Stripes Beauty, Naomi Watts’ healthy aging wellness brand, is teaming up with women’s telehealth provider Wisp to expand its support for people going through menopause.
Wisp will now list a number of Stripes’ signature over-the-counter products, intended to support transitions such as menopause, on its website. Meanwhile, Stripes will offer its customers 20% off a menopause consultation with Wisp, for women looking for hormone therapies or other clinical services.
"At Stripes Beauty, we're dedicated to breaking the silence around menopause and midlife,” Cara Kamenev, Stripes' global brand president and CEO, told Fierce Healthcare. “Partnering with Wisp helps us further our mission to make sexual wellness and health resources more accessible, ensuring women feel supported and empowered at every stage of life."
Millions of American women enter perimenopause or menopause each year, and many of them report bothersome symptoms. Yet many go undiagnosed and untreated for a variety of reasons, including a lack of provider education.
Wisp has been looking to increase its focus on “accessible, stigma-free care,” Wisp CEO Monica Cepak told Fierce Healthcare. “The partnership really grew out of our shared mission of destigmatizing conversations around women’s health.”
As women enter this big life transition, they begin experiencing dryness all over their bodies, per Cepak. Stripes' products address that pain point and are all-natural. Watts’ own transition to menopause reportedly began at the age of 36, and doctors offered little help in understanding her symptoms. By her early to mid-40s, Watts had intense symptoms but felt there was no community for advice. She has publicly spoken about the need to destigmatize menopause for women and make it a less isolating experience.
“I think there is real brand value in Naomi's personal story and being able to partner with her and really raise awareness of Wisp’s offering at scale,” Cepak noted. Watts, a successful, award-winning actress, will also be posting about Wisp on her social media.
Wisp has a range of its own OTC products, including supplements, lubricant and body cleansers, but it didn’t have ones designed specifically for menopause—despite Wisp members' interest in them.
“They might come to us initially for a prescription treatment, but they’re really looking for broader lifestyle women’s health products," Cepak said. “We’ve seen our own OTC product line double year over year.” Wisp will consider developing its own branded menopause products in the future, depending on demand.
Wisp does not accept insurance and is a fully-cash pay practice. Cepak doesn’t rule out expanding to insurance in the future.
“I do see us exploring insurance provider relationships,” Cepak noted. “We haven’t to date because our value prop is affordable, same-day treatment and the majority of our patients have insurance, but it ends up being cheaper than a copay and much faster.”