Rena Heegaard, a former refugee from Liberia, has launched a groundbreaking new product that is gaining widespread attention in the marketplace. The product, called the PottyPillow, provides lumbar and knee support for toilet use and bathing children, and has garnered positive feedback from consumers, healthcare professionals, and product reviewers alike.
Behind the PottyPillow is Rena’s entrepreneurial spirit and her unwavering determination to succeed. Rena’s career in entrepreneurship began at the young age of 21, when she launched City Car Rental in Liberia. A few years later, she immigrated to Minnesota to join her mother, Eva Wilson, who had worked her way up from accounting to become a nurse with a doctoral degree.
Rena’s initial attempts to find work as an entry-level analyst were met with rejections, but she refused to be deterred. She started working as a Walmart cashier and eventually landed an internship with Comcast. This, in turn, led to contract project management jobs at 3M, Cargill, and Securian Financial.
While working for these companies, Rena honed her entrepreneurial skills by taking entrepreneurship classes and networking with business leaders. One of these business leaders was Mark Fields, an executive with Score. Through their mentoring relationship, Rena conducted consumer research that proved positive for her new product, the PottyPillow.
According to Rena, the inspiration for the PottyPillow came from her personal experience as a mother of three. Rena found that supporting her back and knees while bathing her children was a difficult task, and there was no product on the market that adequately addressed this issue. She realized that this was a common problem faced by parents and caregivers around the world, and set out to create a solution.
The PottyPillow is designed to provide a comfortable and supportive seating surface for children while using the toilet or being bathed. The product has received high praise from healthcare professionals and parents alike for its innovative design and ability to ease back and knee pain.
With the PottyPillow, Rena has once again demonstrated her resourcefulness, creativity, and tenacity in the face of adversity. Her story is a testament to the power of perseverance and the promise of immigrants whose labor fuels the economy of Minnesota and beyond. Rena’s success is a reminder that with hard work, determination, and a bit of creativity, anything is possible.
Rena is now setting her sights on the global market, hoping to make the PottyPillow a household name. She has created an online presence for the product and is currently in talks with distributors worldwide. Rena’s story serves as an inspiring example of what hard work and determination can achieve—even in the face of overwhelming odds. With her pioneering product, Rena is changing the game for caregivers everywhere and showing that success knows no borders.
