Sindhura Citineni ‘00 and her husband, Tommy Thekkekandam, creators of Tom and Jenny's candy, won the 2015 Big Launch Challenge for local start-ups.
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Triangle-area dentist and North Carolina School of Science and Math graduate Dr. Sindhura Citineni ’00 has been featured on the WNCN special, “What’s Next: Ideas and Innovators.” Citineni and her husband, Tommy Thekkekandam, have created something that might seem impossible: a sugar-free candy that’s not just good for you but also helps you fend off cavities.
Citineni, a dentist in Durham, said visiting patients in rural North Carolina during her early days in dentistry inspired her to come up with a sugar-free, healthy brand of candy that actually tastes good.
And the candy is doing well. Sales have been so successful, the candy is currently on back-order while they catch up. “I would say [it’s] very encouraging and pleasantly surprising about the number of people who have never heard about this that are embracing it fully,” Citineni said.