THE ENTREPRENEUR
LAUREN WRIGHT, 34
Founder and CEO, The Natural Nipple, President, ByNurture, Tampa
Raised by a single mother on Medicaid navigating a chronic illness, Lauren Wright witnessed firsthand the failures of the health care system. During visits with her mom to the free clinic, “I felt like we were being treated less than human.” Thinking back, she says a 15-minute conversation with a health care provider about diabetes and how to manage it through diet could have helped prevent a lot of the chronic complications that her mom later developed, including early-onset dementia.
That experience stayed with Wright throughout high school, when she worked in a Clearwater area hospital delivering meals. At the University of South Florida, she pursued a dual nurse practitioner and Ph.D. track and later worked for several years in the nursing field.
“I never wanted to be a nurse, but I thought this is how I can approach health care and make a difference,” Wright says. She learned that being at the bedside during people’s hardest moments showed where real change can begin. “Nurses hold some of the most valuable information about how to shift health care in a direction that helps more people.”
During her Ph.D. program, Wright researched the microbiome and the importance of breast milk in shaping an infant’s health for years to come. She learned that most of the genetic material in our bodies actually comes from the trillions of microbes that live in and on us. While our human DNA stays mostly the same, our microbial DNA is highly dynamic and can be influenced by diet, antibiotics and lifestyle. “That for me felt like freedom, and the more I went down the rabbit hole of the microbiome, I learned how critical it is … and how it seeds your child’s health for the rest of their life.”
Wright began wondering: If breastfeeding is so critical, why are so many women struggling with it? After winning a grant from the National Science Foundation, she interviewed hundreds of mothers and uncovered a pattern. The moms told her their babies struggled to return to the breast after bottle feeding because bottles didn’t mimic the breast’s shape, feel or milk flow.
That insight gave birth to a new career direction for Wright: entrepreneurship. In 2018, she founded The Natural Nipple to create “a better bottle” — a patented feeding solution designed to match the real breastfeeding experience as closely as possible. After years of R&D, the company began selling products through its website last year.
With four bottle shapes based on real breast scans and a “Latch Match” quiz on thenaturalnipple.com, Wright is using technology to help ensure infant and maternal health are no longer compromised by poor design or lack of support, she says. “We provide seamless bottle and breast transitions to support all families in safer feeding and make providing breast milk easier for longer. Parents can now pump and feed breastmilk or return to breastfeeding easily.”
Flow rates are matched to the developmental needs of infants from preterm birth to 24 months, providing a feeding experience that builds the gut, reduces complications like colic and supports breastfeeding continuity, she says. What’s more, the one in four NICU babies with feeding complications, which can cost hospitals $132,000 per infant, can now receive a safer, consistent flow under 2.2 milliliters a minute, as research recommends — “and that’s been huge,” adds Wright. “Now we are leaning into providing parents cue-based feeding so they can begin to recognize signs their baby is getting enough, and we’re really working with parents to develop feeding confidence.”
To fund the endeavor, Wright secured over $1 million in capital, mainly grant funding from the National Science Foundation, Johnson & Johnson and Florida Blue, and is applying for a significant Phase II NSF grant. She also is raising a $1-million seed round; Stanford Innovation is already on board. The funding will support marketing and packaging updates, Wright says.
The hardest part of the journey? “It’s dealing with the inner critic — it’s me vs. me chasing perfection.” The team spent six and a half years in R&D before launching — an eternity in startup time. “The biggest challenge was learning to let go of the fact that things aren’t perfect, learning to fail, learning to ask for what we need,” Wright says.
Over the years, Wright has worn many hats: clinician, researcher, inventor, entrepreneur. What kept her going was the mission — and the stories from mothers. “For me, winning is putting this into the world and hearing more stories like a random mom telling me about finding out about The Natural Nipple and how it’s helping her.”
Early this year, she co-founded ByNurture, a nonprofit tackling what she calls the “womb-to-world transition” — from fertility struggles to postpartum care. The organization is planning to launch a clinical study in January exploring how microbiome-targeted therapies can treat conditions like Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (a more severe form of Premenstrual Syndrome) and extend reproductive longevity. ByNurture is applying for grants so women can participate in the study for free. Wright also hopes the research can one day help with identifying early biomarkers for reproductive disorders and designing interventions.
She appreciates the ongoing support from Tampa Bay Wave, where she and her team participated in an accelerator for women-led startups. One of her earliest interns, Katelyn Tiamson, is now director of business relations and is leading operations at The Natural Nipple and is also part of ByNurture’s leadership team.
What’s ahead? Getting the product to more families. The Natural Nipple is preparing to sell on Amazon, and Wright and Tiamson hope to soon see the product on Target and Whole Foods shelves too. For ByNurture, they are focused on launching the upcoming fertility study, curating and distributing bundle bags to support families transitioning from hospital to home, and educating parents with more evidence-based tools.