Winx Takes on Emergency Contraception Politics, Education, and Sales (Of Course)

This commentary is a repost from “Sex on Wednesdays” by Martha Kempner on Substack. Find her other articles on The Queen Zone here.

If there’s any good news in women’s health right now, it’s that there are a lot of startups—often founded by young women—trying to ensure continued access to emergency contraception and other women’s health products. This week, I sat down with Jamie Norwood and Cynthia Plotch, the cofounders of Winx, which started selling pregnancy tests about six years ago. (The company was originally called Stix.)

I asked about their motivation for starting a new company, their decision to branch out into emergency contraception, and their blunt attitude toward politics.

Sex On Wednesday (SOW): Let’s start at the beginning. What are your backgrounds, and what prompted you to start Winx?

Jamie: Cynthia and I were co-workers at a small start-up when we were pretty much right out of college. We were like employees five and six. We worked there for few years and always talked about doing something ourselves. We liked the idea of being the ones in charge of hiring a team and building a product. We knew were passionate about women’s health, but Cynthia had an especially bad experience buying a pregnancy test that prompted this idea. She can tell you about that.

Cynthia: I mean, the short version is that I was in the drug store buying a pregnancy test and ran into my boyfriend’s—now ex boyfriend’s—mom.

You had the pregnancy test in your hand?

Cynthia: Yeah, and I dropped it ran like the mature, grown adult I am.

Jamie: She called me, and I understood what she was saying about buying those kinds of products. My stories are not quite as dramatic as that, but I’ve had bad experiences buying, in my case, UTI products. We thought maybe this was where we should start working on a business.  

I can imagine telling all my friends about the pregnancy test and the ex-boyfriend’s mom, but I’m not sure it would occur to me to then go out and start a new business. How do you make that leap?

Cynthia: We started by talking to people about their experiences so that we could understand if this was a universal thing, or a Cynthia and Jamie thing. We talked to people about their experiences buying and using these products and did some surveys. Then we got a little bit of funding to find a supplier and some product samples, and we just sort of chipped away nights and weekends at this project. We were lucky to get some amazing support early on and were able to raise some money for it.  

Jamie: Also, we were at an early-stage startup when we met. We had a sort of blueprint and had seen people do a very similar thing for a different product. That really enabled us to dive in because we knew what we had to do first, second, and third.  

No one wants to run into any potential mothers-in-law in Duane Reade, but what other problems were you trying to solve for?

Cynthia: In general, the biggest problem is confusion. The products are confusing to buy and confusing to use. If you’re in the women’s health aisle, nothing says UTI or yeast infection or even pregnancy test.

Starting from that first moment of the packaging, we make it incredibly clear to consumers exactly what the products will do. And that experience of simplification carries through the entire way. The product instructions are not written like a CVS receipt, right? They’re clear and easy to use so real people with vaginas can understand them.

Also, we’re making a brand that represents the experience of all users. This is especially important with pregnancy tests. Most of what’s on the market assumes that you want to be pregnant. That’s great, but a lot of people who buy them don’t want to be pregnant. That’s great too.

You’ve branched out into other products. Can you tell us about your UTI test and vaginal health test?

Jamie: These are tests you can take at home. There’s a digital component that will check your symptoms, analyze your results, and connect you to a doctor for prescription treatment if you need it. It’s almost like making the antibiotics available over the counter but with the clinical evidence that you need it and the help of a provider. It’s definitely safer than going online and trying to order antibiotics on your own, and it’s easier and more affordable than going to urgent care. 

How much is it?

Cynthia: Right now, there’s a $15 fee for the telehealth appointment, so less than the cost of most copays. You can use your own prescription plan for the medication if you have one. We also let you price compare so people without insurance will know what Walgreens or CVS or their local pharmacy charges. Plus, these are usually basic antibiotics which are traditionally not very expensive.

When did you launch Restart, your emergency contraception pills, and why? 

Jamie: We launched our emergency contraception in May of 2022 which was right before the Dobbs decision. That was on purpose. We knew that the Supreme Court was going to be voting on that case and how it was likely going to unfold. Obviously, we hoped for the best, but we knew that emergency contraception was an incredibly important product and about to be even more important.  

We did a lot of research and found that there was—and still is—a ton of confusion around the morning after pill. A lot of people think it’s the same as the abortion pill. They’re completely different products. It’s been one of our most popular products. Politically it’s our most important product, and it changed our trajectory as a business. We started with pregnancy tests and diagnostics tests, and now we’re providing EC and a ton of education around reproductive health and reproductive justice. That’s definitely something we want to continue to do. For our big marketing campaigns, we’ve taken out billboards that simply say, “the morning after pill is still legal.”  

Traditional packaged goods company’s often shy away from politics partly because in addition to selling women’s health products they’re selling kitty litter and soap. You guys seem to be embracing the politics behind your product. Was that a deliberate decision?

Jamie: It’s kind of new for us. We did not talk about politics the first few years of our business, and then once we launched emergency contraception, it didn’t even feel political anymore. It was just about women’s health. Our products are political by nature. I mean, even pregnancy tests are, so we decided to speak up. Last year, we partnered with a creator who was at the DNC to do some events and pass out our emergency contraception pills. The response was just amazing. We decided to lean into it. It’s what we believe, and it’s what we feel is right. Our brand grew a lot from being politically outspoken. We always want to stay true to our roots and advocate for what’s right while providing a product that everyone wants to use, no matter their beliefs, because a lot of people who don’t believe in abortion rights and reproductive rights do use these products and need them.  

Cynthia: It’s not that we ever saw ourselves as getting political. We just saw ourselves as protecting the community that we built. We never said pregnancy tests are a political product or emergency contraception is a political product, but women’s bodies are a political pawn. That happened to all of us, and we just decided that we weren’t going to stand for it.

Well said. We certainly are being used as pawns. What’s next for Winx?

Jamie: Right now, we’re focused on getting into drug stores and retailers. We want to make these products as accessible as possible and get them into the hands of everyone who needs them. We’ve always been digital first. If you’re on Gopuff or DoorDash, great, but a lot of people don’t use these apps. We want to be on shelf.   

Thanks so much for talking with us and sharing your experience.

Hopefully, we will find Winx products in the women’s health aisle someday soon. In the meantime, you can shop or read their blog at www.hellowinx.com.