March 25, 2025 • 19 mins
Ms. Campos served as a member of PetMeds’ Board of Directors and a member of the Audit, Compensation, and Corporate Governance and Nominating committees since May 17, 2023, before assuming the role of Chief Executive Officer and President in April of 2024. Ms. Campos served as the Chief Executive Officer of DVF (Diane von Furstenberg) (a luxury fashion brand) from April 2018 to November 2020. Prior to joining DVF, Ms. Campos was the co-president, Women’s Apparel, of Global Brands Group Holding Limited (a branded apparel, footwear and brand management company) from 2015 to April 2018, which included the Juicy Couture, Bebe, Buffalo, Tretorn, BCBG and Herve Leger brands. Ms. Campos also has held leadership roles prior thereto with apparel companies Polo Ralph Lauren and Nautica International.Ms. Campos also founded Fashion Launchpad (a continuing education platform for retail and fashion professionals) in June 2020, and created Dream out Loud in partnership with Selena Gomez (the first teen celebrity brand management company) which was established in 2009, and launched at retail in 2010.
After her departure from DVF, Ms. Campos served as the Chief Executive Officer of Project Verte Inc. (a retail technology and supply chain solutions provider) from November 2020 until November 2021. A receivership proceeding was filed against Project Verte Inc. in August 2022 in the Delaware Court of Chancery. The receiver subsequently filed a bankruptcy proceeding under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code with respect to Project Verte Inc. in January 2023 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Ms. Campos has been a member of the board of directors of Big Lots (NYSE:BIG), and a member of its audit committee and capital allocation planning committee since May 2021; an operating advisor of ShoulderUp Technology Acquisition Corp (SPAC) since October 2021; a member of the board of directors of Fabric (a modular and headless commerce solution) since August 2022, and; a member of the board of directors of PureRED, an advertising services company, since March 2023.Ms. Campos’s experience as a Chief Executive Officer along with her extensive experience in retail, brand management and marketing allows her to bring current and relevant perspective to the Board. Along with her public and private board experience, Ms. Campos’ background allows her to make very significant contributions to the Board’s decision-making processes especially in consumer facing activities like marketing, brand management and social media.
After her departure from DVF, Ms. Campos served as the Chief Executive Officer of Project Verte Inc. (a retail technology and supply chain solutions provider) from November 2020 until November 2021. A receivership proceeding was filed against Project Verte Inc. in August 2022 in the Delaware Court of Chancery. The receiver subsequently filed a bankruptcy proceeding under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code with respect to Project Verte Inc. in January 2023 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Ms. Campos has been a member of the board of directors of Big Lots (NYSE:BIG), and a member of its audit committee and capital allocation planning committee since May 2021; an operating advisor of ShoulderUp Technology Acquisition Corp (SPAC) since October 2021; a member of the board of directors of Fabric (a modular and headless commerce solution) since August 2022, and; a member of the board of directors of PureRED, an advertising services company, since March 2023.Ms. Campos’s experience as a Chief Executive Officer along with her extensive experience in retail, brand management and marketing allows her to bring current and relevant perspective to the Board. Along with her public and private board experience, Ms. Campos’ background allows her to make very significant contributions to the Board’s decision-making processes especially in consumer facing activities like marketing, brand management and social media.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, everyone, Welcome to this week's edition of CEOs. You
should know. This is Steve dallas On and I am
excited to be joined by Santra Campos, the president and
CEO of pet Meds. Sandra, thanks for coming in today.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hey Steve, thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (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 2 (00:30):
Wow? 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
(00:50):
terms of dresses, and so I started getting on boards
and I changed from I was the CEO of DVF
di'm on Fersenberg and then went to sit on boards.
I was sitting on seven between public company PE backed
BC backed boards and one of those boards was pet Mets.
And the reason I joined the pet Mets board was
because I personally am very passionate about animal welfare. I
(01:11):
have a lot of animals. I have eight horses, three dogs, wow,
and one cat. And so with all of that, it
was really something that was passionately. You know, my passionate
is well, hold on, I'll go back 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.
(01:32):
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 (01:39):
Well, congrats. 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 2 (01:45):
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. It's exactly what
I'd love.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
That's exciting. Congrats. 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 the success over all
these years.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
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
(02:30):
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. We're very good at ensuring that
we work with your veterinarian, your clinic, the animal hospitals.
We work with whatever those needs are that you have,
(02:52):
whether it's for preventative prescriptions and or chronic and acute care,
those prescriptions to make sure that you're getting exactly what
you need. So the pharmacy is really at the center.
What we've done to add and enhance beyond that is
really adding food and over the counter so anything that supplements, vitamins,
same things that we think about now as humans in
terms of what's going to help you let a happier,
(03:13):
healthier life and really all about wellness and better for
you products. We're doing the same thing for pets.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
That's awesome, one stop shop for everything, any for.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Your pets, all for your pets health and wellness. Absolutely true.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
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
of animals influence your leadership at pet Meds and how
do you bring that passion to the company.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
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. And it's really amazing to me
to see exactly how passionate everyone is, whether it's a
customer call center team, the buying and merchandizing organization, the
pharmacy obviously, the distribution center. It's just if you think
about your pet, you get a smile on your face, right,
(04:00):
it'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
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 from an
operational perspective. So that's been a really big important thing,
(04:22):
you know. It's something that I've done throughout my career
where I love consumer I love consumer businesses. I love
building businesses and rebuilding them. But also when you really
understand what you're selling into whom you're selling it, it
makes a very big difference.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
It's a great perspective to that. You 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 2 (04:47):
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. That's one part. The second part,
I think is really the determination to be able to
(05:08):
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 relevancy if you're not taking risk to see what
the consumer wants and what they respond to and what
they don't. We're not going to 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
(05:30):
and so in doing so, we have to take some
risks out there. I think risk 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. So those are
a couple of farries.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
I love that great advice can't be status quos. You
always got to.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Take risks, no, and you also have to pivot, you
know when you need to, 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.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
That's awesome. I read up in twenty twenty two, you
launched Latina Destructors to highlight Latina entrepreneurs. How important was
it for you to be able to create this space
for other Latina voices in leadership?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
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
(06:42):
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 room. So we've started creating these
events we've brought an 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,
(07:05):
growing their businesses more. And it really is about just
highlighting and featuring that no matter what. It's not about
just because they're Latina. 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 1 (07:20):
That's awesome, great cause too. 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 2 (07:34):
First of all, I think is communication. You have to
over communicate and repeat 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 in the future. So we just try
to over communicate and make sure that everybody's of where,
(07:56):
what's happening, what our vision is, how we're going to
get there, breaking down processes and roles. Just I think overall,
it's really about communication and making sure everybody's aligned with
what that future looks like.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Awesome 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 Mets continues to
be that leading company and stands out from the competition
for years to come.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Well, it is about differentiation, 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
(08:42):
your pet in terms of health, preventing fleas and ticks,
preventing 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
(09:02):
you can distribute those products, because a lot of times,
you know, it's not just an oral medication, it can
also 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
(09:23):
you know that has a pet, Stephanie should have this.
Doctor Cuddles actually is doctor Matt Glassman, who's a veterinarian
that created a product that is similar to ipacac. 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. I've had these things
(09:45):
happen in my own home where they become, you know,
in a situation where they actually have seizures and you
have to rush them to the hospital and it's thousands
of dollars later. 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. So that's one thing that we're doing
(10:06):
from a differentiation standpoint for exclusive brands. We're also launching
early with some brands. We're going to be launching with
O Norman, which is Kaylee Quoco's brand. We're launching with
that in a week actually two weeks, sorry, and so
we're really differentiating with product and how we position ourselves
in the marketplace.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
That's awesome. Well, I know that you just said that
you really try to keep ahead of different trends in innovations,
and it sounds like your guys are doing so right now,
What are some of the trends that we should look
forward to for the pet industry.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
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 (10:46):
Nice 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 2 (10:57):
Online is only going to become bigger, 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 all living online.
I think we'll just continue to be more visible, whether
(11:19):
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,
and or whether it's through our website 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,
and really get more out of the relationship that we build,
(11:41):
the one to one relationship we build of our consumers.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
That's awesome. 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 2 (11:58):
I'm six months into this, so we've got a lot
still that we have to do. High 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
(12:21):
of the questions you might have about Poppy Senior Illness
Kit and 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.
(12:43):
We 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. So that's what
we're trying to get out there in various ways now,
not only from just our emails, our social platforms, but
also as I mentioned this new pet health md dot com.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Website, exciting, excited to check it out. Yeah, 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 role as a CEO,
what were some of the biggest challenges you might have
faced and how did you overcome those?
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Huh, well, let's see here two thousand, 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 these situations,
(13:40):
whether it has to do with market crashing, or it
has to do with COVID, 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 prime and making sure that they have a variety
(14:02):
of options in terms of good, better, best pricing. Sure
you can have options there, you can 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 (14:18):
That's awesome. 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 the CEO,
as we went through, you have so many different tasks,
so many different initiatives, so many things you want to accomplish.
How do you make sure that you kind of have
a nice balance between the two of those.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
I don't believe in balance. 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. But I
(15:02):
think the balance just depends on what you really love.
Like I love work and I love building. 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
(15:24):
what is the right balance. But it really is so individual, absolutely,
and I always just tell people it's like you might
have balance today and not have it tomorrow. You just
need to figure out what's going to be the best
thing for you and what's going to help you feel
good about yourself.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Totally. I appreciate the honesty, and like you said earlier,
with the highs and lows, I think there's size and
lows with work life balance too, So absolutely prioritizing for
that moment in time, and it sounds like you're doing
an excellent job with that.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Well, I don't know about that, but I'm doing things
that I love absolutely.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
So we talked about a lot, but if you had
to narrow it down, what are you most excited about
in this you roll as CEO of pet Mets.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
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
(16:22):
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 for 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
(16:45):
finding those they're coming to us. It's innovative, it's science backed.
That's really important. And I 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 mission.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
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 2 (17:10):
The pet industry or the retail industry, or any of them.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Any's good, Well, I think in particular of the pet one.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Yeah, I think. 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,
(17:38):
anticipate conditions 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, probably just
really understanding the pet sector and all the different components
of pets, from pet insurance to telehealth to veterinarians and
(17:58):
all the different credibility there to the pharmacy. Like it's
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 (18:16):
Love that well, we covered a lot. Do you feel
like there's anything we might have missed that you want
our listeners to know about pet meds.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Well? 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
(18:46):
fosters 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 work 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
(19:08):
able to 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 that it still lives. Yeah,
(19:30):
So 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 (19:37):
That's awesome. It's a great mission to be a part of.
Thanks for sharing that. Thank you, Sandra, Thank you so
much for telling us a little bit about your background
more about pet Meds. Congrats on the new title. I'm
excited to see what comes next for pet Meds.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Thank you. We're so excited as well, and thanks for
having me absolutely, thank you.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
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. This is Steve dallas On and I am
excited to be joined by Santra Campos, the president and
CEO of pet Meds. Sandra, thanks for coming in today.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hey Steve, thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (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 2 (00:30):
Wow? 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
(00:50):
terms of dresses, and so I started getting on boards
and I changed from I was the CEO of DVF
di'm on Fersenberg and then went to sit on boards.
I was sitting on seven between public company PE backed
BC backed boards and one of those boards was pet Mets.
And the reason I joined the pet Mets board was
because I personally am very passionate about animal welfare. I
(01:11):
have a lot of animals. I have eight horses, three dogs, wow,
and one cat. And so with all of that, it
was really something that was passionately. You know, my passionate
is well, hold on, I'll go back 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.
(01:32):
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 (01:39):
Well, congrats. 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 2 (01:45):
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. It's exactly what
I'd love.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
That's exciting. Congrats. 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 the success over all
these years.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
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
(02:30):
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. We're very good at ensuring that
we work with your veterinarian, your clinic, the animal hospitals.
We work with whatever those needs are that you have,
(02:52):
whether it's for preventative prescriptions and or chronic and acute care,
those prescriptions to make sure that you're getting exactly what
you need. So the pharmacy is really at the center.
What we've done to add and enhance beyond that is
really adding food and over the counter so anything that supplements, vitamins,
same things that we think about now as humans in
terms of what's going to help you let a happier,
(03:13):
healthier life and really all about wellness and better for
you products. We're doing the same thing for pets.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
That's awesome, one stop shop for everything, any for.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Your pets, all for your pets health and wellness. Absolutely true.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
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
of animals influence your leadership at pet Meds and how
do you bring that passion to the company.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
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. And it's really amazing to me
to see exactly how passionate everyone is, whether it's a
customer call center team, the buying and merchandizing organization, the
pharmacy obviously, the distribution center. It's just if you think
about your pet, you get a smile on your face, right,
(04:00):
it'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
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 from an
operational perspective. So that's been a really big important thing,
(04:22):
you know. It's something that I've done throughout my career
where I love consumer I love consumer businesses. I love
building businesses and rebuilding them. But also when you really
understand what you're selling into whom you're selling it, it
makes a very big difference.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
It's a great perspective to that. You 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 2 (04:47):
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. That's one part. The second part,
I think is really the determination to be able to
(05:08):
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 relevancy if you're not taking risk to see what
the consumer wants and what they respond to and what
they don't. We're not going to 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
(05:30):
and so in doing so, we have to take some
risks out there. I think risk 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. So those are
a couple of farries.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
I love that great advice can't be status quos. You
always got to.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Take risks, no, and you also have to pivot, you
know when you need to, 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.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
That's awesome. I read up in twenty twenty two, you
launched Latina Destructors to highlight Latina entrepreneurs. How important was
it for you to be able to create this space
for other Latina voices in leadership?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
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
(06:42):
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 room. So we've started creating these
events we've brought an 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,
(07:05):
growing their businesses more. And it really is about just
highlighting and featuring that no matter what. It's not about
just because they're Latina. 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 1 (07:20):
That's awesome, great cause too. 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 2 (07:34):
First of all, I think is communication. You have to
over communicate and repeat 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 in the future. So we just try
to over communicate and make sure that everybody's of where,
(07:56):
what's happening, what our vision is, how we're going to
get there, breaking down processes and roles. Just I think overall,
it's really about communication and making sure everybody's aligned with
what that future looks like.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Awesome 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 Mets continues to
be that leading company and stands out from the competition
for years to come.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Well, it is about differentiation, 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
(08:42):
your pet in terms of health, preventing fleas and ticks,
preventing 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
(09:02):
you can distribute those products, because a lot of times,
you know, it's not just an oral medication, it can
also 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
(09:23):
you know that has a pet, Stephanie should have this.
Doctor Cuddles actually is doctor Matt Glassman, who's a veterinarian
that created a product that is similar to ipacac. 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. I've had these things
(09:45):
happen in my own home where they become, you know,
in a situation where they actually have seizures and you
have to rush them to the hospital and it's thousands
of dollars later. 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. So that's one thing that we're doing
(10:06):
from a differentiation standpoint for exclusive brands. We're also launching
early with some brands. We're going to be launching with
O Norman, which is Kaylee Quoco's brand. We're launching with
that in a week actually two weeks, sorry, and so
we're really differentiating with product and how we position ourselves
in the marketplace.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
That's awesome. Well, I know that you just said that
you really try to keep ahead of different trends in innovations,
and it sounds like your guys are doing so right now,
What are some of the trends that we should look
forward to for the pet industry.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
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 (10:46):
Nice 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 2 (10:57):
Online is only going to become bigger, 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 all living online.
I think we'll just continue to be more visible, whether
(11:19):
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,
and or whether it's through our website 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,
and really get more out of the relationship that we build,
(11:41):
the one to one relationship we build of our consumers.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
That's awesome. 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 2 (11:58):
I'm six months into this, so we've got a lot
still that we have to do. High 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
(12:21):
of the questions you might have about Poppy Senior Illness
Kit and 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.
(12:43):
We 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. So that's what
we're trying to get out there in various ways now,
not only from just our emails, our social platforms, but
also as I mentioned this new pet health md dot com.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Website, exciting, excited to check it out. Yeah, 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 role as a CEO,
what were some of the biggest challenges you might have
faced and how did you overcome those?
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Huh, well, let's see here two thousand, 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 these situations,
(13:40):
whether it has to do with market crashing, or it
has to do with COVID, 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 prime and making sure that they have a variety
(14:02):
of options in terms of good, better, best pricing. Sure
you can have options there, you can 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 (14:18):
That's awesome. 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 the CEO,
as we went through, you have so many different tasks,
so many different initiatives, so many things you want to accomplish.
How do you make sure that you kind of have
a nice balance between the two of those.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
I don't believe in balance. 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. But I
(15:02):
think the balance just depends on what you really love.
Like I love work and I love building. 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
(15:24):
what is the right balance. But it really is so individual, absolutely,
and I always just tell people it's like you might
have balance today and not have it tomorrow. You just
need to figure out what's going to be the best
thing for you and what's going to help you feel
good about yourself.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Totally. I appreciate the honesty, and like you said earlier,
with the highs and lows, I think there's size and
lows with work life balance too, So absolutely prioritizing for
that moment in time, and it sounds like you're doing
an excellent job with that.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Well, I don't know about that, but I'm doing things
that I love absolutely.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
So we talked about a lot, but if you had
to narrow it down, what are you most excited about
in this you roll as CEO of pet Mets.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
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
(16:22):
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 for 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
(16:45):
finding those they're coming to us. It's innovative, it's science backed.
That's really important. And I 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 mission.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
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 2 (17:10):
The pet industry or the retail industry, or any of them.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Any's good, Well, I think in particular of the pet one.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Yeah, I think. 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,
(17:38):
anticipate conditions 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, probably just
really understanding the pet sector and all the different components
of pets, from pet insurance to telehealth to veterinarians and
(17:58):
all the different credibility there to the pharmacy. Like it's
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 (18:16):
Love that well, we covered a lot. Do you feel
like there's anything we might have missed that you want
our listeners to know about pet meds.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Well? 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
(18:46):
fosters 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 work 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
(19:08):
able to 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 that it still lives. Yeah,
(19:30):
So 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 (19:37):
That's awesome. It's a great mission to be a part of.
Thanks for sharing that. Thank you, Sandra, Thank you so
much for telling us a little bit about your background
more about pet Meds. Congrats on the new title. I'm
excited to see what comes next for pet Meds.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Thank you. We're so excited as well, and thanks for
having me absolutely, thank you.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Thank you everybody for tuning in for this week's edition
of CEOs you should know tune in next week
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