A miserable mammogram turned into a patented product. Debbie and Troy Sutton, the mother and son behind The Healing Bras, built warming and cooling therapy pads for women's breast pain at every stage of life.
In this episode, I sit down with Debbie and Troy Sutton, the co-founders of The Healing Bras. It started with one cranky drive home from a painful mammogram, when Troy asked his mom how it went and then did something most people never do: he went looking for a better solution, found only clunky, outdated ice packs, and invented one himself.
We get into how a biomedical engineer and former college catcher ended up designing an intimate product for women he could never use himself, and why the answer was simple: ask, listen, and stay humble. Debbie and Troy donated over 500 pads to partner organizations to get real feedback on shape, size, and fit, brought a two-time breast cancer survivor onto their board to guide the design, and partnered with an FDA-regulated manufacturer in New Jersey.
We also talk about the harder stuff: how a mother and son learn when to be business partners and when to be family, why the relationship sometimes matters more than being right, and how they are scaling from their garage toward hospitals, universities, and women at every stage from first cycles to menopause.
If you are building something from a problem no one else bothered to fix, this one is worth your time.
Chapters:
🎙️ 00:00 Meet Debbie and Troy Sutton, the mother and son behind The Healing Bras
💡 02:41 The miserable mammogram and the aha moment that started a company
❤️ 04:42 A son's empathy, and designing for women he could never speak for himself
📋 07:52 From a survivor-guided design to 500 donated pads and real feedback
💰 11:31 The market only cares about the value you create, not how hard you work
👥 12:19 Mother and son, business partners: when to switch which hat you wear
🔄 25:22 Why pivoting from full bras to insertable pads was the smart move
⚙️ 27:20 Building the systems that build the business, not just the product
🏥 29:39 Where the business is headed: hospitals, universities, and student athletes
🌸 32:57 Why the size of a room matters less than who is in it
Links:
Website: thehealingbras.com (https://www.thehealingbras.com/)
Instagram: @thehealingbras (https://www.instagram.com/thehealingbras)
Visit thehealingbras.com (https://www.thehealingbras.com/) to shop the healing pads and see testimonials from women across every stage, from first cycles to breastfeeding to menopause. She Leads listeners get a special discount: use code SHELEADS10 at thehealingbras.com/discount/Sheleads10 (https://thehealingbras.com/discount/Sheleads10) at checkout.
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XO
Adrienne
• (00:00) - 🎙️ Meet Debbie and Troy Sutton, the mother and son behind The Healing Bras
• (02:41) - 💡 The miserable mammogram and the aha moment that started a company
• (04:42) - ❤️ A son's empathy, and designing for women he could never speak for himself
• (07:52) - 📋 From a survivor-guided design to 500 donated pads and real feedback
• (11:31) - 💰 The market only cares about the value you create, not how hard you work
• (12:19) - 👥 Mother and son, business partners: when to switch which hat you wear
• (25:22) - 🔄 Why pivoting from full bras to insertable pads was the smart move
• (27:20) - ⚙️ Building the systems that build the business, not just the product
• (29:39) - 🏥 Where the business is headed: hospitals, universities, and student athletes
• (32:57) - 🌸 Why the size of a room matters less than who is in it
