Ashley Waldman is the founder of Jubilee, a children's milk newly launched from Austin, Texas. Like many other parents across the country, Waldman said she's felt increasingly concerned about her children's daily sugar consumption, especially from everyday products that are not often suspected to contain added sugars.
As she navigated serving milk to her oldest daughter, who was diagnosed with autism, Waldman struggled to interest her child in a glass without Hershey's chocolate syrup, as her sensitivity to food texture and flavor created obstacles.
"I felt comforted because I was like, 'Well, at least she's getting milk,'" Waldman told Fox News Digital. "Of course, I did not feel great about the sugar."
So Waldman, a project manager at YouTube, enlisted her father, a veteran of the beverage industry, for regular dad-daughter question-and-answer sessions.
She also began researching parental perspectives on the milk industry in order to best position her no-added-sugar milk, flavored with "secret" vegetables, in the market.
The consensus showed low-sugar milk products and plant-based milk alternatives were considered "gross."
Kids did not like them – and these products ended up at the bottom of the trash bin, according to Waldman.
"It's just a waste of money," Waldman said.
Waldman brought her idea of a low-sugar, amazing-tasting milk to a beverage formulation company.
Without contention, Waldman said, the product needed to have a strong functional benefit.
"My product solves all of my problems," she said.
The Chocolate Chip Cookie and Strawberry Shortcake varieties each contain eight grams of protein, 100% vitamins and zero added sugar.
They are among the flavors Jubilee's introduced to consumers in late February.
"I handed an 11-year-old boy the Chocolate Chip Cookie, and he was like, 'Mom, this is so good, we have to get some,'" Waldman said.
She then shocked the child by revealing carrot as the ingredient flavoring the milk, Waldman said.
"It's been so exciting to see that reaction from people because it's like the surprise, the doubt, the kid tries it — and then they're leaning in and wanting to buy it," she added.
Waldman said the timing of her product launch is "serendipitous" as it coincides with the Make America Healthy Again movement.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of Health and Human Services, is leading the charge on this front as he serves in President Donald Trump's second administration.
"I'm just so appreciative that there is now a broad platform that I have felt very passionate about for a long time," Waldman told Fox News Digital.
"How are we normalizing giving our kids 22 grams of sugar per an 8-ounce drink every single day, multiple times a day?"
"I'm just glad that there's more conversation about it," Waldman also said.
"How could anybody be upset about it?"
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