Cindy Gallop: From BBH New York to MakeLoveNotPorn

Introduction

Cindy Gallop is a British-born advertising executive, entrepreneur, consultant, and public speaker. She is best known today as the founder and CEO of MakeLoveNotPorn, a business she first introduced publicly during a TED talk in 2009.

Her career started very differently.

She worked in theatre publicity before moving into advertising, spent years at Bartle Bogle Hegarty, and later set up BBH’s U.S. operation in New York.

Then she changed direction.

As of September 2026, Gallop continues to lead MakeLoveNotPorn while working across business, public speaking, consulting, sex education, and gender-equality issues.

Quick Facts

Fact	Details
Full professional name	Cindy Gallop
Legal name in U.S. company filings	Lucinda Lee Gallop
Age	66, publicly stated in 2026
Born	United Kingdom
Raised	Brunei
Education	Somerville College, University of Oxford
Profession	Entrepreneur, consultant, speaker, advertising executive
Current role	Founder and CEO of MakeLoveNotPorn
Other venture	IfWeRanTheWorld
Former company	Bartle Bogle Hegarty
Major former role	Leader of BBH’s U.S. operation
Industry award	Advertising Woman of the Year, 2003
Current base	New York
Education project	MakeLoveNotPorn Academy

Who Is Cindy Gallop?

Cindy Gallop spent much of her early professional life in advertising.

That part matters.

Before MakeLoveNotPorn became closely connected with her name, she had already built a long career at one of the advertising industry’s recognised agencies.

She later moved into entrepreneurship.

That move gave her more freedom to work on ideas she felt traditional companies were not handling well, including gender equality, sex education, workplace culture, female entrepreneurship, and attitudes around sex.

Her public work can sometimes attract strong reactions.

Still, her career record is clear.

She has worked in advertising, built companies, spoken at major business events, and continued running MakeLoveNotPorn into 2026.

Early Life and Background

Gallop was born in the United Kingdom.

She grew up in Brunei.

On her official website, she describes her father as English and her mother as Malaysian Chinese. That international upbringing became part of a life that would later include work across different countries.

She eventually studied at Somerville College, University of Oxford.

Theatre interested her early on.

After university, she went into theatre publicity and marketing rather than immediately joining an advertising agency.

That first career path did not last.

Advertising came next.

Education at Oxford

Gallop studied at the University of Oxford, attending Somerville College.

Her Oxford education is confirmed through her official professional material.

She has also spoken about her interest in theatre during this period.

That interest led naturally into publicity work.

Then advertising opened another door.

It became the field where she built her first major professional reputation.

Her Advertising Career

Gallop joined Bartle Bogle Hegarty, better known as BBH.

She spent years with the company.

Her work eventually took her to the United States, where she was given responsibility for establishing BBH’s American operation.

In 1998, she moved to New York and helped set up BBH US.

It was a major career move.

TED’s official profile says the U.S. operation was named Adweek’s Eastern Agency of the Year four years later.

Gallop held senior leadership positions within the American business and became closely associated with BBH’s growth in the U.S.

Her industry profile rose too.

In 2003, she was named Advertising Woman of the Year.

She left BBH in 2005.

After that, she chose a more independent path.

Leaving BBH and Starting Something New

Leaving a senior agency role gave Gallop room to try different projects.

She began working as a consultant.

She also moved further into public speaking, brand work, entrepreneurship, and business advising.

Basically, she stopped following one company track.

She started building her own.

Two projects became especially important: IfWeRanTheWorld and MakeLoveNotPorn.

The second would become the project most associated with her public name.

How MakeLoveNotPorn Started

MakeLoveNotPorn began publicly with a short TED talk in 2009.

The basic idea was direct.

Gallop wanted people to understand that pornography should not be treated as an instruction manual for real-life sex.

She used the talk to compare common porn conventions with real sexual relationships and communication.

The idea got attention quickly.

It later grew from a talking point into a business.

MakeLoveNotPorn developed as a human-curated platform based around real-world intimacy and sexual relationships, with a strong focus on consent, communication, and separating everyday sexual behaviour from porn performance.

The business remained active into 2026.

Gallop remains its founder and CEO.

IfWeRanTheWorld

Gallop also founded IfWeRanTheWorld.

The project was built around turning ideas and intentions into small practical actions.

It went into beta in 2010.

The concept attracted academic interest.

Harvard Business School published a teaching case about IfWeRanTheWorld in 2011, giving students a business case based on the project, its model, and the decisions around its development.

It remains an important part of Gallop’s entrepreneurial record.

Still, MakeLoveNotPorn became her more visible venture.

From Idea to MakeLoveNotPorn.tv

The MakeLoveNotPorn idea later grew into a user-generated platform.

Gallop worked with Corey Innis and Oonie Chase on the project, and MakeLoveNotPorn.tv entered public beta in 2013.

The business model was unusual.

That created problems too.

Adult-content restrictions across payment providers, technology services, banking systems, and investment networks made it harder to operate and raise money.

Gallop has talked publicly about those barriers for years.

Company material filed with U.S. regulators in 2026 still discussed infrastructure restrictions as a business challenge.

So this issue did not simply disappear.

MakeLoveNotPorn Academy

Gallop later expanded her work into education.

That led to MakeLoveNotPorn Academy.

The company says an early beta version was built and released during 2025.

The Academy focuses on age-appropriate educational material related to sex, relationships, consent, bodies, communication, and other subjects people may struggle to discuss openly.

Content is human-curated.

The project also separates material by age suitability.

By 2026, the Academy had become one of Gallop’s main current projects alongside the existing MakeLoveNotPorn business.

What Is Cindy Gallop Doing Now?

As of September 2026, Cindy Gallop remains Founder and CEO of MakeLoveNotPorn.

This is backed by the company’s March 2026 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

She also continues speaking publicly.

Her appearances have covered advertising, gender equality, entrepreneurship, personal branding, sex education, business culture, and funding barriers faced by female founders.

In June 2026, she appeared at Cannes Lions with her MakeLoveNotPorn founder and CEO title.

She also took part in Streamer University in 2026, where she spoke to younger online creators about branding and subjects linked to her business work.

So, she is still active.

Her work now sits across several areas rather than one traditional job.

Cannes Lions and Advertising Industry Work

Gallop never completely left advertising behind.

She has remained involved through speaking, consulting, judging, and industry discussions.

One notable role came in 2015, when she served as Jury President for the first Glass Lion at Cannes Lions.

The award was created around work addressing gender inequality and representation.

She later returned as Glass Lion Jury President for its 10th edition in 2024.

Gallop also appeared at Cannes Lions again in 2026.

Her advertising career, then, did not simply end when she left BBH.

It changed shape.

Personal Life

Gallop has spoken publicly about her own approach to marriage and family life.

In first-person interviews, she has said she has never wanted to marry and never wanted children.

She has also spoken positively about living independently.

These are her own public statements.

Her professional material places her in New York, where much of her business career has been based since establishing BBH’s U.S. operation.

Details beyond what she has chosen to discuss publicly are not needed to understand her work.

Cindy Gallop’s Business Information

Make Love Not Porn LLC has filed financial information publicly through the U.S. SEC because of its fundraising activity.

The figures give a much clearer picture than unsupported personal wealth estimates.

For 2025, the company reported:

• Revenue of $939,184
• A net loss of $319,146
• Total assets of $385,228
• Cash and cash equivalents of $61,733
• Five employees at the end of the reporting period

For comparison, the business reported $602,588 in revenue during 2024.

That means reported revenue rose between the two years, though the company still reported a loss.

These figures belong to the company.

They should not be treated as Gallop’s personal income or wealth.

Investment and Ownership

Public regulatory material also gives some information about the company’s ownership structure.

A company disclosure filed through the SEC listed Gallop with 38.6% voting power in Make Love Not Porn LLC.

Jam Tomorrow was listed with a larger share of voting power.

The business has raised outside funding through several rounds across its history, including equity, convertible investment, and crowdfunding.

This matters because MakeLoveNotPorn has faced an unusual funding problem.

Its subject matter puts it in a category that many investors, payment companies, banks, and technology providers restrict.

Gallop has made that issue a major part of her public business discussions.

Gender Equality and Workplace Advocacy

Gallop has spent years speaking about gender inequality in advertising and business.

She has criticised male-dominated leadership structures.

She has also pushed companies to deal more directly with sexual harassment and workplace misconduct.

During the #MeToo period, she became particularly vocal about harassment inside the advertising industry.

Her approach was often direct.

That brought attention.

It also made her part of wider industry debates around workplace behaviour, gender representation, leadership, and accountability.

These subjects remain part of her speaking work.

Why Cindy Gallop Is Well Known

There are two clear stages to Gallop’s public career.

The first is advertising.

She built her reputation through BBH, opened its U.S. operation, held senior leadership roles, and earned industry recognition.

The second is entrepreneurship.

MakeLoveNotPorn pushed her into a very different public space, combining business with conversations about sex, consent, relationships, education, technology, and social attitudes.

That second chapter has now lasted for years.

And she is still working on it.

Major Career Milestones

1998: Moved to New York to establish BBH’s U.S. operation.

2003: Named Advertising Woman of the Year.

2005: Left BBH and moved into independent consulting and entrepreneurial work.

2009: Introduced MakeLoveNotPorn during her TED talk.

2010: IfWeRanTheWorld entered beta.

2011: Harvard Business School published a case about IfWeRanTheWorld.

2013: MakeLoveNotPorn.tv entered public beta.

2015: Served as Jury President for the first Glass Lion at Cannes Lions.

2024: Returned as Glass Lion Jury President for its 10th edition.

2025: MakeLoveNotPorn Academy’s early beta was released.

2026: Continued leading MakeLoveNotPorn and appearing at major industry and creator events.

Interesting Facts About Cindy Gallop

Gallop’s MakeLoveNotPorn TED appearance was short, but the idea eventually became a company.

She began her career around theatre.

Advertising came later.

Her business IfWeRanTheWorld became the subject of a Harvard Business School teaching case.

She also wrote the TED Book Make Love Not Porn: Technology’s Hardcore Impact on Human Behavior.

Her business remains relatively small in staffing terms. SEC filings reported five employees at the end of 2025.

Yet its public reach has been much bigger.

Gallop has spoken at TED, Cannes Lions, business conferences, universities, advertising events, and creator-focused programmes.

Final Thought

Cindy Gallop’s career has taken some sharp turns.

Theatre came first.

Advertising followed.

Then came entrepreneurship.

Her BBH years established her as a senior advertising executive, while MakeLoveNotPorn gave her a public identity far outside the traditional agency business.

As of 2026, she is still running that company, building its education work, consulting, and speaking publicly.

The most useful way to understand her career is simple: she moved from running advertising businesses to building companies around ideas she wanted discussed more openly.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Cindy Gallop?

Cindy Gallop is an entrepreneur, former senior advertising executive, consultant, and public speaker. She is the founder and CEO of MakeLoveNotPorn and also founded IfWeRanTheWorld.

How old is Cindy Gallop?

Gallop publicly described herself as 66 years old in 2026.

Where was Cindy Gallop born?

She was born in the United Kingdom and grew up in Brunei.

Where did Cindy Gallop study?

She attended Somerville College at the University of Oxford.

What is Cindy Gallop known for?

She is known for her advertising career at BBH and for founding MakeLoveNotPorn. She also founded IfWeRanTheWorld.

Did Cindy Gallop work at BBH?

Yes. She had a long career with Bartle Bogle Hegarty and moved to New York in 1998 to establish its U.S. operation.

What is MakeLoveNotPorn?

MakeLoveNotPorn is a company founded by Gallop after she introduced the idea during a TED talk in 2009. Its work centres on real-world sex, communication, consent, and separating real sexual relationships from porn conventions.

What does Cindy Gallop do in 2026?

As of September 2026, she remains the founder and CEO of MakeLoveNotPorn. She also works across public speaking, consulting, education, advertising, and entrepreneurship.

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