"Don’t be afraid to take a risk" with Sheila Dukas-Janakos
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Sheila Dukas-Janakos, MPH, IBCLC, LE, RLC is CEO and Co-founder of Healthy Horizons Corporate Lactation Programs and Breastfeeding Centers. Sheila was inspired to start Healthy Horizons after her physician discouraged her from breastfeeding during her first pregnancy and found there was little to no support for breastfeeding at home and in the workplace. Healthy Horizons was the first-to-market business 30 years ago and continues to be the industry leader in their work for lactation benefits in the workplace today, working with Fortune 500 companies and top workplaces in over 110 cities in North America. Healthy Horizons has supported over 100,000 families and counting.
What inspired you to start your business?
As a new mother, Sheila found that there was a lack of support and education around breastfeeding. She was given incorrect information from a variety of physicians-eventually connecting with a midwife in Scotland who helped guide her through her questions and challenges while breastfeeding. With the midwife’s guidance and the support of a peer-to-peer breastfeeding support counselor from Nursing Mothers Council, Sheila was able to nurse her daughter for 17 mos. This success was the inspiration to get her lactation consultant certification to help other parents through their breast/chestfeeding journeys.
Sheila started her business concurrently while in grad school, originally focusing on public health and education and narrowing her focus to breastfeeding and support. Sheila notes that when she started this venture, people were given adequate cigarette breaks, however, lactating parents were not given time to successfully pump while at work in a safe, clean environment.
In the early 1990’s, Healthy Horizons started with clients receiving services from home-based locations throughout the Bay Area staffed by trained women who believed in Sheila and her vision-mission of supporting lactating parents. Eventually, a brick-and-mortar storefront was opened as a full-service breastfeeding/chestfeeding boutique and center. The center focuses on support for working parents, lactation education, and breastfeeding support while returning to work and offers various related products, such as pumps, nursing essentials, and baby gear.
Where is your business based?
San Francisco Bay Area, CA and online.
How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?
As a new mother in 1991, Sheila did not find adequate support and education available to successfully breastfeed. Sheila took it upon herself to take lactation courses and become certified as an educator and lactation consultant, eventually becoming a volunteer at UCLA.
There were no guidelines 30 years ago when Healthy Horizons was founded for a business based on breastfeeding education. Healthy Horizons began with individual satellite facilities located at private homes to make education and pump rentals available to mothers in a variety of locations. As Sheila researched brick-and-mortar locations, the path became a bit more difficult navigating and educating city/public officials on why Healthy Horizons was a vital need in the community as it was a first-of-its-kind business.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business/best marketing strategy?
As with most businesses in their early stages, word of mouth through client satisfaction was key. Clients and families shared their experiences with their friends, family, and coworkers, who continued to share their positive experiences. Healthy Horizons was then known as a resource by hospitals and other lactation consultants who also shared with their clients.
Eventually, companies and corporations looking to assist their employees with safe spaces to pump during the business day reached out to Sheila. As businesses found success with happy breast/chest feeding employees their positive lactation room experiences were shared with other businesses. Corporate Lactation Rooms were being viewed as a vital need for employees. Healthy Horizons being first to market in this industry expanded their lactation support and education into the workplace. They were also innovators and helped to create the field of workplace lactation support.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
When Sheila started out, lactation support had no industry or road map. The only support women had available for breastfeeding and eventually pumping milk to return to work were with rented hospital pumps. Eventually manufacturers created personal use breast pump machines and the industry evolved.
As the industry evolved, Healthy Horizons challenges to reach women who now had the option of getting their breast pumps at various baby stores or through their insurance provider, having to find ways of reaching parents who needed support and education beyond the purchase/rental of their pumps.
Society’s views on breast/chest feeding is a continuing challenge. As our view of breast/chest feeding has evolved we are starting to see laws supporting breast/chest feeding families. As breast/chest feeding continues to gain society’s respect and becomes valued in infant health, Healthy Horizons has been able to stay true to its core values and continue to grow as a family-run, female owned and operated company with the health of its families and babies as the gauge of success.
How do you stay focused?
Sheila is always reminded of her mission from the beginning: to help families with support in breast/chest feeding. To provide education on a personal and corporate level on the importance of breast/chestfeeding support and education.
The mission of Healthy Horizons is to help nurture and educate breastfeeding/chest feeding families and to help companies retain and support their lactating parents,
How do you differentiate your business from the competition?
For Sheila, Healthy Horizons is in her DNA. It has been a labor of love from the birth of her own child and the support she searched for, her reason to stay true to her mission of support and education for breastfeeding/chest feeding families.
Healthy Horizons built on the foundation of its founding family supporting and guiding other families as they grow.
They were first to market and help to forge this industry from the ground up. Knowing the ins and out of this field is a specialty in itself and not something easily duplicated.
What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
Don’t be afraid to take a risk! If you believe in your ideas, you can find a way to make them happen.
What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?
Google Meet! With a growing virtual staff, Google Meet is a vital way for us to stay connected as a team. Google Meet has also been a wonderful way to continue to support families throughout their breastfeeding/chest feeding journeys while safely social distancing during the pandemic.
Who is your business role model? Why?
Sheila’s role model has always been her mother. She grew up during the depression and always had a side business. She was always Sheila’s biggest supporter and was one of the first rental stations when Healthy Horizons started. She loved helping Sheila grow her business, meeting parents, visiting with them, and gifting them with cookies. She had an amazing business sense that Sheila was grateful to grow up and model with her own business and share with her children.
How do you balance work and life or take time to decompress?
Sheila’s self-care routine includes reading, continuing education-Sheila enjoys reading medical books and journals and signing up for various medical continuing education courses. Sheila also loves to watch documentaries, often while riding on her exercise bike. She is also an avid foodie, with a keen interest in food's relationship to health. Above all, spending time with her family, grandchildren, and animal companions is her favorite pastime.
What do you have planned for the next six months?
Sheila looks forward to connecting with the growing Healthy Horizons team, working on continuing company growth within the in-person and online community of families, and helping more businesses support their teams of families returning to the workplace not only after having a child but also the transition after the pandemic.
How can our readers connect with you?
Readers can contact Sheila through the Healthy Horizons website www.healthyhorizons.com