DAV
February 2, 2021
DAV-sponsored entrepreneurship event connects veterans with resources to excel
Rachel Costello discovered that necessity was the mother of invention when she found sleeping difficult in the months after undergoing several surgeries to remove brain cancer. Those sleepless nights sparked a desire to find a solution.
“When you have a brain surgery or head injury of any kind, you have to sleep sitting up for about two to three months,” said Costello, a retired Navy master chief petty officer. “So we came up with a device that allowed you to do that.”
She co-founded her company, Bonna Vita Ventures, in 2017 and soon had a prototype ready for manufacturing. However, as the economic outlook changed, it became impossible to bring the medical device to market at a sustainable price.