Kira Volpi is a healthcare entrepreneur who applied and was approved for funding through our platform. Here’s her story!
For every 4M babies born each year in the US, 1M of them are born with the sometimes life-threatening illness of GERD otherwise known as Acid Reflux Disease. The symptoms of GERD are crippling and some babies even perish due to the stressful toll acid reflux has on their tiny bodies. Some severe symptoms include, failure to thrive, gagging and choking, breath interruptions and sadly, death. In fact the #2 cause of SIDS (sudden infant death) is acid reflux disease.
We are blessed to live in a time where technology and medicine are helping innovators come up with impactful treatments for age-old problems. As such as this company Infant Acid Reflux Solutions who designed a treatment protocol and product that not only treats GERD based on a 12 year study done at the University of Missouri called MarciKids and has over 30 years of treatment history. Enricher was given an exclusive opportunity to learn more about this cutting-edge company.
EnrichHER: Why did you start your company and why are you passionate about healing acid reflux in babies?
Infant Acid Reflux Solutions: My partner, the inventor of MarciKids and I were working together during his time at the University of Missouri and I will never forget the day I received an email from a mom telling me how she had to give her baby CPR because the acid reflux was so bad, it came up into the throat and back down into the lungs causing what’s called aspiration. Her baby had stopped breathing! She was a nurse and although she knew what to do I couldn’t imagine the fear this mother went through in that moment. It’s a fear no mother should have to experience.
The unfortunate truth is lots of women have their hearts shattered when their newborn baby suffers from any kind of illness. Many of these issues could be mitigated, by first acknowledging there is a problem and secondly with a treatment that is effective and affordable. This mom and the circumstances that effect many families out there is the reason I knew I had to help bring about change.
It’s now my full time passion. I can’t fully describe that joy it brings me to hear from a family that they experiences a smile on their babies face for the first time in months since birth and that their babies and happy, healthy, eating and thriving. It’s one of my greatest joys to know they will get to enjoy their babies first year of life without the fear and the pain of watching their baby suffer.
EnrichHER: How were you able to flip this passion into a real business with employees?
Infant Acid Reflux Solutions: I was a working in business development for a large corporation. This coupled with my background in sales and distribution helped me to create the stepping stones for this company. I was already extremely successful selling and marketing various projects and making a fairly good living doing so. But working in the corporate world wasn’t giving me the fulfillment I am experiencing every day by connecting with families and being a small part of helping them during their struggles to have a happy, healthy baby. With my diverse experience and skillset, my life assignment became clear. I officially started Infant Acid Reflux Solutions with my business partner Jeffrey Phillips Pharm D., he and I both shared the same concerns for helping suffering children. His background as the lead in the MarciKids study and the development of Zegerid coupled with our ability to work cohesively was the motivation behind starting our practice and continuing to heal children suffering from chronic acid reflux disease.
EnrichHER: What is your unique perspective on being a business owner and what 3 lessons where you faced with and had to overcome to be able to thrive in your industry?
Infant Acid Reflux Solutions: My first three comments I share with every young entrepreneur are as follows:
1. Do what you are passionate about. Money can’t be your motivation because there will be days when the money isn’t there. Lots of those days, especially in the beginning. So there has to be a bigger reason to get out of bed and do what you do.
2. Don’t give up! You’re going to run into issues and hurdles and barriers every day. You have to be a problem solver and have the willingness to find answers to those problems rather than just throwing your hands up or giving up.
3. A.B.G. Always Be Growing. Search for literature, mentors, even customers that can give you a new perspective and help you learn and grow as an entrepreneur and as a person.
More Information
2. MarciKids Treatment and Dosing
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