Tessa Peterson is a fourth-year pre-nursing major from Omaha, Nebraska. Peterson’s business, Blue Heron, aims to provide women with a way to navigate their hormones through nutritious meal plans and all natural body products and cleaning supplies. University of Iowa JPEC’s Startup Incubator has connected Petersen with experts within her field and provided her with many essential resources to expand and grow her business.
What is Blue Heron?
Blue Heron is a company that helps women balance their hormones, focusing on their nutrition and using all natural body products as well as cleaning supplies. That way, it's not just what we ingest that affects those hormones, but also the different products we use and the different cleaning supplies that we're inhaling.
What inspired you to create Blue Heron?
I grew up with a liver condition and the liver is a very vital organ when it comes to hormones. I remember going to doctors and asking if there was any way I could regulate my hormones so I can regulate my cycle without going on birth control. I had already had multiple surgeries and was on multiple medications. I didn't want to add another medication that had a lot of potential side effects. My doctor was like, “Nope, this is all we have. You can either do hormonal or non-hormonal, but that's what we have.” I ended up going home and doing research for a couple of years and found that I was able to balance everything based on the nutrition I needed. For me, I tend to be underweight, so focusing on that protein helped. Then, I started going on a little bit of a different path and looking into body care products and cleaning supplies and realized that that's also affecting my body. So, I make sure that I have all-natural ingredients and different products that help work with the natural bodily mechanisms.
What stage is Blue Heron in right now?
Blue Heron is registered as a business, but we are currently working on Beta testing, so we don't necessarily have products out yet. We have products made that we want to start having people test and see what they like and what they don't like.
What kind of products does Blue Heron offer?
I am currently working on perfecting my body butter product, but I'm also going to start working on all-natural body wash. One of my friends has skin issues, so her hormones are kind of working that way. I’m also starting to work on a face serum product.
How has the Startup Incubator helped you?
Because I'm more of a STEM major, I knew nothing about business. The Startup Incubator has provided experts in that field that have taught me what I need to know about growing my business and scaling it in the future. I love that the Startup Incubator has business coaches, because I work better one-on-one with someone rather than just in a classroom. Being able to collaborate with different businesses within the Startup Incubator is fantastic, but also having that one-on-one help to scale that business and bring that idea to life has been incredible.
You played an integral part in the founding of the Women in Entrepreneurship organization at the University of Iowa. What is Women in Entrepreneurship about?
Women and Entrepreneurship is something that I'm very passionate about and my co-founder, Olivia Miller, graduated last semester, but she and I kind of came together, along with quite a few other girls in the Startup Incubator, and wanted to bring Women in Entrepreneurship to life. Statistically speaking, women in entrepreneurship have a harder time gaining financial backing as well as mentorship. Olivia and I came together and talked with Leslie Flynn—who is a faculty member that we work with to bring in guest speakers—so that other women who want to pursue entrepreneurship can hear their stories, their successes, their failures, and we can bring in women within finance, so members gain contacts and other people to talk to. The other cool thing about it was all these students, all these female student entrepreneurs, were getting together and collaborating and building a team even though we were working on different projects. It was cool to see that come to life.
Do you find it difficult to balance starting a business with being a college student?
Nursing is very rigorous when it comes to coursework, so I believe one of my barriers at the moment is my time. It’s also my credentials, because I have to kind of work within a certain credential framework. Balancing that with school gives me a little less time to focus on those products I want to make and that nutritional guide I want to get out there as well, so it can be difficult, but it's absolutely doable.
What advice would you give other students who are looking to start their own business while in college?
Go for it. Even if your business idea doesn't gain traction, you still learn so much from your mentors and from your colleagues that your next business could gain the traction you want or your first business could gain the traction you’re looking for. Step out of your comfort zone, widen your horizons, and just go for it.
What are you most looking forward to in the future of Blue Heron?
Having my products in my future clients’ hands because a lot of women are dealing with digestive issues that affect their hormones. I want to be a part of the solution and see those products help them in their everyday life and take one thing off their plate. You have women who are mothers, wives, and full-time employees, and they have had to put their health on the back burner. Having products to help them takes that extra step off their plate so they don't have to worry. I'm excited to get the products out there.
To learn more about the Undergraduate Startup Incubator, click HERE.