A lot of people are hesitant to reach out to a doctor for help. And when the issue they face is a stigmatized one like hair loss, birth control or erectile dysfunction, they’re even less likely to engage. So, how can we normalize conversations around care for these very common health concerns?

Melissa Waters is the Chief Marketing Officer at Hims & Hers, a health and wellness startup out of San Francisco that seeks to eliminate stigmas and make it easier for people to access care and treatment for the conditions that impact their daily lives. Melissa brings 15-plus years of experience building top brands to her role in leading all marketing and communications for the company. Prior to Hims & Hers, Melissa served as Lyft’s VP of Marketing and Pandora’s VP of Brand and Product Marketing.  

On this episode of The Beat, Melissa joins Dr. Kuku to explain how Hims & Hers provides care in stigmatized categories like erectile dysfunction and sexual wellness. She shares Hims & Hers’ ambitions around normalizing these stigmatized issues, democratizing access to care, providing price transparency and delivering a high-quality experience. Listen in for insight on Hims & Hers’ stand on access to contraception as a human right and learn how the platform is building trust and credibility with consumers.

Topics Covered

• How Hims & Hers empowers consumers to be part of a solution
• How Hims & Hers provides care in stigmatized categories
• How Melissa thinks about digital as strictly a delivery system
• Democratizing access to care + normalizing stigmatized issues
• Hims & Hers’ aim to provide price transparency + quality experience
• The number of Hims & Hers clients seeing a doctor for the first time
• Hims & Hers’ formidable Chief Medical Officer and his team
• Hims & Hers’ stand on access to contraception as a human right
• The need for more research dollars devoted to women’s health
• How Hims & Hers is moving slowly to ensure safety + build trust

Connect with Melissa Waters

Hims & Hers

Melissa on LinkedIn

Connect with HLTH & Dr. Kuku

HLTH Conference

Dr. Kuku on LinkedIn

Dr. Kuku on Twitter

Resources

The Innovator’s Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business by Clayton M. Christensen

The Innovator’s Prescription: A Disruptive Solution for Health Care 

by Clayton M. Christensen, Jerome H. Grossman and Jason Hwang