The media attention surrounding convicted Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes never ceases, especially now that she’s the subject of a scripted, true-crime miniseries, The Dropout. Starring Amanda Seyfried, the eight-part drama chronicles the meteoric rise and fall of the deep-voiced, blonde entrepreneur’s quest to create a groundbreaking home device that people could use to test their blood for all types of illnesses.
Despite her attempts to revolutionize the healthcare industry, her Silicon Valley startup proved to be nothing more than a false promise that cost investors millions of dollars. With The Dropout streaming on Hulu, here’s what to remember about Holmes, her conviction, and where she is now.
Her Rise
As a 19-year-old sophomore at Stanford, Holmes decided to found a company, which would eventually become Theranos (derived from “therapy” and “diagnosis”). Her goal was to develop a device that would draw a substantial amount of testable blood from no more than a prick of a finger, with the hope that it could then be tested for all types of healthcare needs.
A little over a year later, in 2004, the college dropout reportedly raised $6 million to fund her ambitions. And by 2010, Theranos had collected more than $92 million in venture capital, making Holmes a sudden star of Silicon Valley. She soon found herself on the covers of Fortune and Inc., with Forbesdubbing her the youngest self-made female billionaire in 2014 and Time magazine listing her as one of the “100 most influential people” a year later.
In 2013, Theranos, which was now valued at $10 billion, partnered with Walgreens to launch in-store blood collection centers and two years later, the company established partnerships with Cleveland Clinic, Capital BlueCross, and AmeriHealth Caritas despite not having produced a functioning device.
Her Voice
Having always looked up to Apple founder Steve Jobs, Holmes eventually and intentionally started copying his style, most notably by wearing his signature black turtleneck sweaters and always seen with a green smoothie in her hand.
Around the time she reportedly started changing her look, Holmes also started speaking in a deep baritone, which was not the normal sound of her voice. This became the subject of controversy and ridicule over time, with Saturday Night Live star Chloe Fineman later performing a spot-on impression of her on Instagram.