FemTech Focus - podcast cover

FemTech Focus

Dr. Brittany Barretofemtechfocus.org
FemTech Focus amplifies the voices of research, innovation, & investment in female health, where tech, science, & gender equality collide. Hosted by geneticist, entrepreneur, & women’s health advocate Dr. Brittany Barreto, this show exposes the shocking gaps in women’s health research while spotlighting cutting-edge innovations reshaping the industry. Join us for candid conversations with pioneers tackling topics like menopause, fertility, & sexual wellness. Each episode breaks down complex issues with honesty & expert insight—leaving you informed, inspired, & ready to advocate for change.
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Episodes

The Science Behind Prenatal to Postnatal Vitamins with Beli Baby - Episode 131

In today’s episode, I interview Joni Hanson Davis the CEO of Beli. Beli is a prenatal vitamin system designed to help women, men, and babies reach their full potential from day one. Together, Beli for Women and Beli for Men is a winning combination to help increase chances for conception and a healthy baby. Beli for Women offers nutrient-rocking supplements that nourish the female body from preconception to increase chances of fertility, once pregnancy occurs to boost energy and comfort, and pos...

Aug 30, 202144 min

FemTech Startups Equity Crowdfunding on Republic - Episode 130

In today’s episode, I interview Cheryl Campos the head of venture growth and partnership at Republic. Republic is a private investing platform. Republic curates private investment opportunities with high-growth potential across startups, gaming, real estate, and crypto. Investing in startups was previously available to only the wealthiest 3% of the US population. With Republic, everyone both accredited and non-accredited individuals can invest in private startups for a chance to own equity and h...

Aug 23, 202138 min

Aila Health uses Artificial Intelligence to Treat Autoimmunity - Episode 129

In today’s episode, I interview Rory Staton, the Founder and CEO of Aila Health. Aila Health is tackling autoimmunity. They are on a mission to improve the healthcare experience for autoimmune patients which are disproportionately female. Aila Health uses data to bring the "invisible" into view, to support shared decision-making with a care team that listens to the patient, and to develop a personalized care plan that works for the patient’s life. Aila empowers its users to understand & mana...

Aug 16, 202134 min

MOLLI Surgical replaces wires with magnetic seeds for breast lumpectomies - Episode 128

In today’s episode, I interview Dr. Fazila Seker co-founder and CEO of MOLLI Surgical. MOLLI Surgical has developed a device that creates a better treatment journey for breast cancer patients. The device is a cutting-edge magnetic technology that shows surgeons where to remove tissue inside the breast, either a lumpectomy to test for cancer or to remove a cancerous mass. The current procedure is called a wire-guided excision biopsy which includes putting a thin wire into the breast tissue to sho...

Aug 09, 202142 min

PCOS Awareness Association providing info and support for this hormone disorder - Episode 127

In today’s episode, I interview Megan Pearson the Founder and Executive Director of PCOS Awareness Association. PCOS Awareness Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advocacy of polycystic ovarian syndrome or PCOS. The organization and its volunteers are dedicated to raising the awareness of this disorder worldwide, providing educational and support services to help people understand what the disorder is and how it can be treated. The Association also provides support for peop...

Aug 02, 202152 min

The Agenda Period facilitates task management based on your menstrual cycle - Episode 126

In today’s episode, I interview Alyx Coble-Frakes, the CEO and Co-founder of The Agenda Period. The Agenda Period is a new type of period tracker that tells, you based on your menstrual cycle, what kind of work you should be doing. The idea is that today’s work life is based on a 24-hour cycle, which is the hormonal cycle of males. Females have an approximately 28-day cycle. Depending on which of the 4 menstrual phases a female is in, certain tasks should be performed. Such as pitching your star...

Jul 29, 202146 min

Eli Health, Daily Hormone Testing for Fertility, Contraception, and Overall Understanding of Female Health - Episode 125

In today’s episode, I interview Marina Pavlovic Rivas CEO and Co-founder of Eli Health. Eli Health enables women to take control of their health across their lives, by providing them with powerful information on their daily hormone profile. They are creating a small at-home device to monitor hormones in your saliva on a daily basis. This data then syncs with their app to provide personalized insights into your daily hormone fluctuations. With this powerful information, users know their precise f...

Jul 19, 202144 min

DotLab's blood test for diagnosing endometriosis - Episode 124

In today’s episode, I interview Heather Bowerman, the CEO, and founder of DotLab. DotLab is a women’s healthcare technology company with a breakthrough, non-invasive, blood test that aids in the diagnosis of active endometriosis. Today, 1 in 10 women and people with menstrual cycles suffer from endometriosis. But it takes an average of 7 to 10 years to receive a diagnosis. That’s 120 excruciating periods. The lack of innovation in this space is because painful periods have been normalized for fa...

Jul 19, 202138 min

Wildflower Health's healthcare software empowering value-based care for women - Episode 123

Ok femfans, in today’s episode I interview Leah Sparks the CEO and founder at Wildflower Health. Wildflower Health is a healthcare software tool that accelerates virtual and value-based care between physicians, insurance companies, and the patient. They engage patients with a combination of high-tech and high-touch support. Telehealth and healthcare software that connect doctors, patients, and insurance may seem like old news especially after this past year with Covid-19. But Wildflower has been...

Jul 19, 202141 min

Using seeds to manage your cycle with Funk It Wellness - Episode 122

Funk It Wellness is a cycle support company that builds products and community to support menstruators through their hormonal journey. Their products include a seed cycling kit to support PMS symptoms and an organic maca concentrate for increasing libido. The founder and CEO, Kate Morton, is a Registered Dietitian with a Master’s Degree in Human Clinical Nutrition and a passion for talking about periods & hormones. A little over 4 years ago she got off birth control after years and years and...

Jun 28, 202145 min

Coyote Ventures, the Newest Women's Health Fund in Partnership with FemTech Focus - BONUS 10

Meet the newest women's health and wellness venture fund, Coyote Ventures. Coyote Ventures is a Seed-stage venture fund in the United States investing in companies innovating in women’s health and wellness. Jessica Karr is the General Partner and Dr. Brittany Barreto is the co-founding FemTech Partner of Coyote Ventures. As scientists (MS in Biochemistry and PhD in Genetics) with entrepreneurial (Impossible Foods) and venture experience (Capital Factory), Jessica and Brittany are uniquely positi...

Jun 25, 202141 min

Crave's Pleasure Manifesto - Episode 121

Crave aims to make buying and using a sex toy an elevated experience. One that leads to fulfillment and thoughtful conversations about sexuality. All of Crave’s products are designed and developed by our women-led team in their advanced R&D center and micro-factory in San Francisco. Ti Chang is an award-winning industrial designer committed to creating innovative products with years of experience working in designing products for women. At Crave, Ti leads the design vision of the company’s f...

Jun 21, 202145 min

AOA Dx ventures to diagnose ovarian cancer - Episode 120

AOA is a team of entrepreneurs and experts that bring innovative, impactful and cost-effective medical technologies from research and development into the hands of providers and patients. AOA's mission is to bring to market the first accurate early stage ovarian cancer diagnostic test that will improve clinical practice, help reduce patient mortality and deliver cost savings to payers.Their first product, is the first liquid biopsy test that accurately enables early diagnosis of ovarian cancer t...

Jun 15, 202143 min

Funding the next generation of women's sexual health companies with Amboy Street Ventures - Episode 119

Carli Sapir is a Founding Partner of Amboy Street Ventures, a venture capital fund investing in Seed and Series A sexual health & women’s health technology startups that are progressing the industry in America and Europe. She is also the Founder of the Female Founded Club (FFC), a global platform that introduces VC investors to high-quality female founded startups. Carli has an affinity for startups in the sexual health and women's health technology landscape due to personal health experienc...

Jun 08, 202140 min

How COVID-19 and the vaccines affect females differently - Episode 118

Rosemary Morgan, PhD, is an Associate Scientist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the Department of International Health. Dr. Morgan has expertise in gender, gender analysis, and intersectionality within health and health systems. Some of her current work includes: Leading the Sex and Gender Analysis Core for the NIH funded Sex and Age Differences in Immunity to Influenza (SADII) Center; co-primary investigator on a project exploring the gendered effects of COVID-19 in Bangla...

Jun 08, 202143 min

HERHealthEQ bringing health equity to developing countries- Episode 117

Marissa Fayer is the Founder and CEO HERHealthEQ, a social enterprise non-profit on a mission to close the gap in health equity around the world by provide medical devices to detect non-communicable diseases in developing countries. Marissa is a 20-year medtech executive, entrepreneur, and philanthropis and also serves as the president of advisory firm Fayer Consulting LLC, Executive Vice-President of Women’s Health at DeepLook Medical, and Venture Partner at Assiduity Capital. Marissa has also ...

May 24, 202139 min

TMRW's remote automated platform for frozen eggs and embryos - Episode 116

Melanie Goldey is the COO & CFO at TMRW Life Sciences, a fertility tech company bringing safety, security, and automation to the long-term care and storage of the frozen eggs and embryos at the heart of nearly every IVF birth. Before TMRW, Melanie was CFO at Refinery29, where she led the company’s merger with Vice Media Group, creating the largest digital media company in the world, valued at over $4 billion. Prior to Refinery29, Melanie was an executive at Everyday Health, a multi-platform ...

May 17, 202148 min

Mount Carmel's Women's Heart Program treating the hearts of every woman - Episode 115

Dr. Amrita Karve is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of Women's Heart Program at Mount Carmel Health System. Dr. Karve, MD, FACC, is a cardiologist at Mount Carmel Health System, a large private community health system in Columbus, Ohio. The Women's Heart Program was created to increase awareness of heart disease in women, reduce gender disparities in diagnosis and treatment, and to provide a concierge experience for women of all socioeconomic classes to be more engaged in their health. Dr. Karve ...

May 12, 202144 min

Decreasing delayed diagnosis of breast cancer with Gabbi - Episode 114

Kaitlin Christine is the CEO & Founder of Gabbi, a FemTech company aiming to solve delayed diagnosis of preventable diseases that affect women, starting with breast cancer. Kaitlin is a breast cancer survivor and ovarian cancer previvor who has made it her life's mission to empower women to understand their bodies and advocate for themselves. Kaitlin has spent over 9 years in women’s health--working for leading nonprofits, as a sought after national speaker, was the youngest hire for the wor...

May 12, 202138 min

ELANZA Wellness and their behavioral health fertility platform- Episode 113

Catherine Hendy is Co-founder of ELANZA Wellness, a behavioral health coaching platform that helps fertility clinics easily provide lifestyle and emotional support to patients, for better experiences and outcomes. ELANZA was recently selected for Techstars New York, an accelerator program for the world’s most promising startups. Catherine and her cofounder, Brittany Hawkins, started the company after their own experiences of gaps in fertility care and have just launched the ELANZA Wellness Whole...

May 05, 202133 min

Menstrual reflux and early diagnosis for endometriosis with Hera Biotech - Episode 112

Somer Baburek is the CEO, President and Co-Founder of Hera Biotech. Hera Biotech is a biotechnology company that was formed to address unmet needs in the field of women’s health and specifically, in reproductive medicine. Hera’s initial goal is to commercialize the MetriDx™, a non-surgical method for the definitive and early diagnosis of endometriosis. Prior to founding Hera, Somer spent 7 years with the largest life science venture capital fund in San Antonio assisting with due diligence activi...

May 03, 202147 min

FemTech in Emerging Markets with Nabta Health - Episode 111

Sophie is the Co-founder and CEO of Nabta Health, a Hybrid Healthcare company for women headquartered in the United Arab Emirates. Prior to co-founding Nabta, Sophie worked for Accenture as a technology consultant and then founded several impact startups including myZindagi (a doctor-finding platform based in Pakistan) and Le Plastics (a plastic recycling company based in Sierra Leone). Sophie’s lifetime ambition is twofold: to empower women to manage their health with privacy, autonomy and conv...

Apr 29, 202146 min

Nourishing the future of humanity with BIOMILQ's breastmilk - Episode 110

Michelle Egger, CEO & Co-founder of BIOMILQ, is a diversely experienced food scientist with an eye to global food systems change. She looks to combat global food security and malnutrition in everything she does. Inspired by upstream solutions for infant nutrition at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, she became obsessed with advancing human nutrition through better infant feeding options. Michelle seeks to harness the capacity to drive environmental and social change through creative foo...

Apr 26, 202145 min

Granville Biomedical's vaginal models replacing cow tongues in medical school training -Episode 109

Christine Goudie is the Co-Founder and CEO of Granville Biomedical, an all female tech company specializing in the design and manufacturing of women’s health anatomical simulation models for surgical training around the world. Cow tongues, orange peels and car wash sponges are being used as vulva simulation models for medical trainees, Christine and her partner at Granville Biomedical aspire to offer trainees to practice and learn on life-like 3D printed models that reflect the real human body a...

Apr 22, 202148 min

Digital health accountability for women's health apps with ORCHA - Episode 108

Dr. Fatima Ahmed is a physician entrepreneur and an ObGyn from the UK with 10 years’ experience working as a doctor. Her passion for improving women’s health on a global scale led her to working at ORCHA, a game changing & world leading company in health and care app evaluation, as their clinical lead in maternity & women’s health. Her strive to improve women’s health and wellbeing globally is what lies behind her motivation to support Femtech founders develop the best products they can ...

Apr 19, 202148 min

Pollie, your personalized telehealth to manage your hormonal conditions - Episode 107

Jane Sagui is the co-Founder at Pollie, a personalized telehealth marketplace that matches people with ovaries to hormonal health specialists. They make it easier to manage reproductive hormonal conditions like PCOS and endometriosis, as well as hormonal imbalance symptoms like infertility, acne, hair loss, irregular periods, blood sugar imbalances, PMS, cramping, and more. Jane holds a Bachelor of Arts in Government from Georgetown University. Femtech Focus listeners can participate in Pollie's...

Apr 15, 202141 min

Philanthropic menstrual and sexual health investors, The Case for Her - Episode 106

Wendy Anderson and Cristina Ljungberg are the Co-Founders of The Case for Her, a philanthropic investment portfolio addressing the key women’s health issues of menstruation and sexual health and pleasure through grants, investments, convenings, and advocacy. Founded in 2017, The Case for Her brings together decades of experience working and investing in women’s health and rights. This dynamic and flexible portfolio spans the globe and includes investments in product companies, tech innovations, ...

Apr 12, 202145 min

Your Daye's CBD-infused tampons are soothing your menstrual pain - Episode 105

Valentina Milanova is the CEO and Founder of Your Daye, a female health research and development company on a mission to bridge the gender gap in product innovation. She founded and scaled the company through its clinical validation, regulatory approvals, proprietary in-house manufacturing, the creation of our unique brand, and the launch of our tampons in D2C and retail. She also developed the company’s product portfolio across period care, vaginal health screening and improved contraception. P...

Apr 11, 202142 min

Your trusted guide for your hair care journey, Black Hair Management - Episode 104

Nnenna Umelloh is the Founder and CEO of Black Hair Management, a wellness brand with hair care at the center. They function as a trusted guide in the natural hair care journey and ship high-quality hair care and wellness products based on their hair texture and lifestyle. Their goal is to help women grow healthy hair. Prior to launching B.H.M, Nnenna was a Higher Education Consultant and taught students how to go to college, grad school, or trade school with scholarships based on personal exper...

Apr 05, 202149 min

Hot and Cold therapy packs for your privates with Private Packs - Episode 103

Suzanne Sinatra is the CEO and Founder of Private Packs, a New York City based FemTech company. A former Event Planner turned Accidental Entrepreneur. Private Packs has reimagined the therapy pack and sculpted it for the intimate areas to deliver discrete wearable and reusable comfort. Private Packs was born out of a traumatic Brazilian waxing incident that prompted Suzanne to design a product that currently was an unmet need in the marketplace and aims to transform the healing process for women...

Apr 05, 202134 min
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