Episode 208: From Wound Care to Total Healing: The Journey of Regenerative Medicine - Danielle Fette

In this episode, we dive into the inspiring entrepreneurial journey of Danielle Fette, Co-Founder & CMO of FetTech, showcasing her bold decision to break away from corporate limitations to start FetTech. Despite encountering financial challenges and skepticism, the team at FetTech maintained their focus on creating excellent products that could genuinely change patient’s lives. This exploration of their journey sheds light on their unwavering dedication, the factors behind their innovative mindset, and their commitment to positive societal impact.

You can find FetTech on FetTech.com and check out ReyaGel at ReyaGel.com.

Remarkable Quote:

“Every time I see our products being used, I pinch myself with gratitude that we're able to help people this way.”

Find Us Online!

• Website: iamJulietHahn.com
• Instagram: @iamjuliethahn
• Twitter: @iamjuliethahn
• LinkedIn: Juliet Hahn
• FB: @iamjuliethahn
• Fireside: Juliet Hahn
• Clubhouse: @iamjuliethahn
• YouTube: Juliet Hahn

Transcript:

00:00:00
Welcome back to your next stop. This is Juliet Hahn. In this episode, I speak with Hahnielle Fette. Hahnielle is the co founder and chief marketing officer at Fette. They are a biotech company in the regenerative medicine space.

00:00:13
I love this episode. I mean, oh, my gosh, so much. So if you guys have been following anything, you know that I started a new job as a chief communications officer for this company called Fette. This is Fette. Hahnielle, I said we go way back, but this space of what they're doing in the regenerative medicine medical space is unreal.

00:00:33
There's no one out there doing what they're doing, and we get into a lot of different things. So you guys do not want to miss this episode. Again. Hahnielle Fette, co founder and chief marketing officer at Fette. You can find [email protected].

00:00:48
As we said in the episode, there's going to be Facelifts and new websites coming out. So there is a space. If you guys want to add your email, you can kind of follow what we are doing, but just get a little insight into the amazing, creative, kind of badass world of Hahnielle Fette. So don't forget to, again, go to Fette.com for a little bit more information and we will see you guys for another episode of Your Next Stop. But in the meantime, enjoy this episode with Hahnielle Fette.

00:01:22
Welcome to your next stop. This is Juliet Hahn. I say this every single time. I'm so excited to bring you another guest that has followed a passion and turned it into a business. But this is going to be a little different because we're going to not dive into Hahnielle Fette's story.

00:01:38
Welcome, Hahnielle. By the way, thanks for having me. You're welcome. We're going to actually go backwards. You guys know, like, I like to shake things up.

00:01:45
So today we're going to shake things up a little bit. Hahnielle Fette is the co founder and the chief marketing officer at Fette, which is a biotech company in the regenerative medical space. And what they're doing is so freaking like, you guys are going to hear about this. So you can go to Fetech.com, and things in the next month are just going to start really kind of blowing up. And so I'm, like, kind of squealing here.

00:02:11
But, Hahnielle, I can't wait to get into the story. So welcome again to your next stop. And this is going to be good. Thanks for having me. Yes, it's always fun to hang out with you.

00:02:20
Yes. So Hahnielle and I go way back. And if you guys you've heard, Hahnielle has been on the podcast before. We've also done she was on Word Blindness a couple weeks ago. So also, if you want to get to know Hahnielle a little bit better, you can also listen to that, but then you can do some research because, again, as I said, in the next month, there's going to be a lot of news out there.

00:02:41
So Hahnielle, if you can take us through a little bit just like what you're doing right now in this biotech kind of world to get everyone interested again, Fette.com, you guys can go check that out. So my husband and I have worked in the regenerative medicine space for years. And my husband is a tissue engineer and he invents medical devices. And I'm a nurse by trade and have worked in wound care and the medical space of burn and trauma for a very long time. And together we were working for other people and we had visions of how to advance the space because it's primarily in the hospitals used, like I said, in wound care, trauma, burns, this type of technology.

00:03:25
And we had visions of being able to help lots of different patients with different disease states. So basically the product that we have invented, when you put it into the body, it recognizes injury. And most people that are healthy enough to heal will go through inflammatory response and then form scar tissue. That's like scarring basically protects us from getting further infection or other complications. So when our powder goes into the body so say for example, you have been through a wound I'm sorry, not a wound, a burn.

00:03:55
No, you have a wound from a burn. You would put our product in and it would signal to your body to heal differently. And literally it would attract stem cells, so it would make your own body stem cells come to the site and then when give it the tools and instructions it would need to remodel and repair, which is exceptional. So we've been using this product, like I said, it's FDA cleared since 2018 in the hospitals all throughout the country. And we've just had the most phenomenal success.

00:04:21
I mean, really, every time I see it being used, I pinch myself with gratitude that we're able to help people the way we're able.

00:04:31
So because I want to take it back because, you know, the listeners are always curious like I am. And so how did this kind of all come? Like as a know again, we love talking about that, but we do know your story. Again, Hahnielle and I go way, way back and we started working together probably five years ago when Fette was really starting to come to fruition. You guys know about my storytelling, my podcast.

00:04:55
And we started working together really about Hahnielle's story and the company story. And just recently the fetties were like, hey, can you come on board? So I am getting the most crazy opportunity to help with the communications. And I said to Hahnny, I was like, and Clay, I was like, listen, I really think this would be a great idea if you guys came on your next stop, because first of all, this is so fascinating. This is something that I never dreamed of doing, but this is what this podcast is about.

00:05:23
And you had dreams as a kid. So I kind of want you to tell us a little bit about your background and kind of how you got into the medical space. Yeah. So I always knew I'd be in healthcare, helping people heal in some capacity. But when I was a young child and I'd see someone fall in the playground, I was literally the first one.

00:05:43
No matter what kind of blood was involved, I'd be the first one to the scene where I noticed my friends would run away crying and were scared of it. So I knew I was pretty different early on when it came to health care in general. But I also have dyslexia, so school was very hard for me, and I struggled with having a visual path as to how I could be in medicine. When people laughed at me and said, oh, you're stupid or you can't take tests, I just had a knowing that I would get here. Just didn't know how.

00:06:10
So I took a really traditional route where I went to undergrad at University of Delaware. Thank goodness I played lacrosse. It definitely helped me get into the school, and after trying every science major and realizing being pre med is just a waste of a diploma because I won't get into med school, I won't get into chiropractic school, PT school, PA school, any of the exceptional schools. But I knew I was smart, and I wanted to help make a difference. So I had a professor.

00:06:38
Someone at the school said, hey, there's a year grad program for nursing. You just needed, like, an undergrad degree in the sciences. So I kind of talked my way into getting into this program before I actually graduated. So I took a year accelerated nursing program, and then I was like, oh, gosh, this is not the career path for me. Nurses have to be so attention to detail, so good with documentation, everything I'm not.

00:07:01
So I said to my professor, what am I going to do? He's like, you'd be great in sales. I'm like, okay, I did not go this far and work so hard in school to be in. No, no. Like, you educate.

00:07:11
The way doctors and clinicians would learn about new technology is through people like you. So he helped me get a job with Eli Lilly, and I sat in there and the interview room, and everyone had years of experience, and they looked at me like, you little kid out of school. You're never going to get the job. And long story short, I guess I sold myself. I got the job.

00:07:31
And from that point on, I learned very quickly what corporate America was all about. And I thought it was just each company I would job hop to, because every year I was like, this is not fulfilling, but it's supposed to be, because this is, like, a really awesome job according to most. So I would job hop year after year. And then I tried surgical sales where I was in the or. In training surgeons on cutting edge things like pacemakers for the brain and the patient was awake, and I was training the neurosurgeon.

00:07:59
So I felt rewarded in the sense I was getting a lot of opportunity and solid corporate training. But when I met my husband, probably in 2009, he was probably the first person in corporate America that visualized things the way I did. And it was almost like our hands were tied, as most of the people on your show say. Like with corporate America, I feel like we were really not able to use our creative juices, if you will, and advance medicine. So by the time I met Clay, I had ended up in the wound care space.

00:08:33
And that was the first time I actually really felt like I am a rock star. Because wound care is very subjective. It's not like orthopedic or nor surgery. It's not like A plus B equals C when you're putting in a screw and a plate into a hip, for example. So because it's so subjective, a lot of clinicians have trouble in the space because they don't like having to figure things out.

00:08:54
They're more like calculative in their thought processes. But for me, I'm like, whoa, if we don't really know what the body needs or when it needs it, and we have all these various wound care supplies, and we get to get creative till we heal the patient, I can figure stuff out quicker than anyone. So here I would be in with people from Harvard and Princeton, and I'm like, they're literally asking me what to do to heal this patient, and I'm able to do it. Then I met my husband. I'm going to pause you because there's so many things that you just said there that I love that I really want the listeners to think about, because first of all, if anyone knows anything about Dyslexia, you think out of the box.

00:09:26
Like you have a different thought pattern that is documented. I mean, if you go and really study Dyslexia, that is one of our gifts. My listeners know I'm dyslexic that's something that we've connected. It's so fascinating to think, but also because of all the struggles that you went through, but then also all the things that you were like, okay, I know I'm good at this. I know I'm good at that.

00:09:46
So, again, as listeners are thinking about their own stories, I want you to think about those times that really you might have been down, but you're like, okay, I'm going to rise above. I'm going to rise above. And sometimes where people get caught up in the weeds because they're like, I keep failing. I keep failing. I know you and I have talked about this.

00:10:02
When I fail, I'm like, okay, there's something good on the other side. I know the more I fail, the more I'm getting to what I'm meant to do. So I love how you kind of just pinpointed that you knew that your brain could think and be a little bit more abstract and help these doctors do what they need because you're so intuitive and really understand how the body works. No. If you did it on a test, would it come out the same that was in your brain?

00:10:25
No. And that's what I think is so fascinating. And that's why I love stories so much, because they really connect us, because someone can listen here and they can hear how fired up you were when you just literally were talking about that. And me knowing you and just knowing what you're doing in this space, it's really unbelievable. So when you met Clay, take us through that a little bit, because, again, you were in sales, you were doing these things, you were in a really great space, but there were some things that you were fighting kind of internally, right?

00:10:54
Let me preface. So, like, in 2005, I was able to go to Singapore and work with the hospitals and the big healthcare systems over there. And I was blown away by the technology. I mean, they put us to shame over here as far as their stem cell research and other treatment options. So then I always filed that away in the back of my head that God forbid I needed stem cell therapy, I'd be going over to Singapore because it was so advanced.

00:11:19
And then I met my husband a couple years after that, and I had never really heard of the regenerative medicine know. And at the time, I was working for a company where we had a lot of products in the wound and skincare space. I did know that there was a lot of terms thrown around in this space, like collagen and hyaluronic acid. And I did learn early on that if you put stuff on top of the skin, that a lot of the expensive products that we're buying as females, those molecules actually won't penetrate through the dermis and work at the cellular level. So I had a little insight to knowing that healing the skin takes stuff at the cellular level to signal and tell the body how to heal.

00:11:57
I met my husband. He was actually one of the developers of this product we sold, and I was blown up. I have never fallen in love with technology like this. And we were able to heal so many kinds of patients. I mean, babies that have open abdomens that they said they were going to die because their intestines were sticking out, and we'd be able to put the powder on that he had to help create.

00:12:17
And through working with him, we had visions of how to make it better. And first off, I was like, Why? If this product recognizes injury and signals to your body how to heal and remodel, why is it limited to wound care. What if we formulated the product differently and injected it to a heart muscle? Like, after heart attack, could it prevent the heart muscle from dying?

00:12:39
Or what about after traumatic brain injury? And we just had all these visions, but we were handcuffs. We worked for corporate America, so we actually got lucky that really bad things happened with this company, and we ended in bad terms, which was the biggest blessing in disguise. And I said, this is great. This is our chance to do it ourselves.

00:12:56
We're not going to take outside funding because we saw really ugly behaviors when the board members were involved. I said, we're going to do this ourselves. We're going to come up with a better product. We're going to give the body more of what it could potentially use to heal and remodel better than any other product out there. And from that platform, we can develop different ways to deliver it to the body to help with a ton of different problems patients may have.

00:13:19
So we started fetch, and now here we are today. Yeah. And I love it. So the thing is and so I want everyone to kind of also get that timeline a little bit. I think sometimes timelines are so important in people's brains because they'll be like, wait a second.

00:13:33
So Hahnielle was working in Corporate America. Clay was working as an inventor developer in corporate America. And they met, and through that kind of initial meeting, they formed this friendship, and then they formed this kind of, like, let's brainstorm, because they saw that they had a lot of really interesting things in common. And then through that, they fell in love, which is I mean, it really is like this Hollywood story, which we will be sharing, trust me. Once, as I said, in the next month, the next two months, there's going to be a lot of stuff coming out with Fette, which is going to be exciting.

00:14:06
And then throughout the years, I mean, you heard what Hahnielle was saying. Like, what if you use it here? What if you use it there? You could see the drive, right? The drive that Hahnielle has.

00:14:15
Clay has a very similar drive. And the thing that's so beautiful about the fetties is their heart. They really are about wanting to help. And so I would love for Hahnielle you to kind of as you guys formed, what what was the mission and some of the things that were really important. And then let's get into know the first mission.

00:14:35
Know not to sell anything or put anything in the market that we didn't think was, like, the most amazing product ever. So Clay had helped develop most of the products that were predominantly used in the wound care, regenerative, medicine, space. And we looked at them, and we're like, okay, over time, the evolution of these products, what made them better and better and better. So I don't know how much the listeners know about different things we use in the healthcare space. But when we say collagen, for example, there's multiple kinds of collagen.

00:15:02
There's collagen 12345, there's hyaluronic acid, there's elastin laminin, and there's all these wonderful things that our body needs to heal. And it's not just one know. And what you may need, Juliet, may be different than what I need. Similar to taking a supplement, you go to over or Amazon, it's overwhelming how many supplements are on the market. And it's a combination of the best supplements all in one area, that really trigger your body to heal as best as possible.

00:15:28
So most of the regenerative medicine products are taken through extracellular matrix and tell me if I'm geeking out too much. But basically the extracellular matrix is where your cells live, and it has a web of information and tools that basically tell your body how to function. So we figured out a way to extract the widest variety and the most potent biomolecules all in one spot. Which I knew how good it would be at the time, but it wasn't until I saw it clinically used when we started in Florida and some hospitals down here that I was blown away patients, I never thought my wildest dreams, we'd be able to heal. I was like, wow, this is such a blessing.

00:16:09
So, like I said earlier, we've been used in the hospital since 2018. And it was early on where I said, I love all things beauty, I love all things aesthetics. And it was actually during COVID where I couldn't get Botox and oh my gosh, I didn't even realize how many wrinkles I had. I'm like, what can I do at home? And wait, what if I micro needled my skin and then put our technology over it?

00:16:32
Because now I'm creating little trauma in the skin. I'm allowing our product to signal at the cellular level what kind of rejuvenation and what kind of downtime from healing would I have. And so I would just play around and I would be on Zoom calls or afterwards. And full disclosure, I would not recommend any patient do this. I mean, I'm a nurse, and even so, I know sterile, like, how to be sterile and not get an infection.

00:16:55
But even so, I was still a little nervous to microneedle myself. So you can have complications like an infection or you want to go to a healthcare provider. You go to a healthcare provider. Yeah, and I'm going to pause you for a second as this was coming up. So the technology, because when you're someone listening that doesn't know the health care space, they're going to be like, wait, it's a technology that put you on your face, a medical device.

00:17:19
It is a platform. It's called MTP, which is a multi tissue platform, but it is a substance. Right? Explain a little bit about that. Yeah, it's kind of confusing because the medical device before I married my husband and learned all about the FDA pathways, I would think like a pacemaker would be a medical device, right?

00:17:39
So the way that the FDA clears our type of technology is through a medical device pathway. So it's classified as a medical device, even though it's in powder and liquid form, if that makes sense. So it's cool because I don't know this factually, but when I view what they're using in the aesthetic space, I think a lot of people try to enter that space because it's a billion dollar, it's huge money in it. So I think everyone's trying to get the next best thing to get a piece of it. Whereas Clay and I, we genuinely know wound care.

00:18:09
We know what happens when your body gets blown up by a missile on how to heal it. So we thought, wait, if we're already putting this into patients, what happens if we were to transition this and make this available for patients that want to look prettier from the inside out? And I would say that the majority of these thoughts I would get calls all the time from patients that had cosmetic procedures, post complications, so, like a breast lift, and they have a huge hole in their breast. And you have minimal blood flow in your breast tissue because it's thin, and so they wouldn't be able to heal. And I'd say, okay, yeah, you can use one of our products.

00:18:44
And that kind of just evolved to, wait a minute, why aren't we proactively treating our skin, our biggest organ in our body, with all these wonderful components, and make it stronger and healthier from the inside out? Not to mention, even if it couldn't do that, I know how quickly it heals after a traumatic event. So, like, post microneedling or post laser? I've tried so many procedures, but I can honestly say I was petrified of doing a laser procedure because I'm a burner. I don't want my face to hurt.

00:19:13
And I've seen pictures of I've seen friends after laser, and I'm like, I don't know if I have the balls to do that. But now with our MTP platform in gel form, I'm like, wow, I know it will be soothing. I've heard patients in the burn hospital say it helps with pain, so I'm really excited to try it. Yeah, because that is one thing, and that is one thing that's important to say. Not only does it help heal, but it also helps with the pain.

00:19:36
And that is because you guys have been FDA approved. It's been in the hospitals in use since 2018. So that's what is also a really cool story. This has kind of already been used. And then Clay and Hahnielle have this whiteboard where they're like, well, who can we help next?

00:19:51
Who can we help next? And that's really what you guys are about. I mean, that's one of the reasons why I said yes to working with. You even know, I was running my own, know, my podcast and all these things I said, everything that you guys are doing is exactly what my values and what I would want to do. Helping people is so important.

00:20:08
It's so rewarding. But right now, not even right now, all the time in the world, we need people like you guys. We need people that stay curious, ask questions, but also are like, you know what? We're going to try this. If it doesn't work, we're going to try something else.

00:20:21
You don't let those kind of things get to you and the company. Every employee, now that I've gotten to know everyone, I mean, that is one of the things that we love so much about working for Vet Tech is we sit around and brainstorm. We sit and talk. It is such a powerful place. And I always dreamt of the day I could get to a place where I absolutely admired and it felt like I'm a better person from the people that I'm working with.

00:20:48
And there's such a level of trust and excitement that we'll have calls and I'll say, I'm so excited for our kids to look at us and know that you can follow your passion. You can do something that you love. And it may not be easy. I mean, they've seen me cry too, when times are really tough, but to be able to be that excited where on a Saturday, if you were to reach out to me, I get excited because we're moving in the right direction. It's just the best feeling ever.

00:21:13
Wait, I have to pause you because and this is so off. Excuse me, but follow me. Didn't you say you were doing microneedling yesterday? Yesterday I was actually sick all weekend and I wanted to do anything I could to feel better. I'm like, well, maybe if I get it in my neck and go in my sauna.

00:21:31
So I actually micro needling. I took pictures. I micro needled, and I put our technology on there, and I should be red. It was kind of ballsy of me to do the day before podcast with. You, but no, this is so crazy because you can't even tell.

00:21:44
In full disclosure, I have never done microneeling. I didn't even know what it was until I started working in the company. Even though I'm vain, but there are things that I just I'm like, oh, wait, I need to know more about this. So it is really fascinating because again, it's about keeping your skin healthy. Yes, you want to look good, but you also want your skin to be healthy.

00:22:01
You want it not just to be like, healthy. You're working out, you're eating. But if you're not taking care of your skin, you're going to age in a different way than when you're taking care of your skin where you could age better. And I think that's what I don't want to say better, but you can age healthier. And so I love that.

00:22:17
So you can't even tell that you micro needled. I mean, anyone that's listening that has microneedled and there's no filters here, that is insane. And you use yeah, because Zoom has filters, but this platform does not. And I was like, oh, what if I'm red? But it's important for women to know that there's a lot of products that are advertised to claim to have hyaluronic acid, vitamin C, collagen, all these things.

00:22:46
And I think it's important if you want to buy it because it makes you feel good to use, that's wonderful. But it's also important to be aware that a lot of the biomolecules, these ingredients, if you will, that are in these products, they sit on top of your dermis and they're not necessarily working at the cellular level to do what the claims are. And it's really interesting. Like marketing. I'm paying attention now more to the signs at Sephora or at my dermatologist's office because we're going to be launching soon in the aesthetic market.

00:23:17
And it's amazing with the before and after picture and what companies can do and what claims they can make. But I also know your body needs a lot of this stuff, so we're not required. And as far as I know, in the aesthetic market as well, and then the cosmetic market, you could have a speck of collagen or a speck of hyaluronic acid in your product, but you don't have to disclose how much of that so how much of it is really pure. And the one thing I'm so proud of, because I have a little granola crunch, even though I'm all things aesthetics, but I do believe in a blend of Eastern and Western medicine. There's a time and the place, but anything I can use to naturally enhance anything about my body or health and not put anything that is like a risk or toxic, I am so for that.

00:24:02
So what I love about our platform being introduced into the aesthetic world is that instead of putting foreign things into your body like filler, and I have filler, full disclosure, I love filler, but wouldn't it be nice if we can plump up our skin and make it healthier from within? Instead of every year losing elastin and collagen, we're putting those things into the body. So it will be interesting to track these patients and see the rejuvenation effects. And I love that so much because, again, my listeners know, yes, I have a lot of granola in me as well. And so when you guys I remember when you were talking about this and I was like, there's no adverse reactions.

00:24:42
I mean, that's one thing. Going back to again, you guys are being used in the hospital since 2018. You've been working, as Hahnielle said, with Neonates up to elderly 99 years, and there hasn't been one adverse effect. And that is because this is. Something that, as Hahnielle said, naturally works with your body.

00:25:00
The product is derived from a natural path. Then I was so pumped. I remember sitting down with Hahn and saying, okay, the Fetty's just asked if I wanted to come on know, as their chief communications officer, this is like, let's talk about this. And I remember Hahn asking me, he's like, okay, honey, medical space. You have a lot of opinions on this.

00:25:23
Medical know, I get frustrated with pharmaceutical companies, all those advertising, and I'm like, okay, all these things that can hurt people. I know it can make people better, but why can't we be better? And it was like at a time that you guys came to me and I was like, oh, my gosh, this is exactly what I believe in, right? This is like something and that's one of the things, again, that I love about you guys so much, because you don't cut the corners. You don't do things like that because you guys are so passionate and so believe in what you're doing.

00:25:52
And knowing that you're going to help so many different people out there, I think is amazing in so many aspects. But as you said, why not? This is something that you are passionate about. You love the cosmetic space. That is one thing that is you're passionate about.

00:26:05
That especially because, again, I love all things beauty. I mean, even earlier on, have you heard of the PRP some people refer to as the vampire? I've heard about that. Basically, they take your own blood. And this is used in a lot of clinical offices around the country where they pull your blood up and they spin it and they're trying to get a specific growth factor to put on top of the microneedling with the goal that it will make you appear more youthful.

00:26:30
And I was like early on, wow, I cannot wait to have the MTP platform in a gel liquid substance so we can replace the PRP, because PRP is just like one growth factor, one of many things that's in our product. So I'm not saying this to pitch it, but selfishly, I told my husband, even if we don't launch in the aesthetic market, I will be using this all the time. So I need a stash of the gel if you want to miss this boat and go on to heart injections and Ms and spinal cord injury and osteoarthritis, go for it. But I am using this on my body. So now that we're so close to launching, it's like, wow, this is exciting.

00:27:10
And I'm going to pause you for a second, but all of those other things are also on your bucket list. And so that is again, the thing that is really interesting is kind of the timeline. And my listeners know I love the timeline on things. This really just organically kind of flowed. And that is one thing that we talk about all the time and I talk about it on the podcast all the time, kind of listening to the universe, god, whatever it is, but putting yourself out there and being like, okay, what is my next, where should I be going?

00:27:39
And that's one of the things that you guys are so beautiful at doing as well. It's like, we know these things that can work. Where do we start and what do we move forward with? And the aesthetic kind of just came about because of as you said in COVID, you were like, oh, I need to try this. And then it was like, oh wait, we're already in the process of making a gel because we know we're going to be getting that tested and seeing where that can be injected and where that can heal.

00:28:04
So might as well piggyback off what we're doing in these big spaces and help people in this line. And again, this is not about money because you guys know that's going to come. But helping and that's, again, another beautiful thing. It's never been like, where can we make the most money? Let's do this.

00:28:20
And that is something both of you and even our chief scientist have said. And I really thought about that. I was like, oh my God, I never really thought about it. Again, this is a new space for me. But you could be working on something in a pharmaceutical lab or doing whatever in the medical world and it could be, oh my God, this can save so many people.

00:28:37
But then the suits and I don't like to say that because then I sound like, yeah, no, it's true. There were so many times Clay and I had visions of like, if we tweak the product or create something like this, we can use it for this kind of patient. And we just got shot down by the board members, which is one of the reasons why, although it was so hard in the beginning, building our own business, we're like, we're going to be resilient here. We're going to do it ourselves. And we had to remind ourselves of the reason, is because we want to help whoever we want to be able to help.

00:29:04
And to help someone that has a financial incentive is going to dictate how we choose to operate. My husband and I are pretty on the same page. We knew that there's an abunHahnce of money. That's not what drives us. In fact, there's a huge pressure, like a moral obligation every day when you live.

00:29:23
Knowing that you can help so many people, it's very overwhelming, it's very gratifying, it's very humbling. But there is this pressure. People reach out to me. I don't even know how they find my contact. I try to stay private as I'm on this podcast because I do want to help everyone.

00:29:39
I do want to be tinkerbell and sprinkle pixie dust, make everyone heal. My dream is that the more abunHahnce we have as a company, the more charitable work we can do and the harder we can fight to get certain things reimbursed so that every patient has access to them. Right? And those are conversations, again, that we have on our weekly calls, which are just so brilliant and amazing. But so, again, as you said, the gel is formed.

00:30:06
It is going to be launching soon. So if all of you are listening, being like, okay, we want it, how can we get it? You cannot get it yet. But this is why I wanted Hahnielle on this podcast, because I want you guys to start watching. I want you guys to start listening and seeing what Fette is going to be.

00:30:24
They could you could log in. I think pretty soon our Raya Gel website will be up. So if you do want to follow the story and the timeline as to when it would be available, you can go to Rayagel.com or go to the Fette website and there will be a link there as well. But it's super exciting. And it's ironic how I always say, you plan and God laughs.

00:30:46
Which is so true, because earlier on, when we started this company, like Juliet, you said we had a whiteboard and we had a vision for all the products, all the things we were going to test. Our MTP platform against aesthetics was pretty low, and I think Herpes was like the last thing. And then right before COVID broke out, we had to do testing on our product to make sure it was safe. This is the gel, even though the powder is being used? No, just all the products in general.

00:31:15
The MTP platform in general, we had to test and say, okay, so if there was virus, because we actually take this material from pigs, and I don't mean to sound gross, but the beauty of it is we get it from organs, the spleen and lung that would have been thrown away anyway. So the people that make ham and sausage and all that stuff and bacon, they would have thrown this stuff away. So we're actually saving the planet and saving people by using it. And I asked you guys, like, I love animals. And I was like, Wait a second, you're not like killing.

00:31:43
And you guys were like, oh, my God, no. And Hahnielle, that's another thing that we also connect on, which, again, is just beautiful. But right, so you use we love animals, right? So you use the spleen in the. Whole yeah, we needed to test, like, if there was a virus, how would that transmit to potentially patients or affect our product?

00:32:00
And this is like I said, right before the pandemic, the COVID pandemic broke out. And long story short, we figured out that our product kills envelope viruses. And at the time, I'm like, what is an envelope virus? I don't know. And I started googling it.

00:32:14
I'm like, okay herpes. And I actually get fever blisters once a year. So I was pretty excited to use it on my if I got a potential fever blister. And we just kind of left it at that. And Clay's like, okay, cool.

00:32:25
One day when we turn the powder into a gel formula for other injections, we can kind of explore it if we have time. COVID broke out. The world shut down, and Clay sat down. He's like, do you know what an envelope virus is? I'm like, you already told me it's a herpe.

00:32:40
He's like, no, the world's most deadliest viruses corona, HIV, I mean, He, Ebola, Shingles, and the list went on and on. So now we're during COVID like, the first month, and we were, like, all hands on deck trying to turn. At the time, MTB platform our first product launched was the powder. We were working around the clock to turn that into a gel because you can't really test how it would affect in the lungs or in the bloodstream or other viruses. We had to figure out how to administer it.

00:33:11
There. You can't snort I guess you could snort powder if you wanted to. That's a whole different podcast.

00:33:18
We spent the whole time trying to figure out what to do, but the cool thing is it forced us to make a gel faster, which we could launch in the aesthetic space. So we're kind of working on a lot of angles at once right now as a company, not just the viral side. And we're doing some cool things with the government, which, again, that's what I mean. So follow. So right now, this podcast is going out tomorrow because I said to Hahnielle I wanted to have it to go out tomorrow.

00:33:42
And we're doing Facelifts to Fette.com, which will be out probably in a week. And then also all of our other ones. And I'm not going to say all those other things, but that's what's so cool, because this was all organic. This was like, okay, wait a second. This is what we can do.

00:33:59
And as you said, it is really fascinating being here, because we are juggling. And that's one of the reasons why I also said yes, because it's still entrepreneur. Even though I'm working for you guys, it's still an entrepreneur kind of mindset because you guys have that mindset. And again, one day we could be doing stuff, as you said, working with the government, then going over and talking to the PR company about the aesthetic space. Then we're overdoing something over here, and I can't say some of the stuff because we're not allowed to speak about some of it.

00:34:28
And Vicki would have a heart. Attacking a regulatory person would not love it. But that's the beauty of being an entrepreneur. But also, you can't get too comfortable in entrepreneurship because there's twists, turns, pivots. I am very excited.

00:34:44
I grew up the way I did, struggling in school, because it made me very quick to pivot and turn and I don't think twice. I mean, that's just the way my life has always been. Figure it out. Does it feel right if not pivot as fast as possible and go on to the next best idea? So one thing our team does really well together is we all have that like mindedness where there's no ego.

00:35:04
We don't get too attached to ideas. But it is nice to know that when we do get attached, usually it's because it comes from such a pure, beautiful place of wanting to help other people. So if it feels good, we get to run with it. If it doesn't feel good, we get to pivot and go a different direction. So that's one of the beautiful things about having our own company.

00:35:22
Yes. And it's also beautiful how you very I mean, the people that you hired, as you said, all do that and you guys did a really amazing job doing that as well because you always know there could be someone, especially in the science space. I said to you, I go, it's amazing how even the science side of the company pivots too, but then they were like, well, yeah, you could work on something for two years and it doesn't go to market. And I was like, oh, my God, that would make me insane. Yeah.

00:35:47
Can you imagine that the investors approve that you're going to start a science project and you're so excited about it, but you believe you're going to help save people or help them heal. You're two years in. I mean, that is so much patience. I don't like waiting two minutes for anything. You're two years in.

00:36:02
You're so close to figuring out like, is everything I thought and worked for, for two years going to pan out and then they cut the budget and say, I'm sorry, we're done. If someone did that to me, I would lose my mind. I would lose my shit. So it is nice that our employees know that's not going to happen. And another thing is that although we are like minded in the sense like we'll divide and conquer team and we're all willing to try new things and we have the most pure hearts, we all come from such different backgrounds, which I think is awesome because I don't want two of me.

00:36:34
I know what I'm already good at and I know where I need help. And luckily all the other team members come from different walks of life and different experiences. So we really balance each other out, which is, look, I have kissed so many ugly toads before I found this team. I prayed for this team. I knew what I wanted.

00:36:50
But I have gotten burnt a lot in business because I'm generous to a fault. So I'm glad the timing is now because this is probably more so when we need the most support because of all the cool things happening. Yeah, no, it is an amazing thing. And one of the other fun things is, as I said, we brainstorm and do all these things. So also stay tuned because Masterminds in Medicine, brought to you by your next stop is going to be coming out and we're going to really dive into this medical space, which is going to be really cool because, again, this is something now I'm super fascinated about and super passionate about.

00:37:25
And so it's going to be a podcast that's going to be hosted by myself, but there's going to be other team members that are going to be on and talking, but we're really going to talk to these really amazing minds in this medical space. Again, that I've just become all of a sudden fascinated. I can't wait to ask questions. You asking a lot of questions. Really sparked me wanting to educate the audiences more.

00:37:51
Because knowledge in healthcare is power. It's everything. And I never want a patient to feel like they can't be inquisitive and they're not smart enough to ask a certain question if something's in your mind and in your soul and you have that question no matter what healthcare provider you're in front of, I highly recommend asking a lot of questions. And if you don't feel comfortable finding a new healthcare provider, but within each specialty, there's so much to mean whether it's wound care or cardiac or there's just such an abunHahnce from a reimbursement angle, from what products get approved through the FDA and why. You could talk to a million different cosmetic surgeons and they're going to have different opinions as far as different techniques.

00:38:31
So I think what my goal would be is just to create enough awareness to make the audience a little Hahngerous and the fact that you've heard about a couple of concepts, and then you can run with it and either do your own due diligence and research or ask your clinician. And again, it stems back to my kids asking me when we go to the beauty store, all things beauty, like, mom, why are they saying this works so well? And you're going to have a 30% reduction of X, Y and Z if you use this ingredient. And I have to educate them. I'm like you guys.

00:38:58
Again, don't get scammed. You can use whatever you want and have fun, but just know a lot of what you're buying out there is marketing, and it's sitting on top of your skin. It's not working at the cellular level. So that brings a good point, and I love that because I question everything my listeners know. I've raised my kids to question everything and do it in a very polite way because you don't know you have to ask a question if you're feeling unease about something.

00:39:23
But you also brought up a good point when we do launch in the aesthetic space, how can a patient get our MTB and use, right? They can't get it off the shelf. They can't go to Sephora and get it. So if you can take them through a little bit of that what's in our minds, like, how it's going to be kind of provided? Well, we're not FDA cleared yet, but once we are, it would have to be handed out by someone with a medical license.

00:39:49
So I would just talk to your physicians about it, if you follow us on the website, and then they can email in through the website and someone from our company will get back. We'll get back to that. And that's what all of our websites are going to have, where if you want inquiries and we're going to have that all and we'll start putting out some newsletters. We're not going to blast you guys where it's like, oh, my God, okay, enough. But we're going to give you that education part, but we're also going to let you know, okay, this has launched.

00:40:14
This is how you get it. So definitely you want to go to Fette.com and kind of put your information in there. It's getting a facelift. So give it about a week. And I'll keep reminding you guys on that as well.

00:40:26
But, Hahnielle, I mean, I love talking to you. We could talk all day long. I don't know if everyone else wants Kira's talk all day, but you and I could have fun talking all day. And it's okay if they don't. They can shut it down at some point, but we could do it all day long.

00:40:40
But thank you for joining your next stop and sharing yourself with us. And again, it's a pleasure doing this, but also working with you guys and knowing what we're going to be doing in the future, it's really exciting. So you know what to do. You're listening to this. You're like, oh, this is really cool, but you do not know who needs to hear it.

00:40:59
You also don't know who needs to get a little, like, kick in the ass. You know what? I need to do something. I've had these ideas. I've had this.

00:41:05
But I've been afraid because I don't want to fail. Some of the kind of when you hear someone's story, you might be like, you know, what if they did it? We just talked about it. We're both dyslexic. We sucked at school.

00:41:14
But we have gotten to a point in our lives because we stayed curious, we stayed hungry, we stayed where it's like, okay, we'll fail, we'll fail, we'll fail. Gotten ourself up, dusted it off. Some days you get a little slower than others, but we always stay moving forward, and that's what I want for you guys. So, again, like, rate and review and we'll see you for another episode of Your Next Stop. I hope you liked this episode of your next stop.

00:41:40
Please subscribe to my channel, share with your friends and join in each weekend.