Jennifer Ross was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at six years old, which meant trading in her favorite pink lemonade and constantly thinking about what she was eating, what workout she was doing, and how it would all affect her body. Since then, Jennifer has made it both her personal and professional mission to ease that burden on others. In high school, she raised $200,000 for research. Then while in college, along with her friend Cristina Ros Blankfein, the two began to think about and experiment in reshaping the beverage industry for the modern consumer.
Today, Jennifer and Cristina are the Co-Founders of Swoon, a zero sugar beverage and cocktail mixer brand. Rooted in the mission of furthering advocacy and education around Type 2 Diabetes, a disease that is largely caused by sugar consumption, Swoon's commitment to being a better for you brand allows us to reminisce of our childhoods, minus all of the artificial sweeteners.
Who were you at twenty?
It’s almost hard to remember because I think I’ve changed so much through the years, but at 20 I was a Sophomore at Dartmouth College splitting my time between being social and cramming for tests (would not recommend that!). I had an internship that winter (Dartmouth is on a quarter system) in Berkley, CA that I absolutely hated and dreaded going to every day and although I don’t remember the specifics of what I learned, I most definitely learned what I didn’t want to do, which is just as helpful as knowing what you want to do. In life, you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince - even in work too!
On school as a stepping stone to launching Swoon
I received a BA from Dartmouth and an MBA from Harvard Business School. I was a Government major so that didn’t have a direct correlation to what I’m doing but my educational journey and all of the experiences that came with it led me to exactly where I am today. Without meeting my Co-Founder, Cristina, while we were both studying there, Swoon would undoubtedly cease to exist, at least in it’s exact shape and form we’ve given it today. School was also a great place to test out our product on our peers and people always want to help students.
How have you evolved since?
My core has really stayed the same but all of my experiences, especially in my twenties, have definitely shaped who I am today. I’m trying to be a bit more relaxed and not think that everything is the end of the world. Especially with work, I used to think that every problem was the BIGGEST problem (and there are a lot of them when you have your own company) and today when I look back, I don’t even remember most of the things that I was stressed about. I now try to tell myself that and just relax and remember that things will work out.
On Swoon’s mission to reshape the beverage industry with a better for you alternative
We originally launched Swoon as a cocktail mixer and we still sell our Margarita, Ginger Lime, and Cucumber Mint mixers in addition to our non-alcoholic beverages like our lemonades and sugar free simple syrup. Everything we sell is sweetened with monk fruit, a natural sweetener that comes from a melon, but does not raise your blood sugar. It’s 150-200x sweeter than sugar alone, so you only need a tiny amount.
On Swoon’s lasting impact
For every case of Swoon Lemonade sold online, we donate one can to NYC's Madison Boys & Girls Club, which serves over 5,000 kids and teens annually with Clubhouses in communities in New York. This is very important to us because on average, Americans consume more than double the daily recommended amount of sugar with sugary drinks being the main source of added sugar in our diets. One 12oz serving of soda or juice has the equivalent of 10 teaspoons of sugar. Because of this over consumption, one-in-ten Americans will be diagnosed with diabetes throughout their lives, and for most, the disease is preventable by reducing sugar intake at an early age. We are hoping to make that choice to reduce sugar easier.
What advice would you give to yourself at twenty?
Say yes to more things - go on that trip, try that random activity, meet a friend for dinner - it all just gets harder to do as you get older and have more responsibilities.
What would you say to a twenty-something year-old about finding her place in the world?
Although maybe a bit counter-intuitive, I would say to try to not think too hard about it and just go about your life. I think we have certain ideas about where we want to be and who we want to be when we are 20 but they will change over time, and it’s the culmination of all of your experiences that ultimately get you there. I know that I had ideas of where I saw myself as a future adult and some of them came to fruition and some of them didn’t. I knew that I wanted to be a business person doing something that I was passionate about, but I really didn’t know what that was and I think that if you stay too focused on a certain path it might take you to a place that you ultimately don’t want to be, but you were too focused on getting there to realize.
Learn more about Swoon here