MyStory
MyStory
From experiments in my kitchen
to following my intuition,
here’s my journey to becoming
the Founder and CEO of Hint.
In 2004, I had terrible acne, zero energy, and I was 45 pounds overweight. So I decided to see a doctor.
“It’s your metabolism slowing due to age,” he told me. “Fairly normal but you should go on medication.”
Pills? Really? I wasn’t convinced that was the answer. And so, instead of going to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription, I went home to examine my fridge. What was I putting in my body? There had to be a link between my diet and my health.
Almost immediately, I found the culprit — diet soda. I was addicted to the stuff at that time, drinking upwards of 10 cans a day.
I’ll be the first to admit that the word “diet” had totally fooled me. Gosh, I thought I was being so responsible.
When I read the full list of ingredients and didn’t even recognize most of them – I thought, what the heck was I drinking?!
That day, I decided to cut diet soda out of my life and started drinking water instead. Three months later, my acne was gone, I was bursting with energy, and I had lost 40 pounds!
Everything was great — except for one minor detail: There was no way I’d be able to keep this up long-term. Water was simply too bland for me. I needed some flavor.
And so, I started boiling fruit skins in my kitchen and mixing the oils with water. I loved the subtle fruit flavor and so did my kids. All of a sudden, it was all my family would drink.
Then the neighbors started calling. “How much sugar was in that delicious fruit water I drank at your house?” they’d ask. “There’s no sugar!” I’d tell them. “Just fruit and water!” Then they’d ask me to make them their own batch.
Initially, these requests made me laugh because it’s not like mixing fruit and water is difficult.
However, after realizing that a) there was no such product on the market, and b) there were millions of people, just like me, who were drinking too much soda and too little water, I started taking things more seriously. Then a lightbulb went off: Could this be a business?
Six months later, hint was officially born. In fact, I hand-delivered the first cases to the local Whole Foods on my way to give birth to my fourth child, Justin.
Fast-forward to today and the concoction I made in my kitchen to help me drink more water is helping people all over the country do the same thing!
So please, stop drinking soda and other sweetened beverages that are often labeled as "healthy", and take a closer look at that label.
Better yet, drink hint instead! You’ll still get that burst of flavor that makes your taste buds go “Oh yeah!”… while avoiding the sugar that makes your entire body go, “Oh, no.”
Today, Hint is going beyond water to give people better, healthier experiences that they can truly enjoy and share. In 2017, I launched Hint sunscreen, an SPF 30 sunscreen mist that’s enhanced with the same essences used in hint water, after having several run-ins with precancerous cells on my nose.
I decided to solve yet another personal problem by creating a sunscreen with no parabens and oxybenzone, while smelling amazing. My team and I are dedicated to helping people live healthier lives, easily. With water and sunscreen, there’s no telling what’s next.