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

Hi Sofia, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

One of the most impactful lessons my parents taught me about leadership, resilience, and compassion happened during the pandemic—a time when restaurants were shutting down left and right, and people were struggling just to make ends meet. Instead of panicking or cutting costs by laying off employees, my parents did something remarkable.

They opened up our restaurant’s pantry and told our employees to take whatever they needed—flour, pasta, canned goods—anything that would help them and their families get through the uncertainty. We didn’t fire a single person. Instead, my parents found ways to repurpose their roles. The pizza chef, for example, was still paid the same but was given a different job—helping repaint the restaurant. Others took on deep-cleaning projects, maintenance work, or anything that needed to be done while we waited for business to pick back up.

That decision wasn’t just about business—it was about people. It showed me that leadership isn’t just about making the tough calls to survive; it’s about taking care of the people who helped build something with you. My parents believed that if you invest in people, they’ll invest back in you. And they were right—when things reopened, our staff was still there, loyal and ready to work because they knew my parents had their backs.

That lesson has stuck with me in everything I do, especially in building SecretBox. In any business, you’ll face crises and difficult decisions, but how you treat people in those moments defines your long-term success. My parents taught me that resilience isn’t just about pushing through challenges—it’s about lifting others up with you. And that’s something I carry with me every day.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m Sofia Carvalho, the founder and CEO of SecretBox, a healthcare technology company focused on medication adherence and safety. My background is in biomedical sciences, biomedical engineering, and finance, and I’ve worked at the intersection of healthcare, insurance, and technology for years. I’ve always been passionate about solving complex problems, particularly in healthcare, where inefficiencies can mean life-or-death consequences.

How I Got Into This Industry

My journey into health-tech and medication adherence wasn’t just a business decision—it was personal. I’ve experienced firsthand the challenges of accessing and managing medication, especially while traveling, which sparked the initial idea for SecretBox. But the real turning point came when I started digging deeper into the opioid epidemic, medication non-adherence, and the staggering costs of prescription misuse. I saw a critical gap in how medications are dispensed and managed, and I knew technology could help fill that gap.

My professional experience in pharmacy benefits, health insurance, and financial modeling for healthcare systems gave me the insight to understand how non-adherence and medication misuse lead to billions in unnecessary healthcare costs every year. I realized that if we could create a solution that improves adherence, prevents misuse, and integrates with healthcare providers, insurers, and pharmacies, we could save lives and dramatically cut costs for the entire healthcare system.

What We Do at SecretBox

SecretBox is a smart, tamper-proof medication dispensing system that ensures people take their prescriptions correctly while preventing misuse. Our product integrates AI-powered compliance tracking, real-time monitoring, and healthcare system interoperability to solve the major problems associated with medication adherence, addiction prevention, and overdose reduction.

Here’s how it works:
1. Patients receive their medication in a SecretBox bottle from the pharmacy. Unlike traditional bottles, this one dispenses only the prescribed dose at the correct time.
2. The patient verifies their identity through our mobile app before dispensing the medication.
3. AI-driven video analysis confirms that the medication is taken correctly and updates the patient’s health record.
4. Healthcare providers, caregivers, and insurers can track adherence in real time, helping reduce misuse and non-compliance.

We’re solving a $2.03 trillion problem—the cost of medication non-adherence in the U.S.—while tackling the opioid epidemic, elderly medication mismanagement, and prescription misuse across all patient populations.

What Sets Us Apart

SecretBox isn’t just another pill bottle—it’s a fully integrated compliance ecosystem. Unlike standard amber vials or even automated pill dispensers, SecretBox prevents patients from accessing more medication than prescribed, while providing data-driven insights to healthcare providers, pharmacies, and insurers.

Key differentiators:
• Tamper-proof dispensing that ensures proper dosing and prevents stockpiling.
• AI-powered compliance tracking that uses video verification and machine learning.
• Real-time monitoring for healthcare providers and insurers, reducing medication-related hospitalizations.
• Seamless integration with pharmacy systems and electronic health records (EHRs).
• High ROI for insurers and healthcare systems, reducing costs related to medication misuse and non-adherence.

What I’m Most Proud Of

What we have accomplished in just one year is nothing short of incredible. SecretBox started as an idea, and in just 12 months, we have:
• Developed our first working prototype and begun user testing.
• Conducted a healthcare economics study that validated our ROI for insurers and healthcare providers.
• Joined NVIDIA’s Inception Program to explore AI-driven compliance tracking.
• Built a strong advisory team with experts in healthcare, pharmacy, and technology.
• Brought on key leadership hires to scale the company, including a COO and CCO.
• Secured early interest from healthcare providers, insurers, and pharmacies.
• Designed a SaaS model for compliance monitoring, creating a scalable revenue stream.
• Secured various pilot partners

Looking back at the past year, I’m incredibly proud of how far we’ve come in such a short time. This is just the beginning, and I can’t wait to see what we accomplish next.

What I Want People to Know About SecretBox

SecretBox is more than just a product—it’s a movement toward safer, smarter medication management. If you’re a healthcare provider, insurer, pharmacist, or policymaker, we want to collaborate with you to make medication adherence simpler, safer, and more effective.

We’re actively working to finalize our MVP, secure strategic partnerships, and expand our impact in the coming months. If you’re interested in being part of this journey—whether as a customer, partner, investor, or supporter—let’s connect. Together, we can redefine medication safety and save lives.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

A Story of Resilience: Overcoming Guillain-Barré Syndrome

Resilience isn’t something you develop when things are easy—it’s something you build when you have no choice but to push forward. One of the hardest challenges I’ve ever faced happened in May 2023, when I woke up paralyzed from the waist down.

My husband, Brennan, and I rushed to Hoag Hospital in Irvine, terrified and searching for answers. I spent 12 hours undergoing tests with no clear diagnosis. Eventually, the doctors decided to transfer me to another hospital, where I was admitted for a week. I went through spinal taps, CT scans, nerve conduction studies, and countless evaluations, yet no one could tell me what was wrong. After exhausting every test they could think of, they told me there was nothing more they could do and that I should go home and hope for spontaneous recovery.

But I refused to accept that. I knew something was seriously wrong, and I wasn’t going to just wait and see. Brennan and I got in the car and drove straight to the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale. There, after three weeks of extensive testing, I was finally diagnosed with Guillain-Barré Syndrome—a rare autoimmune disorder, likely triggered as a reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine, that causes the immune system to attack the nerves.

Even after getting a diagnosis, the road to recovery wasn’t easy. I was still unable to walk, and the doctors had no guarantees of how much function I would regain. But I advocated for myself and pushed for an experimental immune therapy treatment that ultimately helped me start improving. By the end of June, I was discharged. By July 3rd, I was able to stand long enough to marry Brennan at the courthouse in Scottsdale.

This experience reinforced everything I believe about resilience. It showed me that when faced with the worst-case scenario, you can either give up or fight like hell to find a way forward. I didn’t wait for someone to save me—I took control of my own situation, refused to accept no for an answer, and did what I had to do to recover.

That same resilience drives me in business. Building SecretBox, navigating challenges, and overcoming setbacks require the same mentality. There will always be roadblocks, but what defines success isn’t avoiding them—it’s how you respond. And no matter what, I will always bet on myself and push forward.

Have you ever had to pivot?

A Story of Pivoting: From Medicine to Entrepreneurship

For most of my life, I was certain I would become a doctor. Growing up, I was fascinated by medicine and healthcare. I studied biochemistry, then biomedical engineering, and spent years preparing for medical school. I shadowed physicians, worked in labs, and did everything to set myself up for a career in medicine.

But along the way, something didn’t feel right. I started noticing problems in the healthcare system that couldn’t be solved just by treating one patient at a time. I saw inefficiencies in how medications were managed, how insurance dictated patient care, and how the system often failed those who needed it most. The more I learned, the more I realized that I wanted to change healthcare on a larger scale, not just within the walls of a hospital.

The real turning point came when I personally struggled with accessing my own medication while traveling. Despite being a long-term, compliant patient, I was met with unnecessary barriers. It made me think—if I was dealing with this, what about patients with chronic illnesses or those at risk of medication misuse? That’s when I started looking at business and technology as tools for healthcare transformation.

So, I made a bold decision. I pivoted from medicine to business. I got my MBA, started working in healthcare strategy and finance, and eventually launched SecretBox, a company focused on solving medication adherence and safety. Instead of treating one patient at a time, I’m now working on a solution that could impact millions of lives.

It was a tough decision to walk away from the path I had planned for so long, but it was the right one. Pivoting didn’t mean giving up on helping people—it meant finding a different way to do it. And looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://secretbox.ai
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scesteves/