Keeping It in the Family

Summary

Your Next Move Podcast Summary: “Keeping It in the Family”

Episode Release Date: April 15, 2025
Host: Diana Ransom, Inc. Executive Editor
Guest: Sheila Janikos, CEO of Healthy Horizons Breastfeeding Centers
Produced by Inc. Magazine and Capital One Business

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1. Introduction to Healthy Horizons

In the episode titled "Keeping It in the Family," Diana Ransom interviews Sheila Janikos, the CEO of Healthy Horizons Breastfeeding Centers, a company ranked 1,698 on the 2024 Inc. 5000 list. Healthy Horizons specializes in creating and maintaining workplace lactation programs for organizations of all sizes, aiming to support working parents, particularly mothers.

Diana Ransom [01:16]:
"So what does Healthy Horizons actually do? You help these big companies or smaller companies theoretically set up lactation centers. What does that look like?"

Sheila Janikos [01:24]:
"We go into the company and help them source, design, furnish, and then supply the room with like the breast pump and all the little necessities that a new parent would need to pump."

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2. Company Services and Operations

Healthy Horizons offers comprehensive solutions for companies looking to support their employees who are new parents. This includes sourcing and designing lactation rooms, furnishing them with necessary equipment like breast pumps, and ensuring consistent service across all client locations in the United States and Canada.

Sheila Janikos [01:24]:
"Once they're set up, we will come back and we'll maintain the room and service. For example, Meda will go in and we do all their locations across the United States and Canada, so we make sure that there's consistency across the board."

Sheila emphasizes the importance of providing a consistent experience for mothers, regardless of their location, ensuring that a mother in Canada receives the same support as one in Menlo Park, California.

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3. Growth and Expansion

Healthy Horizons has experienced significant growth over the years, primarily through word-of-mouth referrals. Beginning from Sheila’s living room 33 years ago, the company expanded to two breastfeeding centers in the San Francisco Bay area. The catalyst for rapid expansion was her daughter Cassandra’s involvement and participation in the StartX business accelerator program.

Sheila Janikos [02:18]:
"We had very humble beginnings. I started at 33 years ago in my living room... What really accelerated our program was my daughter Cassandra, who is the COO."

Sheila Janikos [03:23]:
"With the help of that program and all the connections, it just really was added like fuel to this wonderful fire."

Currently, Healthy Horizons operates in 125 cities across the US and Canada, servicing over 60 locations, including both large corporations like Meta and Google, and smaller organizations.

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4. Navigating Challenges and Pivoting During the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic posed significant challenges as many clients closed their offices. Instead of halting services, Healthy Horizons pivoted to provide virtual education and introduced new parent gift boxes. This strategic shift not only sustained the business but led to its best year amidst the crisis.

Sheila Janikos [06:43]:
"We started providing a lot of education that people could do from home. And then we started doing new parent gift boxes... And that really grew our business also."

Diana Ransom [09:18]:
"Interesting that this kind of came out of such an arduous experience like the pandemic. And it's a wonder what people will do when forced to innovate."

Sheila highlights the necessity of adaptability in business, stating, "You'll sink if you don't. You have to decide to pivot."

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5. Marketing Strategy and Word of Mouth

Healthy Horizons has relied heavily on word-of-mouth marketing, primarily through building strong relationships with HR professionals. This approach has been effective, eliminating the need for traditional marketing efforts thus far.

Sheila Janikos [10:47]:
"We develop pretty close relationships with the HR people that we work with. And when you're on that level, they want to help you. So yes, we tell them if you know anybody who would be interested."

When the company needs to introduce new services, such as the new parent gift boxes, they leverage these existing relationships to spread the word organically.

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6. Future Plans and International Expansion

Looking ahead, Healthy Horizons aims to expand internationally into the UK and Latin America. However, Sheila notes that varying maternity leave laws across countries may influence the demand for their services. For instance, countries like Germany offer up to three years of maternity leave, reducing the immediate need for workplace lactation support systems.

Sheila Janikos [11:17]:
"We are in Canada and most of our clients want us to start doing like the UK and Latin America because they have offices everywhere. So they want the consistency."

She also points out the potential for future regulations in the airline industry, requiring them to provide clean, safe, and private spaces for breastfeeding.

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7. Personal Insights and Family Business Dynamics

Healthy Horizons is very much a family-run business, with Sheila’s daughter Cassandra serving as the COO, and involvement from other family members. Sheila shares insights into managing family dynamics within a business, highlighting a harmonious balance between her creative approach and Cassandra’s analytical mindset.

Sheila Janikos [15:05]:
"She definitely acts like she's my boss. It's pretty funny. But I'm very easygoing and she's very analytical. She's an engineer by training, so she thinks like an engineer, which I need because I'm more of the creative and the people person."

This close-knit family structure extends beyond Sheila and Cassandra, including her daughter-in-law and cousins, who also contribute to the business operations.

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8. Commitment to Diverse Work Environments

Healthy Horizons serves a wide range of industries, including fast food, agriculture, utilities, and even correctional facilities. They ensure that working parents, regardless of their job type, have access to safe and hygienic spaces to express milk.

Sheila Janikos [12:50]:
"We do it all. So a company needs to provide a space and a means, no matter where the people are."

Sheila underscores the importance of these services, especially in demanding roles where taking time to pump is challenging, such as for agricultural and utility workers.

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Conclusion

Sheila Janikos’s journey with Healthy Horizons Breastfeeding Centers exemplifies resilience, innovation, and the power of word-of-mouth marketing. From humble beginnings in her living room to a multi-city operation, Sheila has demonstrated how addressing a critical need with dedication and adaptability can lead to sustained growth and impact. The company's future endeavors into international markets and diverse industries reflect a commitment to supporting working parents globally.

Notable Quotes:

• Sheila Janikos [02:18]:
  "We've never even had to market. It's all word of mouth."

• Sheila Janikos [09:28]:
  "You'll sink if you don't. Right. You have to decide to pivot."

• Sheila Janikos [12:32]:
  "I definitely have had people who literally got discharged from the hospital and then went back to work the next day and you're not physically recovered, let alone bonded with your baby."

• Sheila Janikos [15:25]:
  "It's a good combination."

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This episode of "Your Next Move" offers valuable insights into building a purpose-driven business, navigating challenges, and the importance of family in entrepreneurship. Sheila’s story is inspiring for current and aspiring business leaders aiming to make a meaningful difference in their industries.

Transcript

[Capital One Voice]

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[Sarah Lynch]

I'm Sarah lynch, and you are listening to youo Next Move audio edition, produced by Inc. And Capital One Business. For this season, we gathered an array of conversations with entrepreneurs who made last year's Inc. 5000 list. They joined us in our your Next Move Booth at the Inc. 5000 to share lessons learned and anecdotes from building their businesses. In this episode, Inc. Executive editor Diana Ransom interviewed Sheila Janikos. She is the CEO of Healthy Horizons Breastfeeding Centers. They're ranked number 1,698 on the 2024 Inc. 5000 list. Healthy Horizons focuses on workplace lactation programs for big and small companies or really any organization that wants to support their working moms and parents. Diana started the conversation by asking Sheila about how they started setting up these centers.

[Diana Ransom]

So what does Healthy Horizons actually do you help these big companies or smaller companies theoretically set up lactation centers? What does that look like?

[Sheila Janikos]

We go into the company and help them source, design, furnish, and then supply the room with like the breast pump and all the little necessities that a new parent would need to pump. And then once they're set up, we will come back and we'll maintain the room and service. And for example, Meda will go in and we do all their locations across the United States and Canada, so we make sure that there's consistency across the board. So if a mother is traveling and she goes to Canada, she's going to have the same experience that she did in Menlo Park, California.

[Diana Ransom]

That's great. And what a neat idea. And smart. You want to have a little mini fridge wherever you go if that's the situation, right?

[Sheila Janikos]

Exactly.

[Diana Ransom]

Tell us a little bit more about the company's growth trajectory. This is the second time you've been on the Inc. 5000 list. You know, to what do you attribute your growth?

[Sheila Janikos]

We had very humble beginnings. I started at 33 years ago in my living room, and then we branched out to have two breastfeeding centers in the San Francisco Bay area, and companies started contacting me. They didn't know how to support their parents, so we've never even had to market. It's all word of mouth. And once you start working with companies, they all know other companies who are needing these services. And it just kind of spread like wildfire. What really Accelerated. Our program was my daughter Cassandra, who's the coo. Oh, nice. She went to Berkeley, then Stanford. And when she was at Stanford, there was a program called StartX. It was an accelerator, a business accelerator. So when she was in that program, she decided to say, hey, mom, let's really just launch the corporate. And with the help of that program and all the connections, it just really was added like fuel to this wonderful fire.

[Diana Ransom]

So at that point, clients were not actually big corporations?

[Sheila Janikos]

No, I had Meta and Google already. But for it to just really grow with more companies, it really helped.

[Diana Ransom]

What prevents a business from understanding how to serve their parents? Like, why is this so hard?

[Sheila Janikos]

Because it's a woman's issue, I think that you don't know what you don't know. So if you've never been in that situation and you've never worked with a woman who had a baby and was struggling, you just wouldn't know that it's an issue. I started it because when I went back to work, your only option was a bathroom. They didn't even have portable electric pumps back then. So it was a hand pump in a bathroom. And most people by six weeks stopped breastfeeding, if they even chose to breastfeed to begin with. So the rates were really low. I have a public health background, and I'm like, no, this is not okay. I want to create an educational program. So I did my master's project on working and breastfeeding, and that was kind of the start of everything.

[Diana Ransom]

So you were in your living room when you started it? Like, so were you working on your master's thesis or something like that?

[Sheila Janikos]

At that point, I was working on my master's thesis, and I started a pump rental program because that would at least allow these working women to have something that actually worked. There were very few in our county. And I decided, like, this was gonna be my mission, and so that's how we kind of started.

[Diana Ransom]

That's amazing. And. Okay, so let's sort of flash forward here. So Cassandra's at StartX. So how did you go from this program to now where you are on the Inc 5000? Like, so obviously there was a propellant in there. What was it? What were the steps?

[Sheila Janikos]

It was my daughter. We were together, and we really just decided that were gonna look at ways to scale, and we started expanding our staff, and that was kind of the catalyst that really.

[Diana Ransom]

And how many. Like, how many clients do you have now? And how many locations do you service?

[Sheila Janikos]

We're in 125 different cities across the US and Canada. And I don't even know how many. I'm gonna say at least 60. Some are just have one office. Like, there is no size limit. Like, if it's a little company that has one parent, that's great. We are now doing a lot of universities because there's a new federal law that now encompasses universities, any institution that does education. So even a correctional facility, if they have education, would be under the guise they'd have to provide these services. So the laws have helped. There weren't laws before. In 2010, with the Affordable Care act, breastfeeding now needed to be covered. So that was, like, helpful. And there was a pretty weak law, but there was a law. So that was, like, the beginning. But these two new federal laws are just. Everybody needs to do it now. It doesn't matter if you have five people or two people or 100.

[Diana Ransom]

So, like, what happened during the pandemic? Did people halt services or did they have to continue to have these, like, breast pump areas?

[Sheila Janikos]

So they had them in place, nursing areas. But what happened was the majority of our clients all closed their offices. So at that point, we're like, how are we going to pivot here? So we started providing a lot of education that people could do from home. And then we started doing new parent gift boxes, and so the companies could send them to. We would send them on behalf of the company to their employees as a way of keeping them engaged. And that really grew our business also. So we pivoted and grew. It was like our best year, which should have been, like, our worst year. And then companies started slowly opening, and even if people were only going back two days a week because of the hybrid, they still needed to have the space.

[Diana Ransom]

Wow.

[Sheila Janikos]

So that didn't go away.

[Diana Ransom]

And are you still doing the gift boxes for new employees?

[Sheila Janikos]

Yes, this is.

[Diana Ransom]

I mean, not a new employee. New children of the employees.

[Sheila Janikos]

Yeah, yeah. It's been amazing. I think the first month we did it, we sent out 30,000, like, something crazy.

[Diana Ransom]

So how did you do this? Did you email all your clients and say, like, hey, we have this new service?

[Sheila Janikos]

Well, we continually meet with our clients to make sure that their needs are being met. And so, yes, we let people know that this is what we were doing, and it just took off.

[Diana Ransom]

Is it like an unboxing experience for them? Like, is it pleasant?

[Sheila Janikos]

Oh, yes, it's very pleasant. Yes. There's, like, a welcoming note, and then the different layers of really nice baby gifts.

[Diana Ransom]

Oh, that's great. So it's part of the whole, like, here's the gift for you and for your new child. Wow.

[Sheila Janikos]

It's not just for a nursing mom. It's for any parent.

[Sarah Lynch]

When we come back, Sheila tells Diana about running the business through the pandemic. But first, a quick break.

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[Diana Ransom]

Interesting that this kind of came out of such an arduous experience like the pandemic. And it's a wonder what people will do when forced to innovate.

[Sheila Janikos]

Well, you'll sink if you don't. Right. You have to decide to pivot. And throughout our business, we've had to pivot multiple times as things would change. When I first started, I was like, the only person in Northern California that even was able to sell the portable breast pumps. So people had to come to me, and then they went into Target, and so then you have to pivot again. Oh, right, yeah, yeah.

[Diana Ransom]

That's pretty neat. Why were you the only one who had portable breast pumps?

[Sheila Janikos]

Because I started as a rental station with these companies, and so I was basically in the loop early. Okay, yeah.

[Diana Ransom]

In the right place at the right time. But then you had to pivot.

[Sheila Janikos]

Right. So many times we've pivoted. Yeah.

[Diana Ransom]

This is so cool. What was a mistake that you made in running the business or dealing with fast growth, for instance?

[Sheila Janikos]

I think not getting help when we needed it, we learned that lesson that we. We just can't do it all.

[Diana Ransom]

What's something that you don't do?

[Sheila Janikos]

Gosh, I still kind of do a little bit of everything, but, like the bookkeeping, for example.

[Diana Ransom]

Oh, right. Yeah. At some point, you've got to hand the numbers over to somebody.

[Sheila Janikos]

Exactly. Yes.

[Diana Ransom]

Okay. That's really interesting. We're talking about word of mouth. Any way to kind of like, prompt word of mouth, or do you ask people for referrals? Or do you ask people to, like, you know, spread the word? Or how do you. How do you go about that way?

[Sheila Janikos]

We develop pretty Close relationships with the HR people that we work with. And when you're on that level, they want to help you. So yes, we tell them if you know anybody who would be interested. And that's really the way it's been working so far. I mean, we'll get to a point where obviously we probably should like actually market. But it's been working so well so far.

[Diana Ransom]

Where do you go from here? What's the next move?

[Sheila Janikos]

International. We are in Canada and most of our clients want us to start doing like the UK and Latin America because.

[Diana Ransom]

They want to have the similar service.

[Sheila Janikos]

Because they have offices everywhere. So they want the consistency.

[Diana Ransom]

Are the laws such that would promote this kind of thing?

[Sheila Janikos]

That's a great question because as you know, some countries have a three year maternity leave.

[Diana Ransom]

Okay. No, I did not know that.

[Sheila Janikos]

Yeah, like Canada has a year, a lot of Europe has two years and then some have three years. So most.

[Diana Ransom]

I'm sorry, where? And sign me up.

[Sheila Janikos]

Germany, for example.

[Diana Ransom]

Wow. Okay.

[Sheila Janikos]

So most people are not going to be needing our services at 3. They're not going to be pumping at work even at a year. If a person is continuing to breastfeed, which is recommended for at least two years, they're not pumping during the day, they're nursing like before or after work. So the need hasn't been as big. But because we travel in the United States and we have terrible maternity leaves here, six weeks. I have people who go back at two weeks. So we need to have something in place. So that would be our next step is to help those women.

[Diana Ransom]

Yeah. That's heartbreaking.

[Sheila Janikos]

So sad. I definitely have had people who literally got discharged from the hospital and then went back to work the next day and you're not physically recovered, let alone bonded with your baby? Nothing. We have a long ways to go in the United States.

[Diana Ransom]

Are you in like fast food businesses?

[Sheila Janikos]

There are some fast food retail that we work with. We also even work with farm workers, so agricultural workers. We set up places in the fields. They have portable breast pumps that they could wear that aren't like no tubes, no plugs, and the milk is collected in part of the breast pump.

[Diana Ransom]

Have you had a hand in helping design these?

[Sheila Janikos]

Yes. Wow. Yes.

[Diana Ransom]

So how does that work?

[Sheila Janikos]

Companies have contacted me over the years because we work with so many people and I've been on their design team. So it's pretty fun.

[Diana Ransom]

So are you like a contractor? How would you work with these companies? Like if you're part of the design.

[Sheila Janikos]

Team, they'll contract with us.

[Diana Ransom]

Okay.

[Sheila Janikos]

Yeah.

[Diana Ransom]

So how does it work? So you help them design a product and then you also sell the product? Eventually.

[Sheila Janikos]

Eventually. If it turns out to be something that is workable. But we'll also help them with testing.

[Diana Ransom]

I was gonna say. Yeah, that's pretty neat. Gosh. How big is your staff?

[Sheila Janikos]

We have about 20 people.

[Diana Ransom]

That's it.

[Sheila Janikos]

I know we're lean. Nothing is beneath my daughter or I like. We will go into the field and we'll service. We've cleaned many breast pumps. We want to make sure our team knows that we're on the same level. So if we're traveling and there's clients in that city, like we're at a conference. I don't have anybody in Palm Springs right now, but I would probably be visiting the clients if we were here.

[Diana Ransom]

That's cool.

[Sheila Janikos]

Yeah.

[Diana Ransom]

So how do you service all these different facilities if you only have 20 people who work on.

[Sheila Janikos]

We have regional.

[Diana Ransom]

Okay.

[Sheila Janikos]

People are regional. So they'll just do their region.

[Diana Ransom]

Oh, so how big is a region?

[Sheila Janikos]

We have the south. We'll do the New York, D.C. area.

[Diana Ransom]

So they visit all the Healthy Horizon locations in that one area. How many are in the biggest region? How many locations?

[Sheila Janikos]

Gosh. I think our Seattle is one of our biggest because so many companies moved up there because things were more affordable. And then Texas.

[Diana Ransom]

Yeah. Okay. That's so fascinating. I love learning about your business and how is it going with you and your daughter. It can be tough to have a family member also on the team.

[Sheila Janikos]

She definitely acts like she's my boss. It's pretty funny. But I'm very easygoing and she's very analytical. She's an engineer by training, so she thinks like an engineer, which I need because I'm more of like the creative and the people person. So it's a good combination.

[Diana Ransom]

Love it.

[Sheila Janikos]

Yeah. Very blessed.

[Diana Ransom]

It works. Do you ever talk shop at home or do you keep it? Like, don't we go home?

[Sheila Janikos]

We always do. Oh, yeah. You know, family dinners, Thanksgiving.

[Diana Ransom]

People are like, oh, God, breast pumps again.

[Sheila Janikos]

It's funny. It is a family business. My daughter in law works with us. We have a cousin who works with us.

[Diana Ransom]

Thanksgiving at your place. Must be fun.

[Sheila Janikos]

Everybody knows about the business and like, we'll help out a little bit.

[Diana Ransom]

Yeah, this is great. So, like, setting up field operations for farm workers is the most, like, eye opening.

[Sheila Janikos]

Right. They need to express their milk and they need to do it safely and they need to be able to hygienically.

[Diana Ransom]

Yes.

[Sheila Janikos]

It's so important. So we feel really good about those programs. We even have programs for, like, utility workers. Wow. Right. Cause they're, like, driving around in their vehicles, climbing poles or doing whatever.

[Diana Ransom]

Yeah. What about truck drivers?

[Sheila Janikos]

We do it all. So it would be like, the portable pumps. We would. Yeah. So a company needs to provide a space and a means, no matter where the people are. The last industry to be disrupted in this will be the airline industry. And there's some laws that were passed, and they're just gonna be coming. They're, like, in stages.

[Diana Ransom]

Wow. So they have to eventually build airplanes with nursing rooms or at least be.

[Sheila Janikos]

Able to provide a clean, safe, private space. Clean, safe space. Yeah.

[Diana Ransom]

Yeah. Okay. Well, to be continued there, I guess.

[Sheila Janikos]

Yes, absolutely.

[Diana Ransom]

That's fabulous. Thank you so much for your time and for telling me your story.

[Sheila Janikos]

Thank you.

[Sarah Lynch]

That's all for this episode of youf Next Move. Our producers are Blake Odom and Avery Miles. Editing and sound design by Nick Torres. Executive producer is Josh Christensen. If you haven't already subscribe to youo Next Move on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen, your Next Move is a production of Inc. And Capital One Business.