Halle Berry, Actor, Director, Producer, Advocate; Founder, Respin
Interviewer: Michal Lev-Ram, Fortune
Interviewer: Michal Lev-Ram, Fortune
Category
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TechTranscript
00:00Welcome, Hallie. Thank you for being with us.
00:02Thank you. Hello, everybody. It's great to be here.
00:05Thank you. I love a room of all women.
00:07This is amazing!
00:11Okay, so it was mentioned in the intro,
00:13but I want to hear more about your little trip to Capitol Hill.
00:16You went last May.
00:18You stood right by the steps, and you yelled out a statement,
00:21and I want to recreate it here for everyone.
00:23I'm in menopause!
00:28I mean, how liberating is that?
00:30Like, that was so liberating to stand there in Capitol Hill and say that,
00:35and you should have seen all the men.
00:36They were like, what the?
00:39What? No, that's a secret.
00:42You don't say that, lady.
00:44So it was really great to go to.
00:45I think it was actually, I'm in menopause, okay?
00:48Wasn't that what it was?
00:49Well, exactly that.
00:49Something like that, yes.
00:51So you were there, not just to raise awareness,
00:55but also to help unveil a proposal,
00:57which Pretty Incredible has bipartisan backing for $275 million
01:02to be set aside for research, training,
01:04you know, all sorts of things like that.
01:06And you, again, were joined by a bipartisan backing here,
01:11Senator Murray and Senator Murkowski, Democrat and a Republican.
01:15Can you talk a little bit about just how these conversations even started
01:19and how you were able to get bipartisan attention?
01:24Well, when I realized that I was in menopause
01:28and I realized what a dearth of information there was out there,
01:32that there was nothing.
01:33It was like a desert.
01:35And I realized that my own doctor didn't really understand
01:39what was happening with my menopausal body.
01:41You know, I was 54 years old.
01:43I had probably been in perimenopause for maybe 10 years
01:46and nobody mentioned the word to me.
01:49I realized that the reason I didn't know
01:51is because doctors only have a chapter in medical school of education.
01:58Only 13% of doctors are NAM certified or understand the menopausal body.
02:03And I started to go, hmm, there's a problem here.
02:08And then I dug a little more and I found out, well, there's no money.
02:11The NIH doesn't fund menopause research.
02:13It goes to many other great, amazing issues.
02:15But menopause has been historically left out as if it's not a thing.
02:21But we know that it is a thing, right?
02:24Yes, we can clap for it.
02:25It's a huge thing in a woman's life.
02:28No woman escapes it.
02:29So I realized the only thing I could do, use my power and to go advocate for myself.
02:35And by doing so, I knew that I would be advocating for all of you and for all women, right?
02:39That's what we do when we stand up for ourselves.
02:41We stand up for others.
02:42So when I got there, I went first to Senator Murray.
02:47I knew she would be a friend of the court.
02:49She was a friend of a woman that works at my law firm.
02:53And I went into her and I told her my story of how I found out I was misdiagnosed with herpes.
02:59But it was really vaginal dryness, vaginal atrophy.
03:04And I told her-
03:04First time that's been said on the stage here, I think, so far.
03:07I don't know.
03:08Yeah.
03:10I had razor blades in my vagina after a great night of sex.
03:16And I went to the doctor and he told me, oh, this looks like the worst case of herpes I've ever seen.
03:20And I thought, well, hold it.
03:22What?
03:22He said, yeah, this is herpes.
03:24And then I realized, you know, after I took the test, no, I did not have herpes.
03:28And when I dug a little digging, it was vaginal atrophy.
03:31So I told this story to Patty Murray and she totally understood.
03:35And she said, I agree.
03:37I agree.
03:37This has been historically overlooked, this issue.
03:40I've gone through menopause.
03:41And you're right.
03:42We need to band together.
03:43And I said to her, and I know this will be a big election year, but I said, this is one issue that should not be politicized.
03:50This is a human rights issue.
03:52It affects every woman.
03:53That's half of our population.
03:55And if we live long enough, which is a privilege, we will all face these years.
03:59And we deserve more.
04:01We deserve healthcare.
04:01We deserve to have doctors and healthcare professionals treat us that understand what's happening to us.
04:06Not tell us we have herpes when we don't, or we have Sjogren's disease when we have dry mouth, or misdiagnosis, or just really not know what to say, or to tell us, right?
04:17So she said, I agree.
04:18So I enlisted her help.
04:20She wrote the bill for $265 million, and she said, the only way we get money for menopause is to do our own standalone bill.
04:28Otherwise, we will continue to be overlooked.
04:30And she and I then joined arms.
04:32And I said to her, I have a goal to get every female senator on both sides to back this bill and let that be a loud statement to our government and to Congress that we really mean business, that we really are demanding as women dollars so that we can live our best lives in midlife.
04:51And right now, out of the 25, I have 18 senators.
04:59There's still a few I have to get over the line.
05:02But I will not stop.
05:06So I want to get to ReSpend, your company, but just real quick before we dive into that, you are out there spreading the word on menopause, not just in Congress.
05:18I heard that you spoke to Mike Tyson about it recently in the green room at the Jimmy Kimmel show.
05:24I just want to know what that conversation was like.
05:26How that started?
05:29Mike understands.
05:31Does he?
05:32I mean, I've known Mike for a while.
05:34And when I saw him at the show, I hadn't seen him in a while.
05:36And he was sitting there with his wife.
05:38And so right away when I said hi to Mike, I saw his wife.
05:40And she said to me, oh, my God, talk about this menopause.
05:44And I was like, are you there?
05:46And she was like, not yet.
05:47But I want you to help me.
05:48And then Mike right away jumped in and he said, oh, please tell me it's not going to mess with my sex life.
05:53I said, well, Mike, I'm sorry to tell you.
05:56If your wife doesn't like know what I know, it possibly could affect your sex life.
06:00So let's talk about it.
06:02And we launched into like a 20-minute conversation.
06:05And by the time it was done, Mike was telling me and telling everybody that walked in the room that he knows all about vaginal atrophy and that he is not going to let this happen to his wife.
06:16He is going to support her.
06:18And he is going to, you know, understand her mood swings.
06:22He's going to understand when she floods the kitchen, when she forgets why she walked in a room.
06:26Like he was really going to be really supportive.
06:28Who knew that Mike Tyson would be like our advocate for the menopause?
06:31Oh, yeah.
06:32You know?
06:33And he also understood how it affects men, too.
06:36You know, we're laughing about, you know, Mike caring about his sex life.
06:38But he really understood that it's really an issue.
06:41It's a human rights issue.
06:42It affects all of us.
06:43Because every man knows a woman, loves a woman, has a mother, has a daughter, has a female co-worker.
06:48Right?
06:49So men are affected just as much as we are.
06:51Okay.
06:52Tell us about ReSpin.
06:53What is it?
06:54What can you tell us?
06:55And I know there's like a bit of a relaunch happening.
06:56Yes.
06:57And some of it is TBD.
06:58But what can you share?
06:59Well, the original brand, ReSpin, the idea I had, it was just a very broad health platform.
07:06And the idea was re-spinning everything you thought you knew.
07:08And I wasn't really quite sure what I was doing with it.
07:11But I knew that I had an idea.
07:13And the idea was germinating.
07:15And when COVID hit, I sort of launched it out there.
07:18Because, well, during COVID, what else was there to do but try to put out a business at home?
07:23Right?
07:24Like, duh.
07:25So after the COVID years and when I found out that I was in perimenopause, it occurred to me one day, what topic deserves a ReSpin?
07:37Menopause deserves the biggest ReSpin of all, right?
07:40Rethinking everything you thought you knew.
07:42So then when I got singularly focused and decided that ReSpin would be a brand that deals with women sort of at the perimenopause stage, that's their entry point.
07:54But that we would hold their hands throughout menopause, postmenopause, and through the rest of their life, through midlife until hopefully the end.
08:01That's what it is.
08:03Where we have community, we have technology, it's science-backed, doctor-backed.
08:09And we realize that while that study of years ago really was probably the single most important study that I think derailed us as women, that turned us all against HRT.
08:21I think HRT isn't the answer for everybody.
08:25Right?
08:26There's still women who are afraid.
08:27And it'll be a long time, I think, before we really change the way we as women think about HRT.
08:32Right?
08:33That stigma is sort of stuck with us.
08:35So I know that we need more than HRT.
08:37And I think what we need is community.
08:39We need a place to talk about what we're going through so we don't feel alone.
08:43And we just did a sort of MVP program at ReSpin.
08:47And two-thirds of the women had improvement because they just were talking with their health coaches and understanding what was happening to their bodies.
08:57And this time of our life, we lean out of our health care instead of leaning in.
09:00But when you can talk about it with other people, kind of like Weight Watchers, you now are accountable to yourself and you have a support system.
09:07Right?
09:08And it actually, it's actually working.
09:12I'm going to go to you guys for questions in a second, but I'm curious for a show of hands.
09:17Who in the room here had their doctor, whether it's your gynecologist or your general practitioner, talk to you about perimenopause or menopause without being asked, without being asked?
09:31Okay.
09:33But the doctor's female.
09:35Okay.
09:37That's actually more than I was expecting.
09:40Is that surprising to you?
09:42No.
09:43It was a minority.
09:44I don't think it was the majority for sure.
09:46No, but I would question how much they know.
09:49They might bring it up because if they're a woman, they know what's happening.
09:52Maybe it's happened to them.
09:53Most doctors have heard about menopause.
09:55It is one chapter in medical school.
09:57So they have heard about it.
09:59But do they know all they should know about it is the question.
10:03Right?
10:04And I think that's where the gap is.
10:06Okay.
10:07That's where the gap is.
10:08Any questions for Hallie?
10:09Please raise your hand if you would like to ask a question.
10:12Or you can also just air some grievances if that feels right to you.
10:17We've got one over here.
10:23This is a great subject.
10:24So what is your recommendation on good sources to get information because actually doctors aren't that good?
10:31Well, I would ask you to come to Respin.
10:34And what we are going to do is we want to gift everyone in the room here today like a special access to be able to come to Respin
10:41and sort of try it out and be a part of our launch.
10:45I really want you to do that.
10:46But we have doctors.
10:47We have seminars.
10:48We have scientists, some of the leading scientists in the space that are talking about, you know,
10:52what hot flashes do to our brain and why it's not just a hot flash because what I've learned along my path of midlife
11:01is that every time a woman has a hot flash, it's almost like having a little mini stroke.
11:09Like there's these nodules that become apparent on our brain.
11:13And when you look at a brain that's in Alzheimer's, this is what the brain starts to look like when a woman has hot flash after hot flash.
11:20And Dr. Mackey is one of the leading scientists out of Chicago, has this study that she's been doing.
11:25And she has a device that she's devised.
11:29And she puts it on a woman.
11:30And we can find out exactly how many hot flashes she's having.
11:33So you might not even know you're having hot flashes because while we were there with the First Lady visiting her,
11:41she had a subject that was being monitored.
11:43And this woman thought she had five hot flashes.
11:45She really had 50 hot flashes.
11:47She didn't feel 45 of them.
11:49But that hot flash is still doing what it's doing to her brain.
11:54So I think it's really important that we understand how to stop ourselves from having hot flashes.
11:59And HRT isn't for everybody.
12:01So there has to be some other therapy, some other answers, which is why we need money for more clinical studies and more research.
12:08We've got a question back here.
12:10I love your ambition to get such bipartisan support.
12:13Vicky, can you introduce yourself also?
12:15Sure. I'm Vicky Medvek from the Kellogg School at Northwestern.
12:18I love your ambition of getting such bipartisan support.
12:21You mentioned there are seven senators who are not yet on the bill.
12:25I'm just curious if you might want to share their names.
12:28Because what this room has is political power.
12:32Do you know somebody who knows somebody?
12:34I think you all probably are voting.
12:37Well, you can talk to me after.
12:39Okay. Come find out.
12:42It's not my goal to call out other ladies, but there are still seven that are…
12:46Need some working on.
12:48And I will say this.
12:51It's not because they don't believe that this is an important topic.
12:57But the more conservative members of our government just feel like we should not spend any more money.
13:03They don't want new appropriations.
13:05They think there's enough money already in the pot that should be moved around and we should get our due.
13:10But we know that menopause never gets its due because it never rises to the level of needing money.
13:17Because nobody really has ever acknowledged that it's a real serious moment in our life.
13:24Right? So that's really what it's about.
13:26It's not that they don't believe that it's worthy.
13:28They just don't want to spend the money.
13:30New appropriations.
13:32Got it. Got it.
13:33Question over here.
13:34And then we'll come to you.
13:36Hi, Allie.
13:37But Senator Ernst.
13:40Get her.
13:52I'm a healthcare executive.
13:54I'm the global head of research at Philips.
13:56If you are launching this, relaunching it, as a consumer health or specifically to individuals, but you are looking to expand beyond that,
14:06what are some of the barriers and partnerships in the entire ecosystem of healthcare you're seeing, aside from the political side, that you wish you could tear down?
14:15Some of the barriers, you're asking.
14:19Well, I think it's about getting people to understand that this is a real issue and sort of join forces with us.
14:27And one of our issues has been, you know, we're venture backed.
14:31But when I was out trying to raise money, it was really hard.
14:34You know, I went, you know, to Silicon Valley and I was trying to raise money.
14:37And it was really hard to get people, largely men, at some of these big, you know, venture capital companies, to believe that, like I just said, that menopause was a real thing.
14:49And that menopause deserved a company that was built in the framework of what our company is.
14:55That was, while it's very holistic in nature, right, it was very hard for them to see the there there, is the way I put it, for the reason for this company to be.
15:07So that was probably one of my biggest barriers, was getting really people to believe that this was a worthwhile venture, especially with what our approach was.
15:17So it's still at such a basic level.
15:19It's awareness, urgency.
15:20Yes.
15:21And it's community based.
15:22And it was really hard to get people to understand, well, you know, how do you sell community?
15:26How do I make money with that?
15:27You know, too many people are thinking about how do they monetize it.
15:30And I really was coming from a place of, but how do we as women just get the help we need?
15:35It's not about selling them product after product.
15:38That's not what our company is about.
15:40So that was a barrier, to get people to understand, well, then, how do you scale it?
15:43And how do we make money if we give you money, right?
15:46And I had to really make them understand that this is a really good business model, if you think of Weight Watchers, and you think of this the same way, but it's Weight Watchers for menopause.
15:55There is a model there.
15:56Community really does sell.
15:59And after a time, once you get your community together, they're going to need things to support their journey.
16:04And then if we provide them products in a very thoughtful way that's born out of what they're asking for, then you have a business that's viable.
16:12It's serving a community and it's also a viable business at the same time.
16:16Shida?
16:17Hi.
16:18Shida Bina from Insignium.
16:20I'm going to do a quick share and then a question.
16:22Okay.
16:23I went through my hot flash period right when Viagra was being advertised everywhere.
16:28Oh, my God.
16:29And I'd have to explain that to my young kids.
16:32So I decided that in any meeting I was in where I had a hot flash, I made a point of everyone knowing about it.
16:39Because if I could hear about how they couldn't get it up, they could hear about how hot I was.
16:43Yeah.
16:49At the beginning, they were a little uncomfortable, and I considered it like a one-woman crusade to educate them.
16:57And to that point, if men went through this, this problem would have been solved a long time ago.
17:03Long time ago.
17:05One thing I would want to know how you are planning on handling, or if you're cognizant of,
17:11for years, decades, centuries, the reason why women weren't given positions of power
17:17was people were afraid we'd be having our periods and we'd be moody and we'd make decisions, bad decisions.
17:24So when you just said about the hot flashes actually affecting the brain,
17:29how are you planning on contextualizing that so there isn't a backlash around
17:35women can't now be trusted when they're going through menopause because it makes them crazy?
17:41You know what I'm talking about.
17:42Yeah, I do.
17:43And this is exactly what we have to destigmatize it.
17:45That's a big myth that just because we're having a hot flash or we get a little forgetful that we can't run a company
17:51and that we can't make brilliant decisions.
17:53We still do all the things.
17:56But that's the reason we need this kind of education so that women can start taking this time of their lives
18:01into their own hands and they can figure out the therapies that they need to minimize those hot flashes,
18:06minimize that brain fog, minimize the raging, because that's just how we get.
18:12So we have to start figuring out how we treat ourselves, how we can be treated
18:17so we go through that time of life in a more seamless way.
18:21So that's the story.
18:22But we also have to make the point that we can manage ourselves.
18:27Oh, we always have.
18:28Just because we have that happening doesn't mean we're not going to make the right decisions.
18:32Certainly.
18:33Right?
18:34And we know that as women.
18:35And I think that's part of the campaign is awareness and don't you go using that against me.
18:43Right.
18:44Because I can manage myself very well, thank you.
18:46Exactly.
18:47So there isn't a scientific reason to say our brains don't function well.
18:54Do you understand?
18:55Yes, I do understand.
18:57But at the same time, men can't actually purport that their brain functions well all the time either.
19:04First of all, I know some men that do some real dumb shit.
19:12And I don't need to say the names of the men.
19:16We all know.
19:17We all know.
19:18So I do think that's part of the, you know, de-stigmatizing what menopause is.
19:23As women, you know, it's that Fred Astaire and Ginger Roger thing.
19:26She goes backwards in heels.
19:28We can do all of that.
19:30We always have.
19:31Right?
19:32We've raised our children.
19:34You know, we've been working mothers and we have done it all.
19:39And as women, we're able to do that.
19:41We're able to multitask in ways.
19:42And I'm sorry that men just aren't.
19:44We're built that way.
19:45We're built differently.
19:46That's what makes men men and women women, in my opinion.
19:49Hallie, we are so appreciative of you coming here and speaking to all of us, elevating this subject,
19:55and going out there, going all in on menopause in the halls of Congress with Mike Tyson, with whoever will listen.
20:00So thank you so much for coming.
20:03Thank you for having me.