Swoon was founded for one simple reason: Sugar is bad, but sweetness is great! Ever since co-founder Jennifer Ross was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes as a child, she’s looked at nutrition labels in the hopes of finding products that are delicious, natural and don’t raise her blood sugar.
After Jen and co-founder Cristina Ros Blankfein bonded while discussing sugar and sipping cocktails at Harvard Business School, they embarked on a quest to take down sugar, starting with the margaritas, mojitos and Moscow mules, that are filled with as much sugar as a Snicker’s bar. In 2015, they launched Be Mixed, an all-natural, zero-calorie, sugar-free cocktail mixer and it took off doubling sales every year.
After getting their signature drinks right, they wanted more. There was no reason to limit the takedown of sugar to a handful of cocktails. Jen’s experience as a Type 1 Diabetic made them even more committed to make the sweetness of sugar accessible and approachable for everyone, everywhere, in every sip.
And that’s where Swoon comes in. Jen and Cristina are taking the sugar out of drinks morning, noon and night with Swoon -- a liquid sugar substitute that has zero sugar and gets its natural, silky sweetness from monk fruit. They worked closely with leading chefs, bartenders, baristas and confectioners to get it just right, so it mixes incredibly well in any beverage and creates a consistent taste profile. Swoon is the ah- yes feeling Jen got as a kid when she was able to enjoy the same snack everyone else was having. It’s the liberating feeling of being able to choose any option on the menu. It’s the feeling of swapping sugar for Swoon. Welcome to the sweet life—it'll make you Swoon!
After working in finance at Goldman Sachs and sharpening her operational skills at consumer technology start-up FanVision, Jennifer Ross co-founded Swoon, where she oversees product development, operations and finance. A longtime advocate for the advancement of diabetes research and a supporter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), in high school, she founded and organized Rock the Cure, a concert to benefit JDRF, which raised over $200,000. Swoon is her latest way to make an impact.
Co-founder of Swoon, Cristina Ros Blankfein oversees sales and marketing. With previous experience in Microfinance at Citigroup, which became key to the bank’s inclusive finance platform, she learned how to develop, operationalize and market a consumer product. While still an undergrad, Cristina founded Circle of Women, a student-run 501c3 that has raised over $700,000 to build secondary schools for girls in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Malawi. Swoon fits her lifelong mission to improve wellbeing and health for everyone, everywhere.
To celebrate the sweet launch, Swoon has a full day of activations to celebrate. On the 24th of July, Swoon will be at Bluestone Lane Astor Place from 8 am to 10 am and will be giving away free drinks when you add Swoon to your coffee. Swoon will be at Clover Grocery from 10 am to 3 pm with an adorable lemonade stand serving up swoon all day and Matchaful from 11 am to 1 pm. Finally, Swoon will be at Clean Market: 2 pm to 4 pm serving up delicious lemon tonic.
Photography by:
