I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit and a desire to build something meaningful. My path to Clio wasn’t exactly linear.
While studying medicine in Ukraine, I found myself increasingly drawn to business and entrepreneurship. After moving to the United States, I ultimately built my career in the food and CPG industry, where I learned the business from the ground up.
The idea for Clio came unexpectedly. One day, I discovered Greek yogurt in my refrigerator that had become unusually thick from over-straining. It reminded me of a dairy treat from my childhood in Eastern Europe and sparked an idea: what if Greek yogurt could become an entirely new refrigerated snack that you could eat without a spoon?
My wife Katya, our kids and I spent countless hours in the kitchen experimenting. We made dozens of prototypes, melted a lot of chocolate and made plenty of mistakes before we created something that felt right. But developing the product turned out to be only the beginning.
When I tried to commercialize Clio, I discovered there wasn’t a manufacturer equipped to make it. The combination of dairy and confectionery processes simply didn’t exist at scale. So, I had a choice: walk away from the idea or figure out how to build the process myself. I chose the hard road. I rented a small commercial space, sourced decades-old equipment, rebuilt it and began developing the manufacturing process from scratch.
Clio exists today because of persistence, creativity and the people who believed in the idea alongside me. What began as an experiment in our family kitchen has grown into a national brand that makes millions of people happy and that is something I am incredibly proud of.
