December 16, 2025 • 20 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Zolli Candy grew from an idea Alina Morse tested at her kitchen counter. She wanted a sweet that could support healthy teeth, and the search for that solution pulled her into the early steps of entrepreneurship. Those small steps opened up a world of opportunities, leading to Alina being the youngest person ever to appear on the cover of Entrepreneur magazine! Alina joins us to tell the story of Zoli Candy's rise to the top.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American stories. Our next story
is brought to us by the youngest person ever to
be featured on the cover of Entrepreneur magazine. Let's take
a listen.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
My name's Elena Morris. I'm sixteen years old, and I
am the CEO and founder of Zali Candy. Sally Candy
is all natural, sugar free candy that cleans your teeth.
But my entrepreneurial journey didn't start at seven years old
with Zali Candy. I had been coming up with inventions
and crazy outlandish ideas for products since I was about
(00:50):
three years old. Around that age two three years old,
my dad read me the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad.
It was such an 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
(01:13):
into what I called my idea binder and drawn what
I had called a business plan, but it was really
more of just a picture with some labels, and as I,
you know, grew up, I grew up with this binder.
I would say some of the most prominent inventions from
that that time were definitely robot daddies. The name is
(01:35):
pretty self explanatory. It's a robot that can go to
work as your dad. And at this time, you know,
my dad, he was a CPA, so he was going
out of tons of business trips, and I really missed
having my dad around, and I wanted him to stay
home and you know, we could hang out and just
among among those there was lots of odds and ends
(01:57):
of fun games or a new sport. As much as
they weren't cohesive ideas, they did keep me occupied coming
up with fun new business plans and pitching them to
my parents. So really from that book, I learned that
I could help my mom, I could help my dad,
I could help my younger sister even by coming up
(02:17):
with an invention to make their lives a little bit
easier on the day to day basis.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
But as I grew up.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
You know, four, five, six, and then all the way
up until seven years old, I had added to this binder.
It wasn't until one just odd day I went to
the bank with my dad and the bank teller offered
me a lollipop, and it was just the typical action.
But my dad always told me he gave me the
(02:46):
same speech he gave me every time we went to
the bank. Candy's bad for your teeth, You'll get cavities.
He goes, it's up to you, Alena. But you know,
if I were you, i'd i'd make a smart choice.
You know. After pondering it for a moment, I decided,
you know, hey, I'll let them win. I won't take
(03:08):
the lollipop. But as we were walking back to the car,
I asked him, you know, hey, if I can't have candy,
and if I can't have something that's bad for me,
why can't I create something that's good for me that
you can't say no to?
Speaker 3 (03:23):
And this idea really stuck with me.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
I began writing a more extensive business plan than 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.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Just on Google on YouTube.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
And so I started watching just videos on YouTube of
how they created candy on a mass scale, and it
made me question, you know, where other products came from,
and it really got me interested in kind of the
consumer packaged good industry as a whole, and just how
things were made and all behind the scene steps that
went into creating not just candy, but everything that we
(04:04):
see in the grocery store. It doesn't just magically happen,
you know, it has to come from somewhere. And I
started researching more about the ingredient lists and what actually
makes candy bad for you, 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
(04:26):
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, or having it read to me
(04:47):
for that matter, and coming up with this idea and
connecting the pieces of a great idea and helping people
and having a cause a mission. And so when those
pieces clicked into place, I knew that this was my time.
This was the time to create and you know, put
in the time, put in the energy, put in the work,
(05:08):
and get people excited about this idea. Get people passionate
about Zali candy or what was to be Zali candy.
So it was definitely a turning point for me getting
my parents involved, saying hey, will you support me? Will
(05:28):
you 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. And then we
started looking at different manufacturing facilities or what we call plants.
We began taking tours of these manufacturing facilities around the
country to see, you know, who could really make a
(05:52):
sugar free candy that cleans your teeth. And one of
my first manufacturing facility tours, we got to the end
and my dad said, hey, Lena, so, so what do
you think?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
This is pretty cool?
Speaker 2 (06:05):
And I was thinking, yeah, Dad, this is great, but
where's the plant? He's like, what do you mean, Alena?
Look around at this is the plant? No, Dad, you
don't understand the plant, the potted plant. I mean, I'm
looking all around. All I see is people, machinery, candy.
I don't see any plants. I think in that moment
he reminded himself as mature, as smart as my daughter
(06:27):
could be.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
She's still a kid.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
I took about two years of taste tests and trials,
and during that time, our only taste testers really were
my friends and I and I always like to say,
you know, my friend didn't sugarcoat it. If something sucked,
they were gonna tell me that it sucked. And eventually
(06:52):
we came up with, you know, six great tasting flavors
of lollipops. And what we found throughout nih fund has
studies is that or berth retol on its own, which
is an all natural plant based sweetener from the US,
it actually raises the pH in your mouth and it
neutralizes the acid, so it takes away the bacteria that
causes cavities and tooth decay, and that bacteria is fed
(07:16):
by acid, and acid is really in every food that
we eat. Even bottled water has acid in it. And
that's why we call it the aft Wheat treat because
you can still enjoy your chocolate cake and your orange juice,
but if you have Azali pop after, it helps remineralize
your tooth enamel. Once we started finalizing the process of
(07:40):
Zali candy, we started having the conversations around our house
about what we're gonna do now. I have been a
dancer since the age of three. I'm also a tennis player,
so I've always had a busy schedule even without Zali Candy.
So really we began having those conversations about how we
(08:01):
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,
you know, especially my dad quitting his job to work
full time at Zali as the business manager. A day
to day really looked like me going to school and
then going back to our office and working with my
(08:23):
dad and the team to help grow and develop Zali.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
And you've been listening to Zali Candy's CEO, Aleena Morse,
and I happen to be holding an orange Zali lollipop
in my hand as we speak. And what a story
it is. Her dad read her the book Rich Dad,
Poor Dad when she was two or three. Way to
go Dad, by the way, what a great book to
read any kid, because it's not about wealth the way
(08:51):
you're thinking about it. When you read the book. Wealth
is freedom and wealth could be well, spiritual wealth, all
kinds of wealth, but it also is money and what
business does, and that you can help people through business
and that's the thing about capitalism, folks, free enterprise and
businesses serve. Your local restaurant serves, a car dealer serves,
so on and so forth. When we come back more
(09:14):
with this remarkable young voice, it sounds really like a
complete grown up. I'm talking about Elena Morris, CEO of
Zali Candy. Here on our American Stories. And we continue
(09:40):
with our American stories and the story of Zali Candy CEO,
Alena Morris, And right now I happen to be holding
my hand a Zalie taffy. When we last left off,
she had been searching for a candy, a sugar free
one that was good for teeth. Let's pick up when
we last left off.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
About my schooling.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I've always had very supportive teachers who have understood that
I'm not leaving school to go on vacation.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
I'm leaving school to learn.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
I feel like, in my opinion, at least, that real
world experience is even worth more than algebra. The first
retailer we actually got into was Whole Food's Markets, So
we luckily got a meeting and we were able to
dive down to southern California.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
And I'm so nervous.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
I'd been practicing all week for the big pitch, and
when I walked in the door, I remember the look
on the buyer's face was just kind of puzzled of
why is a kid here? And the buyer was very
patient with me. I know that they could tell I
was nervous but also excited, and they gave me some
great advice and they said, Okay, well, we'll let you
(10:52):
know in a couple months if you get in. And
one day we just got an email that we had
gotten in and that was our first po So it
was our first big sale, and it was really exciting
realizing and getting to celebrate all of our hard work
coming to a head. And you know, it was the
first of many of many yeses that we've gotten from buyers,
(11:13):
but you know, there's also been a lot of no's.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
But you got to take the good with the bad
with business.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
And so it wasn't until late twenty nineteen that we
actually got into every Whole Foods around the country, which
was very, very exciting and it was a very full
circle moment. And we recently actually went back and visited
one of the first Whole Foods that we had ever
gotten into when we just happened to be in California
(11:41):
and we'd gone in and there was a whole wall
and cap filled with Zalie 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
you know how many units per store per week, or
volume or margins. You know, seeing people with Zali candy
(12:05):
in their shopping carts, it was very exciting. We really
had been fortunate to 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
(12:29):
happened very early on. So after we got into Whole Foods,
our second big account was Amazon dot Com. And you know,
if you know anything about Amazon, you gotta ship worldwide, nationwide,
and you have to do it in a very timely manner.
And so once we launched on Amazon dot Com, people
were super excited about Zali and began purchasing it very quickly. Unfortunately,
(12:54):
when it was delivered to their homes, specifically in more
high deserty 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. But at
(13:15):
first we were devastated to see 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 pops would
become a hydroscopic, which means that they would suck up
(13:37):
the moisture from the air. And we realized at that
moment that this is why people had never succeeded in
making sugar free candy that's good for your teeth, because
sugar free candy tends to be hydroscopic, and nobody could
figure out, or you know, maybe they had given up
too soon to figure out that you had to create
(14:01):
the candy in a very specific condition in order to
maintain its integrity.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Once we figured that out.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
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 zali to
everyone who had ordered, and over time we did begin
to regain some of our ratings. But for a long time,
(14:33):
even though we had 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 before I order, and so it
was a very important learning experience. Eventually we came out
(14:54):
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, Zali
candy can.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
It's basically bulletproof. You cannot melt this candy.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
So you know, we're better off for it for sure,
But yeah, it was it was definitely a tricky roadblock.
So in our five years of selling, we have grown tremendously.
We have a three hundred percent growth rate year over year,
and we really have.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Found a niche community of people.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Whether you're diabetic, whether you have food allergies, whether you
know you're on a keto diet, those are the people
that we've been able to impact with our product, and
we also, you know, started a nonprofit alongside Zali Candy
where we give free Zali candy to schools across America
to teach kids about the importance of oral healthcare and entrepreneurship.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
And it's called the Million Smiles Initiative.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
So teachers principles can sign up on our website Zalicandy
dot com to get free Zali candy for their entire school,
which is, you know, just another way that I've tried
to carry through with our initial mission of keeping kids
smiling and helping reduce childhood tooth the k To date,
we're in about twenty four hundred retailers in the US.
(16:22):
We're in CBS, write Aid, whole foods markets, Amazon dot com.
We recently got into Costco in Southern California, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado.
We're also available on Walmart dot com, Target dot com,
and Krogers. And you know, we've continued to grow our
(16:45):
presence internationally as well, in China, Korea, France, the Philippines, Morocco.
So when about twelve other countries, including the US, we
have been able to share Zali Candy across the world
and still are looking for new ways to expand and
new ways to grow. But one of those ways has
(17:06):
been through expanding our product line. So we don't just
have Zalie pops anymore. We have Zaffy taffy, which is
the clean teeth taffy. We have Zali caramels, we have
Zalie drops, we have Zali peanut butter cups, which we're
a newer invention that we're so so excited about and
I snack on them all day long.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
They're delicious.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
But all of our products still have the same great
teeth cleaning and allergen friendly other than the peanut butter cups.
Those have peanut butter obviously, but we are still a
very transparent and clean company in terms of ingredients and
the teeth cleaning aspect, as well as being allergen friendly
(17:50):
and diabetic friendly and keto. So all of those amazing products.
You can check them out on our website zalicandy dot
com or shop them at zalicandy dot myshopify dot com.
And if you're interested in learning more about my story,
you can check me out at Alina Starmors on Instagram
or at Zalicandy on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter and
(18:16):
so we want to continue to grow Zali 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 share with them that,
you know, entrepreneurship is a real career and a real
(18:37):
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. So we want to continue
to share that message, especially through our nonprofit. But as
for me, you know, college is coming up soon and
those decisions are really key. But I think you know,
(18:59):
wherever I choose to go, I'd like to study business
and you know, hopefully get to dance or play tennis
or you know, still enjoy the things that I've loved
growing up and look for other opportunities to help people,
look for other niche communities that you know could benefit
(19:19):
from a functional product, and whether it's Zalie or whether
it's something else that I create down the line, Helping
people is really the most important thing to me.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
And a great job is always by Greg Hangler and
a special thanks to Zalie Candy CEO Elena Morris, and
we love telling stories about entrepreneurship and small business owners.
And my goodness, what she said is so powerful. Real
world experience is better than algebra. And she's thinking about
college right now, but she's right. Entrepreneurship is a real career.
(19:49):
You don't need money, you certainly don't need a degree.
And she is living proof. Her first orders Whole Foods
and Amazon, and then she experiences this set. Every entrepreneur
does it, the screw up. Do they bounce back? Do
they fight back and learn from it? And she did,
which makes her an entrepreneur. The story of Teen Candy
(20:11):
Queen CEO Elena Morris here on our American Stories
And we continue with our American stories. Our next story
is brought to us by the youngest person ever to
be featured on the cover of Entrepreneur magazine. Let's take
a listen.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
My name's Elena Morris. I'm sixteen years old, and I
am the CEO and founder of Zali Candy. Sally Candy
is all natural, sugar free candy that cleans your teeth.
But my entrepreneurial journey didn't start at seven years old
with Zali Candy. I had been coming up with inventions
and crazy outlandish ideas for products since I was about
(00:50):
three years old. Around that age two three years old,
my dad read me the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad.
It was such an 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
(01:13):
into what I called my idea binder and drawn what
I had called a business plan, but it was really
more of just a picture with some labels, and as I,
you know, grew up, I grew up with this binder.
I would say some of the most prominent inventions from
that that time were definitely robot daddies. The name is
(01:35):
pretty self explanatory. It's a robot that can go to
work as your dad. And at this time, you know,
my dad, he was a CPA, so he was going
out of tons of business trips, and I really missed
having my dad around, and I wanted him to stay
home and you know, we could hang out and just
among among those there was lots of odds and ends
(01:57):
of fun games or a new sport. As much as
they weren't cohesive ideas, they did keep me occupied coming
up with fun new business plans and pitching them to
my parents. So really from that book, I learned that
I could help my mom, I could help my dad,
I could help my younger sister even by coming up
(02:17):
with an invention to make their lives a little bit
easier on the day to day basis.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
But as I grew up.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
You know, four, five, six, and then all the way
up until seven years old, I had added to this binder.
It wasn't until one just odd day I went to
the bank with my dad and the bank teller offered
me a lollipop, and it was just the typical action.
But my dad always told me he gave me the
(02:46):
same speech he gave me every time we went to
the bank. Candy's bad for your teeth, You'll get cavities.
He goes, it's up to you, Alena. But you know,
if I were you, i'd i'd make a smart choice.
You know. After pondering it for a moment, I decided,
you know, hey, I'll let them win. I won't take
(03:08):
the lollipop. But as we were walking back to the car,
I asked him, you know, hey, if I can't have candy,
and if I can't have something that's bad for me,
why can't I create something that's good for me that
you can't say no to?
Speaker 3 (03:23):
And this idea really stuck with me.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
I began writing a more extensive business plan than 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.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Just on Google on YouTube.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
And so I started watching just videos on YouTube of
how they created candy on a mass scale, and it
made me question, you know, where other products came from,
and it really got me interested in kind of the
consumer packaged good industry as a whole, and just how
things were made and all behind the scene steps that
went into creating not just candy, but everything that we
(04:04):
see in the grocery store. It doesn't just magically happen,
you know, it has to come from somewhere. And I
started researching more about the ingredient lists and what actually
makes candy bad for you, 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
(04:26):
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, or having it read to me
(04:47):
for that matter, and coming up with this idea and
connecting the pieces of a great idea and helping people
and having a cause a mission. And so when those
pieces clicked into place, I knew that this was my time.
This was the time to create and you know, put
in the time, put in the energy, put in the work,
(05:08):
and get people excited about this idea. Get people passionate
about Zali candy or what was to be Zali candy.
So it was definitely a turning point for me getting
my parents involved, saying hey, will you support me? Will
(05:28):
you 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. And then we
started looking at different manufacturing facilities or what we call plants.
We began taking tours of these manufacturing facilities around the
country to see, you know, who could really make a
(05:52):
sugar free candy that cleans your teeth. And one of
my first manufacturing facility tours, we got to the end
and my dad said, hey, Lena, so, so what do
you think?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
This is pretty cool?
Speaker 2 (06:05):
And I was thinking, yeah, Dad, this is great, but
where's the plant? He's like, what do you mean, Alena?
Look around at this is the plant? No, Dad, you
don't understand the plant, the potted plant. I mean, I'm
looking all around. All I see is people, machinery, candy.
I don't see any plants. I think in that moment
he reminded himself as mature, as smart as my daughter
(06:27):
could be.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
She's still a kid.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
I took about two years of taste tests and trials,
and during that time, our only taste testers really were
my friends and I and I always like to say,
you know, my friend didn't sugarcoat it. If something sucked,
they were gonna tell me that it sucked. And eventually
(06:52):
we came up with, you know, six great tasting flavors
of lollipops. And what we found throughout nih fund has
studies is that or berth retol on its own, which
is an all natural plant based sweetener from the US,
it actually raises the pH in your mouth and it
neutralizes the acid, so it takes away the bacteria that
causes cavities and tooth decay, and that bacteria is fed
(07:16):
by acid, and acid is really in every food that
we eat. Even bottled water has acid in it. And
that's why we call it the aft Wheat treat because
you can still enjoy your chocolate cake and your orange juice,
but if you have Azali pop after, it helps remineralize
your tooth enamel. Once we started finalizing the process of
(07:40):
Zali candy, we started having the conversations around our house
about what we're gonna do now. I have been a
dancer since the age of three. I'm also a tennis player,
so I've always had a busy schedule even without Zali Candy.
So really we began having those conversations about how we
(08:01):
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,
you know, especially my dad quitting his job to work
full time at Zali as the business manager. A day
to day really looked like me going to school and
then going back to our office and working with my
(08:23):
dad and the team to help grow and develop Zali.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
And you've been listening to Zali Candy's CEO, Aleena Morse,
and I happen to be holding an orange Zali lollipop
in my hand as we speak. And what a story
it is. Her dad read her the book Rich Dad,
Poor Dad when she was two or three. Way to
go Dad, by the way, what a great book to
read any kid, because it's not about wealth the way
(08:51):
you're thinking about it. When you read the book. Wealth
is freedom and wealth could be well, spiritual wealth, all
kinds of wealth, but it also is money and what
business does, and that you can help people through business
and that's the thing about capitalism, folks, free enterprise and
businesses serve. Your local restaurant serves, a car dealer serves,
so on and so forth. When we come back more
(09:14):
with this remarkable young voice, it sounds really like a
complete grown up. I'm talking about Elena Morris, CEO of
Zali Candy. Here on our American Stories. And we continue
(09:40):
with our American stories and the story of Zali Candy CEO,
Alena Morris, And right now I happen to be holding
my hand a Zalie taffy. When we last left off,
she had been searching for a candy, a sugar free
one that was good for teeth. Let's pick up when
we last left off.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
About my schooling.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I've always had very supportive teachers who have understood that
I'm not leaving school to go on vacation.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
I'm leaving school to learn.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
I feel like, in my opinion, at least, that real
world experience is even worth more than algebra. The first
retailer we actually got into was Whole Food's Markets, So
we luckily got a meeting and we were able to
dive down to southern California.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
And I'm so nervous.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
I'd been practicing all week for the big pitch, and
when I walked in the door, I remember the look
on the buyer's face was just kind of puzzled of
why is a kid here? And the buyer was very
patient with me. I know that they could tell I
was nervous but also excited, and they gave me some
great advice and they said, Okay, well, we'll let you
(10:52):
know in a couple months if you get in. And
one day we just got an email that we had
gotten in and that was our first po So it
was our first big sale, and it was really exciting
realizing and getting to celebrate all of our hard work
coming to a head. And you know, it was the
first of many of many yeses that we've gotten from buyers,
(11:13):
but you know, there's also been a lot of no's.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
But you got to take the good with the bad
with business.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
And so it wasn't until late twenty nineteen that we
actually got into every Whole Foods around the country, which
was very, very exciting and it was a very full
circle moment. And we recently actually went back and visited
one of the first Whole Foods that we had ever
gotten into when we just happened to be in California
(11:41):
and we'd gone in and there was a whole wall
and cap filled with Zalie 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
you know how many units per store per week, or
volume or margins. You know, seeing people with Zali candy
(12:05):
in their shopping carts, it was very exciting. We really
had been fortunate to 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
(12:29):
happened very early on. So after we got into Whole Foods,
our second big account was Amazon dot Com. And you know,
if you know anything about Amazon, you gotta ship worldwide, nationwide,
and you have to do it in a very timely manner.
And so once we launched on Amazon dot Com, people
were super excited about Zali and began purchasing it very quickly. Unfortunately,
(12:54):
when it was delivered to their homes, specifically in more
high deserty 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. But at
(13:15):
first we were devastated to see 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 pops would
become a hydroscopic, which means that they would suck up
(13:37):
the moisture from the air. And we realized at that
moment that this is why people had never succeeded in
making sugar free candy that's good for your teeth, because
sugar free candy tends to be hydroscopic, and nobody could
figure out, or you know, maybe they had given up
too soon to figure out that you had to create
(14:01):
the candy in a very specific condition in order to
maintain its integrity.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Once we figured that out.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
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 zali to
everyone who had ordered, and over time we did begin
to regain some of our ratings. But for a long time,
(14:33):
even though we had 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 before I order, and so it
was a very important learning experience. Eventually we came out
(14:54):
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, Zali
candy can.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
It's basically bulletproof. You cannot melt this candy.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
So you know, we're better off for it for sure,
But yeah, it was it was definitely a tricky roadblock.
So in our five years of selling, we have grown tremendously.
We have a three hundred percent growth rate year over year,
and we really have.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Found a niche community of people.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Whether you're diabetic, whether you have food allergies, whether you
know you're on a keto diet, those are the people
that we've been able to impact with our product, and
we also, you know, started a nonprofit alongside Zali Candy
where we give free Zali candy to schools across America
to teach kids about the importance of oral healthcare and entrepreneurship.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
And it's called the Million Smiles Initiative.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
So teachers principles can sign up on our website Zalicandy
dot com to get free Zali candy for their entire school,
which is, you know, just another way that I've tried
to carry through with our initial mission of keeping kids
smiling and helping reduce childhood tooth the k To date,
we're in about twenty four hundred retailers in the US.
(16:22):
We're in CBS, write Aid, whole foods markets, Amazon dot com.
We recently got into Costco in Southern California, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado.
We're also available on Walmart dot com, Target dot com,
and Krogers. And you know, we've continued to grow our
(16:45):
presence internationally as well, in China, Korea, France, the Philippines, Morocco.
So when about twelve other countries, including the US, we
have been able to share Zali Candy across the world
and still are looking for new ways to expand and
new ways to grow. But one of those ways has
(17:06):
been through expanding our product line. So we don't just
have Zalie pops anymore. We have Zaffy taffy, which is
the clean teeth taffy. We have Zali caramels, we have
Zalie drops, we have Zali peanut butter cups, which we're
a newer invention that we're so so excited about and
I snack on them all day long.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
They're delicious.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
But all of our products still have the same great
teeth cleaning and allergen friendly other than the peanut butter cups.
Those have peanut butter obviously, but we are still a
very transparent and clean company in terms of ingredients and
the teeth cleaning aspect, as well as being allergen friendly
(17:50):
and diabetic friendly and keto. So all of those amazing products.
You can check them out on our website zalicandy dot
com or shop them at zalicandy dot myshopify dot com.
And if you're interested in learning more about my story,
you can check me out at Alina Starmors on Instagram
or at Zalicandy on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter and
(18:16):
so we want to continue to grow Zali 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 share with them that,
you know, entrepreneurship is a real career and a real
(18:37):
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. So we want to continue
to share that message, especially through our nonprofit. But as
for me, you know, college is coming up soon and
those decisions are really key. But I think you know,
(18:59):
wherever I choose to go, I'd like to study business
and you know, hopefully get to dance or play tennis
or you know, still enjoy the things that I've loved
growing up and look for other opportunities to help people,
look for other niche communities that you know could benefit
(19:19):
from a functional product, and whether it's Zalie or whether
it's something else that I create down the line, Helping
people is really the most important thing to me.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
And a great job is always by Greg Hangler and
a special thanks to Zalie Candy CEO Elena Morris, and
we love telling stories about entrepreneurship and small business owners.
And my goodness, what she said is so powerful. Real
world experience is better than algebra. And she's thinking about
college right now, but she's right. Entrepreneurship is a real career.
(19:49):
You don't need money, you certainly don't need a degree.
And she is living proof. Her first orders Whole Foods
and Amazon, and then she experiences this set. Every entrepreneur
does it, the screw up. Do they bounce back? Do
they fight back and learn from it? And she did,
which makes her an entrepreneur. The story of Teen Candy
(20:11):
Queen CEO Elena Morris here on our American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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