We recently connected with Adrienne Bitar and have shared our conversation below.
Adrienne , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’re complete cheeseballs and so we love asking folks to share the most heartwarming moment from their career – do you have a touching moment you can share with us?
Jenny and I had conviction that women were not satisifed with their current calcium supplements. Our customer discovery had shown that women hated the giant “horse pills,” struggled with uncomfortable side effects like bloat and nausea, and hated the taste of the chalky chews. In response, we created the first dietary calcium chew, sourced only from real foods, that tasted good, didn’t cause GI side effects, and wasn’t an uncomfortable pill to swallow. We had an instinct that we were satisfying an unmet need but it wasn’t until we met one customer – Shelly – who shared her story with us that we truly felt like we knew we had product-market fit.
We were only three months into our business and still shipping customer orders ourselves that we reached out to Shelly because of a problem with her order. It was a minor detail, and we just had a clarifying question. Yet, we soon got to talking over the phone, and were quickly moved by Shelly’s heartwarming story. Shelly had been diagnosed with osteoporosis in her 60s and been instructed to take 1000mg of calcium a day by her doctor. She had tried to swallow the giant pills and hated the regimen. And she had tried to take the synthetic chews but experienced unwanted GI side effects. She stopped taking calcium and just tried to eat more calcium from diet but knew she wasn’t hitting the desired daily value. However, a friend told her about our calcium chew and Shelly tried it and loved it. She ordered 6 packages at a time. For the first time in years, despite her osteoporosis diagnosis, she was regularly taking calcium. In fact, she told us that taking calcium successfully by eating our chews everyday inspired her to start exercising again! We felt proud that we were doing our small part to improve women’s health.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Dr. Jennifer Han, PharmD and myself, Adrienne Bitar, PhD, founded Seen Nutrition to address a critical gap in bone health—specifically, the need for natural, effective calcium supplementation to prevent and manage osteoporosis. With a background in pharmacy and food science, we saw firsthand how many supplements relied on synthetic ingredients, fillers, and low-quality calcium sources that were harder for the body to absorb. After Jenny was diagnosed with osteoporosis at age 29 and Adrienne received her own osteopenia diagnosis in her 30s, we knew that there had to be a food-first alternative to the synthetic calcium supplements on the market.
We combined our expertise in food studies and pharmacy to create the first dietary calcium chew rooted in real food science. Our flagship product, the Calcium Chew Complete, is designed to support bone health with just four natural ingredients: organic dates, milk minerals and protein, almonds, and vitamin D-rich mushrooms. Each ingredient is carefully selected for its role in promoting strong, healthy bones and improving calcium absorption.
Our backgrounds in food studies and pharmacy allowed us to formulate a method by which our chews deliver calcium in its most bioavailable form, sourced naturally from dairy, paired with vitamin D to ensure optimal absorption. Every batch is third-party tested to guarantee purity and safety, so you can trust that what you’re taking is both effective and clean.
Seen Nutrition supports women when they need it most—whether you’re managing early-onset osteoporosis or looking to prevent fractures later in life – by ensuring that women and their unique nutritional needs are truly seen.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
With a limited marketing budget, we have found the most effective strategy for growing our clientele has been connecting directly with women at menopause and women’s health events. After attending the New York State Fair for Women’s Health Day and being interviewed on ABC9, we learned so much from directly connecting with our customers and meeting women actively looking for solutions to support their bone health. The response to our Calcium Chew Complete has been overwhelmingly positive—women love the simplicity, natural ingredients, and the fact that it’s specifically designed to help prevent osteoporosis and support strong bones. These events have allowed us to build trust, educate, and grow our community in a meaningful way. We also have connected with the menopause healthcare community at events hosted by orthopedic surgeon Dr. Vonda Wright and events hosted by Naomi Watts; what a thrill of encouragement to see your product welcomed so readily by women who need it most to build strong bones!
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
The “supplement industry” is not known for its commitment to rigor so we know just how important our reputation is when entering into this field, especially for something as vital as calcium. Our reputation in the market has been built on a foundation of trust, expertise, and an unwavering commitment to quality. As a company led by a PharmD and PhD with deep knowledge of pharmacy, food science, and nutrition, we bring a unique level of credibility to the supplement industry. This expertise ensures that every product we create is not only grounded in science but also carefully formulated to deliver real, measurable benefits—especially in areas as critical as bone health.
Third-party testing has been a cornerstone of our approach and a key factor in establishing trust. In the supplement industry, transparency is often lacking, and consumers deserve to know that the products they’re taking are safe, effective, and free from contaminants. That’s why we are sure that every batch of our calcium chews undergoes rigorous third-party testing for heavy metals, microbes, and precise nutritionals.
We’re sure to communicate our rigorous testing to our customers, as well as explain that we are truly committed to bone health.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.seennutrition.com
- Instagram: @thecalciumcqueens
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/seennutrition
Image Credits
April Renae; Tony Kurz