The Velvet Lab Podcast .

In The Velvet Lab whether you're in healthcare, consumer tech, or policy, this is your space to unpack big ideas, untangle hidden tensions, and spark clarity around changemakers shaping the future of women’s health, what’s working, what’s missing, and what’s next.



Season 1


From Insight to Infrastructure.

Strategic Briefs


Women’s Health at a Crossroads: Where Women’s Health Strategy Must Go Next w/ Sheena D. Franklin, Managing Director, 1836 & Co.

The Five Pillars: What Most Founders and Funds Still Don’t Get w/ Sheena D. Franklin, Managing Director, 1836 & Co.

Why Trust Is Your Real Risk Model in FemTech w/ Sheena D. Franklin, Managing Director, 1836 & Co.

The Data Gap Is a Business Risk, Not a Research Problem w/ Sheena D. Franklin, Managing Director, 1836 & Co.

From Insight to Infrastructure: What This Season Revealed w/ Sheena D. Franklin, Managing Director, 1836 & Co.

Expert Dialogues


"Women’s Health Needs Standards, Not Just Innovation” w/ Kerri Conn Haresign, Director of Industry Standards, The Consumer Technology Association


Designing Beyond the Pink Label: Fixing the Product Gap in Women’s Health w/ Beenish Zia, Health & Life Sciences Technologist, Intel

Founding Through the Gap: Building Clinical Credibility in Women’s Health w/ Kirthika Parmeswaran, Founder & CEO, Vital Start Health

Scaling with Integrity: What Growth Looks Likes When Trust Comes First w/ Danny Mendoza, Chief Growth Officer, Vital Start Health

The Mental Model is Broken: Redesigning Behavioral Health with Women in Mind w/ Brianna Brennan, Chief Innovation Officer, Ontrak Health