Brenda Demers
courtesy of smartypants vitamins
More than a multivitamin
SmartyPants is on a mission to improve the health of customers around the world
by ERIN SILVER
Brenda Demers and her family have a morning routine: After breakfast, they take their SmartyPants vitamins. As CEO of the company, which makes multivitamin gummies for adults, toddlers and everyone in between, she says it’s a healthy regimen they look forward to every day.
“Taking your vitamins should fit into your daily life,” says Demers, who has spent more than 23 years leading businesses in the vitamins, minerals and supplements industry. “If your vitamins don’t taste good you won’t take them, no matter how healthy they are for you.”
For example, says Demers, recognizing that many people don’t like the taste of fish oil, SmartyPants created a gummy with fish oil or flaxseed oil “which includes a variety of other essential nutrients, from vitamins A and D to zinc, without tons of sugar, that our customers love. We use natural flavors like strawberry, banana, orange and lemon,” she says, adding “each serving of our kids’, women’s and prenatal vitamins has approximately the same amount of sugar as a third of a banana.”
Recognizing that it’s not all about flavor, she explains, “All our products are based on the latest scientific evidence with input from our scientific advisory board, so we can [continue to] create innovative and effective formulas.”
SmartyPants was originally founded in 2011 by Courtney Nichols Gould and Gordon Gould, two parents who saw a market for multivitamins that families would actually want to take.
Though the Goulds have since sold SmartyPants and moved on to pursue ventures tackling climate change, the goal at the company remains the same: to create vitamins that can be part of everyone’s daily routine.
At the same time, the company is also aiming higher—to help 100 million lives through Vitamin Angels, a charity that provides nutrients to women, children and expectant mothers around the world.
“We give 1% of our sales to Vitamin Angels,” says Demers, who became CEO of SmartyPants in 2021. “They work with local organizations, including governments, to improve maternal and child nutrition worldwide. So far, more than 27 million lives in 65 countries around the world, and all 50 U.S. states, have been positively impacted through our partnership.”
COMPANY INFO
- Name SmartyPants Vitamins
- CEO Brenda Demers
- Employees 90
- Headquarters Marina del Rey, California
- Items carried at Costco Kids Formula Multivitamin Gummies, Women’s Formula Multivitamin Gummies (Warehouses/Costco.com); Organic Prenatal Formula Gummies, Organic Kids & Toddler Multivitamin Vegetarian Gummies (Costco.com only). Various item numbers.
- Quote about Costco “We love working with ... Costco because of our like-minded values in providing members with high-quality products at the best possible value.”—Brenda Demers
Erin Silver is a freelance writer in Toronto.
