We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nadine Sueppmayer a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Nadine, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

To answer this question, I’ll have to go back in time a bit.

I, myself, didn’t come up with the idea for the product. (Twusch – porcelain inserts for Thetford RV toilets) My dad did.
In 2011 he suffered a severe stroke and had to go through extensive rehab. After, thankfully, a full recovery, he started looking at life a little bit differently. He wanted to regain all the independence and mobility he had almost lost and bought himself a motorhome to travel Germany and Europe.
What bothered him the most about traveling in a motorhome was the look and cleanliness of the toilet.
A large portion of RVs come with toilets made from polypropylene (plastic) and after a while of use the surface of the toilet bowl will deteriorate and become susceptible to discolorations and bacteria growth, which no amount of cleaning can fix.
My dad has always been a serial entrepreneur and inventor, so he started looking for a solution to improve not only the look but also the hygiene of the plastic toilet. After meticulous research and tests of several materials, he decided to use porcelain. Not just ordinary porcelain, but hard-fired porcelain. It’s fired at higher temperatures, which makes the material more resistant to scratches, discolorations and dents, hence anti-bacterial, while maintaining incredible structural integrity. With this strength, he was able to develop a product with very thin walls, that doesn’t take away from the size of the toilet bowl, nor add any weight worth mentioning.
It’s super light-weight at only 1 lbs. This was another important aspect to consider, since staying within the parameters for allowable weight is incredibly important and often challenging for RVers.
So with the support of an experienced porcelain manufacturer, he was able to bring a product to market, that is innovative, sustainable, lightweight, anti-bacterial and even water conserving.

That being said, my dad had the product and was already successfully selling it in Germany and parts of Europe.

I had immigrated to Canada about 8 years earlier and was on maternity leave by the time the product started to gain traction in Germany. I was terrified of having to go back to a 9-5 job with a baby at home. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to be with her enough or to be there for her when she’s sick. I was worried about what my new boss would say, when I’d have to take days off more often, because the baby is home sick. (And we all know, that happens quite frequently)
One day, I mentioned all this to my dad and he (having thought about expanding his business already) asked me if I wanted to sell his product to the rest of the world. Especially the English-speaking regions.
After long consideration and research, I decided to start my own business, selling Twusch – porcelain inserts for Thetford toilets and am loving it.
It gives me the freedom to schedule my work around my family’s needs and it makes me proud that my dad invented this groundbreaking product, that doesn’t only help RVers improve their bathroom experience on the road, but also helps them save money and be more sustainable for the environment that we want to preserve for our children and grandchildren.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Thinking about it now, I’ve never felt whole as an employee. I never liked the idea of building someone else’s business while being fully expendable to them. I’ve always had some sort of side hustle going or tried to monetize one hobby or another in hopes to being able to ditch my 9-5 one day and work for myself.

With circumstances aligning in 2021 and deciding to jump right into entrepreneurship after maternity leave in 2022, I made my wish come true. Admittedly it all happened a bit more differently and more nerve racking than expected but at the end of the day it finally did happen.

As I said before, my dad invented this groundbreaking product and needed someone to sell it in North America and pretty much the rest of the world, I had to dive into the RV niche pretty deep. More so even the “RV toilet niche”.

To be honest, I wasn’t much of a camper, while I still lived in Germany. After moving to Canada, my spouse introduced me to it, pretty early in our relationship and I came to love it. That was about 8 years ago, but I’ve never thought that I’d build a business talking about RVing and more so RV toilets all day.

A large portion of RVs come with toilets made of polypropylene (plastic). RV manufacturers use them because they are lighter than porcelain toilets as well as for cost reasons. Unfortunately, although polypropylene works, it doesn’t hold up to years of use and damages very well. The surface of the toilet bowl deteriorates over time and becomes susceptible to damages and discolorations.

The Twusch is a porcelain insert for those plastic toilets. Installation is super easy and can be done by anyone within minutes. The insert is scratch resistant, nano-sealed, antibacterial and even helps to conserve up to 70% of water.
It helps our customers to upgrade their bathroom experience in their RV and enjoy the benefits of a porcelain toilet within minutes at only a fraction of the cost of a new one.
The product is lightweight as well as sustainable and helps to keep RV toilets out of the landfill. It was invented and developed by my dad and now him, my sister and I are working closely together to bring the best buying experience to our customers. It is a true family business and product, created by RVers for RVers.
Currently we are carrying inserts for 10 different Thetford toilet models, but depending on demand, we are able to produce inserts for pretty much any toilet.

The Twusch is being made by a small family-owned porcelain manufacturer, and we are actively trying to support local as much as we can personally as well within our business operations.

My dream is to one day being able to create employment opportunities within my community and provide a work environment for parents so they won’t have to choose between coming to work or taking care of their children’s needs. Be it by providing them with work from home opportunities or a play area within the office for them to do their job while keeping an eye on their little ones at the same time.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I think the biggest pivot in my life was when I moved to Canada. My mom and her husband immigrated to Canada in 2007 and they always asked me to do the same, since employment opportunities and quality of life seemed to be way better here than in Germany at that time.
But stubborn as I am, I was dead set on not moving to Canada. I felt like life was going great for me and I had everything under control. I went to visit them every couple years and that was that.
Little did I know that, in fact, I did not have everything under control at all.
Relationships started to fall apart, I had to move a few times for different jobs that were grossly underpaid and at the end of it I even had to take out a bank loan to pay my rent and for groceries. I spiraled into a deep depression and felt stuck and hopeless.
In an attempt to reset, on a whim, I went to see my mom in Canada.
And within a few days of being here, I started to being able to breathe again. I know, this sounds cheesy, but it was like a weight was lifted off me.
So one night, I decided I wanted to move to Canada, at least for a little while. I called my best friend and roommate, and we made a plan to sell all my things and pack only the necessities. 2 months later I once again, boarded a plane to Edmonton, Alberta and that was 10 years ago. Now I am a Canadian citizen, have my own little family and couldn’t be happier.
This move was the lifesaving pivot I needed, and I am grateful that I was given the opportunity and a helping hand when I needed it.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I thought people wouldn’t be interested in what I have to say and scrutinize me for even speaking up. Back in school, I was always too shy to raise my hand in class to speak or ask questions and was constantly worried my classmates would think bad about me, so I never did. I remained silent.
Now as a business / brand owner, I have to be present and have to provide content and information. So naturally, every time I post a video on social media or a blog post on my website, I am taken back to this little girl sitting in class thinking that no one will want to know what she has to say anyway.
But here I am today… my brand is growing, and people are watching my videos and reading my blog posts. They consume my content, like, follow and ask questions. Every day I am getting proof that, in fact, people do want to hear what I have to say and it’s a great feeling.
And today I am even being interviewed. Unbelievable.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.twusch.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/twuschcanada
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/twusch
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/twuschcanada
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@twuschcanada
• Other: www.tiktok.com/@twusch