Today we’d like to introduce you to Felicia Jackson.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I have always had the drive and passion for helping others and my past professions represented this. During the time of my life-changing experience, I was working at a hospital that required us to be CPR certified every year and I was good at it. One day, my family and I were in the car driving when I noticed my 2-year-old son was in distress. He looked as if he was choking so I screamed for my husband to pull over and we finally made it to the side of the road. We both immediately jumped from the car with my husband grabbing our son first but he proceeded to hand him off to me!
All the training and certification I received did not come to mind because I went totally BLANK! The only thing I could see was my baby dying right before my eyes. My husband saw me and took our son from my hands and saved his life. We drove him to the hospital I worked and they cleared us to go home but that day forever changed my life. I was so upset with my reaction to the emergency with my son but I also knew that if a person certified, trained to perform CPR could freeze up, then imagine a new parent, sibling, or bystander that has never had CPR training. A few years after that incident I had a dream of a someone performing CPR on a person lying in the street.
In my dream, I was drawn to something that was covering the victim’s chest and they were using it to save this person’s life. Because I am a serial inventor that procrastinates, I keep a composition book by the bed and I was able to trace what I saw in my dream. A few years later in 2008, I had a tragedy involving my dearest niece and this along with what happened to my son sparked something inside me to help and make a difference but I did not know how. A few more years passed and I was living my life but always working on my inventions. I joined a book club my cousin invited me to and at the book club, I met a young lady that was a facilitator with a company called Launch of Chattanooga.
I was always talking about one day inventing a product that was going to change the world and this woman challenged me to come to one of her classes for entrepreneurs. It cost $100 and was a 10-week class. I wanted to say no but she was not having that and so I went. I remember sitting at a table with all minority entrepreneurs of varying backgrounds and terrified. I was not supposed to become a business owner because during that time I got my degree as a Physical Therapist Assistant with hopes of getting my Doctorate. I started Launch of Chattanooga with no business acumen with only a drawing on a piece of paper, when I graduated, I had a non-working prototype, newfound determination and a purpose. I even auditioned for Shark Tank.
After graduating I was offered a place in an accelerator program with CoLab to see if my product would sell. After graduating from Colab I was able to win a pitch competition, sell 300 units in 2 weeks time, and now had a working prototype. I started my company 2 1/2 years ago and in this short time, my product and brand has improved, I have been able to hire 2 full-time employees with plans to onboard 2 more. CPR Wrap is patent pending and we have obtained our CE Mark to export to other countries, we sell products domestically and internationally, and I have a patent pending on my Animal CPR Wrap which will be out next year.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been exciting, thought-provoking, entertaining, and even scary but never smooth.
No matter how great of a product or service you may have, there is always the chance of fails due to financial reasons. I did not have money in my bank account, my 401K was for our future, I did not have wealthy friends or family and I could not find an investor in my hometown or surrounding areas to invest in my company initially.
I have also had to bear the backlash of being a minority-owned company. I have had people express great interest over the phone and when I arrived to close the deal I was told they were not interested. Developing your team is a very important factor in the growth and success of your company to which I have had success and struggles to this date.
Please tell us about CPR Wrap.
I am the Inventor and Founder of a product called CPR Wrap. CPR Wrap is a disposable CPR template that empowers and protects any non-medical bystander during CPR. CPR Wrap is an all-in-one template which has an attached one-way valve mouth barrier for rescue breathing, visual hand placements for proper compressions, and simple CPR instructions that can be translated into any language for a more global usage. The wraps come in sizes of Adult, Child and Infant.
We provide CPR Wraps to CPR Instructors for their client’s post-certification, school systems, hospitals, parents. We feel a CPR Wrap should be available to anyone and every location. As a company, I feel we are most proud of the expectations the future will hold based on the interest and acknowledgment we are receiving today. This product was born from an event that happened in my life and has been driven by sheer passion, determination and purpose with a focus on being the change that will benefit the world.
What sets us apart is knowing we are always learning, and growing as a company and as a team.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite childhood memories are many because my parents were amazing! I was always a “daddy’s girl” and he would take me out on his boat every Saturday morning to go fishing but the best part for me was going to the corner market to get me a soda, chips and candy!
I could not swim at all but being with my father was all the security I needed. (You made me smile with this memory)
Pricing:
- Adult CPR Wraps $20.95
- Child CPR Wraps $20.95
- Infant CPR Wraps $20.95
- Version I Adult CPR Wraps $15.99 ( while they last)
Contact Info:
- Address: 100 Cherokee Blvd. Suite 315 Chattanooga, Tn. 37405
- Website: https://cprwrap.com
- Phone: 4238274535
- Email: felicia@cprwrap.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cprwrap/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cprwrap/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/cprwrap
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