When her six year old daughter started having digestive issues related to the foods she was eating, Margie Traxler set off on a mission to ensure that she had tasty and healthy food to eat. Grain Free Mama’s started in their kitchen, but has grown over the past four years to meet the demand of consumers who are looking for a gluten-free, grain-free and sugar-free diet that tastes delicious! At the WMarketplace, Grain Free Mama’s sells cookie, crepe, muffin and pizza mixes that are also organic and kosher. Read about her story, then try out one of Grain Free Mama's mixes.
What motivated or inspired you to start Grain Free Mama’s?
My daughter got sick and suddenly there were no baked goods we could safely eat. Then, once we were healthy and enjoying our foods, more and more people started to ask me how we did it. They were suffering from digestive issues too and I realized it was time to start a business.
Is your experience or education related to your current business? Why or why not?
Yes - both my experience (22 years as a restaurant owner) and education (BS Biology) are related to my current business. Grain Free Mama's is a Natural FoodTech consumer product goods company. We provide the products for safe enjoyment of baked goods and also the educational resources to come alongside our customers with the educational resources to make their journey more simple, tasty and informed for healthy living.
What motivates you or gives you joy in life or in business?
Knowing that our products and educational resources offer real hope and help for all who have to (special diet) or want to (health- conscious) eat free from foods and don't want to give up enjoyment of baked goods.
What are your hopes for the future?
That we will inspire the world to closely inspect how our food is made and what we are causally consuming so that we can become more proactive about health and the connections with our eating choices.
Gut health/probiotics are now gaining in attention/popularity as people are desperate for answers to digestive and health issues. This is moving us closer than ever to national and then international adoption of healthy baking mixes and baked goods.
Have you had to overcome any significant barriers in business or in life, and how did you manage to conquer them?
Many times! In high school I was determined to be awarded a full scholarship for sports in women's basketball. Scholarships for women were pretty new in 1981. I just kept working towards that goal for years, and thankfully, I was awarded a full scholarship to Weber State University. In my creation of the Grain Free Mama's products, it took several years to develop the totally clean baking mixes. But I was determined, as I was fighting for my children's long-term health.
Who are your biggest cheerleaders or supporters?
My family (my adult children, siblings and mom), close friends, my marketing team, and my Chief Culinary Officer.
What is one piece of advice you wish you had heard, and listened to in life or in business?
Slowly is the fastest way to get where you want to be.
What is the one word that describes you the best, and why?
Tenacious - I have tremendous inner motivation to help be part of the solution to the problems my company products and resources address.
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Launched in 2020, TheWMarketplace is a nationwide e-commerce marketplace for women-owned businesses to sell their products and professional and personal services. Offering favorable terms to its sellers, it also is a supportive community of women entrepreneurs that have access to learning opportunities through the trademarked HER-Commerce™ programs. With over 500 women-owned businesses selling 4000+ products and services ranging from home goods to coaching, in over 35 states, TheWMarketplace empowers shoppers with a new way to find the communities they want to support, including Black-woman owned, Latina-owned, AAPI-owned, Veteran woman-owned, and more. The Her Story Q&A is one benefit TheWMarketplace provides to sellers.
