At the core of who we are is a deep desire to do good for people, communities, and the environment.

Our Journey

With 3 daughters living on a septic system, discarding menstrual products had its challenges; the considerable toilet paper consumption, messy waste bins and constant threat of a plumbing problem. On what seemed to be an ordinary fall day, Shallan walked into the bathroom and became instantly frustrated with the visual. It was in that moment, the MaskIT pouch was conceived.

~ Fall 2012 ~

With 3 daughters living on a septic system, discarding menstrual products had it’s challenges. The toilet paper consumption, messy waste bins and constant threat of a plumbing problem. On this day, the MaskIT pouch was conceived.

~ Fall 2012 ~

Knowing that, Shallan decided she would not pursue her idea unless it could be done without using plastic or any kind of polyethylene. After months of research and phone calls, she finally found a film that met her standards and requirements.

~ Spring 2013 ~

Now that she knew she could bring MaskIT to life in a way that didn’t contribute plastic waste, it was time to submit her patent application and start the next major hurdle of the journey. She needed to find someone willing to convert the plant based biofilm into her very specialized design on a production level.

~ Spring 2013 ~

Now that she knew she could bring MaskIT to life in a way that didn’t contribute plastic waste, It was time to submit her patent application and start the next major hurdle of the journey, finding someone willing to make her idea.

~ Spring 2013 ~

Shallan finally got the one yes she had been vigorously searching for! Finally a converter was willing to try to bring her concept to life.

~ Spring 2014 ~

Gleeful anticipation quickly turned to melancholy as she discovered the first production run was all wrong. Amongst all the failed attempts spread across the table, Shallan found a bag with what’s considered a converting mistake. “Can you make this mistake larger, and consistently,” asked Shallan. After a quizzical look and a long silence, the converter said come back tomorrow.

~ Spring 2014 ~

Gleeful anticipation quickly turned to melancholy as she discovered the first production run was all wrong. Amongst all the failed attempts spread across the table, Shallan found a bag with what’s considered a converting “mistake”. “Can you make this mistake larger, and consistently,” asked Shallan. After a quizzical look and a long silence, the converter said come back tomorrow.

~ Spring 2014 ~

A full night of redesigning her prototype, and a few assembly equipment modifications later, the converter was able to successfully execute her desired design. The MaskIT disposal bag was finally born!

~ Spring 2014 ~

We secured our first point of distribution, Ashland’s Shop’n Kart as well as successfully launched MaskIT on Amazon. To this point, Shallan had already overcome countless challenges and we were only getting started.

~ Fall 2014 ~

Shallan learned about a National Entrepreneurial Competition hosted by Outdoor Industry Women’s Coalition (OIWC). She submitted her application and was invited to Salt Lake City to pitch her idea to a live panel of judges along with 25 other budding entrepreneurs. “...The winner of this years OIWC’s Pitchfest goes to Shallan Ramsey!” With that win, she secured a national press release, a free booth at the 2016 Outdoor Retailers

Conference, and later a purchase order from REI!

~ Summer 2015 ~

By the Summer of 2016 we were in 575 stores and counting. From Small Mom and Pop shops to retailers like REI, Sportsmans Warehouse, and Rayley’s. Convincing retail buyers to bring MaskIT onto their stores shelves was the easy part. Educating the entire country to go buy MaskIT, was much more challenging.

~ Summer 2016 ~

The success of our retail growth showed outside investors everything they needed to see. We secured our first round of outside investment! With this cash infusion, we were finally able to pay for the tooling for our wall mounted dispenser. This allowed us to bring the MaskIT solution to market for public restrooms.

~ Summer 2016 ~

Introducing our wall mounted dispenser opened a whole new world of possibilities, and challenges. A major decision had to be made. We elected to sell MaskIT for home use online through our website and Amazon. We wanted to focus on bringing the solution into public facilities. We had something special that could help businesses, women and custodial staff in a way that was never possible before.

~ Fall 2016 ~

Introducing our wall mounted dispenser opened a whole new world of possibilities, and challenges. A major decision had to be made. We elected to sell MaskIT online through our website and Amazon for home users so we could focus our attention on businesses.

~ Fall 2016 ~

We were full go on the business to business sales. Shallan was flying all over the country to visit Janitorial Distributors and meet with their key customers. The team began traveling to trade shows and we were receiving excellent responses. Southern Oregon Regional Economic Development Inc. awarded us the 2017 Prosper Award for Ingenuity!

~ Summer 2017 ~

What do they have in common? They are all recognized by the US Government as official Inventors! 5 long years of going back and forth with the US Patent Office ended in triumph. She was awarded her first patent!

~ Summer 2018 ~

What do they have in common? They are all recognized by the US Government as official Inventors! 5 long years of going back and forth with the US Patent Office ended in triumph. She got the patent!

~ Summer 2018 ~

After 2 years of being on the market, MaskIT was being adopted all over the country by airports, universities, restaurants, hospitals, churches, gyms, spas, salons, office buildings, and on and on. One serendipitous day a facility director went on vacation and saw MaskIT in an airport restroom stall. When she got back to the office, she knew she had to have it in her facility and MaskIT was implemented at the Pittsburgh Google Campus!

~ Fall 2018 ~

By year 3 in the business to business space we were working with major janitorial distributors across the country. We had been to dozens of trades shows and had hundreds of great conversations. At some point, we made a memorable impression on an assistant Director of Facilities for a University. He later went to work for Google's main campus in Silicon Valley and shared our innovation with them. Weeks later MaskIT was implemented at Google's Headquarters.

~ Fall 2019 ~

By year 3 in the business to business space we were working with major janitorial distributors across the country. We had been to dozens of tradeshows and had hundreds of great conversations. We made an impression on an assistant director of facilities for a university who went on to work for Google's main campus in Silicon Valley.

~ Fall 2019 ~