Women’s health has always lived in the margins of mainstream medicine. It is dissected, debated, and often dismissed—particularly when hormones enter the conversation. For years, perimenopause and menopause were treated as inevitable declines, not as transitions deserving care. But the silence is breaking. And at the center of this shift is one company that decided women deserved something better, not eventually—but now.
That company is Winona.
Not a pharmaceutical giant. Not a faceless tech startup. But a physician-led, data-informed, patient-first telehealth platform that chose to rewrite the way women access hormonal care. This isn’t branding—it’s precision. This isn’t about “empowerment” in quotation marks—it’s about giving women actual tools to address symptoms that affect every layer of their lives.
The Problem No One Solved
It starts with the symptoms—those subtle but unmistakable signals that something inside is shifting. Sleep fragments. Energy wanes. Skin thins. Sex hurts. Thoughts fog. What follows is often a carousel of dismissals: “You’re just stressed.” “It’s part of aging.” “Have you tried yoga?”
These aren’t minor inconveniences. They’re identity-altering changes. And yet, for decades, the standard advice was to wait it out. To toughen up. To remain silent in the name of resilience.
The medical system wasn’t built for this part of a woman’s life. In a 2022 survey, the Menopause Journal found that 83 of 99 PDs agreed or strongly agreed that their programs needed more menopause educational resources. Primary care physicians are often untrained, under-resourced, or simply unaware of current protocols. And so, millions of women go untreated—not by choice but by design.
This was the gap Winona saw. And this is the gap it stepped into—not as a disruptor, but as a builder.
A Company Built on Listening
Winona didn’t launch with slogans. It launched with silence—intentional silence. Listening. Absorbing the stories of women who felt invisible in exam rooms, unheard by their providers, or gaslit into believing their suffering was a character flaw.
From that listening came design. Winona’s care model begins with what the patient feels—not just what lab numbers show. The intake process allows for nuance. The provider relationship is ongoing. And the prescriptions are not off-the-shelf—they’re formulated with bioidentical hormones, tailored to each individual’s biology.
This is not a model designed for scale. It’s a model designed for accuracy.
Every aspect of Winona’s system—from the digital forms to the compounding pharmacies it partners with—is optimized for one goal: making women feel seen, treated, and better.
Why Bioidentical Hormones Matter
There is still confusion in the public about hormone therapy. Much of it traces back to outdated research and generalized fear. But today, science tells a different story. For most women under 60 or within 10 years of menopause, hormone therapy offers more benefits than risks—especially when delivered thoughtfully.
Winona prescribes bioidentical hormones, which are chemically identical to the ones a woman’s body naturally produces. These hormones are often more easily absorbed and better tolerated. Whether delivered through creams, tablets, or patches, they mimic the body’s original hormonal rhythm rather than disrupting it.
This distinction is critical. Because treatment shouldn’t feel foreign—it should feel like coming home to yourself.
Telehealth as Equalizer
One of Winona’s most radical ideas wasn’t in the medicine but in the delivery.
By building a telehealth-first model, Winona simultaneously eliminated multiple barriers: geography, time, stigma, and cost. There were no waiting rooms, no referrals, no judgment—just personalized care delivered with clarity.
And this isn’t light-touch telehealth. Licensed physicians evaluate patients, offer regular follow-up, and prescribe based on a complete clinical picture. It’s not fast medicine—it’s focused medicine.
This accessibility has opened care to women who live in rural areas, who juggle multiple jobs, who have been told “you’re too young for menopause” or “it’s just part of aging.” It has expanded not just who gets care, but who believes they’re entitled to it.
Measuring Success Without Vanity Metrics
In an age where startups boast of user counts and revenue growth, Winona measures something else: symptom relief. Patient messages. Improved sleep. Resumed intimacy. Clearer thinking.
Winona doesn’t flood its homepage with transformation photos or celebrity endorsements. Instead, it relies on what matters most—what women say after three months, six months, a year. The stories of women who say, “I finally feel like myself again,” are the real case studies.
That’s the prescription. Not just the hormone compounds, but the structure that allows them to be delivered with integrity.
Leading the Cultural Shift
This is more than a business story—it’s a cultural one. Every time a woman accesses care through Winona, she becomes part of a larger movement—one that says menopause deserves more than a shrug, one that insists hormone health is not a luxury but a baseline.
Winona isn’t just meeting a need. It’s shaping a new standard.
The impact ripples outward into relationships, careers, families, and futures. A woman who sleeps again shows up differently in the world. A woman who reclaims her libido engages differently with her partner. A woman who feels sharp again walks into meetings differently. These are not side effects. These are outcomes.
What’s Next?
Winona continues to grow—not recklessly but responsibly. It’s expanding across states, investing in educational tools, and refining treatment protocols. But its north star remains fixed: to offer evidence-based, hormone-informed, deeply human care to midlife women.
Perhaps most importantly, to ensure they never again have to ask, “Is this just me?”
Because the answer is no, it never was. And now, finally, someone is doing something about it.
