All about how this duo is expanding the oral beauty market with the launch of North America’s first-ever oil-based breath freshener.

Jessica Sheppard and Rhaelyn Gillespie are taking the oral care industry by storm as the founders of North America’s first-to-market oil-based breath freshener, Mintier. As disruptors in the oral beauty space, this duo is sitting down to chat with HOLR about their entrepreneurial journey to date as well as the inspiration behind this exciting new launch.

Tell us about yourselves and how you founded your brand and North America’s first-ever oil-based breath freshener, Mintier.  

We are Jessica and Rhaelyn, two friends who were in desperate need of a breath mint that would actually work to freshen our breath after a few cups of coffee. The idea for Mintier was founded when Jessica was commuting home from work and got stuck on the Go Train with only a pack of mints on hand. After popping another mint, she just so happened to look at the ingredients. At that moment she realized that a traditional breath mint is ⅔ sugar – basically just candy! After looking up the effects of sugar on oral health, Jessica reached out to Rhaelyn to figure out how we could make a breath mint completely free of sugar and sugar alcohols. We now created the first oil-based breath mint that’s all-natural and entirely free of sugar and sugar alcohols. Seriously, once you taste Mintier you suddenly realize what fresh breath really is! 

Oral Care is making its way into the lifestyle space as an emerging category! Can you talk to us about how you’re disrupting the space with the unique ingredients found in Miniter?

It sure is and we are here for it! Mintier is proudly all-natural, 100% free of sugar and sugar alcohols, keto-friendly, and made with only 6 natural ingredients. It’s important to us to have ingredients that you know and recognize like clove, cinnamon, and lemon. Knowing that sugar feeds the oral bacteria in your mouth making your breath worse, Mintier gives you the confidence of fresh breath and a breath that will boost your oral health routine.

What was the inspiration behind launching Mintier?

The inspiration for this was sparked by not finding an alternative to sugar breath mints. Let’s be honest, when was the last time a breath mint lasted longer than a couple of minutes? We were both always on the go and needed something that could come with us and would actually work to freshen our breath. Cue – Mintier! 

Tell us about your experience being mentored by Canadian Investor and Entrepreneur, Arlene Dickenson.

I think it’s safe to say that most Canadian entrepreneurs are familiar with Dragon’s Den and look up to the Dragons on this show. This was definitely the case for us. We both worked for Clearbanc in Toronto, co-founded by Michele Romanow of Dragon’s Den, and that’s actually how we both met. Having the opportunity to join Arlene’s accelerator was another huge opportunity to learn from one of the most brilliant minds we could ever hope to be around. Learning about Arlene’s grit, passion, empathy and positive impacts on communities and the Canadian economy has been a huge blessing as you can imagine. Hearing her thoughts on Mintier has given us confidence as we enter the market and prepare to scale as well!

You are taking the Oral Care industry by storm! What does the future hold for the brand?

Thank you! Like we said before, once you taste Mintier you suddenly realize what fresh breath really is, so we are ready for everyone to be as obsessed with Mintier as we are. We are already working on our next flavour and are super excited to launch this next.

Published by HOLR Magazine.