Mary Camacho on Privacy-First Wearables, Stakeholder Governance, and Listening to the Market

A chain of introductions brought host Liz Sweigart and Mary Camacho together at DWeb Camp, where a quick hello became hours of “problem-solving joy.” In this episode of Past the Profile, Mary, a longtime decentralized-tech operator, host of the Terms of Service podcast, and now founder of Cirdia, traces how a Fitbit on her wrist and a privacy gut-check turned into a company: privacy-first wellness wearables built for real people (starting with women 45+) who refuse to be “sold out” by their devices. She and Liz dive into why Cirdia incorporated as a public benefit corporation, how governance (not just privacy) is the hard problem, and what rapid market testing taught them about notifications, form factors, and dignity by design.

Highlights

• From crypto debates to Cirdia: why health/wellness data should remain sovereign to the person—shared only by explicit choice.
• Governance matters: PBC incorporation now; a future community/employee ownership path to avoid the “sell to a platform” trap.
• Research first: 1,200+ survey responses in 30 days; women 45+ want devices that look good, don’t nag, and don’t leak data.
• Meaningful notifications: the mother/daughter/aging-parent reality—get the right signals on your wrist without living on your phone.
• Context that changed the stakes: menstrual-app lawsuits, DNA data on the auction block, and why “privacy is normal.”
• What’s next: Cirdia’s angel round and a waitlist ahead of the February launch.

Other stuff mentioned in this episode:

• Rabble's Revolution.Social inaugural podcast episode with Jack Dorsey
• My dissertation (and the Tl;dr version)
• Holochain
• Visvere