money, they have the freedom to make decisions and invest in those things that matter to them,” She shares, addressing the obvious wage and confidence gap that both still exist for women today.
Whitehead is a woman working and empowering other women in her wake, but she doesn’t believe we’re close to where we need to be in order to change just yet.
Female satisfaction is a subject that isn’t openly discussed in many cultures. There doesn’t seem to be too many places that are accepting of female sexuality and freedom.
She brings up an excellent point when discussing routine female checkups. “Are you satisfied?” Isn’t a question your doctor would ask, as a doctor would naturally tread lightly before asking to reveal such personal information. That’s because there is a stigma attached to female sexuality that we can’t seem to shake off. Whitehead continued:
“It will not change until we start openly discussing female satisfaction. I think that starts in the patient-provider dialogue with one simple question: ‘And are you satisfied?’ Adding that to the standard questions—’Are you sexually active, do you want birth control, and do you want to get tested for STDs?’—would actually change the conversation about women and sex forever.
Through her pictures, Cindy comes off as a strong and empowering woman.
Seen wearing her signature pink color in all her photos, Cindy is a known entrepreneur, an investor for The Pink Ceiling, “A cross between VC fund, incubator, and consulting firm.”
“For me, pink is about owning it as a woman,” She explains to Fortune, “You have two options when it comes to gender stereotypes — you can either rail against them, have them paralyze you in frustration, or you run right toward it as I do.”
Here you can find her incubator, The Pinkubator. Deeply adorable and inviting, the organization’s main mission is to help women-led businesses and entrepreneurs thrive.
“We’ve walked a mile in your stilettos and will now walk alongside you offering access to influencers and marketing specialists that shape your strategies and success.”
She invested in female-focused brands that are, according to Fortune, tackling female-health related issues.
One of the benefits of working in the category of sexual health is how much you get to speak on the subject.
No matter which room she’s in, Cindy is open to discussing important sexual ventures of business, and wears her signature pink clothing proudly, even when pitching Addyi to prospective investors.
“I got invited to the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in January of 2015. It was a really important opportunity for me, and I had exactly eight minutes to deliver the presentation. I started talking about the pill, and the whole room starts to giggle. The audience is a sea of blue and gray suits, and here I am in front of the room talking about women and sex.”
She states that female investors were more understanding when it came to Addyi, and men more hesitant.
“For male investors, the quick reaction was social discomfort, and they would cope by joking: ‘Isn’t jewelry female Viagra?’ I sort of got used to it, but I needed them to pay attention to the science. I started talking about it upfront, then we could discuss all the rest.”
It seemed to pay off, considering all her exits are now worth over $1.5 billion.
I’m excited to watch Cindy continue to kill the game, pink stilettos and all.
#UnapologeticallyPink