Axios House: Women in wellness focus on each other

CANNES, France — New initiatives from tennis champion and entrepreneur Maria Sharapova and Joy 101 founder and CEO Hoda Kotb center on women, they said at a June 24 Axios Live event.

Why it matters: Women's health and wellness have historically been overlooked, creating a demand for products and experiences that prioritize them.

Axios' Sara Fischer and Kerry Flynn moderated the conversations with Sharapova and Kotb, a bestselling author and award-winning journalist, for the program, which was sponsored by Havas.

What they're saying: The first season of Sharapova's new podcast, "Pretty Tough," features exclusively women, she told Axios.

• Sharapova and her trainer would listen "to Guy Raz … to Joe Rogan. We listened to them all. And then I realized: How many female-hosted podcasts am I actually listening to?"
• "It's an incredibly diverse group of women that have achieved the highs, but I'm interested in the honest conversations, and what it takes" to succeed as a woman, she added.
• Women "need a place that we can feel those feelings," Kotb said of her new app, Joy 101, which she's described as "a retreat in your pocket."

The bottom line: "When you think of the responsibilities that you hold as a woman — between work, family, your child — on a daily basis, it becomes overwhelming. … You have to find ways to be selfish and take care of yourself," Sharapova said.

Content from the sponsor's segment:

In a View From the Top conversation, Havas Health Network global chief creative officer Eric Weisberg said, "We have a widening gap of economic stability, and that leads to there being people that have access to longevity tools and services, and … people that don't."