29 Aug 2010

ChickRx: Health Advice from your Best Friend (If She Actually Knew Something)

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20-something women rejoice: ChickRx is here to give you health advice on those taboo subjects you Google only to find a less-than-optimal Yahoo! Answers thread. Launched earlier this month, ChickRx is determined to "give you legit expert health information and entertain you at the same time (let's face it... a lot of the shit we do and worry about is actually pretty funny). We work with a dedicated panel of health experts (Rxperts), contributing experts and funny young women writers to deliver health information that 20-something chicks care about most."

After chatting with and interviewing co-founders Stacey Borden and Meghan Muntean, they explained they created ChickRx to fill a gap in health information available online. The main categories they cover are sex & gynecology, fitness & nutrition, emotional health & relationships, dermatology, and general health. Stacey pointed out,

"A lot of women feel alone in things. You can talk to your friends and they are comforting, but they aren't always accurate."

Some of the topics we talked about:

Humor:

ChickRx founders chose a snarky tongue-in-cheek attitude to deliver daily information to differentiate themselves from other sterile health advice sites. They especially didn't want the website to be preachy like a mom talking. Paying attention to details, each ChickRx post has witty tags at the bottom of articles. Some of my favorites: Mastication Complication, But What if I Miss a Booty Call, Blame the Paparazzi, and It's a Food Baby Not a Real One.

Celebrities:

"Celebrities look beautiful, but no is perfect," said Meghan.

"Women should feel comfortable and not embarrassed and ashamed that hey, they have diarrhea sometimes. You can still have those things and be a cool, hot girl! Guys laugh at bodily problems, but girls don't want to come off as gross."

Stacey adds, "Celebrities have a massive microphone. When you find out Kim Kardashian is using a certain product, you don't have an expert's unbiased view on whether it's good for you." And that's where the CelebRx section of ChickRx comes into play.

Privacy:

Anonymity is an important function of the ChickRx. The duo decided not to use Facebook Connect to emphasize to site users that your identity is in no way connected to what you say or ask on the site. "No one really will say I love Gaurdasil on Facebook, but they can talk about the topic on ChickRx," said Stacey.

Future Plans:

Currently Stacey and Meghan are focused on building a strong brand, but ultimately they see ChickRx doing things in multimedia and offline applications.

So who are the sassy ladies behind ChickRx?

Stacey Borden and Meghan Muntean met five years ago through 85 Broads, a global women's network, where they grew to respect each other's talent and decided they wanted to eventually go into business together. Two years ago during a conversation about birth control, ChickRx was conceived. But it wasn't until last year that the pair saw their passion and reality mesh together. Both Stacey and Meghan are seriously smart chicks with degrees from Harvard and Princeton (respectively) who both took huge gambles to make the project materialize; Stacey passed up an opportunity at Apple and Meghan halted her private equity interviews.

A little more about the pair:

Favorite blog or website:

Stacey: "Perez Hilton and Gawker. I enjoy the humor and they're fun to read. I got into them when I was in [working] in finance because Gmail, Gchat and Facebook were blocked!"

Meghan: "My answer is boring, but my go to site is Facebook to get info on my friends. I also love Gawker and Jezebel because they're snarky."

Favorite iPhone app:

Stacey: "Emoji! It's an app with icons that you can send in text messages. They have pictures of everything like a surfer, ghost or French fries. I'm a big texter, people get a big kick out of it!"

Meghan: "My favorite [Emoji] icon is the little pig! But my favorite app is so dorky and embarrassing, it's a fitness app called MyFitnessPal. It tracks calories and exercises. After it help me lose a few pounds, all my friends started using it."

Starbucks order:

Stacey: "Some mornings Starbucks is my office! My go to drink is a mocha frap light, but I'm a carb lover too. I like the bread muffins and all of their scones. I like drinks that taste like desserts."

Meghan: "I don't drink calories unless it's alcohol, so I can tell you my favorite drink is vodka on the rocks with four lemons squeezed."

Stacey: "She calls it the Meghan! She named it after herself."

Superpower choice:

Stacey: "I don't know if I should go the altruistic or selfish route, so I'll go sentimental. I'd choose to time travel [to the past] so I could see what my parents and grandparents were like and time travel in the future to see who I am going to get married to. I'm just curious about it."

Meghan: "I want every superpower, so I'd wish for a perma-genie to keep in my pocket. That way I could get anything I needed anytime!"

ChickRx has already been featured in TechCrunch, PSFK, The Huffington Post and more. So if you're not already visiting, you're seriously missing out. Oh and don't forget to send a link to your "know-it-all" friend too.