We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Soraya Benitez. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Soraya below.
Alright, Soraya thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the best thing you’ve ever seen (or done yourself) to show a customer that you appreciate them?
There are so many ways to show a customer you appreciate them. The best thing i have ever seen are companies give back for every purchase made. Companies like Rothy’s, Bombas and others are truly inspiring. They show us all that there is a bigger and greater cause than just being a company driven by sales and profits.
Soraya, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
About our founder:
I was born and raised in Queens, New York. The oldest of three, and child to two Colombian immigrants. Growing up, we didn’t have a lot. But we did have wonderful, caring parents who raised us with many of the botanic traditions common to their homeland of Colombia. My father was born and raised on a farm in Cali Colombia near the foot of the Andes mountains, while my mom is from Bogota, the capital. My dad had to leave school when he was just a boy in middle school, to help his family financially. Going to the hospital was only for emergencies, rather, when he or anyone in his family had an ailment, Mother Earth was the best medical advisor. His mantra: “La tierra siempre produce lo que uno necesita.” The earth always produces what one needs.
He raised us with this same philosophy. He was always pointing out nature and wildlife everywhere we would go, even at our local playground. Near the entrance of our local park stood a big blackberry tree. He would pluck the blackberries right off and give them to us to eat. At home, our pantry was always stocked full of herbs and our fridge full of fruits and vegetables. Whether it was chamomile and ginger for an upset stomach or honey and lemon for sore throats, there were always home remedies to help us mend.
As a mom myself now, I have always tried to honor their herbal wisdom, love, and care. When my then four-year-old was sick with the cold, I remember he fought me tirelessly about taking his cough medicine. I was sitting on the couch with my husband and said to him, ‘If only he wanted his medicine as much as he loves his candy”! I asked him if there was anything like that on the market. He said, yes, this company has a cough product lollipop for kids (Insert large pharma company name), I looked at it and said to him, “NO WAY! This isn’t something I would want for myself, let alone my child”. As a caregiver and mom, I felt and feel strongly, moms want to know what is in the products they use, especially those that are consumed. Clean living and clean eating isn’t just a fad that is going away, I believe it is a way of life for moms of this generation. Thus began the journey ‘MommaBea Organics’.
I was still working my day job and when I got home and finished with evening duties (dinner, bath time, reading time, and getting everyone tucked in and tight), I would proceed to work on creating recipes in my kitchen. I even had a little black book to carefully jot down each recipe meticulously. What worked, what didn’t, what was tasty, and what wasn’t. I enlisted my kids as taste testers (let’s face it, who is be a better critic?).
Some people hide splurge shopping items from their significant others. Well, that was me, but instead of shoes or handbags, I was splurging on pots, pans, candy molds, ingredient purchases, and other kitchen devices and hiding them from my hubby! One day after I’d nearly burned the kitchen down because I had left the ginger seeping in the honey mixture for too long, my husband came home and said, “This place smells like a pharmacy, what are you doing in here”! It was at that point that I realized I might need to enlist outside help.
About our First Product:
Motion sickness occurs when your brain can’t make sense of information sent from your eyes, ears, and body. Lots of motion- in a car, airplane, boat, or even an amusement park ride- can make you feel queasy, clammy, or sick to your stomach.
I suffered my first bout of motion sickness when I was about 6 years old. My parents took us to Brooklyn’s Coney Island where I went on the Cyclone, one of the oldest wooden roller coaster rides in the country. I still feel traumatized when I think about that experience. As an adult, I had terrible nausea during both my pregnancies. I only gained about 20lb’s with my first pregnancy because of how often I would vomit (gross but true).
I was in my first trimester with my second child when my husband decided to book us a cruise vacation. I was horizontal the entire trip because I could barely get up from vertigo. The nausea was unbearable and unfortunately, the gift shop had nothing to help! I couldn’t take Dramamine and the only other thing they had (motion sickness bands) was not working on me. I was so grateful to make it to land at the end of those 7 days, I fell to my knees and almost kissed the concrete.
The two things that have worked for me consistently when I have had bouts of motion sickness are lemon and ginger. Our recipe is simple and effective because it’s steeped in a traditional remedy that has worked for ages. Scientists believe ginger reduces motion sickness by keeping your digestive system stable and your blood sugar consistent, while lemon contains neutralizing acids that form bicarbonates to help bring relief. Lemon also causes your mouth to pucker, kickstarting the production of saliva to help ease the symptoms of nausea.
Our first product is a Nausea product made with simple organic ingredients you can pronounce: lemon, ginger, honey, tapioca, and cane sugar. It has always been important to me that our products be clean, organic, and functional. There is nothing added that doesn’t need to be in there. My life philosophy is the same as the company’s: I would never put something out to the public that I or my family wouldn’t use at home ourselves.
Through our research, we have learned many other things cause nausea and travel/motion sickness. Things ranging from chemotherapy to IVF treatments, we have even heard from perimenopausal women who have told us they get sick too! This has been incredibly rewarding for us as a company, to know we can help a much wider audience than we first set out to help.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
We launched in the middle of Covid. Our company was merely an idea, we had stopped physical meetings and were just meeting over zoom weekly. I was demoralized, dishearten and broken about it. What’s more i had two little children under the age of 6 at the time and home schooling/feeding/entertaining was a full full time job.
So many things made me feel like a failure, or like i should quit, or quite franly…like i was crazy to think i could start a bsuienss when so many odds seemed to be stacked against me. But this story is one of perseverence. A voice in my ear kept telling me to keep going.
I spoke with several hundred suppliers, manufacturers, co packes who told me what i wanted to do, simply could not be done. But it was because i was told it couldnt be done, that i knew it had to be done. I am grateful for that tenacity that allowed me to push forward against all odds.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
When i first wanted to launch, i had two recipes. But no manufacturer was willing to give me the time of day, or even spend time on my project.
Finally, i knocked on a door of someone who was willing to listen, but still didn’t want to do our first product, despite the fact i had my heart absolutely set on creating that one. I was at the fork of the road and had 2 decisions to make either work with this last resort manufacturer to bring to market my 2nd choice of product, or get started somewhere and pivot from my original plans. It was by far the best and most unintended plan!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mommabearusa.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mommabear_organics/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MommaBearOrganics
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mommabearusa/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2FMbearorganics
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mommabearorganics7789
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/MommaBearOrganics/