Cindy Whitehead

  • Serial Entrepreneur with total exits over $1.5 Billion
  • Angel Investor / Founder of "The Pinkubator" for women-led and women focused businesses

Cindy Whitehead shares insights designed to help others shatter the “pink ceiling,” put the power of choice in women’s hands, and achieve breakthrough success for women in business.

Self-made, stiletto-strapping, and unapologetically pink, Cindy has built two businesses from the ground up and sold them for industry record-setting returns. An acclaimed entrepreneur, she is the co-founder and former CEO of Sprout Pharmaceuticals, known for developing Addyi, the first-ever FDA-approved female sexual desire enhancer, a.k.a. “female Viagra.” She sold Sprout for $1 billion in 2015. Prior to Sprout, she was the co-founder of Slate Pharmaceuticals, which redefined long-acting testosterone treatment for men.

Her latest venture is The Pink Ceiling, which focuses on solving problems for women by mentoring, investing in, launching, and building other women-led or -focused businesses. Fortune has called her “a tireless force of nature” and Entrepreneur Magazine featured her on the cover of its 2016 "Women to Watch" issue.

Now Cindy is paying it forward by inspiring current and future entrepreneurs to create meaningful change for women by seeking out real solutions to real problems. With a proven track record of innovation in healthcare, a motivating, get-it-done perspective, and experience with regulatory approvals, audiences find her insights on breaking down social barriers and busting through ceilings critical to fueling success and achieving breakthroughs for women everywhere.

 


Cindy Whitehead photo 3
Cindy Whitehead photo 2
Cindy Whitehead headshot
Past Hosts Include:
  • Fortune Magazine
Rave Reviews About Cindy Whitehead as a Speaker
When Cindy Whitehead takes the stage, she's fully prepared to do two things: Drop insider knowledge (while spilling just the right amount of tea), and offer the kinds of indispensable insight that can help anyone move into a market with confidence...Cindy believes in the power of women to shape the business world in ways that improve the lives of everyone. And when she's done talking, so will you.

Keynote - DNA of a Rule Breaker | TEDxRaleigh [13:15] - Get Sharable Link
Talks & Conversations with Cindy Whitehead
Expand all >

For Corporate Audiences:

One of Entrepreneur’s “Women To Watch” and one of Fortune’s “Most Powerful Women,” Cindy encourages corporate audiences to constantly innovate, break down social barriers, create meaningful change, and achieve breakthrough success. ...

One of Entrepreneur’s “Women To Watch” and one of Fortune’s “Most Powerful Women,” Cindy encourages corporate audiences to constantly innovate, break down social barriers, create meaningful change, and achieve breakthrough success.

For University Audiences:

Cindy inspires students and budding entrepreneurs to innovate and pay it forward. She also discusses her relevant endeavors, including one of the companies The Pink Ceiling is supporting, Undercover Colors that is developing a nail polish intended to help wearers detect the presence of date-rape dru ...

Cindy inspires students and budding entrepreneurs to innovate and pay it forward. She also discusses her relevant endeavors, including one of the companies The Pink Ceiling is supporting, Undercover Colors that is developing a nail polish intended to help wearers detect the presence of date-rape drugs.

For Healthcare Audiences:

With a proven track record of innovation in healthcare, experience with regulatory approvals, and a motivating, get-it-done perspective, Cindy empowers healthcare audiences to collaborate and innovate as she reflects on how she took on the FDA—and won. ...

With a proven track record of innovation in healthcare, experience with regulatory approvals, and a motivating, get-it-done perspective, Cindy empowers healthcare audiences to collaborate and innovate as she reflects on how she took on the FDA—and won.

Facebook  Twitter 
(-)
Press & Media
(-)
Biography

Cindy Whitehead is a highly regarded entrepreneur, a strong advocate for female entrepreneurship, a pharmaceutical leader and one of the few self-made woman billionaires in history. The New York Times called her pharmaceutical product the “drug of a generation” and Fortune called her a “tireless force of nature.” Associates of hers call her unapologetically pink.

Over a distinguished 22-year career in healthcare, she started and sold two businesses for more than $1.5 billion. Having co-founded and sold Slate Pharmaceuticals, which redefined long lasting testosterone treatment for men, she launched Sprout Pharmaceuticals immediately thereafter. As Co-Founder & CEO of Sprout, the company broke through with the first ever FDA-approved drug for low sexual desire in women — dubbed “female Viagra” by the media. In 2015, Cindy sold the company for $1b cash.  Everyone that was a part of the original Slate was gifted shares in Sprout.

Cindy’s work has been featured in countless major publications including The New York Times, Fast Company, Financial Times, Vanity Fair, Bloomberg, CNBC, CBS, Fox, Yahoo and on the cover feature of Entrepreneur Magazine. Cindy has been an invited speaker at Fortune's Most Powerful Women, the Fast Company Innovation Festival, Ad Week, Inc. Magazine, and many more. She is on a mission to speak to as many women as possible about what it takes to achieve breakthrough business success. It’s no surprise that JJ Ramberg, the host of MSNBC’s Your Business says that “Cindy is one of our favorite guests. Though she has reached a level of success as a founder that most can only dream of, she is incredibly relatable and honest about what it takes to run a business.  She offers the perfect combination of inspiration and advice and it's hard to come away from listening to Cindy speak without wanting to hear more.”

Cindy’s latest mission is to mentor, invest in, launch and build other women led or focused businesses. In 2016, she opened the doors to The Pink Ceiling — a cross between a VC firm, a ‘pinkubator’ and a consulting enterprise — where she is CEO.  In year one, Cindy personally invested $15m into the 7 different companies they’re incubating. In very rare moments Cindy is hard at work trying not to work. But still wearing pink.