In an exclusive interview with CanadianSME Small Business Magazine, Shannon Inkley, Founder of Swush, shares how a simple insight during maternity leave turned into a behaviour-first innovation in youth sports. By focusing on why kids don’t wear mouthguards—not just access to them—she is reshaping how safety is approached on and off the field, helping organizations, parents, and coaches turn intention into consistent action.
Interview By Kripa Anand
Shannon Inkley is a Canadian founder, retail business transformation leader, and mom of ‘two under two’ behind Swush, an Ontario-made flavoured mouthguard gel designed to improve how often kids actually wear their mouthguards. She began building Swush during maternity leave, developing the business between naps and late nights, after recognizing a simple but overlooked gap in youth sports safety.
With a background in large-scale corporate behaviour change and organizational transformation, Shannon has led initiatives impacting over 2 million employees and advised at the executive level. She brings that same behaviour-first approach to youth sports safety, focusing on closing the gap between having protective equipment and actually using it. Through Swush, she is working with national sport organizations, school districts, and dental professionals across Canada to make safer play easier for young athletes.
You began building Swush during maternity leave, between naps and late nights, and launched in under six months—what did that sprint from idea to market actually look like, and how did your background in large‑scale behaviour change shape your approach?
I didn’t start with a product, I started with a behaviour problem. In youth sports, mouthguards aren’t the issue. Kids have them. They just don’t wear them consistently.
The sprint from idea to market was focused and scrappy. I pressure-tested the insight with parents, coaches, and athletes, then quickly moved into formulation with a manufacturer rather than spending months in R&D. In parallel, I started conversations with sports organizations to validate real-world demand and use cases. Packaging, messaging, and early sampling plans were built alongside the product—not after—so by the time I had inventory, I already had places to test and sell it. It wasn’t linear, it was everything at once, with constant feedback loops.
My background in large-scale behaviour change shaped everything. When you’ve worked on programs impacting millions of people, you learn that awareness isn’t enough. You need to make the desired behaviour easier, more natural, and more repeatable. That’s what Swush does, it fits into an existing habit and improves the experience.
Within six months, I went from insight to product in market with early partners lined up. It wasn’t about building perfectly, it was about building something real, testing it where it matters, and learning fast.
Before manufacturing, you focused on validating demand and securing interest from sport organizations, schools, and dental professionals—how did you do that with no product on shelves yet, and what did those early conversations reveal about the real problem you were trying to solve?
Before I had product, I had a very clear point of view and I led with that. I wasn’t asking, “Would you buy this?” I was asking, “Is this a real problem in your environment?”
I reached out to sport organizations, coaches, and dental professionals with one simple conversation: kids already have mouthguards so why aren’t they wearing them? Those conversations opened doors because they weren’t a pitch. They were grounded in something they were already dealing with: constant reminders, inconsistent use, and frustration at the gap between policy and reality.
To make it tangible, I used simple mockups, early samples, and clear messaging to show how a behavioural solution could fit into what already exists. That allowed partners to react to something real, even before full production.
What those early conversations revealed was consistent across the board: enforcement isn’t the problem—willingness is. Policies can mandate a mouthguard, but they can’t make a kid keep it in. That insight shaped everything. Swush isn’t about replacing equipment, it’s about increasing the likelihood it actually gets used. By the time I went into manufacturing, I wasn’t guessing at demand. I had aligned partners, real use cases, and a clear role for where Swush fits.
You’ve said the real gap in youth sports isn’t access to mouthguards, it’s getting kids to actually wear them—what needs to shift in youth sports culture to make mouthguards as non‑negotiable as skates, and what have you learned from parents and coaches who resist change?
The shift isn’t about stronger rules, it’s about making the behaviour stick. Mouthguards are already mandated in many sports, but they’re still treated as optional in practice or non-tournament games. To make them as non-negotiable as skates or shin guards, they need to move from “something you’re told to wear” to something that’s just part of how you play.
What I’ve learned from parents and coaches is that resistance rarely comes from not caring about safety, it comes from trade-offs. Performance, comfort, communication on the field, those concerns are real to them. I’ve had parents tell me they’d rather pull their child out of a sport than risk something that might impact how they play. That was a turning point for me. It highlighted that if a solution adds friction, it won’t be adopted no matter how strong the rule is.
The opportunity is to align safety with experience. When wearing a mouthguard feels normal, easy, and even enjoyable, the conversation changes. Coaches stop reminding. Parents stop negotiating. Kids just keep it in.
That’s the cultural shift: from enforcement to acceptance. Because in youth sports, what sticks isn’t what’s mandated, it’s what shows up in real play.
Swush is going to national tournaments, working with organizations representing over 80,000 athletes, and partnering with leagues and teams rather than just going straight to retail—why is working through leagues, schools, and trusted organizations so critical if you want to change behaviour at scale?
Behaviour in youth sports isn’t shaped at the shelf, it’s shaped in the environment.
Leagues, schools, and teams are where habits are formed, reinforced, and normalized. They set expectations, influence routines, and create the moments where decisions actually happen, on the bench, at practice, before a game. If you want to change behaviour at scale, you have to show up in those moments, not just where a product is purchased.
Working through trusted organizations also builds credibility. Parents and coaches are far more open to trying something new when it’s introduced through a league or team they already trust, rather than discovered on their own in a store or online.
What I’ve learned is that access doesn’t equal adoption. You can have great retail distribution, but if the behaviour doesn’t change on the field, nothing really changes. By partnering with organizations representing over 80,000 athletes and growing, we’re embedding Swush into the environments that shape daily habits.
That’s how you move from awareness to action, and from product to routine.
For other founders building safety or health solutions where behaviour—not just access—is the real challenge, what advice would you share about designing products, partnerships, and go‑to‑market strategies that people will actually use in the real world, not just agree with in theory?
Start with the real behaviour, not the ideal one. Don’t design for what people should do, design for what they actually do under pressure, in the moment, in real environments.
Build something that reduces friction, not adds to it. If your solution requires extra steps, reminders, or willpower, it won’t stick. The best behaviour change solutions fit into existing routines and make the desired action easier, faster, or more appealing.
Validate in the field, not in theory. Early on, get your product into the environments where it will actually be used and watch what happens. What people say in a survey and what they do in a game, a practice, or a real-life moment are often very different.
Choose partners who influence behaviour, not just distribution. The organizations, communities, and professionals who shape daily habits are far more powerful than channels that simply sell your product.
And finally, be willing to build alongside your users. Behaviour change isn’t a one-time design decision, it’s a continuous loop of testing, learning, and refining until what you’ve built doesn’t just make sense, it gets used.
Disclaimer:The views and opinions expressed in this interview are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of CanadianSME Small Business Magazine. Our platform is dedicated to fostering dialogue and sharing insights that inspire and empower small and medium-sized businesses across Canada.
