Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Hospital gowns strip your dignity. That's what Dr. Cindy Trice learned firsthand during treatment for advanced cervical cancer. When a friend brought her a pair of pajamas, it changed everything: she felt like a person again, not just a patient. That moment became the origin story for Kickit Recovery Wear, a company designing stylish, functional post-surgery clothing and chemo-friendly apparel for women at every stage of recovery. In this episode, Cindy shares the 16-year journey from idea to launch — including a paralyzing car accident at 18, a career as a veterinarian, a sold software company, and the fourth-grade friend who helped her finally bring it all to life.
During chemo, a friend brought her a pair of cute pajamas. She put them on and everything changed. She walked laps around the nurses' station. She let visitors in. But the nurses could not work around them, and she realized the hospital gown exists for a reason. The question was: why has nobody made something that works for patients and medical staff?
That idea sat for sixteen years. In the meantime, Cindy became a veterinarian, built and sold a software company called Relief Rover, and eventually launched KickIt with three co-founders, including her best friend since the fourth grade. They split ownership equally and built the whole thing together.
She is also a patient advocate for Cervivor and wants you to know: cervical cancer is preventable. Get screened.
If you are building something from a problem you lived through, this conversation will feel familiar.
Chapters:
🎙️ 01:04 Rate, review, and share the show
Chapters:
🎙️ 01:04 Rate, review, and share the show
🐾 03:11 Meet Dr. Cindy Trice: veterinarian, cancer survivor, and lover of long and low dogs
🏥 05:17 Breaking her back at 18 and learning what dignity in healthcare really means
🐋 12:47 Volunteering at the Marine Mammal Center and lying her way into a pet clinic job
🩺 21:13 Advanced cervical cancer diagnosis right out of vet school
👗 24:41 The hospital gown that stripped her identity and the pajamas that gave it back
🔧 27:30 Why hospital gowns are designed for function and why nobody fixed them
🚀 30:29 Sixteen years from idea to launch: some ideas need to bake
🤝 33:05 A fourth-grade best friend, two garment makers, and a company built by four women
🔄 36:49 Relief Rover, simultaneous entrepreneurship, and selling the first company
🌱 42:51 The roller coaster is real: confidence, hustle, and building your network
🎁 46:20 KickIt slipper socks giveaway: tag @sheleadsmedia and @kickitrecoverywear
Links:
If this conversation made you think differently about what recovery can look and feel like, follow KickIt and see what they are building.
GIVEAWAY
🎁 Slipper Socks Giveaway! At our most recent Pitch The Media event in NYC, KickIt donated the most beautiful, luxurious Slipper Socks. I have a few pairs left and I would love to give them away to 3 lucky listeners. Here is how to enter:
- give the show a 5-star rating and review,
- tag both @sheleadsmedia and @kickitrecoverywear on Instagram.
I will choose 3 women to receive a pair of these incredibly cozy slipper socks.
Thank you to our podcast sponsor
Go From Expert to Thought Leader with the Genius Discovery Program.
Book Directly with Kent: http://talktokent.com
We're always seeking aligned sponsors.
⭐️ If you're interested in supporting our podcast - one episode or a season, reach out to Adrienne at Adrienne@sheleadsmedia.com.⭐️
⭐️ If you're interested in supporting our podcast - one episode or a season, reach out to Adrienne at Adrienne@sheleadsmedia.com.⭐️
Reach out to Adrienne: hello@sheleadsmedia.com
Visit our website: www.sheleadsmedia.com to learn about upcoming events or to work with me directly and get the clarity you’re seeking.
As a gesture of support for this podcast and sharing women's voices everywhere - I would greatly appreciate if you would take a moment and give our podcast a 5 Star rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
By you taking this simple action, you are making a difference in sharing women's voices, thoughts and opinions.
One last thing - if you haven’t done so already, please hit the plus sign + to follow the podcast so you never miss an episode. Thank you so much!!
By you taking this simple action, you are making a difference in sharing women's voices, thoughts and opinions.
One last thing - if you haven’t done so already, please hit the plus sign + to follow the podcast so you never miss an episode. Thank you so much!!
XO
Adrienne
Adrienne
- (01:04) - 🎙️ Rate, review, and share the show
- (03:11) - 🐾 Meet Dr. Cindy Trice: veterinarian, cancer survivor, and lover of long and low dogs
- (05:17) - 🏥 Breaking her back at 18 and learning what dignity in healthcare really means
- (12:47) - 🐋 Volunteering at the Marine Mammal Center and lying her way into a pet clinic job
- (21:13) - 🩺 Advanced cervical cancer diagnosis right out of vet school
- (24:41) - 👗 The hospital gown that stripped her identity and the pajamas that gave it back
- (27:30) - 🔧 Why hospital gowns are designed for function and why nobody fixed them
- (30:29) - 🚀 Sixteen years from idea to launch: some ideas need to bake
- (33:05) - 🤝 A fourth-grade best friend, two garment makers, and a company built by four women
- (36:49) - 🔄 Relief Rover, simultaneous entrepreneurship, and selling the first company
- (42:51) - 🌱 The roller coaster is real: confidence, hustle, and building your network
- (46:20) - 🎁 KickIt slipper socks giveaway: tag @sheleadsmedia and @kickitrecoverywear
Creators and Guests
What is The She Leads® Podcast - Wealth Building & Business Growth?
The She Leads Podcast is where women entrepreneurs and business leaders get the real strategies behind scaling a business to one million dollars and beyond. Each week, host Adrienne Garland, CEO of She Leads Media, professor at NYU and Rice University, and business growth advisor, speaks with women who have actually built it: founders who broke past the revenue ceiling, executives leading thousands, and strategists rethinking how women build wealth, lead teams, and grow companies. Episodes cover business growth strategies for women, from pricing and hiring to leadership communication, AI and the future of work, networking and social capital, and the founder to CEO transition. If you're a woman entrepreneur building toward your first million or your next one, this is the show that meets you where you actually are: past the motivational fluff, deep in the work, and ready to scale.
Leadership isn't just changing. It's evolving in ways we're only just beginning to imagine. And women, we're not playing this game anymore. We're the ones reshaping the entire field, building models, movements, and businesses that serve more than just a few. On the She Leads Podcast, you'll hear real conversations with women who've broken through all kinds of barriers, revenue, identity, orders, and expectations.
Adrienne Garland:There's no sugarcoating here, just the truth told by those who are living it. I'm Adrienne Garland, entrepreneur, strategist, educator, and creator of live experiences, gathering women leaders together for over a decade. And this is the She Leads Podcast. Welcome back to the She Leads Podcast. I would like to kick off today's episode with a request.
Adrienne Garland:If you haven't done so already, before you listen in to this episode, if you could take a pause and give the show a five star rating and review. And the reason that I'm asking for that is because I believe that it's so important to share the journeys, wisdom, and lessons of the women entrepreneurs and leaders that we feature here on the She Leads Podcast. And the best way to do that is to rate, review, and share the show with anyone who's interested in seeing more women leaders in this world. Thank you so much for helping to share our incredible show with more people. Okay.
Adrienne Garland:So I'm very, very excited that my next guest is Dr. Cindy Trice. She's a veterinarian, a speaker, and a serial entrepreneur. She's also a cancer survivor and patient advocate for Cervivor, a nonprofit cervical cancer support group and global community. In addition to everything that I've just mentioned, Cindy's also the founder and chief innovation officer at Kick It Pajamas, a company that's leading the way in providing stylish, comfortable, and functional recovery wear for women during all stages of their healing journey.
Adrienne Garland:Cindy splits her time between Atlanta, Georgia and Bradenton, Florida with her amazing husband and two long and low dogs. And when I saw long and low dogs, I was like, what is that? And so I had to look it up, and it's the corgis and the dachshunds and all the the the little to to the ground dogs. So I I can't wait to hopefully see some pictures of those adorable dogs. And in her spare time, Cindy loves to cook, scheme travel plans, which I love, and write rap lyrics for hamsters.
Adrienne Garland:So I'm not gonna put you on the spot right now, but maybe in the episode, I'm going to ask you to potentially share a rap episode. I mean, a a rap, a little wrap with us. Okay? That would be so amazing. So welcome to the She Leads Podcast, Cindy.
Adrienne Garland:We have so much to talk about.
Dr. Cindy Trice:We do. Thank you for having me.
Adrienne Garland:I am so
Dr. Cindy Trice:And I do I will say about the long and low dogs. I have a body type.
Adrienne Garland:Okay.
Dr. Cindy Trice:Long body, short legs. That's my body type. I am breed agnostic. They can be a Corgi, a Dachshund, a mixed breed. Doesn't matter.
Dr. Cindy Trice:I just think those dogs are funny.
Adrienne Garland:You just like them long and long.
Dr. Cindy Trice:I like them long and low.
Adrienne Garland:That is so great. You know, just before we even kick off, I was on a trip with the university that I teach at, and we were in Sao Paulo, Brazil, all places. And they closed the streets down on Sundays to have, you know, just people get out and walk and bike and all of this stuff. And I was walking along with a friend of mine, and we came across a meetup of dachshund owners, and they had dressed up the the dogs. There were hundreds of them.
Adrienne Garland:They had dressed up the dogs in all of these different outfits, and it was the wildest thing that I've ever seen in my life. There there were some corgis there, but it was mainly doxxins. Yeah.
Dr. Cindy Trice:Yeah. There's there's a there's a population of us that are a little nuts.
Adrienne Garland:It was very, very cool. So okay. We we, like I said, have so much to to talk about. And gosh, Cindy, I you know, I was reading a couple of different things about you just to get to know you a a little bit more. And I was just sort of overwhelmed with a lot of the twists and turns that have happened to you in your life and how you've taken many of those challenges and turn them into opportunities and to helping other people.
Adrienne Garland:I would love for you to almost start way back when you were 18. And I know that you were in a horrific car accident. So could you just talk a tiny bit about that to sort of set the stage for everything that we're gonna be talking about?
Dr. Cindy Trice:Yeah, definitely. So I would say that was my first experience in the, a deep experience into the healthcare system. I was a little bit accident prone prior, so I had, I'd had stitches and all the things that kids get. So I had interacted with emergency rooms before, but this was a big event in my life and life changing event, honestly. I crashed my car, it was a serious accident, I broke my back and I was paralyzed from the waist down.
Dr. Cindy Trice:And it was probably about a year before I got full recovery back. Know, was journey. Was a miracle. And there was a time when they weren't sure, but the time that they weren't sure, I was so, I was on so many pain meds and all, I didn't, I don't actually remember that part of it. I don't remember being anxious about that, but I can only imagine what my parents must have felt.
Dr. Cindy Trice:But thankfully by the time I was really deep into physical therapy and all that, knew that I would make a full recovery. So that was good. But it did, it was certainly a lesson in It started a theme in my life, which is dignity in healthcare and how undignified healthcare can feel. And that was my first introduction to it. It gave me also a lot of perspective on what other people go through, people who go through that temporarily or in a permanent state and what that feels like and what it feels like to be stared at, as a self conscious teenager.
Dr. Cindy Trice:Oh my goodness, yeah. I learned about a lot of that type of interaction and what that means and what that feels like and probably expanded my empathy in so many ways that I wouldn't have experienced if I hadn't gone through that.
Adrienne Garland:You know, it's so interesting that you talk about the dignity part of it too, because when you're in the hospital and you're trying to heal, you never really think that there's a layer of almost like embarrassment or shame because there's people around you that are trying to help you and they legitimately want to help you. But the the the clothes that you have to wear in order to, you know, give people access to your body, It's it's a very strange psychological position to be in, I think. Right? Especially as women who we just are societally programmed to feel shame about everything about ourselves. Right?
Dr. Cindy Trice:Yeah.
Adrienne Garland:Yeah. So this is like another layer where it's like, get rid of the shame, you know, in one second because we're going to be looking and prodding and taking blood and doing all of the things and you're wearing a sheet basically, walking through hallways.
Dr. Cindy Trice:Yeah. Exactly. And the the, And again, you add that layer of being a teenager, I mean, maybe every teenager is not like this, but I was a self conscious teenager, like So many yeah, there was a lot of humiliation. I mean, they had to take care of everything. Couldn't have a urinary catheter, they had to take care of all those things.
Dr. Cindy Trice:So I had to get over that really fast. And when they would have to move me to change me and I did, I mean, the idea for my company did not come about at that time, but I can't help but think that those experiences informed, they embedded in me in my brain somehow and informed my thoughts about it later. Because one thing I do remember is the dressing, the dressing and the undressing and the moving, like the having to move me in different positions and how sometimes that would be complicated or if I was out, like when I finally was out and able to see friends and I was in a wheelchair, the difficulty of dressing and undressing and still I wanted to look cute. Of course. Yeah.
Dr. Cindy Trice:I wanted to have cute clothes on and I would be seeing my friends and someone will be pushing me around the mall. So I did think about clothing at the time and how I was impacted by my physical state.
Adrienne Garland:Yeah. It's kind of wild. You know? Of course, we don't ever want anything like that to happen, but it it sounds like that is the the origin story that sort of planted the seed for what was to to come later. So I imagine that you and you were 18.
Adrienne Garland:Were you in college at that point?
Dr. Cindy Trice:Not yet. I was actually in high school and actually graduated from high school in a wheelchair. Wow, wow, yeah. Which was actually very, I only laugh a little because do you remember those after school specials? Yes.
Dr. Cindy Trice:Yeah, it was like an after school special, basically. It was actually very poignant and I was balling on stage and there was a standing ovation. It was very poignant and sweet. And I, of course, was so embarrassed
Adrienne Garland:of course wow wow so so then you went off to college and at some point you decided to become a veterinarian Can you talk
Dr. Cindy Trice:Yes, about all did. Of Yeah, so I did. I had a windy path to becoming a veterinarian. It wasn't my first career. I went to college, I got a degree in mass communications.
Dr. Cindy Trice:I worked in corporate video production and then I was a freelancer for a while. And then a friend of mine, I was having what I call my mid twenties crisis. I was like, I don't really know what I'm doing with this. I don't really, I just couldn't figure out who I wanted to be when I grew up. Sure.
Dr. Cindy Trice:And so she asked me, this was the most sage advice. She said, well, if you could do anything you want to do, what would you do? Don't think about whether it's possible or not possible. And I said, I would study the relationship between animals and people. And to be perfectly honest, I'm not exactly sure what I meant by that at that moment, but I had always, I mean, animals were always in our life, we were a pet family and when I was little, I had wanted to be Dian Fossey and go study mountain gorillas.
Dr. Cindy Trice:And I always had this sort of like little animal theme kind of in my fantasy land of what life would look like, but I never occurred to me to be a vet. So she gave me this piece of advice and I was living in San Francisco at the time and I was like, well, that sounds smart. So I went, oh, she said, get a job working with animals. This was the advice, get a job working with animals. It doesn't matter what it is, just do it.
Dr. Cindy Trice:Like she's basically just saying, just take a step. And she was so smart about that. So I ended up getting a volunteer job at the Marine Mammal Center. Wow. And then there was a pet hospital that was close enough to my apartment that I could bike.
Dr. Cindy Trice:So I was like, and they had a job as a receptionist. And so I applied for that job. Wow. And when I applied for the job, the guy looked at my resume and he There's all this production stuff. And he was like, why do you wanna work at my pet clinic?
Dr. Cindy Trice:Yeah. And I said, because I wanna be a vet. And I basically lied to get the job. Right. But then it was actually working at his clinic that I realized, oh, I actually really love what he does.
Dr. Cindy Trice:And it's just so fascinating to me. So then I had to go back and take all the science classes that I had very successfully avoided during my undergraduate years. Yeah. I dodged that one, dodged that one. But it was really good.
Dr. Cindy Trice:It was like the right time. You know, I feel like sometimes things happen in life at the right time, even if you don't recognize that at first. So I took all those science classes while I worked and took me three and a half years to get all my prereqs. And then I ended up going to vet school. So I graduated vet school 2004 and I'm so glad I picked that career.
Dr. Cindy Trice:I love being a veterinarian. I love such a privilege and I'm such an animal person. So I get to be around them quite a lot.
Adrienne Garland:This is amazing. And I know how challenging it is to become a veterinarian. There's a lot of work, there's a lot of hands on experience. I think it's very difficult to get into veterinary school. I hear that it's more difficult to get in than it is to become a doctor.
Adrienne Garland:So that is quite an accomplishment. Congratulations. And I'm sure all of the pets that you take care of are really happy that you're a veterinarian as well. So, gosh, I mean, I love I love this for a lot of reasons because, you know, when we are twenty eighteen, you know, even 25, 26, you know, to make decisions about who you're going to be for the rest of your life when we don't have the experience to make those decisions is so premature. And I think that, you know, undergraduate students today, there's so much pressure on them to, you know, pick something and be that for the rest of your life.
Adrienne Garland:And I just don't know how that's possible when this world is just changing around us at like, talk about rapid pace. Like, it's not even rapid pace. There there needs to be another word for it because it's changing every single day. And how do you how do you set yourself up for the future? Is it's just like an impossible thought experiment even.
Dr. Cindy Trice:It is and I do, I agree. And the one thing I've always felt to be true is that I wanna always have the opportunity to reinvent myself, always, until I'm done. And this whole sort of cultural notion that you gotta pick, stick with it, then, and there's a balance to that, right? Because there is some stick to it ness that then if you give something enough of a shot, like you can develop a love for it or you can develop a skill that then increases your confidence. So I'm not saying like change your mind on a whim at but every I do believe in the ability to reinvent yourself.
Dr. Cindy Trice:And I do believe in the fact that when you are trained in different ways, like I'm amazed at my training as a veterinarian, my medical training as a veterinarian, how much that has served me as an entrepreneur. Because you learn to be a problem solver. Yes. And you've, like veterinarians, you've got a kind of MacGyver thing. Sometimes it's like you don't necessarily have all the tools at your disposal.
Dr. Cindy Trice:Just the way you're trained to think through a problem and to make decisions is actually very applicable to other things. And the other thing I realized, and I'm grateful that I had another career, is that the skills that I learned in my career working in production, some of those passed along to support me in my veterinary career and how I dealt with things. And then of course on as an entrepreneur. And I think that, with this, what you're talking about with the young people and this world that is changing so much more rapidly than when I was at that phase of life, I think that's the key though, is adaptability, flexibility, and learning how to understanding that the skills that you learn can be applied in lots of different ways. And it's almost like we've got to go back to being Renaissance people.
Adrienne Garland:Totally.
Dr. Cindy Trice:We kind of got into this phase where you're like, okay, you're good at math and science and you're good at writing and creative.
Adrienne Garland:No, no,
Dr. Cindy Trice:people can be good at both or they can develop skills. And so I think if as we come back and I think the world is gonna demand it of us, is that we come back to being more Renaissance people and we do know a lot of different things and then we understand how to apply it to different scenarios. That's the skillset that's gonna get you move you forward, not a hyper focused, narrow and deep. Yeah. I think it's gonna be wider.
Adrienne Garland:Well, I I love this future casting prediction because I do consider myself to be a renaissance woman. I am so interested in so many different things. And that I think I think a lot of women also have that skill set where we understand many, many different things, and we understand how those things go together. And we're very nimble and adaptable because we have to be in this world. So I really love that you're I agree with you 100%, and I love what you're saying because if that type of skill set, this adaptability can be rewarded, I think that women will finally get our our due.
Adrienne Garland:Right? Because we, I think, have been penalized for not being these deep, deep, deep subject experts in one area. It's it's a very male oriented type of approach where, you know, it's like the, the hunting and, and the hunting, right? You go out, you focus, focus, focus intently. You don't think about anything else.
Adrienne Garland:Women are thinking about 25 things at one time and, and predicting what's going to happen when, you know, that person says that and this person does that. We see it all unfold before it it actually does. So I love that. And and I think it's so important to get that message out there for women that no matter how old you are, that there is always the opportunity to learn, to change, to choose something that is more in alignment with who you are at this stage in your life, whatever that stage is. So, oh, I just love that so much.
Adrienne Garland:And and so you okay. So it's almost like these big chapters in in your life. Right? The video production and communication, the the veterinary school, and then like so many women entrepreneur, right? Due to something that happened in our lives that transformed, that made us see things differently that we want to then help others with.
Adrienne Garland:Can you talk about this next chapter in your journey with your company that you've co founded now?
Dr. Cindy Trice:Yeah, and this is where I feel like life just kept serving me things like, Here's the medicine. Need to be here. A whole thing. And dignity in healthcare. And so I, right when I graduated vet school, was in an internship.
Dr. Cindy Trice:I'd only been there a couple months. I was diagnosed with advanced stage cervical cancer. And y'all, I mean, it was terrible, it was terrible. And you know, this will do my little PSA. If you have a cervix, get it checked.
Adrienne Garland:Yeah.
Dr. Cindy Trice:I was someone who was good about going to my annual appointments and all those things. And somehow I went from never having an abnormal pap smear to having advanced stage cancer.
Adrienne Garland:Jesus.
Dr. Cindy Trice:Everyone was surprised by that. Who knows? Sometimes, you know, again, it's just bad luck. Life just throws you something really bad, but it is a cancer that is preventable, right? We have a vaccine now, like no one should have cervical cancer.
Dr. Cindy Trice:And in fact, the world health organization has a goal to eliminate cervical cancer by 2030, which is right around the corner. Whether they're gonna meet that goal or not, I don't know, but there are some countries who, because of vaccination and because of screening and early detection are claiming to have eliminated cervical cancer. So anyway, that's my little PSA.
Adrienne Garland:Yeah. And can I just stop you on that because I don't know that I knew that there was a vaccine for cervical cancer? And is that something that you could get at like, that is the vaccine something that you can get at any time?
Dr. Cindy Trice:No, it's recommended for, so it's the HPV vaccine.
Adrienne Garland:Okay, that's okay.
Dr. Cindy Trice:Ninety something percent, I don't wanna get the numbers wrong, but ninety something percent are caused by HPV.
Adrienne Garland:Got
Dr. Cindy Trice:it. Which over eighty percent of sexually active people will have HPV. You just may not have that. You may never know you have it. And hopefully you don't have, there are certain strains that are more likely to cause cancer.
Dr. Cindy Trice:The HPV vaccine has been around for decades. Yes, okay. It's proven to be very safe and they recommend young girls and boys. Yes. Get started with the vaccine.
Adrienne Garland:Got it.
Dr. Cindy Trice:There are catch up vaccines for older people, but it's most effective when you get it young.
Adrienne Garland:Got it. Thank you so much for explaining that because I was like a cervical cancer vaccine. I don't know that I've heard of it, but I definitely have heard of the HPV vaccine. And I know for sure that my boys got it when they were teenagers. We're doing our part.
Adrienne Garland:Is
Dr. Cindy Trice:so good to hear. So yeah, so then I got this diagnosis, right? And I end up in the hospital, they treated me, they did my chemotherapy treatments in the hospital and which is a little unusual now, I'm not sure if it was my particular cancer type or it was the time, this was 2004, but anyway, I would be hospitalized for five to seven days at a time and then I'd go out and back in. Goodness. A lot of people get their chemo treatment at infusion centers now.
Dr. Cindy Trice:It's like a day thing, you go for the day. So the point is I spent a ton of time in the hospital and I wore that wretched little gown. And I'll tell you here, let me tell you this like a story about how weird, weird experience this is. So, you know, I had the diagnosis, I did have symptoms, but I was not in pain and I did not feel sick. So I didn't feel like a sick person.
Dr. Cindy Trice:Yeah. And so basically they're like, okay, and the tumor was too far spread for surgery to be effective. So I get checked into the hospital and it's literally like getting checked into like some weird hotel. You just walk in, I've got my little bag and they show me to my room and there's the little gown folded on the bed. And then they're like, okay, get dressed.
Dr. Cindy Trice:And you get in the little gown. And then I just sit in the bed and it's not like some dramatic hospital entry when you land yourself there through the ER.
Adrienne Garland:Right.
Dr. Cindy Trice:It's literally like you're checking into a hotel. That
Adrienne Garland:you don't wanna go to, yeah.
Dr. Cindy Trice:That you don't wanna check into. And then I'm just sitting there in this gown and then you just like, I don't know, you just kind of have to wait for stuff to happen and people come in and they do what they gotta do, but it just was so bizarre. And I was really But the minute I put that gown on, I didn't feel like myself anymore. I suddenly realized like, I'm just a patient. Right.
Dr. Cindy Trice:And I didn't feel like me. And you've got your bracelet on and all of These protocols are there for safety and for a good reason, but they come in and they scan you and they say, you know, they don't like allow them to, they're just busy. Yeah. And they say, what's your birthday? Yeah.
Dr. Cindy Trice:So you have to like say your birthday over and over. Yes. And that's how they like, and then they look and they confirm that it's you. And then they go about their business, but you just, it strips you of dignity and humanity so fast. So what ended up happening was a friend of mine gave me this really cute pair of PJs to wear, she brought them to the hospital.
Dr. Cindy Trice:Yeah. And I put them on and I am telling you, I can't, it was game changing. I just felt, I felt like a person again. Yeah. I felt more comfortable.
Dr. Cindy Trice:I felt more comfortable having visitors. Yeah. My cute boyfriend was gonna visit. He's now my cute husband, but as soon as my cute boyfriend. And then, you know, they want you to move, You don't wanna be sitting in bed.
Dr. Cindy Trice:And so I would take laps around the nurses station. I had my little IV pole I had to push and I felt better do, I felt more willing to do it because I wasn't, just didn't feel like the back was flapping open and I just felt dressed and more comfortable. And that was when I realized, oh, there's gotta be something better here. But the problem was they didn't have the right functionality for the nursing staff. And so I saw the nurses, like I saw the friction with them, like kind of struggling, if I needed to change my top and they had to unhook my line and all these things.
Dr. Cindy Trice:And I started realizing why the functionality on the hospital gown is the way it is. Yeah. So I just, that was when I was like, well, why don't they just make cute ones that have the right functionality?
Adrienne Garland:And they don't. And don't. And they don't. Hey everyone. So for years, I've been working with Doctor.
Adrienne Garland:Kent and sending people in my network his way. He does so much impact work. What do I mean by that? Well, he helps people create books and podcasts and things like that. He even helps with this podcast behind the scenes.
Adrienne Garland:Dr. Kent is my thought partner. Anyone listening knows that we all need to do what we can to get our thoughts, opinions, and voices out into the world and how important it is for women to invest in other women and for women to hire other women. I am all about that and you all know that. But in this case, I think Dr. Kent is an exception. He's doing something really different via this new program that he's launched called the Genius Discovery program.
Adrienne Garland:So he wants to work with people like me and like you who are impact driven. Dr. Kent has an intensive program that goes for a month. He also has a three month program where he figures out where you're headed with your brand, your business, your speaking, and your signature story as a thought leader. I've known Dr.
Adrienne Garland:Kent for a long time. So believe me when I say that he has a ton of experience working with people that are looking to make an impact but might not know exactly how to approach them. So if you're interested in talking to him, can go directly to talktokent.com, or you can send me a DM on Instagram at She Leads Media, or just shoot me an email over at hellosheleadsmedia.com. So you went through your treatment and thank God everything is okay. That is incredible.
Adrienne Garland:And I'm so sorry that you had to go through that at at all. Right? But I'm so happy that you made it through and you are radiant and and healthy and and amazing. And and then you decided, okay, in addition to being a veterinarian, I'm going to start this business. So you don't take it easy on yourself, I gather.
Dr. Cindy Trice:Yeah, but from actually from and this is another actually, I think this is kind of a nice lesson that that whole thing that we talked about, about reinventing yourselves and kind of being open to opportunity and being adaptable and all those, this is in that same realm. So from idea to launch was sixteen years. Woah. But there was a lot that happened in between. And this was all just circumstance, but sometimes an idea, it may be that an idea needs to bake.
Adrienne Garland:Yes.
Dr. Cindy Trice:Or it may just be like, those are the circumstances and it's gonna happen when it can happen. But, so I had the idea in 2004, I just sat on it until, cause I had to get better. And then I was trying to be a vet and I'm a new vet and I'm like learning what I'm doing there. And in about 2008, I was like, you know what? I'm not, that idea is still like just sitting there.
Dr. Cindy Trice:And so, I mean, I don't know anything about like clothes or fashion or manufacturing or kind of stitching or anything. Just do, that's not my area of expertise. But I went to a fashion school. One thing I do know how to do is I just know how to talk to people and I'm not afraid to reach out to people and I'm not afraid to get crickets or a no or something like that. I just, like I feel uncomfortable with it, but it's not something I'm afraid of.
Adrienne Garland:It doesn't stop you.
Dr. Cindy Trice:It doesn't stop me, exactly. So I reached out to a fashion school and I just reached out to all these different professors there. Finally, someone responded and I said, Hey, I have this idea. Can you help me make prototypes? I have no idea how to make prototypes.
Dr. Cindy Trice:And I can't sketch either, but I sketched my, you know, in my five year old way, like something that looked roughly like what I was thinking. And they were able to interpret that and work with me and come up with prototypes. So I came up with prototypes, I came up with some branding. I always knew I wanted to call it kick it. This is amazing.
Dr. Cindy Trice:People kept telling me, Cindy, you're gonna kick this thing. Like that's just a common phrasing. And so that was why I named it kick it. And then if people look at the logo, you'll see the K is kicking the C because we want to be a company that helps kick cancer off the planet. We wanna be a company that we can give back in a way that our donations are impactful.
Dr. Cindy Trice:So that's where the kicker came. So I came up with all those ideas and all this kind of stuff. And then I just, I worked on it for years, but I just couldn't, I was doing it by myself. I was bootstrapping. I couldn't figure it out.
Dr. Cindy Trice:Was trying to be a vet and, you know, I had gotten married, like live a life. And so I threw it in the closet. Fast forward, almost a decade, a friend of mine who always loved the idea and she and I have known each other since the fourth grade and she's a business person. She has her MBA and just has been in business world. She said, Hey, know that idea you had?
Dr. Cindy Trice:Can we pull that out of the closet? Because I just met these two women who own a children's clothing company and they're interested in doing something else. So they have the expertise. Wow. So the four of us came together.
Dr. Cindy Trice:We got together in '20, I think late twenty eighteen and we spent 2019 kind of doing research and kind of resurrecting what was good about the idea, what needed to be worked on. And then we launched in December 2020.
Adrienne Garland:This is incredible.
Dr. Cindy Trice:Yeah. Wow. So that's how long an idea can sometimes take to bake.
Adrienne Garland:Yeah. And it's it's not that you if if those same set of circumstances happened earlier, you would have launched it then, but it needed all of that time for other people to also almost water that seed of an idea. And that's the thing that really made it come to life. Because if you had tried to do it totally on your own, it wouldn't be the same. You wouldn't have that same expertise.
Adrienne Garland:You wouldn't have your other friends who's the business person. Like, the stars and and the moon aligned. And and then you seized that opportunity at that time. And that is just so incredible. I I read that you had the the three other cofounders, and I think this is a a really important lesson too because I do think that so many women have these incredible ideas, and we don't always have the areas of expertise to launch our company.
Adrienne Garland:So how did that I would love for you, and I know we're going a little long, but I would love for you, if you if you would, to kind of explain what that whole process was like, because I think more women would launch businesses if they knew how to bring others into their business and sort of not lose their their place in the business too because this was your idea. Right? This was your idea. Someone came in and said, I will help you. But then there were other people that also had expertise.
Adrienne Garland:So how do you kind of figure all of that out and maintain your area of of expertise and also have, like, ownership in the business collectively?
Dr. Cindy Trice:Yeah. And we, I mean, we had a lot of conversations about that, like what are we all bringing to the table? Yep. And where, and we really kind of broke it down, like what are the pieces of the business that need to happen in order to launch and to make this a product that people were e commerce. We do have a B2B side that we're developing, but right now we're e commerce.
Dr. Cindy Trice:And so like, what are all the pieces of the puzzle that need to happen from branding and marketing to product design
Adrienne Garland:and
Dr. Cindy Trice:to product manufacturing, to all the pieces of e commerce that need to happen and then the operations behind the scenes. And we laid all of that out and we said, okay, this is Cindy's wheelhouse. And now keep in mind, I was a simultaneous, I wasn't a serial entrepreneur, I was a simultaneous entrepreneur, which I honestly don't recommend. I had my own veterinary software company that I had, right. So at the same time that this was happening, I had my veterinary software company.
Dr. Cindy Trice:So I was a relief vet, I know it's insane. I was a relief vet, meaning I would go fill in at different clinics. Oh wow. And I did this in multiple states. So this was how I spent my career as a veterinarian.
Dr. Cindy Trice:I was basically a fill in vet, which was perfect for someone who is a commitment phobe and someone who likes variety. Yeah. And So, what I did was I developed basically a marketplace connecting relief vets and practices to each other nationwide. Beautiful. So I was, while I was doing that and that I was so bootstrapped and solo founded, I did have a team, nobody makes a company all by themselves.
Dr. Cindy Trice:People will help you, whether they're your employees, your co founders, or just people who are helping you or people you're paying, nobody does this by themselves. So with what it was called ReliefRover, with ReliefRover, I was definitely not by myself, but I was learning a ton of business skills and entrepreneurial skills that I didn't have that were helping me with Kickit because Kickit was going on at the same time. And I ended up selling that software company to another software company called Hound. And then I worked for Hound for two years because that was kind of part of the deal.
Adrienne Garland:Amazing.
Dr. Cindy Trice:So all this is going on while we're trying to build Kick It. Yeah. But the point is it was a lot, but that's not the point. The point is I was learning all these skills that could be applied, but to go back to your original question, we basically broke it down and we said, what do you bring to the table? What do you bring to the table?
Dr. Cindy Trice:You, you and you, or there were four of us and it just so happens we have some overlap, but mostly we actually just have complimentary skills and I think that was a little bit of luck. Yeah. And we were very fairsie squaresie about it. Like we basically, it was my idea, we are all 25% owner.
Adrienne Garland:I love that.
Dr. Cindy Trice:There's nobody, you know, we just were very, I don't know, democratic about it. Like it was, I didn't fight for larger ownership. I didn't come to the table with this as my idea. And honestly that was recommended to me by many people. And I was like, that isn't, I do, and I do feel like we all contribute equally to the building of this company and the growing of this company.
Dr. Cindy Trice:And the other thing that's nice about having co founders when I compare this to Relief Rover is everyone's, you know, your life is up and down with your energy and your availability and all those things. So we have each other to support. So it's not that at every moment of every day, we're all giving 25% effort, that isn't true. But it out and we are able to, when somebody is having to back away, I was a caregiver for my elderly parents for the last six years and like a hands on caregiver, which also informed all this dignity in healthcare. Wow.
Dr. Cindy Trice:But there were times when I was like, I can't be as available. Yeah. And so the other team members would step up and then there's, you know, it just goes back and forth. You get my point.
Adrienne Garland:I love that. It seems like there's a really open, a dedication to open communication that started from the beginning and seems like it's infused in your company right now. And all of these things that you're talking about are such incredible lessons. And the the fact that you have you know, you you've had these different careers. You started this other business.
Adrienne Garland:You sold it. You know, not many women even are in that position to have started a company and sell it and then start another one and then have a group of incredible people by your side helping you to grow this next thing into, you know, something else that that's beautiful, that is so helpful to so many people. You are you're a unicorn. You really are. And, you know, I I admire that so much and so many people can learn from your story.
Adrienne Garland:And I think that what's really interesting about you is you seem to also move through these things with a lot of grace and presence. You don't seem to, you know, be trying to, you know, get to the next thing. You you're sort of in it. You're learning it. You are absorbing the lessons, and then you're taking the next step when it feels right.
Adrienne Garland:And I can feel that from you. And I admire that because I think often entrepreneurs, especially women, we feel so much pressure on ourselves, like to get it right, to do it at the right time. And the the the I guess the feeling that I'm picking up from you is, like, in time, like, in its own time, things will happen. The the next step will almost reveal itself. Like, just just trust that what you're doing is all building toward something and to to be graceful with that.
Adrienne Garland:And life happens. This is reality. Our, you know, parents get sick. We have to Our lives change. We have to move in and out of things.
Adrienne Garland:And if we can do that without putting so much pressure on ourselves, there's enough pressure on the world. Relieve some of that pressure. It sounds like you've made everything work really, really well. And I'm sure it hasn't been easy, but it seems like you've made everything work really beautifully.
Dr. Cindy Trice:Yeah. Thank you. And I definitely, you know what you just said, it hasn't been easy. There's definitely, I mean, it is a roller coaster ride and both with, you know, Relief Rover and with Kick It and there have been times where it's just, you're tearing your hair out. You're like, ah, what am I doing?
Dr. Cindy Trice:And then you lose confidence and, but then you get it back. And I do think, I think that I have been very blessed with a incredible network. And some of that was just kind of the luck of you know, who I grew up with, like, you know, my co founder is my best friends since the fourth grade.
Adrienne Garland:It's amazing.
Dr. Cindy Trice:But some of it too was my willingness to build a network and my willingness to talk to people and get out there and because you never do this by yourself. And if you were, if you as an entrepreneur feel like you are alone and struggling by yourself, you shouldn't be because no one can do this by themselves. So build a network, reach out, don't be afraid to reach out to people. Actually, people for the most part love when you ask them for help or advice, they really do. Most of them are so willing, you know, I mean, there's a, you know, if you're asking them to do something for free forever and ever, you know, like that's a different story, but so many people are willing to give you advice, to listen to your idea, to listen to what you want to do.
Dr. Cindy Trice:You're just never, you're never doing it alone. And there's no way I could have done any of this without a ton of support. And I've given things up too. Like I'm a hustler. Like I'm willing to be like, yeah, I gotta work ER shifts this weekend because I've got this company and I need to support my life and So those kinds of there was a lot of hustle involved and there's still hustle involved, but so I don't want it.
Dr. Cindy Trice:I just don't want to sugarcoat it. No. But it's, but I believe in the journey too. I think that's another kind of point I wanted to make. I believe in that the journey has to be not always fun.
Dr. Cindy Trice:Yeah. Because it's not always fun, but sometimes it's really fun. It has to be interesting. And I have to feel like I'm growing and learning and keeping my mind open. And I really don't know the end game.
Dr. Cindy Trice:I mean, everyone's like, everyone's like in business, they're like, Oh, you gotta know exactly what you wanna do at the end. We have some idea, but that's just like a fuzzy destination. We're just, we're staying as present and open as we can and listening to customers and listening to what people have to say and adapting and adjusting to that in the present versus there's our end game. And you can end up having blinders on if you do that too strictly.
Adrienne Garland:Yeah. And and you can end up making decisions that might get you toward that end game, but that sacrifice the the customer in the meantime. Meantime. And that is not what your business is about. Again, I think that there are so many lessons in your journey.
Adrienne Garland:I hope that everybody listening in has taken away something. I know I have. And I I really appreciate you spending so much time and taking me through everything because it does sound like it was a wild ride. And I hope that there are absolutely smooth waters ahead that, like, no other challenges that are, like, life changing come up and that everything, you know, obviously works out beautifully. One of the things that I just wanted to let everybody know is that Kickit donated these beautiful fuzzy slippers with with the skid proof bottoms, and they are absolutely beautiful.
Adrienne Garland:I mean, I cannot emphasize. When I when when they came, I was like, what are these things? Because they were so cozy and comfortable. And we gave them away as part of our gift bags at our Pitch the Media event that we had a couple of weeks ago, which was a a tremendous success. But I have a couple of them left.
Adrienne Garland:So if you're still listening in, I would love for you to tag both She Leads Media and Kick It Recovery on Instagram. And let us know that you listened into this episode, and then I'm going to pick three people to send these amazing cozy what are the I wanna call them socks, and they're not socks. They're they're slippers.
Dr. Cindy Trice:I mean, are. They're they're slipper socks, I guess.
Adrienne Garland:Slipper socks. The the most beautiful cozy slipper socks. And I'm I'm here in New York, and it's still cold. So we are not even into springtime yet. So they're they're just so beautiful and cozy and comfortable.
Adrienne Garland:So I would love to choose three people that are listening in to this episode today. Don't forget to tag Kick It Recovery, and She Leads Media, and let us know that you've listened in to this episode and and share any lesson that you have learned from it. Cindy, how can people get in touch with you? How can they, you know, look at the whole array, the whole line of your recovery wear and where where can they buy it?
Dr. Cindy Trice:Yeah. So we are so we're at kick it kick it recovery wear on social media. We're kickitrecoverywear.com is the website. And the name of our company is by the way, kickitrecoveryware, we did change from kickit pajamas because we ended up having a whole line for outside of the hospital, outside of recovering at home and cindykickitpajamas dot com because we haven't changed the email yet.
Adrienne Garland:Got it.
Dr. Cindy Trice:Cindykickitpajamas dot com. And I, for any listeners out there, I'm always happy to be a resource. So if someone wants to email me, if someone wants to talk to me, I'm an open book and happy to talk to anyone about entrepreneurship and just lessons that I've learned over time and happy to be an ear for people. So just know that.
Adrienne Garland:Thank you so much. This was such an amazing conversation. I really loved learning more about you and this whole entire journey, and I I can't wait to see what's next. So thank you so much for spending time with us here today. We really appreciate everything you're doing.
Dr. Cindy Trice:Thank you for having me.
Adrienne Garland:If this conversation moved you, inspired you, or made you think differently, please take a moment to leave a five star rating and review. It's not just about boosting the show. It's about amplifying the voices of women entrepreneurs who are leading with vision, building with purpose, and shaping what's next. We need more of these conversations in the world right now, don't you think? And if someone came to mind while you were listening, someone who matters to you, send this episode to them.
Adrienne Garland:If there's something on your mind about leadership, legacy, or what's next,
Adrienne Garland:I want to hear it.
Adrienne Garland:Head to sheleadsmedia.com backslash voice and leave a voice memo or note. Your insight might just help shape a future episode. Make sure to follow the show and come back next week for more conversations you won't hear anywhere else. Thank you so much for listening.