Kelly Collier

  Pittsburgh has an abundance of talented entrepreneurs and innovative startups. Joining us today on Coffee With is Kelly Collier, founder and CEO of ActivAided Orthotics, a medical device startup that produces flexible, supportive posture-correcting clothing. ActivAided has revolutionized the traditional medical brace into a product that allows for non-restrictive therapy, providing impressive support and rehabilitation without sacrificing flexibility or comfort. Collier launched the company from the ground up, their product initially developed for her senior project at Carnegie Mellon. ActivAided first saw development in the form of a class project for Collier, a then Materials Science and Biomedical Engineering student at CMU. An avid swimmer, Collier’s back pain problems became the catalyst for the project which was developed by a physician Dr. Gary Chimes, Collier and her peers as a senior project at Carnegie Mellon University. Unlike her classmates, Collier gave herself additional homework when she incorporated the assignment into a post-graduate business. Since founding ActivAvided Orthotics, Collier has become a specialist in commercializable product development and has expertise in all stages of the process. Whether it be design, manufacturing, scalability, or distribution, Collier possesses the business prowess to efficiently tackle any aspect of business growth and operations. Collier’s efforts enabled her to collect honors as the U. S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Western Pennsylvania Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Kevin White, Pittsburgh SBA district director, commented that Collier is an entrepreneur who identified the solution to a problem. He said, “Her back problems led her to turn this project into a business that helps correct posture in a non-restrictive form.” Collier’s transformation from student to entrepreneur is characteristic of the incredibly innovative business environment in Pittsburgh. Want to learn more about the origins, development, and lessons learned from ActivAided? Tune into this episode of Coffee With. Since this blog post and video the company was acquired by...

Kelly Collier, the most recent Coffee With… guest, was a young, healthy, athletic student at Carnegie Mellon University. But she suffered from severe lower back pain. As a senior engineering design project she and her classmates were tasked with designing something – anything. As others in her group had also suffered from back pain, the idea of designing a posture training shirt to help rehabilitate back pain was discussed. Getting an A on the project helped her secure a spot in the 2012 AlphaLab accelerator program. After graduating from the program and collaborating with biomedical engineers and a practicing physician, ActivAided Orthotics was born. ActivAided Orthotics is dedicated to supporting active lifestyles and keeping people of all ages strong, healthy and pain free. Their products are based on a unique treatment philosophy that remedies pain by encouraging self-correcting habits. Their posture training shirt teaches people how to use their body and posture in a proper way so they can pursue their passions without limits. Kelly talks with Christopher Evans on Coffee With… about her business journey. Local Pittsburgh resources were a big part of her beginning. Even though ActivAided Orthotics is now a national company with other user friendly innovated products in development, she still counts on her Pittsburgh resources for her business growth. Coffee With… is an informal interview with prominent business, community and government leaders covering a wide array of issues from business planning to entrepreneurship, and business challenges that affect the economic landscape of the region. Watch the latest installment to see more about Kelly Collier and ActivAided...