In 2015, Katerina Markov Schneider was newly pregnant and on the hunt for the right prenatal vitamin. There were plenty of options available on the market, but none that met her standards. She found most of them to have high levels of heavy metals and too many artificial ingredients. Schneider decided to take things into her own hands. "I knew we all deserved better, including myself," she tells CNBC Make It. "And this passion to set a new standard in this supplement industry took over." Schneider quit her job as a venture partner at Atom Factory, an entertainment company, to start Ritual. Less than 10 years later, the supplement brand has expanded far beyond prenatal vitamins and sold over 25 million bottles of supplements for daily health, better sleep, stress relief and more. In 2024, Ritual brought in more than $250 million in gross revenue. But the 39-year-old founder and CEO says building a business centered around women's health wasn't easy: "[It] was so underfunded and understudied." Here's how Schneider weathered the many "no's" she got from investors early on, stayed dedicated to changing the supplement industry and built a successful business.
Schneider's parents immigrated to the United States from Ukraine when she was around four years old. She says they've always had a holistic approach to health and wellness. "My parents were the ultimate skeptics," she says. "So, anything they were reading or anything that was in front of us, there was ultimate skepticism." In 2004, when Schneider was studying at Brown University, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. "It was such a dark moment in my life," she says. At the time, Schneider's mother opted out of conventional treatment like chemotherapy and radiation, and sought out care from a naturopath who gave her holistic supplements and suggested following a diet based on her blood type. Now, more than 20 years since her diagnosis, Schneider's mother is well, but does monitor her condition with a physician. Schneider says she was always influenced by her parents' approach to wellness, but it was a new chapter in her life that helped determine her own.