“What I say to men is: men, you have no idea how much happier you would be living in a world that was 50-50 equally led, managed, designed, and influenced by all of us. I am dying to live in a world that is run through the female lens.”
Since recording my latest episode with Cindy Gallop her words—and that glorious British accent—have completely shifted the way I see the world. From advertising to payment systems, AI, and even porn, Cindy’s message is clear: the default settings of the world are “male.”
Cindy points out something powerful in our conversation: “A fish doesn’t realize it’s swimming in water.” We, as women, often don’t realize the extent of what we’re swimming in—whether it’s the rape-culture narratives embedded in the porn we consume, the shame-inducing messages in advertising, or the payment systems that block us from accessing products and services designed to support our well-being.
But Cindy Gallop sees it all, and she’s doing something radically innovative to change the water we’re all swimming in.
About Cindy:
Born to an English father and Malaysian Chinese mother, Cindy Gallop grew up in Brunei before heading to Somerville College, Oxford University to study English Literature. She’s since built a career that spans 35 years in branding, marketing, and advertising. In 1998, she launched the U.S. office of Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) New York, becoming one of the rare female leaders in a male-dominated advertising industry, and was named Advertising Woman of the Year in 2003.
A campaign created by BBH London while Cindy was account manager there, currently featured in the exhibition 'Hard Graft: Work, Health And Rights' in London
Her next big leap? Not from the boardroom, but the bedroom. As part of “research” for work, Cindy starting dating younger men casually and recreationally on some cougar dating apps and made a shocking discovery: hardcore porn had become the default form of sex education for an entire generation of men.
Feeling like she couldn’t be the only one to notice the problem, Cindy delivered a TED Talk in 2009 that went viral and lead to the launch of MakeLoveNotPorn, a platform that promotes real, consensual, and honest sex.
Cindy on the Ted stage in 2009
Today, MakeLoveNotPorn is the world’s first user-generated social sex video platform, designed to shift the way we think about intimacy by promoting funny, sexy, consensual, inclusive sex, and by sharing its profits 50/50 with its global network of content creators.
Cindy’s philosophy? “Pro-sex. Pro-porn. Pro-knowing the difference.”
But MakeLoveNotPorn is just the start. Cindy’s ecosystem has grown to include MakeLoveNotPorn Academy for sex education, a FinTech solution to ensure fair payment systems for SexTech businesses, and an ad tech platform for ethical advertising. She’s even working on an AI tool to visualize and model real consent—something the world desperately needs.
Cindy isn’t just building a business. She’s rewriting the rules and creating a movement to change how we think about sex, pleasure, and empowerment—especially for women.
Some highlights from our conversation:
• The birth of MakeLoveNotPorn and how dating younger men casually opened Cindy’s eyes to the real impact of porn as sex education.
• Why Cindy’s pushing for a 50-50 world where women lead, manage, and design systems of power.
• The roadblocks Cindy faces trying to fund MakeLoveNotPorn and how she’s tackling systemic barriers with radical solutions.
• Cindy’s vision for using AI to model real consent and why it’s so critical in today’s world.
• Why Cindy believes that open, honest conversations about sex can change everything from relationships to power dynamics in the workplace.
• Why Cindy’s recipe for self-care will make every married mom weep with envy. :)
I promise you—this is spicy, saucy conversation (grab you headsets if you’ve got little ones around) that you do not want to miss. I even made a confession that I’ve never mention publicly.
Cindy’s insights will leave you questioning the water you’re swimming in and inspire you to rethink the systems we take for granted. Enjoy!
xxx
Zeva
PS. Listen to the episode above or on your favorite podcast platform. If you enjoy the episode, please share it with friends, give it a generous rating, and leave a comment below so I know just what resonated most!
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