Successful entrepreneur and businessman Craig Dubitsky visited Nashville and Belmont’s campus for the first time on February 8. During his time at Belmont, he spoke to students across all disciplines at a convocation event, shared advice with students in a “Foundations in Entrepreneurship” class, toured several of Belmont’s student-run businesses and had lunch with a select group of entrepreneurial students.
Dubitsky’s morning lecture was centered around his most recent start-up Hello Products LLC, a line of oral care products currently distributed by 25,000 top retailers in the U.S. The company is rated as the #2 natural oral care brand in the nation and has received inbound interest from retailers and distributors from over 70 countries. Dubitsky discussed the history behind the brand, including how he brought it from concept to commercialization in just six months with only four employees and offered free sample products. He also spoke about how being an entrepreneur requires a certain way of thinking that helps one see the flaws in the products that he or she uses every day. He offered advice on how to build and maintain a successful brand and stressed the importance of having the desire to create quality products that people will enjoy over the desire to just make money.
“You don’t make them to sell them,” Dubitsky said of products. “You make them to make cool stuff that people will fall in love with. If you do that right, the rest will take care of itself.”
Dubitsky’s history with transformational brands dates back to his role as senior vice president of venture development for the nation’s largest public retail REIT Simon Property Group. He also co-founded The Kind Group, a marketing consultant company under which he developed a brand of women’s personal care products called EOS.
In addition to speakers, the event included opportunities for attendees to identify ACE topics to be included in Belmont’s new Educating Trauma Information Professionals Project. This project addresses the need to improve professional practices and promotes cross-fertilization among professions that touch children and families during sensitive periods of development and beyond. With no standard trauma-information care education model for undergraduates available, Belmont’s program seeks to create programming for health science students and identify and address knowledge and training needs among recent graduates and practicing professionals. 
