Sobriety to Shark Tank

Building a Business to Stamp Out Stigma

WITH KELSEY MOREIRA

ONE WORLD recently hosted a successful webinar with Founder and CEO of Doughp, Kelsey Moreira. As a member of the ONE WORLD CEO Network (learn more here), Moreira is the first entrepreneur featured in our new impact series, which will highlight network members and ecosystem partners through interactive discussions.

During the webinar “Sobriety to Shark Tank: Building a Business to Stamp Out Stigma” , Kelsey shared her journey from quitting her corporate job and getting sober in 2015, to starting her own edible cookie dough company. The journey of Moreira’s company has been an exciting one, including an appearance on Shark Tank and a spot on Forbes 30 Under 30 list.  

While Doughp is focused on making delicious, edible cookie dough for all to enjoy, Moreira has also used her company to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health and addiction recovery. Experiencing burnout and mental health struggles herself, Moreira sees the importance in talking about mental health, especially in the workplace. Following the webinar, Moreira shared an example of the Doughp Mental Health Policy, so that employers and employees at other companies might be able to follow the lead of Doughp and implement some policies of their own. 

When asked to expand on the importance of mental health, Moreira replied: “When you look at a business, it is real money to talk about mental health, its real money to talk about addiction recovery and what you are doing to support your employees.” Encouraging Doughp employees to share their “whole selves” in the workplace, even if that means revealing their struggles, Moreira has implemented several policies conducive to this effort. Moreira refers to these as “Open Heart policies,” which include mental health days at any time, taking the day off without financial penalty, and allowing employees to talk about whatever is on their mind. 
In addition to policies that directly benefit Doughp employees, Moreira also expanded on Doughp’s mission to reduce stigma and help the broader community with mental health and addiction recovery. Donating a portion of all sales to She Recovers, a non profit dedicated to helping women with addiction recovery, eating disorder recovery, and other mental health struggles, Doughp has mental health and sobriety at the heart of its mission.

During the talk, Moreira also shared other creative policies to help bring awareness to mental health. Of these policies is the refund “doughnation” fund, in which customers seeking a refund are given the option to donate the money to She Recovers. Through this policy, 25% of refunds have been donated. 

With Doughp as an enviable example of how companies can focus on mental health, Moreira also gave her advice on how other companies can support the mental health of their employees, as well as how employees can express their concerns. As a known advocate of mental health in the workplace, and more specifically for entrepreneurs, Moreira was also featured in a Food Business News article about the importance of mental health for founders. 

Looking to learn more about Kelsey, Doughp, and the importance of mental health in the workplace? Watch the whole webinar here and check out this recent Business Insider article featuring Moreira.