Taking the stigma out of lice

All three of Joanna Shu's kids have had lice at some point. And every time, she hit the same wall at the pharmacy: pesticides, harsh chemicals, or stuff that barely worked.

So she built Cartwheel. Its first product might have the best name on the shelf... Nit Happens.

The line of hers that stuck with us: "Taking stigma away matters as much as killing the bugs."

Since launching in 6,000 Walgreens stores this March, things have been moving. Her latest quarterly update had some real wins:

• 35 new pharmacies across 19 states through Cencora
• United Pharmacy Network signed, a 550-pharmacy buying group
• Amazon sales up 136% from Q2, orders up 173%
• Nearly a dozen larger retailers raising their hands at NACDS

And some honest misses. An AI outbound experiment sent 4,700+ messages and landed exactly one customer. TikTok Shop brought its own headaches. Retail velocity is still a work in progress.

That candor is what we love about Joanna's updates. The good, the frustrating, and what she's testing next, all in one place.

We asked her what it's been like having LvlUp Ventures in her corner:

“I love having Lvlup on our team. My team attended their recent NYC event and made some great connections, and we're really excited about our site's new abilities on SHOPLINE.”

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