What began as a collection of homemade aromatherapy products is now a full-time family business that won Cassandra Tucker a top prize during the Black founders edition of Will This Float? on Monday.
“Our heart and soul is in it,” Tucker said in describing her Chattanooga-based business, Divine Purity, to the judges and audience during the Will This Float? pitch competition. “People are not buying what we do – they’re buying how we make them feel.”
Tucker’s business won $3,000 in the ‘Up and Running’ category for startups that already have a revenue track record. Tucker will use the winnings to invest in marketing and branding for the business she launched in 2014, she said.
Staff photo by C.B. Schmelter/ Candles are seen at Divine Purity on Thursday, Aug. 8, 2019 in Chattanooga, Tenn.In the ‘Launch’ category, for businesses in earlier stages of development, Chanté Knox won $3,000 for DelivHer, which she launched in 2018. DelivHer will offer a customized monthly package of period care products, from snacks and pain relievers to the Anu absorbent menstrual cup Knox has developed and patented.
“I named it Anu because it’s different from traditional menstrual cups,” said Knox, who lives and works as a morning show radio producer in Atlanta. “It’s Anu cup.”