For Hims & Hers Chief Operating Officer, Melissa Baird, there was no hesitation in signing up as one of the company’s first customers upon launch of its prescription weight loss treatments. After all, she has committed the last six years of her career at Hims & Hers to building an infrastructure that uniquely provides customers - like herself - a platform to make health and wellness more personal and more accessible. Today, Melissa is a Hers customer of compounded GLP-1 medication and seeing successful results. And she’s helping to lead the company through exciting growth of the high-quality and innovative personalized solutions for customers Hims & Hers has come to be known for.
We sat down with Melissa to discuss her role at Hims & Hers and the work that she has done to build and innovate the platform while using her own weight loss experience to uplevel Hims & Hers’ customer offerings.
You’re the Chief Operating Officer at Hims & Hers, and you’ve had quite the career helping to build impressive consumer brands. Tell us about your career journey and how you got here.
I should start by sharing that I’m a career switcher, I used to be a scientist. For ten years, I was a marine biologist, focused on population genetics for salmon, sea turtles, and killer whales. I switched careers in my early 30s and found myself in the business world, leading consumer facing companies like DTC retailers Zulily, Bonobos, and Reese Witherspoon’s Draper James.
Today, I’m the Chief Operating Officer at Hims & Hers, overseeing Engineering, Product, Operations, Pharmacy, and HR. Essentially, I oversee the teams that deliver our customers their Hims, or Hers, experience through the platform. Just four weeks after Hims initially launched, I met Founder and CEO, Andrew Dudum, and was inspired by the potential to transform healthcare, and have been at Hims & Hers ever since. I’m the most tenured person at the company besides Andrew and it’s been incredible to not only see the impact we’ve been able to make on millions of customers, but also see the company grow into a team of experts across disciplines from pharmaceutical, to medicine, to technology.
Something I love about my job is that it uniquely allows me to bring my scientific background to a consumer facing and customer focused company. In my role, I’ve guided Hims & Hers through strategic investments and key platform innovations to expand the breadth of capabilities we offer and continuously building on the experience our customers have as they go through their health and wellness journeys through our platform.
What do some of those investments, innovations, and expansions look like?
In the early days of my role, that work included designing and launching our original medical records platform, building our telemedicine support operation in a way that puts the patient first and motivates medical providers to ensure high quality care. We were bringing together the most valuable elements of consumer brands, technology companies and healthcare to deliver an experience unlike anything in the market. Additionally, we were expanding Hims & Hers’ capabilities through strategic acquisitions, such as Apostrophe, which helped us establish the compounding capabilities and expertise which are the foundation for many of the personalized offerings we have today.
Today, my focus is on strategic acquisitions that further enhance the durability of our supply chain and positions Hims & Hers to safely and consistently deliver medications to our customers. As we scale and continue to add capabilities to the platform, we are prioritizing quality, safety and the best-in-class experience our customers have come to expect.
You talk a lot about a best-in-class customer experience. What have you built at Hims & Hers that showcases this as a priority for the business?
Our mission is to make people feel great. Along with making sure meaningful treatments and services are available to those who need it, it’s important that our customers have complete trust and confidence in our offerings and with being on our platform. We’ve invested in building a world-class clinical team, we’ve also invested in the best infrastructure, like acquiring Apostrophe, And then leveraging our expertise in both medical expertise and infrastructure to be able to offer life-changing medications like GLP-1s.
Ahead of launching access to compounded GLP-1s, I drew on my scientific background to conduct extensive research into the FDA’s exhaustive list of registered 503B outsourcing facilities, putting rigorous standards in place for vetting and ultimately partnering with a leading US manufacturer of generic and 503B compounded injectable medications as our supplier for these drugs. With this partnership, we secured access to one of the highest-quality supplies of compounded GLP-1s available today.
The consumer need for affordable access to weight loss treatment is in high demand and being able to help meet today’s need with our GLP-1 offering because of the foundational work we’ve done over the past 6 years feels pretty amazing.
Speaking of GLP-1s, you’re sharing your weight loss journey for the first time ever as an executive at Hims & Hers. Can you tell us more about your story, and your experience as a customer?
I’ve struggled with my weight my entire adult life. I’ve tried programs across the board, from popular weight loss programs, to meal kits, to fad diets, and more. Like many that struggle with weight loss, they work for a little while, but then life happens. When you get to a certain weight, it’s difficult to be successful with weight loss because your metabolism slows down, and your body becomes insulin resistant and accustomed to holding onto extra weight. That’s when I’ve found that diet and exercise isn’t enough. You can, of course, diet and exercise, and it can work for some, but for others, weight loss drugs are necessary to become a healthier version of yourself.
When Hers began offering access to compounded GLP-1s, I felt great knowing exactly where the active ingredients are coming from, and I know all of the exhaustive research that went into the offering. I’ve tried other weight loss medications, and I know the Hers weight loss treatment is exceptionally good, and it works. I’ve been on compounded GLP-1s since Mayand I’ve already seen successful results. As someone who has tried so many different ways to find success with weight loss, I am proud to be able to, and continue to, offer my personal experiences as a customer, and strategic guidance as a leader, so that we can continue to deliver high-quality, safe, and affordable solutions that work.
You’ve shared that you’ve influenced and shaped the Hims & Hers weight loss treatment through your own experiences. Tell us a little more about that.
When preparing to launch Hims & Hers’ weight loss treatments, I was very involved in building the intake and flow process to ensure that we were being inclusive and sensitive to how emotional it can be to struggle with managing one’s weight. Those who are overweight or have obesity are often told that if they “just eat right and exercise, it’ll be fixed.” That sounds easy, but that’s not the reality for many, and I wanted to ensure that this was not how we were showing up for our customers. My goal is for Hims & Hers to be a one-stop program for customers to get all of their needs met, and I’m actively working with the team on bringing this to life. There’s still some things I want to build, and further personalization I want to see, but the fact that we’ve launched a safe, effective weight loss treatment during such a critical time, and we’re able to provide access to GLP-1s for people who need this medication during the GLP-1 shortage, is a game changer.
The fact of the matter is this is a health crisis, and it’s urgent. Hims & Hers’ weight loss solution has been helpful not only to me, but to many customers seeking accessible, affordable, and safe access to weight loss treatment, and I’m excited to be able to help those that struggle with the same thing I struggle with. I feel passionate about our responsibility to help solve this issue and do our part to contribute to the magnitude of health improvements among common symptoms of obesity, such as heart disease, diabetes, orthopedic surgeries, physical therapy, and much more.
There’s a lot of chatter about GLP-1s and concerns regarding side effects and more. Did you have any concerns about taking GLP-1s? Why did you choose Hims & Hers over others?
Like many people, I had concerns about taking GLP-1s and I wanted to make sure that what I’m putting in my body is safe, credible, and effective. I ultimately found that there has been so much research showcasing how safe these medications are, I was confident in the quality of our offering, and that the reward outweighs any risk. And, because Hims & Hers offers a truly personalized experience and treatment plan based on each customer’s individual needs, I knew that I’d receive best-in-class, effective care that works for me.
I chose compounded GLP-1s through Hims & Hers because I know firsthand the vital importance we place on offering access to the highest level of quality and care, and I know that we design our offerings with the most up-to-date clinical guidelines. Because Hims & Hers is providing access to compounded GLP-1s, customers like myself can access the same active ingredient as the branded medications without navigating the shortages that are currently limiting access to the medication.
Weight loss drugs come with stigmas and shaming of those that use GLP-1s. As a weight loss drug user yourself, how are you tackling those conversations?
Everyone deserves to feel accepted, appreciated, and empowered in their body, and I’m committed to breaking the stigmas that exist within the weight loss drug conversation. My belief is that, as a GLP-1 customer, it’s important to talk openly, honestly, and transparently in order to educate others that obesity and overweight are medical conditions, and they’re not a failure of self. I want anyone experiencing challenges with weight loss to know that it’s not a failure of character – it’s a condition.
At Hims & Hers, we are on a mission to remove the stigma around weight loss treatments by normalizing the conversation, and providing access to those who need it. For nearly 7 years, we’ve taken that approach with all kinds of sensitive, challenging conditions: breaking down barriers to accessing care, whether through raising awareness, removing stigma, improving access channels, and meaningfully lowering the cost of high-quality care.
What does the power of better health mean to you, and how is this step in your weight management journey part of that?
To me, the power of better health is giving customers and patients more freedom and choice in what they can access, the treatments they receive, and when and how they communicate with providers. I’ve experienced a lot of medical providers that are very paternalistic – making decisions on my behalf, minimizing my side effects and symptoms and invalidating my experiences, and dismissing my symptoms based on my menstrual cycle. The power of better health means giving me the opportunity to feel seen by a provider when discussing specific symptoms or health issues that I’m worried about.
If I’m nearing age 40, and my hair is starting to shed, I don’t want to only be told that “this is normal.” I want to be told that yes, it’s normal, but I can do something about it, and these are the choices I can make. I want a provider to help me feel better and healthier, and to stay feeling young as long as possible. I don’t believe that anyone should give up or be expected to give up when it comes to their health. Fifty is the new 30, and that number is going to continue to be pushed later in life because there are so many options today for people to feel good about themselves and be healthier later in life, and there’s a culture that’s encouraging it and accepting it more. That, to me, is the power of better health, and what I hope to achieve in the things we’re building at Hims & Hers.
