MILWAUKEE -- A local veteran is using her new business to help fellow vets, and to help herself heal from wounds we cannot see.
Amber Frymark of Greenfield launched a company called Chowventions, and her signature product is now on store shelves. Frymark also credits a local non-profit for helping her start her startup.
Years removed from a decade in the Air Force, Frymark is now right at home in every sense of the word. Creating in her childhood kitchen in Greenfield, Frymark is part cook and part inventor.
“I started playing on the stove, sort of throwing stuff together, like I did when I was a child,” Frymark explained while stirring a simmering pot of her latest product.
“It was going all the way back to like these childhood memories of something I enjoyed.”
Enjoying life is a victory for Amber. Following two tours overseas, she suffered a severe mental break and has lasting anxiety issues.
“It’s not gone,” she admits. “There’s still a break up here. But seeking treatment, monthly now. I see the VA still on a continuous basis.”
And she sees a bright future in her business. Chowventions’ greatest success so far is an award winning beverage enhancer called Zwitchel.
Amber says it’s meant to be added to your favorite beverage, “…to add health, hydration and flavor,” she promises. “So it’s like pouring vitamins and minerals and flavor into a beverage you were already going to drink.”
Zwitchel is available now on Amazon. To purchase it, click here.
Other than Amazon, it’s available locally at Outpost Foods and the Woodman’s in Oak Creek.
Curious about the name Zwitchel? There’s a story behind it, as Amber explains:
Amber credits part of the success of her company to years of guidance from a group called SCORE.
Jim Injeski runs the local chapter of the national organization.
“It’s an ongoing relationship,” he says of the group’s volunteers with its clients. “Our mentors will help through every stage of an organization from inception to the time they’re ready to sell it."
SCORE provides mentoring services for free, classes at a reasonable rate, and priceless advice to entrepreneurs. Amber frequently checked in with several mentors as she was launching Chowventions.
Regardless of whether Amber Frymark sells one more bottle of Zwitchel, she’s already succeeded in giving her life new direction.
Though she does plan to sell many more bottles. “I think an anonymous quote was, ‘it takes 10 years to be an overnight success.’”
She’s already more than half way there.
