Today we’d like to introduce you to Tedi Sarah.
Hi Tedi, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
Sure! I made a 180-degree change in my career in the past few years. I have a Master’s degree in counseling psychology and worked for a decade in healthcare in NYC. With my degree, I did counseling with pediatric patients and their families in hospitals.
I was still working in a NYC hospital during the height of the pandemic and during that time I was able to share on my Instagram account what it was like working inside of an all-covid NYC hospital. As my Instagram account grew to a point where I could make it my full-time job, I decided to change my career path and become a content creator full-time. On the side in addition to my work in healthcare, I’d been an active animal shelter volunteer in NYC. I often posted about my foster dogs and adoptable animals I would meet at the shelter.
So it was a dream when I was able to turn my passion for animal rescue into my career. I use my Instagram to try to make this world a better place for animals in need – especially shelter animals, and I work with like-minded brands on brand collaborations. And behind the scenes for the last couple of years, I have been working to create my brand, Tedi’s, which makes clean ingredient snack bars and treats for dogs. I’m a big advocate for feeding our pets real food, so I cooked for all my foster dogs and it was amazing to see the power of food and good nutrition in healing their ailments. We often hear that food is medicine, and that applies to our furry friends too!
On Instagram one of the number one questions I get is what I feed my dog, a paralyzed, wheelchair-using rescue, that keeps her so healthy and active despite her disability. I always tell people that I cook for her and my fosters before her. People respond that that is great and they would love to do that for their pet but do not have the time, so that is where I got the idea to combine all the top ingredients I make for my dog into bar form as a way for people to give their dogs added nutrition. I’ve worked for years on perfecting this recipe so that it is clean as can be with no fillers or preservatives. So that is how Tedi’s came to be!
I created a clean ingredient treat line simultaneously too. I can’t wait to launch. We are so close! During all of this I’d been dreaming about living somewhere warm after growing up in Minneapolis, and living in Chicago, Boston, and NYC (all cold climates!) so after leaving my career in healthcare I decided it was finally time to try Miami. I only came down for six months just to try it but now I love it and have been here over a year.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Not a smooth road at all! Coming from healthcare with a background in counseling, and making the jump to content creator and now food business owner – I have had so much to learn along the way.
I truly knew nothing about the behind-the-scenes of the food industry and have learned so much from the first day I set out on this project. Hiring consultants who can teach me their expertise has been the most helpful thing along the way.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
On Instagram, I am a content creator focusing on animal rescue and animal wellness. I help promote adoptable animals and collaborate with like-minded brands. My business Tedi’s is a clean ingredient snack brand for dogs.
More than just treats but not quite a full meal, Tedi’s snack bars are gently baked and minimally processed, offering a convenient way for dog parents to enhance their pets’ nutrition. These feel-good snacks are made with premium human-grade ingredients. There’s no difference between the ingredients in these bars and high-quality snack bars for people, except that Tedi designed them with dogs in mind!
I have been working hard to create products I feel really good about feeding to dogs and after years of hard work, we are almost ready to launch. We will be direct to consumers on my website tedissnacks.com (open to the public soon!). You can follow my brand on Instagram at @tedissnacks.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
Since I am a content creator and brand founder full-time now, most people don’t know that I had a decade-long career working with pediatric hospital patients.
Contact Info:
- Website: tedissnacks.com
- Instagram: @tedisarah & @tedissnacks
