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On this episode of This Is Paris, we get a double treat as Paris Hilton and her co-host Hunter March sit down with boss babe Cindy Eckert, the founder of Sprout Pharmaceuticals and The Pink Ceiling, to hear how she developed the first FDA-approved drug for women’s libido issues and how she started investing in women-led businesses. Then, Cindy turns the tables, interviewing Paris as an introduction to the new podcast spinoff she’ll be hosting, Dominated. She asks Paris all about her worst jobs on The Simple Life, how she built her brand and her multiple businesses, her activism, and so much more. It’s two powerhouse interviews in one convenient episode.
Cindy got into pharma right out of college, she tells Paris, mainly because she wanted to work for Fortune’s most admired company, Merck. But she really “fell in love with the science” and started looking for opportunities to own a piece of the industry. She “chased innovation” and eventually started a successful business working in male sexual dysfunction. That’s when she realized that there were 26 FDA-approved drugs for men’s sexual problems, but not a single one for women – even though a third of women she surveyed expressed dissatisfaction with their level of sexual desire. She could see there was a real problem to solve and a real market to capitalize on, even though “I was laughed out of every room.” But she and Paris both know the power of being underestimated: “There’s something about walking out of those rooms thinking, ‘Watch me.’”
Paris has been underestimated “my whole life,” especially after playing the character she created for The Simple Life: “I’m not a dumb blonde, I’m just really good at playing one,” she laughs. But she saw the opportunity: The show got 13 million views, and she knew she could put that fame and audience to good use. She invented getting paid to party; she developed fragrances and clothing lines; she made an album and started DJing; she wrote a book. Now she makes NFTs, too. Cindy remarks that people probably don’t realize how hard Paris actually works, but that’s how success happens. “We really do celebrate unicorns, right?” she says; people who seem to succeed from just being in the right place at the right time. But “you gotta embrace the workhorse to become the unicorn….put your head down, do the hard work, the workhorse becomes the unicorn. That’s the truth.” Hear all about these two brilliant businesswomen on this episode of This Is Paris.
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