Monica Ruffo is a serial entrepreneur who has launched several marketing and advertising agencies in her career. But her newest venture is very different. Ruffo made an about face and started her all-natural nutritional supplement company, Well Told Health, after being diagnosed with breast cancer just over 2 years ago. Since she has no family history of the disease, “it made me question everything about my lifestyle,” she says — in particular, the chemicals found in products that are ingested daily like supplements.
While Ruffo could call upon her startup background to get her venture set up and her marketing background to get the word out, launching a supplement brand came with a steep learning curve. “I had no idea how difficult that would be,” she recalls. But after finding manufacturers, sourcing ingredients and implementing a testing protocol for her products, she officially launched Well Told Health last month.
The natural supplement business may be a new adventure for Ruffo, but entrepreneurship is not. And being a longtime business owner has afforded Ruffo both economic independence and the opportunity to make time for her kids whenever she wants. When they were younger, that meant volunteering at school activities and picking them up every day. And she remains close to them now that they are 17 and 18 years old, says Ruffo. “Entrepreneurship enables me to be the mom that has no regrets.”