Simple Sugars Enjoying Continued Success

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - The company's CEO is just 20 years old.

She actually lists her mom as a full-time employee and with the backing of a well-known billionaire, her Pittsburgh-based company is taking off.

Sometimes simple things are best.

"Our whole philosophy is to keep it simple," Lani Lazzari said.

Simple Sugars is one of those sweet success stories. Lazzari started the skin care company when she was just 12 to help treat her eczema.

"I started doing this when I was in middle school in a room in my basement. I have gone from that to a team of 23 people and employing my mom full-time and really being able to have a team to help me grow Simple Sugars," Lazzari said.

Another Pittsburgh native -- billionaire Mark Cuban -- decided to back her company after she appeared on the television show "Shark Tank."

"A lot of the time, our thoughts are very much the same. So, it's been very valuable to have Mark on the team to bounce things off of him to see the other sides that we are not necessarily getting because we see so much alike," Lazzari said.

After her first "Shark Tank" appearance, sales skyrocketed for the Sharpsburg-based company.

"We received an enormous response. We got 10,000 orders in just one night, which as compared to the year before, we had had about a 1,000 orders over the entire year," Lazzari said.

The national attention pushed sales past $2 million and means Lazzari will be hiring additional employees to keep up with demand.

"We are getting ready to bring on probably three or four more in the next couple of weeks and then, we continue to grow from there. Hopefully, this time next year we will have 40 or 50," Lazzari said.

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