Elizabeth Holmes, 31, is the founder, chairman and CEO of Theranos, a health care tech company employing over 700 people in Palo Alto. Under her leadership, Theranos is “making lab testing more accessible so that early detection and prevention become realities in our health care system.”
Ms. Holmes is also living proof of what is possible in America, when you have a dream and work very hard to achieve it. She says, “I found what I loved, and I worked really hard to be able to build it into something that could make a difference.”
Last weekend in Washington, Holmes was honored at the 68th annual Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans awards ceremony which celebrates hard work and success in the face of adversity. The organization, which has privately awarded more than $100 million in college scholarships since 1984, also celebrated 106 new national scholars, who have overcome early adversities to get a needs-based scholarship to launch their own path to success.
Meeting and interacting with the young scholars was fresh on her mind as we filmed this 22 minute video interview. The students were captivated to witness a great example of American success during the event’s proceedings.
Before age 10, Holmes loved engineering and, with the support and encouragement of her parents, was thinking outside the box to solve problems. She left Stanford at age 19 to apply for her first patent. Today, she is a co-inventor on more than 320 patent applications and her company is worth $9 billion. She is also the youngest self-made female billionaire in the world.
Serious, serene and driven, you sense her energy in her presence. She is disrupting the health care industry to save lives, no matter the odds against her. In her trademark black turtleneck, she held up her “nano-tainer” that holds a raindrop of blood from a finger, rather than tubes of blood typically required, to conduct up to 30 tests, the results of which can be provided in less than a day. She is building out a lab infrastructure, starting in Arizona, showing that lab pricing can be transparent and affordable.
Holmes says “only in America” can people move from one end of the spectrum to the other, with a dream and hard work.
Asked about the difference between “lottery ticket luck” and “hard work luck,” Holmes says, “The people who have the opportunity to experience adversity, have the privilege of being able to channel it into something truly great. And that fuel, that fire, that motivation, that incredible appreciation for what you earn, because of your work, is one of the most phenomenal experiences, as a human being. And anyone who doesn’t get to experience that doesn’t get, in my opinion, that feeling of true success where you created something. That’s the American dream. That’s the legacy that we all have the privilege of being born into.”
She adds, “We got the lottery ticket when we were born in America.”
Her mission is to have testing available within 5 miles of anyone’s home, and she adds, and “that’s not just in America.”
Mrs. Thomas does not necessarily support or endorse the products, services or positions promoted in any advertisement contained herein, and does not have control over or receive compensation from any advertiser.
