Mangano now holds hundreds of patents and regularly strikes exclusive deals with HSN, often selling out any product that has her name on it. Her line brings in more than $100 million to the network annually. In recent years, she has collaborated with several celebrities, co-launching highly successful lines with the likes of chef Todd English, supermodel Iman and tennis all-star Serena Williams.
A tireless entrepreneur, Mangano recently expanded her empire with the opening of Porto Vivo, an upscale, rustic Italian eatery in Huntington, just miles from where her dream first started. There may be an inventor inside all of us that’s just waiting to come out, if Mangano’s explanation as to her products’ success is any guide.
“I think my products have been successful because they have mass appeal,’” she told The Times. “I’m just like everybody else out there. I’m a mom, I work, I have a house to clean, things to organize. We all have certain similar needs, and I address them.”
Long Island also played out as a battleground for Nikola Tesla and Guglielmo Marconi, two inventor titans who competed for the title of “Father of Wireless Broadcasting” throughout the 1890s. Remnants of their original broadcast towers still stand, sprinkled throughout Suffolk County.
With the birth of Levittown as an archetype for America’s new way of life in the 1940s, Long Island stands as a living symbol of suburban idealism. These days, it is a dense domestic jungle, booming with play dates, Sunday dinners and morning commutes. While some creative types are repelled by such a lifestyle, for fear that the daily grind stifles ideas, others embrace it. For some women, this provincial web has proven to be an inspiration, as they seek out answers in the chaos of daily Long Island life. And in the cases when there are no answers to be found, these domestic warriors create them.
“It’s funny how you get those ‘a-ha!’ moments,” says Josephine Geraci, an LI-based entrepreneur and mother of three. “You don’t really know where they’re gonna go.”
Five years ago, Geraci was dealing with the tribulations of being a newly appointed stay-at-home mom. Formerly a marketing professional and founder of a Wall Street-based research boutique, Geraci was enjoying her new adventures as a mom. However, she also longed for the creativity and intellectual challenge that went along with a high-powered career. “After I had gotten married, I made the conscious decision to stay home with my kids,” explains Geraci. “But at the same time in my head, my wheels were just burning, turning and turning.”
One day, while on a trip to a public restroom with her 2-year-old son, Josephine watched in horror as his little hands gripped the toilet seat again and again. Repulsed by the thought of her toddler’s delicate hands being infested with germs, and frustrated by the lack of resources that mothers have while potty training their young children, Geraci had an epiphany.
Geraci rushed home to trace her son’s hand onto the lining of a fresh disposable diaper. She cut out the print and sewed two sides together. And gLovies were born.
Designed to protect toddlers’ hands while still affording them full dexterity, gLovies have grown into a bona-fide business, even selling at major baby retailers such as BuyBuy Baby. Geraci admits that hers was not an overnight success, but rather a learning process: “I knew nothing about making my product, and I just put one little step in front of the other, and the next thing I knew, my concept became a reality.”
Today, Geraci hosts a radio show called Paying It Forward—wherein entrepreneurs help other entrepreneurs—and belongs to an online group called the Mom Entrepreneur Support Group, both of which help her just as much as they allow her to provide help for others.
“When you’re working from home, a lot of times you just want that adult conversation,” says Geraci.
The Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is a living scientific landmark right in our backyard. Its highly esteemed staff of scientists, which counts seven Nobel Prize winners, remains at the forefront of biomedical research, pioneering discoveries in cancer treatment and genetics since it was founded in 1890. The lab, tucked away in the sleepy village of Laurel Hollow, has yielded an astounding number of biomedical advancements, including the discovery of “jumping genes” and the “Waring blender” experiment, which reinforced the idea that genetic material is DNA, not protein as previously thought. In 1953, James Watson, who became the lab’s president, chose CSHL to debut his Nobel Prize-winning discovery of the double-helix DNA structure, describing it for the first time at a CSH Symposium.
Like Geraci, Peri Zausner found inspiration in an unusual source. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004, Zausner, who lives in Port Washington, battled the disease for a year, enduring several surgeries before going into remission. Weak from chemotherapy and lonely, Zausner craved the comfort of her husband’s hugs and encouragement while he was away on business.
“There were lots of times when I felt like I needed his hug because I was always getting bad news when he was away and it was making me kind of crazy,” says Zausner. “I said to myself, ‘I wish he was here and I wish I had a way where he could hear all these decisions. It wouldn’t be so hard for me.’”
The Hug-E-Gram, providing hugs round the clock since 2005.
In her husband’s absence, Zausner decided to try a far-fetched alternative. She sewed a pair of arms to place around her waist, a perpetual hug that she could carry with her. She saw it as a practical, even if slightly silly, solution. Little did she know that quirky set of plush arms would become her prototype. Zausner kept her whimsical hug under wraps, storing it in her closet. It was only after her husband discovered it and marveled at her idea that they decided to turn it into a business.
“I thought, ‘Why should it just be for breast cancer patients? It should be for everyone—everybody could use a hug,’” says Zausner. She dove right in, filing a patent for her newly-dubbed Hug-E-Gram and getting the word out. She started small, handing Hug-E-Grams to the people she thought needed them the most, sometimes recording a special message and attaching them to her hugs. “The way I looked at it is, if I can’t be with you, this is the hug I would give you and this is what I would say,” says Zausner.
Hot off the heels of the Hug-E-Gram, Zausner created her company, Peri’s Pink Ribbon Treasures, Inc. She jokes that the “Inc.” stands for “In Need of Cash.” “As an inventor, it’s great to invent things, but you also need money to carry out [the invention],” she says.
With plans to expand her line and a special program for charities, Zausner is thrilled at the growth of her company, and is overwhelmed by Hug-E-Gram’s success, which has come in many forms. One of her most touching success stories comes from a young girl who lost both of her brothers in the military.
“Her mother had just moved to another state,” says Zausner. “She was inconsolable, and the woman ended up sending her a Hug-E-Gram, and she wrote to me and said, ‘I can’t thank you enough for how happy you’ve made me. This is such a great gift, I wish you all the success in the world.’”
