By Breelyn Vanleeuwen, PA-C | Founder & CEO of Daily Shade
Some milestones feel personal. Others feel bigger than that because they represent what a mission is becoming.
I’m honored to share that I was recently recognized by Utah Business as one of Utah’s 40 Under 40, an award that recognizes leaders building meaningful companies and creating impact across the state of Utah. You can read a snippet about me HERE.
For me this recognition is not simply about entrepreneurship. It is about what Daily Shade has always stood for from the beginning: solving a problem that mattered deeply enough that it could not be ignored.
Daily Shade was never created because the sunscreen market needed another bottle on the shelf. It was created because as a Physician Assistant I had seen firsthand what skin cancer can do. I had cared for patients whose lives changed after diagnoses that were mostly preventable. I had seen young women carrying facial scars after melanoma surgery. I understood that skin cancer is the most common cancer in America and also one of the most preventable.
Then motherhood made that reality personal.
When my daughter reacted to a sunscreen marketed as safe for babies I started asking questions most parents never realize they need to ask. What was actually inside these formulas? Why did so many mineral sunscreens still rely on hidden chemical boosters? Why did safe options feel impossible to find?
That search became four years of formulation development and eventually Daily Shade.
Today Daily Shade stands for something very specific: true mineral sunscreen without hidden UV chemical boosters designed for daily wear because prevention only works when people actually want to use the product every day.
Being recognized by Utah Business matters because this company was built right here in Utah where melanoma rates are among the highest in the country. This state shaped both the urgency behind this mission and the determination to build something better.
But if I am honest this recognition also means something else.
When I was younger I did not grow up seeing many women building companies like this. I did not grow up assuming female founders belonged in rooms where products were invented, scaled and nationally distributed. I want my daughters to see this differently. I want women building companies to feel normal not unusual.
If this recognition does anything I hope it quietly expands what feels possible for the next generation watching.
Thank you for being part of Daily Shade. Every bottle purchased supports a mission far bigger than sunscreen. It supports education prevention and the belief that daily habits can change long term outcomes.
We are still early in what we are building and I could not be more excited for what comes next. We'd love for you to give us a try! Shop us HERE.
With gratitude
Bree
Founder Daily Shade
