In 2013, Dr. Paris Sabo, a breast-cancer surgeon, grew more conscious of the toxic ingredients found in everyday personal care products especially when she saw her 18-month old son eating toothpaste. Around that time also, Dr. Pooneh Ramezani, a dentist for more than 20 years, got a lot of inquiries from her patients about natural-ingredient kinds of toothpaste, but she can't recommend anything. That's when they knew they had to do something.
From 2013 to 2014, they juggled their time in researching ingredients, interviewing formulators, surveying family and friends as potential customers, while at the same time continuing their doctoral practice and being mothers.
"It was very challenging for me with two kids, a full-time practice and a startup," Ramezani told Entrepreneur magazine. "It was many sleepless nights. And at one point, my career supported a very lavish lifestyle -- leaving that to work on a startup that required both energy and money, it was difficult. But if we can do it, anyone can do it."
It wasn't easy for them at the start. Suppliers are doubtful of them being a woman-owned company. They even had to beg for small batch deliveries because of apparent proprietary and trade secrets. But with enough persistence and wit, they have built a solid audience on Instagram even before their official product launch in November 2015.
Since then, they caught the attention of many health-conscious consumers, as well as retail companies Target and Urban Outfitters that carry Dr. Brite products in their stores. They have kept their company self-funded until they won the Tory Burch Foundation pitch competition in 2017 that would definitely help them grow their business even more.
For more information about Dr. Brite and/or to order online, visit www.drbrite.com.
