Founded | 2023
US Headquarters | Daytona Beach, FL
Top Executives:
Judy Willodson, Founder & CEO
Ken Eggleston, Founder & President
Product Category | Wellness & Nutrition
After building multiple seven-figure businesses and pouring her heart and soul into teams that had become family, Judy Willodson was ready to walk away from nearly four decades of success in direct selling. She couldn’t handle facing another crushing heartbreak of building a business from the ground up and climbing through the ranks, only to face disappointment at the top. But she also couldn’t walk away from the teams she’d built, loved and served for so many years. There was only one thing to do—build something new.
Building What She Wished She’d Had
In 2022, after building yet another successful direct selling business, Judy Willodson found nothing but frustration instead of a brass ring. She’d spent most of her professional life in the industry, achieving a level of success most entrepreneurs only dream of.
“I’ve been in the industry full time since the late ’90s when I was ‘bitten by the bug’ on the concept of leveraging my time for money,” she explained. “I jumped in headfirst and haven’t turned around and looked back yet. There’s been a lot of good; there’s been a lot of bad, a lot of ugly—being disappointed in the leadership, the ownership, the narcissism, the egos, a formula change, a compensation plan change, being sued, being locked out of your seven-figure income many times over. My husband and I were ready to step out of the industry.”
Fellow direct selling veteran Ken Eggleston had seen it all in his decades building and consulting for direct selling companies, but he’d never seen anyone quite like Judy. He’d watched her simultaneously reach unparalleled sales goals and deeply invest in the people on her record-breaking team, caring for her team as if they were family and leading through service. As Judy began to step away from the industry, Ken persuaded her to consider a different kind of leadership.
Together, in May 2023, Judy and Ken launched Beneve—a wellness company built, as they say, “different, on purpose.” In many ways, this new business represented the type of stable, transparent home that Judy wished existed earlier in her career.
“Our passion was to create a company where people can be valued, be heard, be appreciated, be loved and—more importantly—protect the businesses that they built and worked so hard for,” Judy explained. “We also wanted to create efficacious products that truly do what they say and a culture and community where we meet people where they’re at.”
Beneve, inspired by the idea of benevolence and doing good, is home to more than 10,000 Independent Influencers across the United States. This dynamic field shares Beneve’s science-backed functional beverages and supplements designed to serve a range of goals, including weight management, digestive support, energy, performance and hydration as well as collagen and beauty.
Turning Everything Upside Down
Judy and Ken designed a company that didn’t just talk about values; they wanted to live the values that mattered to them. They’d both experienced the best and worst of the direct selling industry and believed that Beneve could offer a way of doing business that no one had seen.
“We wondered what if we became the lighthouse in the industry,” explained President and Co-Founder Ken Eggleston. “What if we inverted the model, where rather than corporate taking 65 percent and giving 35 percent to the field, we invert that, and our corporate offices operate on 35 percent and we pay 65 percent to the field.”
This inverted financial model became the foundation for how Beneve would do business, turning industry norms upside down in the process. Judy wanted everything about Beneve to be rooted in stability and transparency for entrepreneurs, so she chose to launch the company without investors. Every check needed to launch Beneve came from Judy’s own checkbook, ensuring that the company could launch without debt.
As operations ramped up, Judy went a step further and absorbed her own investment, wiping the slate entirely clean. This was the ultimate proof of concept: a founder who wasn’t building toward an exit and personal financial gain, but toward something that would last—specifically, something that would outlast her.
To further protect its Influencers, Judy introduced Beneve’s Influencer Bill of Rights, a first-of-its-kind agreement that documents a set of protections designed to give Influencers the security and transparency Judy had never been afforded in her own career.
“You can say a lot of things, but when you put it in writing and they see it; they can feel it; touch it and share it—then it makes all the difference,” Judy shared.
Leading By Serving
For Judy, the Influencer Bill of Rights was simply a reflection of the leadership style she’d been developing for decades, grounded in relationships, service and care. She’s actively involved in opportunity calls, mentors Influencers and hosts intimate retreats with leaders, where she’s been known to make breakfast for a houseful of guests.
“I may be the Founder and CEO of Beneve, but that’s just the title,” she shared. “I don’t want to be put on a pedestal. I want to be treated as a sister, as a friend, as somebody who’s just an individual who’s trying to do what’s right in this world.”
While some founders may operate at a distance from their field, Judy’s role is uniquely embedded in the field. In fact, she isn’t compensated from the corporate side of the business at all. Judy serves as Beneve’s master distributor, so the same compensation that pays every Influencer in the field pays Judy, too.
Judy’s instinct to lead from alongside rather than above has drawn a powerful field of like-minded Influencers to Beneve, responsible for the company’s consistent pattern of strong growth. The company generated $3 million in its first year; $18.4 million in its second; $34.5 million in its third and is well on its way to Judy’s goal of $100 million within five years, boasting nearly 160,000 customers and counting.
Growing organically with a pace that’s allowed leadership to pressure test its systems and compensation structure, Beneve has the nimbleness to adjust and prioritize where it needs to. The company continues to operate debt free; owns its own warehouse; and manages its own IT department, responsible for Beneve’s recently launched fitness app. With new products for the whole family—including pets—on the horizon, Beneve’s product portfolio is positioned for growth, as well. And Judy is thrilled to have a front row seat for all of it.
“I truly mean it when I say that I’m here for the long haul,” she shared. I want to see the legacies of all these families, of the people who have come here, who have given their time to build something here. I’m going to see it through. And we will be—mark my words—we will be a billion-dollar-a-year company.”
Judy’s billion-dollar vision is nearly 40 years in the making, and is the result of the personal, servant-hearted leadership style she’s been known for all this time. The philosophy is simple and powerful: build the right culture; protect your people; lead by example—and the numbers will follow.
From the July/August/September 2026 issue of Direct Selling News magazine.
