The American Dream - My Road to HSN

The American Dream - My Road to HSN

If you missed it on October 25th, you can watch the replay now!!! I had an amazing experience and on top of that WE SOLD OUT, so watch out HSN viewers, I’ll be baaacccckk!!!


WOOOOOOW. I can hardly contain my excitement. We have some huge news to share.

But first, I want to share a real story that you might not know. Many brands are faceless products on the shelf, but ours has a big heart.

Let me take you back.

I’m the daughter of immigrants who brought me to the US from Egypt when I was 2 in pursuit of a better life filled with opportunity. They had $20 to their names, didn’t know the language or anyone in New York, and they had left their families and everything they knew behind – but the fire in their hearts blazed red. When they landed at JFK, my father told me he finally felt free. My family is Coptic, the religious minority, and things haven’t always been easy for Copts in Egypt. The U.S. offered a blank slate, table rasa, for my parents and their young daughter.

Life was financially challenging. Until I was 12, my parents, brother and I all slept in one bedroom. But I don’t remember it being unhappy ever. It just was our reality, and they were my loving, hard-working, giving parents. Just being in America was all the wealth we needed.

Fast forward to 11 years ago.

I was 8 months pregnant with my son, Lucca, when my father, Dr. Shawki Ibrahim – my rock – was diagnosed with bladder and prostate cancer. I felt like the earth had fallen from my feet. He had both of them removed and became one of the autoimmune deficient of society. Because of his compromised health, he was told to avoid raw fruit and vegetables. As a holistic nutritionist and chef, I thought, those are the very foods he needs to eat. We need to do something about this, because water alone doesn’t do anything.

So when he finally recovered, we joined forces and co-invented our Eat Cleaner line, the only line of all natural and patented food wash and wipes that’s lab proven to remove up to 99.9% of wax, pesticide residue and bacteria from fresh organic and conventional produce, while helping it last up to 5x longer. We are both avid environmentalists and food waste has a huge global impact on greenhouse gas emissions. We can help people save money and make their food safer with a product line that’s safe, vegan, doesn’t alter flavor and enhances appearance and texture of food. Our products are available for consumer and commercial use (restaurants, juice bars, etc). We also make an organic anti-browning powder and a seafood & poultry wash.

I left a high paying job, stock options and ‘security’ behind to start Eat Cleaner. Plus, I was a newly single mom with the responsibility of raising two young children on my own.

The funny thing is, I have never looked back.

We’ve been featured in Inc Magazine, WSJ, Oprah.com. We have been featured on the nationally syndicated show HATCHED. I’ve been a chef the national show Recipe Rehab and Food Network’s Cutthroat Kitchen. I’ve been awarded the Senator’s honor of being named ‘Woman Making a Difference in Health’ and our company has won the Disney iParenting award, the World’s Best Technologies Gold Prize and the Inc. Newpreneur Finalist. I get letters from parents saying their kids will finally eat fresh produce and from adults saying we’ve changed their lives.

I wonder if I could have ever achieved this had my parents not made the ultimate sacrifice.

So what is the American Dream? It seems like such a lofty aspiration, and everyone’s definition is different.

For some, it’s having 2.1 kids, a house, two cars and enough money in the bank to take a couple of vacations every year.

For others, it’s about having the freedom to express yourself without being persecuted, arrested, or worse.

For me, the American Dream means ‘freedom’.

Freedom to live in peace.

Freedom to express your religious preference without condemnation

Freedom to love who you want

Freedom to speak your mind without repercussions

Freedom to attend my children’s performances, sports games and pick them up from school when I feel like it

Freedom to invent a product line that can change people’s lives, even though it means a lot of sacrifice

It is not an easy road. But it is an incredibly fulfilling one and to know we can make a global difference on health and the environment is our legacy.

ARE YOU READY FOR THE BIG NEWS? We are going to be on HSN, featured on the AMERICAN DREAMS segment! Isn’t that the cherry on top? Will you support us and help spread the word?


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