Hey Hey Hey!
ExpressionMed’s 5th Birthday is coming up this June! As a Founder and CEO, 5 years is a big accomplishment, and to celebrate the anniversary of our Kindergartener, I want to share my top 5 favorite memories of our customers and team from over the years.
- CEO & Founder, Meghan Sharkus
My all time favorite #ExpressionMem was when @avybabe DMed us on Instagram and requested that we make a TikTok Task force to create diabetes challenges for the Tok.
This resulted in some fun weekly calls, an awesome #passthetape video, and a diabetic parody of the song Savage that will go down in history as the best thing I wrote on a brainstorming call. (To clear up the uncertainty I did personally write the rap and Sophia Krueger performed it 😅)
If you haven’t seen the video check it out here! I like the lyrics because they are educational and go so well with the original song. I’m sorry for scaring you with the Dexcom alarm but it fit in too well to pass up!
In June of 2018, I was looking to get some pictures for the ExpressionMed website showcasing our new prints. This was the first time I realized how many lives I had touched through the business.
I ended up messaging all of our Minnesota customers and meeting 3 of them that weekend!
Here are some of my favorite pool shots with Emily Schueler.
I am obsessed with this story because the situation kept getting cooler and cooler. Back in the fall of 2017, we were working on perfecting our print offerings. To do so, I temporarily offered custom tapes for anyone who wanted to design their own tape. It challenged us to see if we could print photos, complex designs and thick colors on our tape material. And, this customer-submitted Paw Print design was the ultimate test.
The submitted design featured a closeup of a vivid tattoo. Not only did I want to match the skin tone perfectly, but also to ensure the colors were both vibrant and smoothly blended. It was a fun challenge for all members of our production line.
Once the tape was completed, I was thrilled to see the results in action. The before and after of our customer laying the tape over their own tattoo. It looked like the CGM tape wasn’t even there -- the ultimate camouflage.
What we ended up receiving was an amazing photo of @hailey.allton showing off how her Dexcom patch matched her mom’s paw print tattoo!
The heartfelt photo by @musizandmemories stole our hearts and the tattoo by @jj_heltontattoos74 went on to be a best seller!
This was an amazing alignment of beautiful art, a heartfelt story, and my team stepping up to a crazy logistical challenge.
You may not know, but in 2016 and 2017 I hand wrote every customer address and in 2018, I was a helping fulfill every single order.
So, meeting people like Lizzie Poe and Tracy Watts in 2019 felt like meeting celebrities.
I had seen their names dozens of times, and messaged them back and forth about adhesive research and new devices. They supported me like a friend and not a CEO, making my job a lot easier and more fun.
When crowds started to gather and we made new friends, I was reminded that I built something important. Even 3 years into the business there were still people we needed to meet and build products for.
It was my first ever business conference and it was exhausting, but I’m so glad we fit it in before the world changing pandemic in 2020. I can’t wait to meet more of you in the future!
Kendall Simmons has got to be one of the coolest people I’ve met during my time building ExpressionMed. He not only was a tremendously successful T1D athlete, but is also a talented artist and a great public speaker. Talk about a triple threat.
He met me at a time in my life where I was overworked and underslept. I was a stress ball trying to grow a business on my own and maintain good grades in school.
He reminded me of how important my mission was. As an athlete, he knew that diabetic devices needed to stay on securely and as an advocate for young athletes he understood the importance of design through the eyes of kids who need chronic care devices.
He’s supported ExpressionMed every day since showing off his amazing hand drawings on his instagram and participating in a really cool video interview!
