Page 48 - 914INC - July/August 2022

WWhen Priska Diaz’s infant son, Carlton, suffered from painful colic, she tried every baby bottle on the market to make feeding less painful. Nothing worked, but Diaz concluded the air induction on the bottles was causing his problem.
Diaz — who’d earned a master’s degree in design from Pratt Institute and worked as an art director in the health-and-beauty industry — got to work designing her own bottles, complete with nipples that mirrored the shape of a woman’s breast. To make sure they gave infants relief, she arranged for them to be tested in a small clinical trial. With 75% of the babies seeing an improvement, she knew she was onto something. “The feedback was overwhelming,” recalls Diaz.
“We are
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PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVID KELLOGG AND BITTYLAB
Diaz launched her invention, the Bare Air-Free Bottle by Bittylab, in late 2015, rolling it out in 185 Babies “R” Us stores and selling it online. She now runs the business from her home, with the help of outsourced manufacturing and warehousing part- ners. She drew on advice from SCORE Westchester and secured loans from two local lenders: New York Community Capital and Pursuit. She is now work- ing on a version that, if it makes it through FDA clearance, will be classified as a medical device. She is also applying for a grant from the National Science Foundation.
Diaz is one of many Westchester-based entre- preneurs who are invigorating the local economy with their endeavors. In addition to well-known large and midsize corporate employers, includ- ing IBM, Dannon, MasterCard, and Regeneron, the county is home to 28,522 small businesses with between one and 20 employees, according to U.S. Census data, and 102,917 “nonemployer” firms, which don’t have any employees on payroll. More than 10% of the nation’s patents were filed by com- panies based in Westchester, according to Visit Westchester County, NY.
Those numbers are likely to climb once the fi- nal figures from 2021 are in. “There’s always an uptick in entrepreneurship when there’s econom- ic dislocation,” says Deborah Novick, director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation for the Westchester County Office of Economic Development. “People have to find something new to do, which was cer- tainly the case during COVID.”
The Great Resignation has also prompted some area residents to take a fresh look at their careers. “For some people, that means following a dream of starting their own businesses,” says Michael Romita, president of the Westchester County Association, a business advocacy organization.
Many entrepreneurs and small-business owners have found there are powerful advantages to start- ing a business in Westchester. “Our real estate is more affordable than New York City,” Novick points out. “We have an amazing quality of life here — a lot of tourism, a lot of beautiful outdoor resources, walk- able downtowns, great transportation.”
customers.”
working with
a very diverse
group of clients
who are coming
at this not with MBAs
but with a real passion
and confidence that
they can deliver value to
Priska Diaz, founder and CEO of Bittylab, is one
of many Westchester- based entrepreneurs who are boosting the local economy. Her invention, the Bare Air-Free Bottle, significantly reduces gastric distress in infants.
—David Kellogg, SCORE Westchester