After being diagnosed in college with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), a serious women's health problem that causes symptoms ranging from chronic fatigue to anxiety, digestive and fertility problems, Ashley Harmon visited specialists and tried medications that they failed. with a sequential solution. Then one day, she found a doctor who helped diagnose her vitamin deficiencies, and once they were resolved, she began to feel better. However, plugins cost hundreds of dollars a month, and Harmon found it prohibitively expensive as a college student, so she learned how to do it.
Since then, Harmon has been researching ingredients, developing formulas, and testing them for the past decade. He never imagined he would build a business around it, but when the pandemic hit Harmon: "I learned firsthand that communities of color were disproportionately affected. That same year, major health organizations recognized vitamin D deficiency as a factor Severe COVID-19, studies have revealed an increased risk of breast cancer, dementia, etc. It has also been reported that 76-90% of melanites are deficient in vitamin D due to various factors, especially the effect on melanin.The body's ability to absorb vitamin D from the sun.
After hearing the news, Harmon began searching for a high-quality, affordable multivitamin to recommend to friends and family. And despite the size of the $35 billion supplement industry, it hasn't found one that fully meets the nutritional needs of people with melanoma. This inspired Harmon to create Mela Vitamins, "the first and only health company to develop supplements to meet the unique nutritional needs of people with melanization."
Harmon shares more about the science behind the supplement, how he and the team are looking to scale, his experiences exploring the supplement industry, and words of wisdom for others interested in getting into the industry.
The science behind supplements
Through scientific research, consultation with health professionals, and consumer focus groups to understand the nutritional needs and demands of their community, the Mela Vitamins team developed Daily Essential Multivitamin, which contains essential vitamins, probiotics, and adaptogens for melanotic women. . Based on recent research on how melanin affects the body's ability to absorb nutrients from the sun, including vitamin D, Harmon and her team found it important to include high doses of high-quality vitamin D in your daily staple foods. As Harmon shares, she finds that "other multivitamins on the market often don't have adequate levels to correct or prevent deficiencies."
In addition to meeting vitamin D needs, the Mela Vitamins team believes it is important to include other ingredients to help members of the community with more pressing needs. "Melanoids have faced a variety of health risks over the years for a variety of reasons. Along with the daily requirement, we also intend to include other ingredients that help melanoids address specific health concerns," shares Harmon. Studies in the US have shown that Melanotans are twice as likely to develop diabetes and heart disease in their lifetime. Mela Vitamin Group contains Ceylon cinnamon and five probiotic strains that help regulate blood sugar and improve heart health. Knowing that people with Melania have higher rates of dementia and Alzheimer's disease, they include lion's mane, vitamin B12, and vitamin E to support cognitive health and mental focus.
apple vitamin scale
"It took more than a year to produce during the pandemic: ingredients ran out, shipments were delayed, and our FDA-registered manufacturing facility was delayed for months," Harmon said. Following this delay, Mela Vitamin launched its daily essentials in July 2022. Since its inception, the group has received an overwhelming response from consumers and healthcare professionals. "People are excited to find a non-inclusive product tailored to their unique nutritional needs and health goals. We are grateful to be able to create a clean, effective and affordable multivitamin for a community that has been largely ignored by the health industry ". Harmon expanded.
With the launch of Daily Essential Multivitamin on the Mela Vitamins website, the product has expanded to retailers in Los Angeles and online marketplaces across the United States. In addition, the company also offers a subscription service to make it easy for customers to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Additionally, as the company continues to expand, the Mela Vitamins team is committed to empowering the Mela community to make health a priority through educational campaigns, face-to-face events, and direct conversations with health professionals.
"With a complicated and often damaging history in the health and wellness industry, people of color continue to face inequality. This has created not only mistrust in the health care system, but also mistrust in preventative products like supplements among these communities. But in Melane, we're working to change that," Harmon said. As a result, Mella Vitamin continues to invest resources in research to understand the other nutritional needs of people with melanism and to develop products that meet the health goals and concerns of their community.
Navigating the supplement industry and expectations for the future
Harmon calls it a challenge to carve out a new path and niche in a multi-billion dollar industry, given that a large segment of the population is being overlooked: "I'm not like most supplement founders and I didn't start with multi-mil "The dollar is backed by a great company. It was hard work. I found a manufacturing partner because a lot of people didn't understand the need for Mela vitamins, but I'd like to think we proved them wrong," the founder said. Vitamin Daily Essentials has successfully launched a self-funded product and supplement business Melanotic Person, Change History.
Through this process, Harmon learned that making supplements is relatively easy, but making particularly pure and effective supplements is more difficult and can be an expensive and time-consuming process. "There are always opportunities for shortcuts, cost cutting, and white label supplements, which many other companies do. But we have taken the time to learn the science behind the formula, source the highest quality products, and intentionally avoid the use harmful fillers", resulting in quality and safety. Products are third-party tested, which allows Mela Vitamins to offer certified vegan, non-GMO, and gluten-free supplements, Harmon says. , provides high quality products”, said the founder of the Vitamina fair.
Harmon's long-term hope is that the supplement industry will continue to research and invest in new and useful products that address the unmet needs of diverse communities. He hopes the industry will provide more accountability and transparency about the types of ingredients used in formulations. "Many companies put a lot of fillers in their products to reduce costs, reduce efficacy, and are often harmful to our bodies and the environment, such as magnesium stearate and titanium dioxide," Harmon said. As consumers become more aware of the impact of their consumption and the products they make on the environment, the industry expects a landscape that prioritizes this.
Harmon's wisdom for additional company scale
For Harmon, even with the knowledge she gained from making her own supplements, overcoming her fear of making her own vitamins for other people was a huge hurdle. "Navigating an industry that has recently been dominated by celebrity-backed companies and organizations that look nothing like you can be intimidating," says the founder of Mela Vitamins. "Other than my self-proclaimed title of WebMD, I am not a health expert. I decided to self-fund the launch of Mela Vitamins to maintain the freedom to create a company and product that I truly believe in. I'm not sure I have the easiest way out, but i did mine.
Based on his experience, he shares these tips for starting a successful supplement business:
- Solve a problem and create value: "There are many multivitamins, sleep aids, and energy supplements on the market. You have to find the problem you want to solve and create a product with a unique value proposition that stands out in a fast-moving market." market. . . . It's a great cost-effective way to try to get consumer groups to understand consumer needs, pricing and the brand."
- Build a scientific foundation: “I'm proof that you don't need to be a doctor to start a startup, but you do need a scientific foundation. Collaborate with health professionals and scientists to conduct research and develop a safe and effective formula. If you have the resources, it's helpful to facilitate a user group or test to get feedback and make changes before you go live."
- Do it the right way, not the easy way: "There are ways to cut corners, but it won't pay off in the long run. Take the time to source high-quality ingredients, partner with FDA-registered manufacturers, and invest in testing and certification". I recommend starting with one product that defines your brand, rather than many products that aren't the best quality.'
While these insights have inspired many variants of Mela Vitamins, Harmon's long-term vision is to build the company into a supplement brand for depressed people: "We created a new space in the health supplement industry." And beauty. Very few, and we want to lead by driving research and innovation in this sector." Therefore, in the future, Mela Vitamins will expand its product offering to support men and boys and for prenatal health, heart health and stress management A melanized society Objectives Other health priorities eg.