We were lucky to catch up with Zonram Liao recently and have shared our conversation below.

Zonram, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

When I decided to start Wellnergy Pets, it was really just a way to help the people and pets of my community during the COVID 19 pandemic in 2020 when veterinary visits were backed up for weeks. People and their pets couldn’t get into the veterinary clinic, and I just wanted to help people give their pets relief while waiting for their veterinary visits, or even avoid a veterinary visit altogether if possible. Luckily, our products became a hit not only with our local community, but also through our online store. Even luckier, we somehow caught the eye of TV producers, who invited me onto USA Networks’ Fall 2021 TV show, America’s Big Deal, where we sold over $30,000 of dental products for pets in less than an hour, and won a $100,000 order with Lowe’s Home Improvement. The TV exposure for me and our brand really changed our lives and launched our journey into retail stores throughout the US, (ie. Lowe’s Home Improvement, CVS, Chewy.com, Petco, etc…) it truly is beyond what we’ve ever though possible, and my path as a veterinarian now looks very different than what I thought it would be coming out of veterinary school, working as your local friendly neighborhood veterinarian in the community.

I went from Dr. Zonram Liao, Southern California Veterinarian, to Dr. Zonram Liao, Southern California Veterinarian, and Founder of Wellnergy Pets. Although, I do like to list my veterinary title first, because throughout all of this, I still work in veterinary clinic 4 days week, helping people and pets in the community on the frontlines, while trying to help as many people as I can on the backlines as well, with supplements at home. The goal is to help as many people and their pets as possible, and it always will be.

Zonram, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

There are a LOT of pet product and supplement companies out there, but how many are ran by practicing veterinary staff? Only at Wellnergy Pets. We are proud to say, all of our staff still work in the veterinary clinic, and we see over 6000 patients a year, giving us unique insight when it comes to feedback from our patients for challenges managing pet issues at home, and develop products accordingly.

This can be seen in all of our products, ie:

1. Probiotic Supplements are the only probiotics made with hydrolyzed protein for pets with sensitive digestive tracts, important for pets with protein sensitivities that need probiotics most.

2. Soothing Balm is the only product of it’s kind created with Manuka Honey, literally what we use in the clinic to bandage large wounds to help with healing

3. Soothing Shampoo that features Benadryl as one of it’s active ingredients to help give relief to pets with allergic skin issues

I could go on like this about all of our products, but I will run out of space..but the little veterinarian touch featured in all of our products is what sets our brand apart from our competitors, and it’s special for me as a veterinarian, because I use these products everyday in the clinic, we know they work, and we are very happy to get a chance to provide them to pet parents, without them ever having to set foot into a veterinary clinic.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Honestly, resilience is one of the most important things, not only in business, but also in life. Having the persistence, determination, and grit, to not give up, when everyone else has, is something that I feel can set one apart from others, and it certainly helped in mine. One example is when I first dove into the world of retail, I really learned how much rejection we really have to deal with in business. Door after door after door shut in my face as I applied from store to store to store. I took 99 No’s, before I got a Yes, and when I did, it was a big one, the one that led me to a TV spot, and launched our retail career. Suffice to say, our resilience and thick skin to not be discouraged after rejection after rejection, allowed us to taste the success, while this year we’re seeing many of our competitors that started around the same time, start to close down operations.

If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?

Absolutely, I love my career as a veterinarian. In my 10+ years in this industry, not a single day has really felt like work, because I love what I do. Helping people and their pets in my community is a huge passion of mine, and as long as I can keep doing that, I can continue to be happy. The entrepreneur journey, despite being in the same field, can be up and down, being able to continue my veterinary work in the clinic though, keeps me grounded, reminds me why I do what I do, and keeps me in daily engagement with my target market. I wouldn’t change a thing if I could go back and do it all over again.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.wellnergypets.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/dr.zonramliao
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/wellnergypets
• Other: www.instagram.com/wellnergypets