Meet Erika Lepczyk, Working Mom on a Mission to Help Close America’s Brain Gap 

August 23, 2021 Kristin Marquet

Erika Lepczyk was motivated by her family history of dementia to launch Memore [pronounced “memory”]. The successful direct-to-consumer CPG business works to improve brain health with functional blends that fill nutritional gaps in consumers' diets, providing the natural fuel our brains and bodies need to perform their best. She is determined to help close America’s Brain Gap through greater education of the health measures consumers can take to improve brain health.

What’s a challenge you face being both a mom and entrepreneur?

As a self-diagnosed recovering perfectionist, I struggle every day. The layers of guilt I feel day in and day out are overwhelming at times. Mom guilt, work guilt, wife guilt, friend guilt, daughter guilt, self care guilt - it’s all so real. The challenge is the reality of being a mom and an entrepreneur (and all the other roles we as women take on). The everyday reality of not feeling like you’re giving 100% to everything you do. Is it truly realistic to give 100% in everything? I’ve had to really learn how to set realistic expectations for myself.

Can you tell our readers about your background?

I was born and raised in Michigan and attended Michigan State University. I have been in e-commerce since the day I graduated college in 2008. My e-commerce career has purposely taken me through all aspects of the category, holding e-commerce roles in sales, marketing, channel, operations and more within Pure Play, DTC, B2B, eTail. Amazon expertise is where I’ve landed, but I’m a full-rounded e-commerce professional.

What inspired you to start your business?

Launching Memore was a little out of character for me to be honest. I have a competitive spirit and have always been highly motivated in my career, but would have never described myself as being entrepreneurial. The turning point for me was learning that less than 2% of all dementia cases were attributed to heredity factors. As someone with a family history of dementia, this was a huge revelation for me. I had always considered my predisposition to the disease unnerving, largely because it felt out of my control. This statistic proved otherwise. I began prioritizing preventive health and sought solutions to support my journey.
What I found was a market oversaturated with products touting quick fixes and miracle results. Symptom relief was the priority, not brain health. And I think that really sums up America’s approach to health in general. Our treat-first mentality has conditioned us to seek out solutions that provide immediate benefits. And by doing so we have effectively eliminated the consequences of poor diet and lifestyle. I wanted to disrupt this style of thinking by introducing products that actually improved health.

Where is your business based?

Charlotte, North Carolina

How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?

Our decision to start Memore really grew out of our frustration over a lack of science-backed product options in the cognitive health space. As someone with a family history of dementia, I wanted products that worked to make my brain healthier, not provide short term symptom relief. There just weren’t very many options. We saw this as a huge opportunity and started spending a significant amount of our free time researching this area. The most compelling evidence we found was research on the MIND Diet, which was able to effectively slow cognitive decline and reduce Alzheimer’s risk by as much as 53%. It was really inspiring. We reached out to NC Food Innovation Lab, presented our vision for the product, and began working with their team of food scientists to develop it. The challenges really arose during the pandemic, forcing us to convert our spare bedroom into a makeshift lab in order to continue making progress on the product.

What have been the most effective ways to raise awareness for your business?

We prioritized PR because we really felt that we had a really unique product, mission and story to tell. We felt that the best way to gain consumer trust was for them to see that we built this product the right way and with the best intentions. And we have been successful getting features in a variety of publications. Working with authentic influencers in the space, mainly registered dietitians and doctors, has also gone a long way in raising awareness. We’ve also had success participating in a variety of relevant industry related events and speaking opportunities.

What have been your biggest challenges? How have you overcome them?

As previously mentioned, Memore launched during a pandemic, which is a challenge in and of itself. Due to the state of the world, the NC Food Innovation Lab had to temporarily close operations, but we couldn’t let that delay the R&D process. We quickly pivoted and turned our guest room into a makeshift “home lab” where we worked tirelessly to formulate our products to ensure the flavor combinations were just right.

How do you stay focused?

Focusing on the big picture and my overall mission helps me stay sane. I utilize time blocking for my personal time management. Like most, I have so much going on every day. I have to time block and schedule personal time for things like workouts or long self care walks with a podcast. I have to time block special projects or even brainstorming new ideas. It helps me stay focused and productive.

How do you differentiate your business from the competition?

I really believe our authenticity shines through. We aren’t selling miracles; we don’t promise to make you smarter, stop you from procrastinating, or guarantee weight loss overnight. We sell whole food products that fill gaps in your diets and work to make your brain and body healthier. Honesty is not always the best policy when it comes to food marketing, but we truly believe it is the right approach and one that will help us build a loyal following and sustainable business model.
I think our product's versatility is a huge point of differentiation. And that's because the health of our brain is so dependent on the rest of our body. Eating for brain health is eating for a healthier gut, heart, joints, muscle, etc. Our product delivers full body health. With over a serving of leafy green veggies we are one of the cleanest daily greens mixes on the market. With 10G of plant-based protein and zero added sugar we are an attractive option for clean label consumers looking to build muscle or healthy bones. And with 6G of fiber, including a prebiotic, we are an extremely convenient and delicious way to improve gut health. We believe we cast a really wide net.
Our commitment to using whole food ingredients is also really unique. Not just because it is a rarity in the cognitive health space, but because of the nutritional impact and overall label cleanliness it offers. Our bodies absorb nutrients from whole foods better than manufactured supplements or the latest food marketing claim “ingredients from whole foods.”

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?

As previously mentioned, we’ve been doing everything we can to get the word about Memore out there whether it’s connecting with media, influencers, like-minded brands, or participating in relevant industry-focused events. We also put a great deal of time and effort to ensure that our premium packaging catches the attention of consumers and sets us apart from the competition.

What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?

Tell everyone early - I believe I originally heard this on a podcast interview with the founders of Method. When you start a business, you are putting everything on the line. That's hard for many people, your friends included, to grasp. Some might even be a little judge-y. But by telling everyone, you are subjecting yourself to their scrutiny, which in turn, makes you even more motivated to succeed. I thought that was great advice.
Trust the process. This was tremendous advice given to me by our branding agency. I’ve applied it every step of the way. Even though I am not a professional brander, I found myself wanting to control the entire branding process. They asked me to trust them and the process, and the result was incredible. It's a great lesson for any small business owner or early stage startup because you can’t do everything yourself. Sometimes you need to let go and let the experts do what they do best.
The last one I would say is to set realistic expectations for your startup. As an avid podcast listener, I have listened to countless stories about founders bootstrapping a business and experiencing overnight success. I think it's important to understand that these examples are incredibly rare and not realistic for 99.99% of startups. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strive to be an overnight success, just don’t let yourself get discouraged or give up if that doesn’t happen.

What’s your favorite app, blog, book and why?

Diet for The Mind by Martha Clare Morris made a huge impact on my thinking. She was really the first to identify the connection between food and brain health. Her book, which summarizes much of her research, was my primary inspiration for formulating Memore. The main research finding was that the MIND Diet was shown to be effective in slowing cognitive decline and reducing Alzheimer’s risk by as much as 53%.
I also loved Blue Zones by Dan Buettner. Most books about diet or lifestyle are highly opinionated because diet culture is extremely competitive. The Blue Zone books are anything but. The author finds areas with a high population of centenarians (people over 100) and dives deeply into their lifestyles to determine why. I found the lives of so many of those centenarians to be so inspirational. It really motivated me to prioritize the things in life that I value most like family, positive social interaction, spending time outdoors, and traveling.
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert. “Big Magic” is broken into six sections: Courage, Enchantment, Permission, Persistence, Trust and Divinity. Big Magic is the book that’ll give you the courage you need to pursue your creative interests by showing you how to deal with your fears, notice ideas and act on them and take the stress out of creation. It’ll teach you how to be creative in spite of your fears, how ideas work, where creativity comes from, and how you can make sure your creativity keeps flowing freely.

What’s your favorite business tool or resource? Why?

Project Management tools like Monday.com help keep me organized and sane. For e-commerce, I love the Salsify content management platform.

Who is your business role model? Why?

I love Helen Hall, founder of BlenderBombs and Katerina Markov Schneider of Ritual. I’ve listened to just about every podcast interview they have ever done. They both had a personal need that the current market wasn’t able to fill and were motivated to build their own solutions. They are also two very different people who went about building highly successful CPG brands in very different ways.

How do you balance work and life?

Practicing time blocking. I time block going to my daughter’s soccer practice, I time block self care, I time block creative thinking, I time block my life! This type of time management not only makes your to-do list more manageable, but it also gives you more control over your day and helps you prioritize your tasks. Time blocking also improves focus and deters procrastination. And, at the end of the day, you will feel like you actually accomplished something.

What’s your favorite way to decompress?

Alone time. I’m an extroverted introvert, meaning I thrive off social situations, but it does exhaust me and I truly need time to decompress and collect myself. I really enjoy long walks with a podcast or audio book — it’s my favorite pastime. I also love to cook — again, with music or podcast or audiobook on and a fun recipe or creation in front of me. As you can tell, I don’t enjoy silence. I like to always be stimulated by something.

What do you have planned for the next six months?

Our primary focus for the next six months is continuing to build brand awareness through partnerships with reputable registered dietitians and MDs. We are also beginning our fundraising efforts in order to expand our product line and introduce single serving packaging options.

How can our readers connect with you?