Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, everyone, Welcome to this week's edition of CEOs. You
should know.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
This is Steve dallas On and I am excited to
be joined by Santra Campos, the president and CEO of
pet Meds.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Sandra, thanks for coming in today.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Hey Steve, thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
We're excited to have you to jump into a little
bit about your background and learn more about pet Meds.
So why don't we kick it off by telling us
a little bit about yourself. Interesting transition right from CEO
of a fashion brand to now leading pet meds. What
motivated you to have that transition from the fashion industry
to the pet industry.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
Wow?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Well, I've always been in consumer products and fashion has
been a big part of my career. This is the
fourth time I've been a CEO, but in various Thank you,
and various other companies. It's been more fashion global lifestyle businesses.
And during the pandemic it wasn't exactly that we were not,
let's say, selling everything possible in terms of dresses, and
(00:52):
so I started getting on boards and I changed from
I was the CEO of DVF I'm a Fershenberg and
then went to sit on boards. I was sitting on
seven boards between public company PE backed BC backed boards,
and one of those boards was pet Mets. And the
reason I joined the pet Meds board was because I
personally am very passionate about animal welfare. I have a
lot of animals.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I have eight.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Horses, three dogs, wow, and one cat. With all that,
it was really important for me to take some skills
that I have from a business standpoint and actually apply
it to something that I'm passionate about personally as well.
So within a year I became the CEO in May.
So now we're in a different stage and transformation at
pet Mets.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Well, congrats.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
It's exciting, and it's probably awesome to be in a
field that you're so passionate about and have such a
strong heart for.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
It's actually the first time in my career that I
can say that I'm doing something that is so impactful
that it's actually a life or death and we are
focused on extending and helping pets live healthier, happier lives,
and so this is amazing for me.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
It's exactly what I'd love.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
That's exciting. Congrats.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
So as CEO of pet Meds, you're leading a company
with a strong history in the pet space. What do
you believe has been this success over all these years.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
So pet Mets actually was the original pioneer pet pharmacy
online and so for the past twenty eight years a
company's been a public company. It was, as I mentioned,
the first ones out there on the block for pet pharmacy,
and for a long time they were really one of
the early ones and one of the only and it's
just only been in the last seven eight years that
(02:23):
there's been a lot more focus obviously on online. Pandemics
certainly helped that, so there's been a lot more competition.
But the fact is that what I call the jewel
in the crown is our pharmacy. We're very good at
having a pharmacy business. What we've done to add and
enhance beyond that is really adding food and over the
counter so anything that supplements, vitamin, same things that we
(02:44):
think about now as humans in terms of what's going
to help you let a happier, healthier life and really
all about wellness and better for you products, we're doing
the same thing for pets.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
That's awesome, one stop shop for everything, any for your.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Pets, all for your pets health and wellness. Absolutely sure
you mentioned this earlier. Right, you have a passion for pets.
I know you're a rescue pet owner yourself. You have
a farm full of animals. How does your personal love.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Of animals influence your leadership at pet Meds and how
do you bring that passion to the company.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Well, first of all, I think we're all super passionate
about pets, and that's why you work in this business
and in this company. If you think about your pet,
you get a smile on your face. Right, No one's
unhappy if they see more pictures of their pets. It
just makes you happy and they give you unconditional love.
And so I think, no matter what, we take that
into our business. As far as I'm concerned, because I'm
(03:35):
also a consumer, it really helps me take the lens
from the consumer into what we need to do and
what we need to accomplish in the business.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
From an operational perspective, you.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Said earlier you're four time CEO and a two time
founder from various different companies. What are some of the
leadership principles you've learned over the years and how are
you going to apply those at pet Meds.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Well, first of all, it's resilience, is number one, regardless
if you're an entrepreneur or a leader, because there's going
to be a lot of peaks and valleys. It's a
roller coaster ride every day, and so just knowing that
there's always the other side, you're always going to come
out on the other side.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
That's one part.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
The second part, I think is really the determination to
be able to take some risks. I'm definitely a risk
taker in general, but I like being able to take
risks because what we're focused on is creating relevancy, and
you can't really create relevance if you're not taking risks
to see what the consumer wants and what they respond
to and what they don't.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
We're not going to.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Make big mistakes, hopefully, but we're also trying into getting
out there to do things that we want to really
reposition this business for, and so in doing so, we
have to take some risks out there.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
I think risk.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Taking definitely determination to ensure that no matter what, if
you go down, you're going to go right back up again.
That's another big aspect of leadership and again entrepreneurial life.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
So those are a couple of farries.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
I love that great advice can't be status quos. You
always got to take risks no, and.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
You also have to pivot, you know when you need
so learning more, becoming more well rounded, making sure that
you're open to saying yes. I say yes to opportunities
across the board, whether that's personally or even through business.
And I think that's another important characteristic that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
I read up in twenty twenty two, you launched Latina
Distructors to highlight Latina entrepreneurs. How important was it for
you to be able to create this space for other
Latina voices in leadership?
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Well, because I've been in business for such a long time. Aka,
I've been around a long time, I've been old. But
though the reality is that because I've been around and
I have a certain network and I've been able to
do certain things. In my career, I saw a lot
of women who were struggling. They were either struggling to
get in the same room with media, struggling to get
in the same room with investors, or they just weren't
being heard. And meanwhile they were building great businesses. And
(05:49):
I just thought, why are we not seeing more of them?
Why could we not put together the investor, the entrepreneur,
the media and just and mentors and bring them all
together in the same So we've started creating these events,
We've brought in incredible women, highlighted and featured them. They
some of them have gone on to do much bigger things,
whether it's been exiting their businesses, raising capital, growing their
(06:13):
businesses more. And it really is about just highlighting and
featuring that no matter what. It's not about just because
they're Latinas. They're amazing entrepreneurs first and foremost, then they
happen to be women, and they happen to be Latina,
and so we have to know that you can do
it no matter what and where you come from.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
It's awesome great cause too, So it's awesome to be
able to give them their voice in spotlight too. So,
as you're responsible for driving the strategic direction of pet MEDS,
what has been your approach to have a strong collaborative
team to do so?
Speaker 4 (06:41):
First of all, I think is communication. You have to
over communicate and repeat.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Repetition as reputation, as I've heard throughout my entire career,
and I do believe in that. And so the more
we communicate, the more everybody's clear in terms of what
we're doing, the more that we're able to communicate what
the successes are, small wins will equal big wins the future.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Looking ahead, you mentioned earlier that now the landscape is
a little bit more competitive than it used to be.
What's your strategy to make sure pet Meds continues to
be that leading company and stands out from the competition
for years to come.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
Well, it is about differentiation.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
So we are definitely looking at ways to differentiate, but
with what we do really well. So again, if we
think about pet health and wellness, we are a pet
health care platform and we're not a pet retailer like
there are others out there who are focused on toys
and blankets and crates and all of that, which that
is not our focus. Our focus is if you think
about what's going to happen for your pet in terms
(07:34):
of health, preventing fleas and ticks, preventing you know, some
sort of either kidney heart, all kinds of other issues
that happen, whether it's dog, cat, or horse, We're going
to be there for you. So as we do that,
we're differentiating in terms of the types of products that
we carry, the ranges of ways in which you can
(07:54):
distribute those products because a lot of times, you know,
it's not just an oral medication, be transdermal, it can
be an injection. So we're just giving a lot of
different options, and we're also looking at how we can
have exclusive product categories. So we actually just launched with
one brand called Doctor Cuddles, which I personally believe every
single pet owner and everyone you know that has a pet,
(08:16):
Stephanie should have this. Doctor Cuddles actually is doctor Matt Glassman,
who's a veterinarian that created a product that is similar
to IPA CAAC. If you're a parent and you have
kids and you know when they get into something that's poisonous,
you want them to vomit and throw that up. Similarly
there when pets get into chocolate, grapes, rat poison.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
I've had these things happen in my own home where.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
They become, you know, in a situation where they actually
have seizures and you have to rush them to the
hospital and it's.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Thousands of dollars later.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
This actually helps to not that you don't have to
talk to your veterinarian or go to them eventually, but
at the same time it really helps the pet at
that moment to where you don't have a critical situation.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Well, I know that you just said that you really
try to keep ahead of different trends, innovations, and it
sounds like your guys are doing so right now. What
are some of the trends that we should look forward to.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
For the pet industry?
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Definitely very much aligned with what's happening in human health.
So if you think about gut health, if you think
about single ingredient product, if you think about fewer ingredients,
better for you types of ingredients, it's all happening on
the pet side as well.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
I know, one thing we talked about earlier was the
rise of e commerce for the pet space. Obviously being
known for your online pharmacy services, how do you see
that continuing to evolve for years to come.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Online is only going to become bigger and more important.
You know, it is your flagship. So for us, we
don't have physical stores, we don't have physical clinics. We
have our online presence, so that is our flagship. Everything
will be there, whether it's education, all the content, all
the Q and A, the customer call center piece of it, it's.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
All living online.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
I think we'll just continue to be more visible, whether
that's to our app, which we're actually launching this week,
or whether it thinks it's a great one that we've done,
or whether it's through our webs site as we continue
to evolve it, whether it's through AI and other But
it's going to be more interactive, and I think just
that's what we're going to look at as consumers. You
want it to be more convenient, more interactive, more educational,
(10:11):
and really get more out of the relationship that we build,
the one to one relationship we build of our consumers.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Speaking of consumers right now, more than ever, I feel
like consumers are empower with information. Pemez is doing so
many amazing things and have so many collaborations and partnerships
coming up. How are you making sure the consumers are
aware of that and how do you guys plan to
continue to do so well.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
I'm six months into this, so we've got a lot
still that we have to do. How very busy, but
we have a lot still that we're we have on
the roadmap to come. But right now we're really trying
to do that through various ways. From an education and
content standpoint, We've created a new website that's called pet
heealthmd dot com and that will actually answer a lot
(10:54):
of the questions you might have about poppy, senior illness, kitten,
senior cat, et cetera. And so we're trying to create
that from a content standpoint and make sure that we're
telling people this is what we have. We are a
credible resource for you. We've been around for twenty eight
almost thirty years now. And not only that, we have
veterinary Advisory Board, we have veterinarians we work with. We
(11:16):
have pharmacists who are trained pharmacists that have been working
for decades in our company. So we have a lot
of real credibility in our reputation.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
You mentioned earlier about resiliency, which I think is extremely important.
Every industry has ups and downs, right and challenges. During
your time at CEO now or previous roles a CEO,
what were some of the biggest challenges you might have
faced and how did you overcome those?
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Huh, Well, let's see here two thousand and a two thousand.
I mean, there's so many different times in which we've
had a lot of macro issues. COVID obviously macroeconomic global
issues that are completely out of your control when you're
running a business or you have a business, right and
so if you think about that, consumers always change and
there's something that impacts the consumer behavior from the situations,
(12:00):
whether it has to do with market.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
Crashing, or it has to do with COVID.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Or it has to do with uncertainty in terms of
geopolitical uncertainty that we've had. All of those things impact
the consumer behavior. So as we look to our consumer
and we're really thinking through what impacts that consumer, a
lot of it now is about price and making sure
that they have a variety of options in terms of good, better,
best pricing, so you can have options there, you can
(12:27):
have options that are over the counter versus having to
have prescription. So we look at trying to make sure
that we are connected to our customer enough that we
understand what they're going through and we understand what the
needs are and then we're trying to service those needs.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
I'll talk a little bit on a more personal note, right,
how do you maintain which I think is one of
the biggest questions people write in for how do you
maintain that work life balance as a CEO. As we
went through you have so many different tasks, so many
different initiatives, so many things you want to accomplish.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
How do you make sure that you kind of have
a nice balance between the two of those.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
I believe in balance.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Well, I have three kids on top of all of
my animals, and you know, I think that the reality
is I've always said, I don't think there is a balance.
I think that your balance depends day to day on
what you call balance for that day, what worked for you.
My kids now are all in college, so it's a
little different for me where I don't have them that
are as needy as they were once when they were smaller.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
But I think the balance just depends on what you
really love. Like I love work and I love building.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
I love this business, and I love what we do
and the consumer that we serve. So because of that,
it doesn't feel like work. Yeah, and so I end
up probably doing a lot more of it than anything else.
So to me, that's okay, and I know that there's
a balance there when I need to adjust. But I
do think that it's incredibly hard for people to figure
out what is the right balance. But it really is
so individual.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
I appreciate the honesty and like you said earlier, with
the highs and lows, I think there's size and lows
with work.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Life balance too.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
So absolutely prioritizing for that moment in time, and it
sounds like you're doing an excellent.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Job of that.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
I don't know about that, but.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
I'm doing things that I love. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
So we talked about a lot, but if you had
to narrow it down, what are you most excited about
in this new role.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Of CEO of pet Meds.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Wow, the innovation I'm so excited about. We have this incredible,
authentic legacy brand and we've been doing a lot of
good for thirteen plus million people over the years, and
I think that what we have in the future to
just a make people aware of what pet Meds is,
what we're focused on, what we can do for you
and your pets is one. But then also the innovation
(14:32):
that we're going to bring to the table. Not only
innovation as it relates to the technical aspects of our
website or our app or whatever else, but innovation in
terms of products and innovation or entrepreneurs. I'm for people
who are actually creating, Like veterinarians who are coming to
us now because they're creating these platforms, they're creating these
businesses that are actually better for pets, and so we're
(14:55):
finding those they're coming to us. It's innovative, it's science backed.
That's really important. Think at the end of the day,
we're all about extending the life of a pet, and
so all these things that we create and the partnerships
that we establish within our ecosystem are going to be
really important for that.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
That's incredible mission, so excited to see more. I always
love asking this question to kind of wrap up the interview.
If someone's tuning in that wants to enter the industry,
what advice would you give them.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
The pet industry or the retail industry or any of them.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Any's good, Well, I think in particular of the pet one.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
Yeah, I think.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Look, I wasn't in pet before, as you know, so
this has been an interesting new sector for me. But
at the end of the day, it's still consumer. So
it has to be about the love for the consumer.
And I do believe wholeheartedly that the more you know
about pets, and the more you are even a consumer
of pets, then the better you are in this role
because you're able to anticipate change, anticipate problems, anticipate conditions
(15:49):
that we need to resolve and to be there for
and so I do think that being a pet owner
kind of helps you as well think as a consumer
and have that lens. But overall, it's all probably just
really understanding the pet sector and all the different components
of pets, from pet insurance to telehealth to veterinarians and
all the different credibility there to the pharmacy. Like it's
(16:11):
a pretty robust industry. It's not as complicated perhaps as
other industries are, but there's so much there that you
can learn from. So I think be really willing to learn,
be willing to roll your sleeves up and get into
the details.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Love that well. We covered a lot.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Do you feel like there's anything we might have missed
that you want our listeners to know about pet meds well?
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Pet meds is definitely the care you trust, and that's
what we provide, and for anything health and wellness, we're
there for everyone. I think one other piece that I
would just add is that because I keep talking about
pets health and wellness and extending their life, but you
can't do that if pets don't have homes. So we're
really affiliated and really showing up for shelters and fosters
(16:57):
and rescue programs out there because we really want pets
to be able to get homes, Like I'm unfortunately getting
more and more pets of my own, but you guys
all can too here. But the reality is that we
need pets to have homes. So we're working with shelters
to be able to highlight those We're working with some
people that are also working with shelters, either from an
influencer or people of influence standpoint, to be able to
(17:19):
highlight the problems that we have and the challenges that
we have. We're also trying them from our business to
make sure that we're making it easier for the consumer
to take care of their pet because it is expensive,
because it does require time and patience. They're basically babies
when their puppies are kittens, and you're taking care of
babies and you're taking care of lives. It may not
be a human life, but it still lives. Yeah, So
(17:40):
we're trying to make sure that everything that we do
will help get you prepared. We'll give you all the
right tools and the resources and we're there for you.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
That's awesome. It's a great mission to be a part of.
Thanks for sharing that.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Thank you, Sandra, Thank you so much for telling us
a little bit about your background more about pet Meds.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Congrats on the new title. I'm excited to see what
comes next.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
For pet Meds. Thank you. We're so excited as well.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Thanks for having me, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Thank you everybody for tuning in for this week's edition
of CEOs You Should Know. Tune in next week.
Hi, everyone, Welcome to this week's edition of CEOs. You
should know.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
This is Steve dallas On and I am excited to
be joined by Santra Campos, the president and CEO of
pet Meds.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Sandra, thanks for coming in today.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Hey Steve, thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
We're excited to have you to jump into a little
bit about your background and learn more about pet Meds.
So why don't we kick it off by telling us
a little bit about yourself. Interesting transition right from CEO
of a fashion brand to now leading pet meds. What
motivated you to have that transition from the fashion industry
to the pet industry.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
Wow?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Well, I've always been in consumer products and fashion has
been a big part of my career. This is the
fourth time I've been a CEO, but in various Thank you,
and various other companies. It's been more fashion global lifestyle businesses.
And during the pandemic it wasn't exactly that we were not,
let's say, selling everything possible in terms of dresses, and
(00:52):
so I started getting on boards and I changed from
I was the CEO of DVF I'm a Fershenberg and
then went to sit on boards. I was sitting on
seven boards between public company PE backed BC backed boards,
and one of those boards was pet Mets. And the
reason I joined the pet Meds board was because I
personally am very passionate about animal welfare. I have a
lot of animals.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I have eight.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Horses, three dogs, wow, and one cat. With all that,
it was really important for me to take some skills
that I have from a business standpoint and actually apply
it to something that I'm passionate about personally as well.
So within a year I became the CEO in May.
So now we're in a different stage and transformation at
pet Mets.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Well, congrats.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
It's exciting, and it's probably awesome to be in a
field that you're so passionate about and have such a
strong heart for.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
It's actually the first time in my career that I
can say that I'm doing something that is so impactful
that it's actually a life or death and we are
focused on extending and helping pets live healthier, happier lives,
and so this is amazing for me.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
It's exactly what I'd love.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
That's exciting. Congrats.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
So as CEO of pet Meds, you're leading a company
with a strong history in the pet space. What do
you believe has been this success over all these years.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
So pet Mets actually was the original pioneer pet pharmacy
online and so for the past twenty eight years a
company's been a public company. It was, as I mentioned,
the first ones out there on the block for pet pharmacy,
and for a long time they were really one of
the early ones and one of the only and it's
just only been in the last seven eight years that
(02:23):
there's been a lot more focus obviously on online. Pandemics
certainly helped that, so there's been a lot more competition.
But the fact is that what I call the jewel
in the crown is our pharmacy. We're very good at
having a pharmacy business. What we've done to add and
enhance beyond that is really adding food and over the
counter so anything that supplements, vitamin, same things that we
(02:44):
think about now as humans in terms of what's going
to help you let a happier, healthier life and really
all about wellness and better for you products, we're doing
the same thing for pets.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
That's awesome, one stop shop for everything, any for your.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Pets, all for your pets health and wellness. Absolutely sure
you mentioned this earlier. Right, you have a passion for pets.
I know you're a rescue pet owner yourself. You have
a farm full of animals. How does your personal love.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Of animals influence your leadership at pet Meds and how
do you bring that passion to the company.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Well, first of all, I think we're all super passionate
about pets, and that's why you work in this business
and in this company. If you think about your pet,
you get a smile on your face. Right, No one's
unhappy if they see more pictures of their pets. It
just makes you happy and they give you unconditional love.
And so I think, no matter what, we take that
into our business. As far as I'm concerned, because I'm
(03:35):
also a consumer, it really helps me take the lens
from the consumer into what we need to do and
what we need to accomplish in the business.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
From an operational perspective, you.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Said earlier you're four time CEO and a two time
founder from various different companies. What are some of the
leadership principles you've learned over the years and how are
you going to apply those at pet Meds.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Well, first of all, it's resilience, is number one, regardless
if you're an entrepreneur or a leader, because there's going
to be a lot of peaks and valleys. It's a
roller coaster ride every day, and so just knowing that
there's always the other side, you're always going to come
out on the other side.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
That's one part.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
The second part, I think is really the determination to
be able to take some risks. I'm definitely a risk
taker in general, but I like being able to take
risks because what we're focused on is creating relevancy, and
you can't really create relevance if you're not taking risks
to see what the consumer wants and what they respond
to and what they don't.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
We're not going to.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Make big mistakes, hopefully, but we're also trying into getting
out there to do things that we want to really
reposition this business for, and so in doing so, we
have to take some risks out there.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
I think risk.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Taking definitely determination to ensure that no matter what, if
you go down, you're going to go right back up again.
That's another big aspect of leadership and again entrepreneurial life.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
So those are a couple of farries.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
I love that great advice can't be status quos. You
always got to take risks no, and.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
You also have to pivot, you know when you need
so learning more, becoming more well rounded, making sure that
you're open to saying yes. I say yes to opportunities
across the board, whether that's personally or even through business.
And I think that's another important characteristic that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
I read up in twenty twenty two, you launched Latina
Distructors to highlight Latina entrepreneurs. How important was it for
you to be able to create this space for other
Latina voices in leadership?
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Well, because I've been in business for such a long time. Aka,
I've been around a long time, I've been old. But
though the reality is that because I've been around and
I have a certain network and I've been able to
do certain things. In my career, I saw a lot
of women who were struggling. They were either struggling to
get in the same room with media, struggling to get
in the same room with investors, or they just weren't
being heard. And meanwhile they were building great businesses. And
(05:49):
I just thought, why are we not seeing more of them?
Why could we not put together the investor, the entrepreneur,
the media and just and mentors and bring them all
together in the same So we've started creating these events,
We've brought in incredible women, highlighted and featured them. They
some of them have gone on to do much bigger things,
whether it's been exiting their businesses, raising capital, growing their
(06:13):
businesses more. And it really is about just highlighting and
featuring that no matter what. It's not about just because
they're Latinas. They're amazing entrepreneurs first and foremost, then they
happen to be women, and they happen to be Latina,
and so we have to know that you can do
it no matter what and where you come from.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
It's awesome great cause too, So it's awesome to be
able to give them their voice in spotlight too. So,
as you're responsible for driving the strategic direction of pet MEDS,
what has been your approach to have a strong collaborative
team to do so?
Speaker 4 (06:41):
First of all, I think is communication. You have to
over communicate and repeat.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Repetition as reputation, as I've heard throughout my entire career,
and I do believe in that. And so the more
we communicate, the more everybody's clear in terms of what
we're doing, the more that we're able to communicate what
the successes are, small wins will equal big wins the future.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Looking ahead, you mentioned earlier that now the landscape is
a little bit more competitive than it used to be.
What's your strategy to make sure pet Meds continues to
be that leading company and stands out from the competition
for years to come.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
Well, it is about differentiation.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
So we are definitely looking at ways to differentiate, but
with what we do really well. So again, if we
think about pet health and wellness, we are a pet
health care platform and we're not a pet retailer like
there are others out there who are focused on toys
and blankets and crates and all of that, which that
is not our focus. Our focus is if you think
about what's going to happen for your pet in terms
(07:34):
of health, preventing fleas and ticks, preventing you know, some
sort of either kidney heart, all kinds of other issues
that happen, whether it's dog, cat, or horse, We're going
to be there for you. So as we do that,
we're differentiating in terms of the types of products that
we carry, the ranges of ways in which you can
(07:54):
distribute those products because a lot of times, you know,
it's not just an oral medication, be transdermal, it can
be an injection. So we're just giving a lot of
different options, and we're also looking at how we can
have exclusive product categories. So we actually just launched with
one brand called Doctor Cuddles, which I personally believe every
single pet owner and everyone you know that has a pet,
(08:16):
Stephanie should have this. Doctor Cuddles actually is doctor Matt Glassman,
who's a veterinarian that created a product that is similar
to IPA CAAC. If you're a parent and you have
kids and you know when they get into something that's poisonous,
you want them to vomit and throw that up. Similarly
there when pets get into chocolate, grapes, rat poison.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
I've had these things happen in my own home where.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
They become, you know, in a situation where they actually
have seizures and you have to rush them to the
hospital and it's.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Thousands of dollars later.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
This actually helps to not that you don't have to
talk to your veterinarian or go to them eventually, but
at the same time it really helps the pet at
that moment to where you don't have a critical situation.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Well, I know that you just said that you really
try to keep ahead of different trends, innovations, and it
sounds like your guys are doing so right now. What
are some of the trends that we should look forward to.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
For the pet industry?
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Definitely very much aligned with what's happening in human health.
So if you think about gut health, if you think
about single ingredient product, if you think about fewer ingredients,
better for you types of ingredients, it's all happening on
the pet side as well.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
I know, one thing we talked about earlier was the
rise of e commerce for the pet space. Obviously being
known for your online pharmacy services, how do you see
that continuing to evolve for years to come.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Online is only going to become bigger and more important.
You know, it is your flagship. So for us, we
don't have physical stores, we don't have physical clinics. We
have our online presence, so that is our flagship. Everything
will be there, whether it's education, all the content, all
the Q and A, the customer call center piece of it, it's.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
All living online.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
I think we'll just continue to be more visible, whether
that's to our app, which we're actually launching this week,
or whether it thinks it's a great one that we've done,
or whether it's through our webs site as we continue
to evolve it, whether it's through AI and other But
it's going to be more interactive, and I think just
that's what we're going to look at as consumers. You
want it to be more convenient, more interactive, more educational,
(10:11):
and really get more out of the relationship that we build,
the one to one relationship we build of our consumers.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Speaking of consumers right now, more than ever, I feel
like consumers are empower with information. Pemez is doing so
many amazing things and have so many collaborations and partnerships
coming up. How are you making sure the consumers are
aware of that and how do you guys plan to
continue to do so well.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
I'm six months into this, so we've got a lot
still that we have to do. How very busy, but
we have a lot still that we're we have on
the roadmap to come. But right now we're really trying
to do that through various ways. From an education and
content standpoint, We've created a new website that's called pet
heealthmd dot com and that will actually answer a lot
(10:54):
of the questions you might have about poppy, senior illness, kitten,
senior cat, et cetera. And so we're trying to create
that from a content standpoint and make sure that we're
telling people this is what we have. We are a
credible resource for you. We've been around for twenty eight
almost thirty years now. And not only that, we have
veterinary Advisory Board, we have veterinarians we work with. We
(11:16):
have pharmacists who are trained pharmacists that have been working
for decades in our company. So we have a lot
of real credibility in our reputation.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
You mentioned earlier about resiliency, which I think is extremely important.
Every industry has ups and downs, right and challenges. During
your time at CEO now or previous roles a CEO,
what were some of the biggest challenges you might have
faced and how did you overcome those?
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Huh, Well, let's see here two thousand and a two thousand.
I mean, there's so many different times in which we've
had a lot of macro issues. COVID obviously macroeconomic global
issues that are completely out of your control when you're
running a business or you have a business, right and
so if you think about that, consumers always change and
there's something that impacts the consumer behavior from the situations,
(12:00):
whether it has to do with market.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
Crashing, or it has to do with COVID.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Or it has to do with uncertainty in terms of
geopolitical uncertainty that we've had. All of those things impact
the consumer behavior. So as we look to our consumer
and we're really thinking through what impacts that consumer, a
lot of it now is about price and making sure
that they have a variety of options in terms of good, better,
best pricing, so you can have options there, you can
(12:27):
have options that are over the counter versus having to
have prescription. So we look at trying to make sure
that we are connected to our customer enough that we
understand what they're going through and we understand what the
needs are and then we're trying to service those needs.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
I'll talk a little bit on a more personal note, right,
how do you maintain which I think is one of
the biggest questions people write in for how do you
maintain that work life balance as a CEO. As we
went through you have so many different tasks, so many
different initiatives, so many things you want to accomplish.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
How do you make sure that you kind of have
a nice balance between the two of those.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
I believe in balance.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Well, I have three kids on top of all of
my animals, and you know, I think that the reality
is I've always said, I don't think there is a balance.
I think that your balance depends day to day on
what you call balance for that day, what worked for you.
My kids now are all in college, so it's a
little different for me where I don't have them that
are as needy as they were once when they were smaller.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
But I think the balance just depends on what you
really love. Like I love work and I love building.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
I love this business, and I love what we do
and the consumer that we serve. So because of that,
it doesn't feel like work. Yeah, and so I end
up probably doing a lot more of it than anything else.
So to me, that's okay, and I know that there's
a balance there when I need to adjust. But I
do think that it's incredibly hard for people to figure
out what is the right balance. But it really is
so individual.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
I appreciate the honesty and like you said earlier, with
the highs and lows, I think there's size and lows
with work.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Life balance too.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
So absolutely prioritizing for that moment in time, and it
sounds like you're doing an excellent.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Job of that.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
I don't know about that, but.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
I'm doing things that I love. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
So we talked about a lot, but if you had
to narrow it down, what are you most excited about
in this new role.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Of CEO of pet Meds.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Wow, the innovation I'm so excited about. We have this incredible,
authentic legacy brand and we've been doing a lot of
good for thirteen plus million people over the years, and
I think that what we have in the future to
just a make people aware of what pet Meds is,
what we're focused on, what we can do for you
and your pets is one. But then also the innovation
(14:32):
that we're going to bring to the table. Not only
innovation as it relates to the technical aspects of our
website or our app or whatever else, but innovation in
terms of products and innovation or entrepreneurs. I'm for people
who are actually creating, Like veterinarians who are coming to
us now because they're creating these platforms, they're creating these
businesses that are actually better for pets, and so we're
(14:55):
finding those they're coming to us. It's innovative, it's science backed.
That's really important. Think at the end of the day,
we're all about extending the life of a pet, and
so all these things that we create and the partnerships
that we establish within our ecosystem are going to be
really important for that.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
That's incredible mission, so excited to see more. I always
love asking this question to kind of wrap up the interview.
If someone's tuning in that wants to enter the industry,
what advice would you give them.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
The pet industry or the retail industry or any of them.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Any's good, Well, I think in particular of the pet one.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
Yeah, I think.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Look, I wasn't in pet before, as you know, so
this has been an interesting new sector for me. But
at the end of the day, it's still consumer. So
it has to be about the love for the consumer.
And I do believe wholeheartedly that the more you know
about pets, and the more you are even a consumer
of pets, then the better you are in this role
because you're able to anticipate change, anticipate problems, anticipate conditions
(15:49):
that we need to resolve and to be there for
and so I do think that being a pet owner
kind of helps you as well think as a consumer
and have that lens. But overall, it's all probably just
really understanding the pet sector and all the different components
of pets, from pet insurance to telehealth to veterinarians and
all the different credibility there to the pharmacy. Like it's
(16:11):
a pretty robust industry. It's not as complicated perhaps as
other industries are, but there's so much there that you
can learn from. So I think be really willing to learn,
be willing to roll your sleeves up and get into
the details.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Love that well. We covered a lot.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Do you feel like there's anything we might have missed
that you want our listeners to know about pet meds well?
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Pet meds is definitely the care you trust, and that's
what we provide, and for anything health and wellness, we're
there for everyone. I think one other piece that I
would just add is that because I keep talking about
pets health and wellness and extending their life, but you
can't do that if pets don't have homes. So we're
really affiliated and really showing up for shelters and fosters
(16:57):
and rescue programs out there because we really want pets
to be able to get homes, Like I'm unfortunately getting
more and more pets of my own, but you guys
all can too here. But the reality is that we
need pets to have homes. So we're working with shelters
to be able to highlight those We're working with some
people that are also working with shelters, either from an
influencer or people of influence standpoint, to be able to
(17:19):
highlight the problems that we have and the challenges that
we have. We're also trying them from our business to
make sure that we're making it easier for the consumer
to take care of their pet because it is expensive,
because it does require time and patience. They're basically babies
when their puppies are kittens, and you're taking care of
babies and you're taking care of lives. It may not
be a human life, but it still lives. Yeah, So
(17:40):
we're trying to make sure that everything that we do
will help get you prepared. We'll give you all the
right tools and the resources and we're there for you.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
That's awesome. It's a great mission to be a part of.
Thanks for sharing that.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Thank you, Sandra, Thank you so much for telling us
a little bit about your background more about pet Meds.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Congrats on the new title. I'm excited to see what
comes next.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
For pet Meds. Thank you. We're so excited as well.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Thanks for having me, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Thank you everybody for tuning in for this week's edition
of CEOs You Should Know. Tune in next week.
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