Pink Stork

Pink Stork is a certified Women-Owned and run CPG company based in Saint Augustine, Florida. Founded by Amy Upchurch, mother of five and CEO, following her own health challenges, Pink Stork is The Wellness Brand for Women®. Pink Stork specializes in a variety of natural products to support all women on their own wellness journeys.

FOUNDED IN

2015

INDUSTRY

Retail Trade

COUNTY

St. Johns County

REVENUE GROWTH

699% increase from
2017 – 2020

EMPLOYEE GROWTH

3100% increase from
2017 – 2020

Amy Upchurch

CEO/Founder

Was there an ah-ha moment that led to the idea of your company?

Back in 2009, doctors gave me 24 hours to live. I was struggling with hyperemesis gravidarum, which I can only describe as morning sickness on steroids. I struggled through my first three pregnancies, but in my fourth, I decided enough was enough. With a ton of research, I was able to discover natural products that changed my life. When I was running around chasing my kids, instead of laying in a hospital bed all day, I knew I had a breakthrough. I knew God had a greater purpose for my suffering, so I created Pink Stork in 2015 to help other women and give them hope. With Pink Stork, I created the brand I longed for during my own health struggles: a company that would come alongside women and help them through theirs.

Did you always know you wanted to be an entrepreneur?

No, actually! It’s not something that I thought about until I went through my health struggles, learned the power of these natural products, and realized it was my purpose to share them with other women.

Tell us about your business and the value it brings to your customers.

Pink Stork creates supplements, including gummies, teas, topicals, vitamins, and more, to support all women at every stage. We are The Wellness Brand for Women™. My mission isn’t just to provide women with clean, natural products that address the root cause of their issues; I also want to support women emotionally, mentally, and spiritually as they create a healthy foundation for their lives. We hear from women across the world every day about how our products have changed their lives and helped them overcome their challenges.

What’s it like working at Pink Stork?

If you’ve passed through St. Augustine, you probably know our building. (It’s the one with the big pink wall that features an inviting mural of a pair of wings, where passersby often pitstop for photoshoots.) We’re on the San Sebastian River with a view of the historic buildings of downtown St. Augustine across the water. Walking up to our building, you’ll be greeted by a pink runway, and inside, you’ll find employees working diligently while sipping on our drink mixes, getting their creative juices flowing on our trampoline, or blowing off some steam at the ping pong or billiards table. Our company culture is nontraditional, vibrant, and passionate. Our team members are involved in the process of creating our products, from development to testing, to make sure they’re the best for our customers. We encourage team members to move quickly, take smart risks, and be unafraid of change. We expect a lot of our employees and believe they should expect a lot from us. We encourage an open-door policy, where employees can frankly offer input. We’ve also become a choice employer in St. Johns County, offering unique opportunities for professional growth, especially to young professionals right out of college, and we take pride as a team in what we’re doing for our community. The word I use most to describe our company culture is “love.” Love is an action that we choose each and every day. When we’re compassionate, empathetic, and unified, we’re stronger. And the stronger we are, the more able we are to help each other — and our customers.

Can you explain your company’s competitive edge over others in your market? 

Pink Stork is The Wellness Brand for Women™. Our customers can trust our products knowing that they’re designed, tested, and loved by women like them. Unlike other brands, we offer a comprehensive line of products that meet women at every stage of life, from PMS to menopause. No matter their age or lifestyle, women can feel supported by our diverse line of products, from gummies to teas and topicals, at home or on the go. Our Customer Obsession Team goes above and beyond to support our customers, from answering their questions to creating an engaged online community, PS Life, where they can inspire and empower each other. In addition to these efforts, we support the community through care packages to local women, clothing and toy drives, and wellness product donations.

What are some of the challenges you’ve faced in growing your business?

As any business grows, you’re going to experience growing pains. Making your first million is hard, but making your first thousand is also really hard. You go through both plateaus and growth phases, and it’s important that you have the right expectations. Challenges are never going to go away, and no one is ever going to tell you exactly what to do to be successful. You make your own path and set your own course. There’s no one way to do anything. It’s about finding the right solution for you and your problem. As far as the future, I know there will be challenges: We need to hire new people, bring in more experts, gain capital, grow as a brand, and evolve for our customers. There’s a typical saying in business that “only the paranoid survive.” I have faith that God has a plan for this company, and it’s going to be beyond my wildest dreams. But I stay alert and obsessed. And I work hard to protect and grow the company while trusting God. 

Looking ahead, what are your goals for the next few years?

Our growth strategy has always been to know our customer and meet her where she is. When I created the company, I never put a cap on our success. Our mission is to bring hope to women, and we want to help all women, in every part of the world. We’ve created trust by obsessing over our customers and making them feel valued and special. We are making a difference in their lives and fostering a deep and meaningful connection with them, so we can support them throughout their wellness journeys. Though we’ve expanded outside of fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, and nursing to support women on the bookends of women’s wellness (PMS and menopause), we’ve never lost sight of our focus on our core customer and her needs. And we’re continuing to do that as we expand into other countries, such as Canada, Japan, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Philippines, and through other ways and channels.

What is your proudest moment as CEO?

I can’t pinpoint one moment, but every testimonial that we’ve received has made an impact on me. As a founder, it means so much to have created something that didn’t exist before and see the way that it’s changed people’s lives for the better. When I started, I just wanted to help one person, and now, we hear from customers daily about how our products have helped them overcome their own challenges. It’s been a humbling experience.

What does it mean to you to be selected as a GrowFL Florida Companies to Watch Honoree?

We are so excited to be selected as an honoree by GrowFL. Being selected as an honoree of the Florida Companies to Watch Award represents our potential to grow to help many more women. And that’s really exciting to me. That’s my — and Pink Stork’s — mission.

Is there anyone you’d like to thank?

I thank God every day for getting me through my health struggles and leading me to my purpose. I also couldn’t have created Pink Stork without my husband, Thomas, or my mom, Virginia. They were the ones who helped me as I recovered from HG and believed in me to start my company.

My advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is…

"Don’t let fear stop you. Fear stops a lot of people. Think: if you didn’t have fear in front of you, what would you be doing? What’s the worst that could happen if you go for it? I was exposed at a young age to the precarity of life through my own near-death experience and my husband’s time in the military. I think those experiences gave me a sense of peace and an awareness of the short time we have here on earth. I’ve become very comfortable in fear, and I’ve exercised being able to move through it and make good decisions. I’d also encourage aspiring entrepreneurs to get ok not being perfect. You’re not going to know how to do everything, and you’re going to make mistakes. But you’ll learn and grow through that process."

Celebrate with the Pink Stork team!

Tickets are on sale now for the 11th Annual GrowFL Florida Companies to Watch Awards Celebration! Don't wait, they will sell out!