During Women’s History Month, Women in Retail Leadership Circle (WIRLC) will be highlighting female entrepreneurs who are making history today in the world of retail. The second installment in this series is an exclusive interview with Elyse Dickerson, CEO of Eosera, a Texas-based, female-led biotech company that develops effective and quality health care products.

Inner Circle: Can you please share what Eosera offers and how the company came to be?
Elyse Dickerson: Eosera offers premium, effective ear care products to humans with ears. With products in over 28,000 retail stores across the nation and online, you can find Ear Pain MD, Ear Wax MD, and Ear Itch MD products at your favorite pharmacies, including Walmart, CVS, Rite-Aid, Amazon.com, and eosera.com.

IC: What is Eosera’s vision?
ED: Eosera’s vision is to be an effective and quality healthcare innovator that empowers consumers to improve their health. We aim to continuously innovate premium ear care technology to improve the lives of humans by putting people over profits.

IC: What made you want to leave the world of healthcare and pharmaceutical and launch a startup?
ED: I’ve worked in the biotech industry for over a decade, previously as the global director at eye care company Alcon, where I had the opportunity to drive the messaging, positioning and development of several new and innovative products. There were two primary forces that ultimately led me to my current career path. After years of observing the cutthroat, impersonal way most people handle their business ventures, I wanted to create a new type of model where the individuals in question — the retailers, investors, employees, and customers — felt like their voices mattered and that their needs were put ahead of profit. And most importantly, I wanted to found a company that truly addressed the most significant healthcare needs that no one else was paying attention to.

So my co-founder and I surveyed a handful of doctors, and we consistently heard the same answer: ear care. There weren’t enough effective at-home products available to tend to ear health, and those that did exist were outdated and ineffective. So we set off on a path to not only remodel the industry and create products that people could rely on, but also to educate the public on the importance of regularly tending to their ear care.

Additionally, as a woman in STEM and business, I wanted to help close the gender gap in biotech. Being a woman in a business or STEM-related field can be challenging at times. Societal stereotypes may hinder girls from studying STEM and business, thus leading to fewer females in the industries and fewer females taking a seat at that boardroom table. I’d love for every girl in the world to know that she can be the CEO of her own company and build her own business.

IC: What challenges have you faced as a woman in the STEM world? Any personal anecdotes you’re willing to share?
ED: Being paid the same as our male counterparts and receiving the same opportunities for career advancement are issues faced by women in STEM and tech — especially for women of color. We need to be reevaluating how we compensate female employees and review the opportunities they’re put up for by management. This takes a concerted effort on the part of leadership to constantly be checking in to make sure we don’t slip back into traditional practices. Having more women in leadership will also beget further progress. Women and people of color generally want to see others from similar backgrounds succeed, so they’ll be more likely to give them the attention and recognition they deserve.

IC: What’s a lesson you learned the hard way while launching your own STEM-related business?
ED: OH WOW … Which day?!? LOL! Hmmmm … probably just not trusting my intuition. When it didn’t feel right, I held on and should have just trusted my gut. That intuition is there for a reason.

There’s no better teacher than failure. I’ve learned my most valuable lessons by failing, taking accountability, and trying again with new information. I’ve also taken learnings from other failures that I’ve watched to make sure I don’t do the same thing.

IC: What advice do you have for other women looking to start their own businesses?
ED: Lead with compassion and humanity. When your team members feel like you recognize them as a person rather than strictly an employee meant to help the company prosper, they’ll feel more connected to both one another and have a stronger determination for the cause. Another important tip is to be open-minded about where ideas come from. No one person can have all of the answers; it’s important to welcome inspiration from several different sources.

Lean on other smart, dedicated people on your team. If you surround yourself with individuals who also want what’s best for the company, you shouldn’t have to put all of the hard decisions on your shoulders. On the other hand, trust your intuition and know that you have the expertise to lead your team and company in the right direction. If you know what you want for your business and have a strong sense of purpose, others will naturally trust your judgement and accept your status as a leader.

IC: What’s next for you and for Eosera?
ED: We’re celebrating exponential growth! We’ve reached more consumers with our technology and improved the lives of people. We’ve made doctors’ lives easier by providing tools for them to treat their patients easily, and our people are still feeling like members of a great team, happy to come to work every day to make these products for people with ears.

Read the first article in this Women’s History Month series here.