The Candy That Cleans Your Teeth... and the Teen CEO Who Founded it!

Other banks go out of their way to make redeeming credit card rewards needlessly complicated like how they require minimum sport force you to use your rewards before reaching some arbitrary expiration date but discovers him like that with Discover you can redeem your rewards for cash and any amount at any time, so you'll never have to jump through hoops unless you're like a trapeze this thing.

By all means go right ahead. Learn more. Discover.com/redeem rewards terms apply and we continue with our American stories story is brought to us by the youngest person ever to be featured on the cover of entrepreneur magazine was mining Selena Morris I'm 16 years old and I am the CEO and founder of Sally candy candy is all natural sugar free candy that cleans your team but my entrepreneurial journey didn't start at seven years of Sally candy. I had been coming up with inventions and crazy outlandish ideas for products since I was about three years old around that age to three years old. My dad read me the book Rich dad poor dad interesting experience because as much of the book that I didn't understand the thing that stuck with me was you can help people through business so I began writing all of my inventions and compiling them into my called my idea binder and drawn what I call the business plan but was really more of just a picture with some labels site grew up. I grew up with this binder and see some of the most prominent inventions from that that time were definitely robot daddies slanted towards a robot that can go to work as an at this time.

My dad is a CPA said he was going on business trips and I really miss having my dad around and I wanted him to stay home and you know we can hang out and just among among those there was lots of odds and ends of fun games or a new sport and as much the more cohesive ideas. They did keep me occupied coming up with fun, new business plans and pitching my parents so really from that book I learned that I could help my mom I can help my dad. I can help my younger sister, even by coming up with an invention to make their lives easier on a day-to-day basis.

As I grew up you know, four, five, six, and then have until seven years old. I added this binder. It wasn't until one day I went to the bank with my dad in the bank teller offered me a lollipop and it was just the typical action, but my dad always told me he gave me the same speech he gave me every time the bank candy is bad for your teeth. You'll get cavities up to Melina but you know, if I were you I'd I I'd make a smart choice after pondering it for a moment I decided you know a lot of when I want take a lollipop.

But as we were walking back to the car Aston hey if I can't have candy and if I can have something that's bad for me.

Why can I create something that's good for me but you can't say no to end this idea really stuck with me. I began writing up a more extensive business plan I ever had before in my idea binder and I decided you know with a little bit of a push in the right direction to go do some research and just Google on YouTube and so I started watching these videos on YouTube of how they created candy on a mass scale and maybe question you know where other products came from and it really got me interested in the packaged industry as a whole just how things were made in all behind-the-scenes steps that went into creating not just candy but but everything that we see in the grocery store doesn't just magically happen you know it has to come from somewhere and I started researching more about the ingredient list and what actually makes candy bad.

What causes cavities tooth decay is actually the single greatest epidemic facing kids in America today and that's according to the US Surgeon General, and so that really prompted me to explore the idea of creating something that's not only good for me. In a sense where there's no sugar, but something that's actually good for your teeth, something that could help combat this epidemic and then the pieces just kind of clicked reading that book at three years old, having it read to me for that matter and coming up with this idea and connecting the pieces of a great idea and helping people having a cause mission and so when those pieces clicked into place. I knew that this is my time. This was the time to create and put in the time put in the energy put in the work and get people excited about this idea. Get people passionate about Sally candy what was to be bizarrely candy so it was definitely a turning point for me getting my parents involved saying hey will you support me.

We support this mission and doing kind of the first of many big business pitches to my parents to have them help support me through this journey started looking at different manufacturing facilities or what we call plant. We began taking tours of these manufacturing facilities around the country seeking out who could really make a sugar-free candy that cleans your teeth and one of my first manufacturing facility tours.

We got to the end and my dad set hailing us so what you think this is pretty cool and I was thinking this is great, but on the plan is like we look around at this is the plan you understand the plan plan. I mean, I'm looking all around I see is people machinery candy.

I don't any plants. I think in that moment, he reminded himself as mature as smart as my daughter could be about two years of taste tests and trials and during that time.

Our only taste testers really were my friends and I and always like to say my friend didn't sugarcoat it. If something sucked. They were to tell me that it sucked and eventually we came up with six great tasting flavors of lollipops and what we found throughout NIH funded studies is that all on its own, which is an all natural plant-based sweetener from the US actually raises the pH in your mouth and it neutralizes the asset's it takes away bacteria that causes cavities and tooth decay. Bacteria is fed by an acid is really in every food that we eat. Even bottled water has asset and coffee after we treat because you can still enjoy the chocolate cake in your orange juice but if you have a solid pop after three mineralized your tooth enamel. Once we started finalizing the process of of Sally candy.

We started having the conversations around our house about what were going to do now.

I have been a dancer since the age of three and also tennis player so I've always had a busy schedule. Even without Sally candy. So really we began having those conversations about how we would run the business on a day-to-day basis. We are a family-owned company and we really made the decision, and my parents took that leap with me, especially my dad quitting his job to work full-time. Sally, as the business manager day-to-day really looked like me going to school and then going back to our office and working with my dad in the TM to help grow and develop. Sally and you been listening bizarrely, can be no remorse and I happen to be holding an orange Zoe lollipop in my hand as we speak.

What story it is her dad read the book Rich dad poor dead when she was two or three way to go dead. But what a great book to read any good is not about wealth when you're thinking about when you read the book wealth is freedom and wealth could be spiritual for kinds of wealth also was money, and what business does. You can help people through business must think about capitalism folks free enterprise and businesses serve local restaurant serves a car dealer serves so on so forth. When we come back more with this remarkable young voice sounds really what complete grown-up talking about Alina Morse. No of solid candy on our American story that we continue with L American stories on the story of Saul, he can be CEO Alina Morse right now. I happen to be holding my hand is always only last left off when searching for it can sugar-free one good to pick up the last left off to alter my schooling at I've always had very supportive teachers who have understood that I'm not leaving school to go on vacation leaving school to learn. I feel like in my opinion, at least that real world experiences even worth more than algebra.

The first retailer we actually got into was whole foods markets so we luckily got a meeting and we were able to tie down Southern California and so nervous I've been practicing all week for the big pitch and when I walked in the door remember the look on the buyers face was just kind of puzzled of why kid here and the buyer was very patient with me. I do hope that they could tell he was nervous but also excited making some great advice. They said okay well let you know a couple months if you get in and one day we just got an email that we had gotten and that was our first PO was our first big sale. It was really exciting.

Realizing and getting to celebrate all of our hard work coming to a head, and it was the first of many of many yeses that we got from buyers. But you know there's also been a lot of nose but you gotta take the good with the bad with business and so it wasn't until late 2019 that we actually got into every whole foods around the country, which was very very exciting and it was a very full circle moment I meet recently actually went back and visited one of the first, whole foods that we had ever gotten into which happen to be in California and be gone in and there was a whole wall and Filled bizarrely candy.

Just seeing things like that make it all the more real to us, rather than just seeing numbers on a piece of paper or how many units per store per week or volume or margins. No seeing people with Sally candy in their shopping carts and it was very exciting really been fortunate to you receive a lot of earned media and a lot of great opportunities. Being a small family-owned company from Michigan but like any business we faced tremendous setbacks.

Luckily enough, though one of our major setbacks happen very early on so after we got the whole foods our second big account with Amazon.com and enough you know anything about Amazon you got a ship worldwide nationwide and very timely manner. So once we launch on Amazon.com.

People were super excited about Sally and began purchasing it very quickly. Unfortunately, when it was delivered to their homes specifically and more hot desert. He dry climates all the bags of lollipops were melted and we learned later on that this had to do with the way that the candy was being made.

The temperature in which the candy was being made that first we were devastated to see our our Amazon ratings drop in a matter of days and we went from five stars to like two stars because everyone was receiving melted candy and so it ended up being that the pumps would become hygroscopic, which means that they would suck up the moisture from the air and we realized at that moment that this is why people had never succeeded in making sugar-free candy is good for your teeth because sugar-free candy tends to be high for scopic and nobody could figure out or you know maybe had given up too soon to figure out that you had to create the candy in a very specific condition in order to maintain its integrity. Once we figured out how we could begin to start either creating it in a higher temperature or a lower temperature and eventually we actually did figure it out and then we began the process of apologizing and sending out fresh batches of Sally to everyone who ordered and for time we did begin to regain some of our ratings, but for a long time even though we have fixed the candy. Our ratings were really low and I don't know about you but whenever I'm purchasing something specifically on Amazon. I checked the ratings first. You know it's important to see what other users are thinking about the product for an order and so was it was a very important learning experience. Eventually, we came out with a really fantastic product that was stronger than ever and even though phones and electronics can't get shipped in vessels to China, Korea, in the heat of summer. Sally candy can.

It's basically bulletproof. You cannot melt this candy so you know were better off for it for sure yet how was it was definitely a tricky roadblock.

So in our five years of selling. We have grown tremendously. We have a 300% growth rate, year-over-year, and we really have found a niche community of people.

Whether you're diabetic, whether you have food allergies whether you know you're on aikido diet those of the people that that we've been able to impact with our product and we also started a nonprofit alongside Sally candy will be give reasonably candy to schools across America to teach kids about the importance of oral healthcare and entrepreneurship is called the million smiles initiatives of teachers and principals can sign up on our website Sally candy.com to get free Sally candy for their entire school which is just another way that I tried to to carry through with our initial mission of keeping kids, smiling and helping reduce child tooth decay to date were in about 2400 retailers in the US were in CVS write a whole foods markets Amazon.com. We recently got into Costco in Southern California, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, were also available on Walmart.com target.com and Kroger's and you know we've continued to grow, our presence internationally as well.

In China, Korea, France, the Philippines, Morocco's with about 12 other countries including the US, we have been able to share Sally candy across the world and we still are looking for new ways to expand in new ways to grow but one of those ways has been through expanding our product line so we don't just have lollipops anymore. We have Zaki taffy, which is the clean teeth taffy. We have Sally caramels we have.

Sally drops we have Sally people are cops which were a newer invention that were so so excited about and I snack on them all day long for delicious. But all of our products still have the same rate teeth cleaning and allergen friendly.

Other than the people are cops have better obviously.

But we are still in very transparent clean company in terms of ingredients and the teeth cleaning aspect as well as being allergen friendly and diabetic friendly in Quito.

So all those amazing products. As you can check them out on our website Sally candy.com workshop them at Sally candy.my shop if I.com and if you're interested in learning more about my story. You can check me out at Helena*Morse on Instagram or as Ali candy on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube or twitter suite. We want to continue to grow as Ali and increase distribution nationally and internationally as well as you know continue to be a beacon for other young girls and kids who are interested in business and and share with them that entrepreneurship is a real career and a real opportunity and you don't have to have a lot of money and you don't have to have a lot of business experience certainly not a degree to start your very own company and become an entrepreneur. We want to continue to share that message, especially for a nonprofit. But as for me, you know college is coming up soon and those decisions are really key but I think you know, wherever I choose to go. I'd like to study business and hopefully get to dance or play tennis or you know still enjoy the things that I have loved growing up and look for other opportunities to help people look for other niche communities that you know could benefit from a functional product and whether it Sally or whether it's something else I create down the line. Helping people is really the most important thing to me that a great job as always by great hunger and special thanks so you Helena Morrison. We love telling stories about entrepreneurship and small business owners. My goodness, what you said is so powerful. Real world experience is better than old college right now which is right in worship is a real career. You don't need money. You certainly don't need a degree and she is living proof for first orders, whole foods and Amazon eventually experiences the setback every entrepreneur doesn't screw up, they bounce back. They fight back and learn from it and she did which makes her entrepreneur. The story of team to be Queen CEO Lena more severe on our American stores