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Daily Mail
08-08-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Heartbroken bride issues urgent warning after routine, pre-wedding 'glow-up' left her 'blind in one eye'
An entrepreneur has revealed how a pre-wedding laser facial treatment left her hospitalised and blind in one eye. Marisa Poster is the founder of PerfectTed, which sells canned matcha drinks in a range of flavours. The native New Yorker, who now lives in London, tied the knot last year in a lavish ceremony. But not all went to plan, as ahead of the nuptials, Marisa underwent a IPL facial, which left her in terrible pain, and left her face so swollen, she was unable to see out of one eye. Speaking to FEMAIL, the 28-year-old said that initially, she was looking forward to the procedure which she had the day after her wedding hair and makeup trial. 'I was genuinely excited,' she said about the laser treatment. 'I've had IPL before and found it super effective for rosacea - it calms the redness and leaves your skin feeling so fresh. 'My facialist recommended doing it about four weeks before the wedding to get the best results in time for the big day. It felt like a smart, routine step.' However, she said, as soon as the treatment began, she knew something was wrong. Marisa explained: 'But the moment the treatment began, I knew something was off. I'd numbed my face for 30 minutes as usual, but the pain was unbearable and far worse than anything I'd experienced previously. 'I asked the technician if that was normal, and they told me the discomfort meant it was 'working.' Spoiler: it very much was not working. 'By the time I got home, my face was swollen, red, and starting to ooze. I remember looking in the mirror thinking, What have I done? Within an hour, I was spiralling, panic set in fast, and I was already thinking about the wedding and how I might have completely derailed everything we'd planned.' And things got worse over the next few hours. 'Over the following hours, my face was severely swollen,' said Marisa. 'My left eye swelled completely shut. I wasn't crying - my face was literally oozing. My husband Levi was out, and I remember my brother-in-law Teddie looking at me and saying, 'you're turning into a tomato".' The situation got so bad that she ended up in A&E, where she was put on a steroid drip, given an oral steroid called prednisone, and prescribed a topical cream. Marisa said: 'I'd been so excited for the wedding - it was such a deeply personal celebration. As a busy founder, I'd spent so much time thinking through every detail, avoiding the dreaded 'wedding tax' where prices skyrocket just because the word 'wedding' is attached, and choosing to DIY as much as possible, from picking a flexible venue to incorporating our own brand, PerfectTed, throughout the day in thoughtful, intentional ways. 'I'd genuinely tried to plan a wedding that reflected our values and stayed true to who we are, so having something like this happen felt devastating. 'At that point I was laughing and crying at the same time - mostly in shock - because I couldn't believe this was happening to me a few weeks before the wedding.' However, rather than panic, Marisa decided to use the experience to create a new idea called PerfectWed, where her brand gives nearly-weds cans of their matcha drinks, to help reduce the stress of couples, and 'give their guests a healthy, long-lasting energy option on the big day'. Despite seeking medical attention at hospital, Marisa says she never got any clarity as to why she had such a strong reaction to the laser treatment - something she described as 'frustrating'. She added: 'The doctors thought it could've been a sensitivity to the laser itself or one of the products used. Everything was a blur - I was anxious, embarrassed, and honestly just desperate for the swelling to go down. At one point, Marisa feared they would have to postpone the wedding. She revealed that she 'had a complete breakdown in A&E'. She said: 'I'd never experienced anything like this. My face was twice its normal size, one eye was completely swollen shut, and I was terrified I wouldn't look like myself - or even be able to attend. 'It was heartbreaking. You spend so long imagining your wedding day, and suddenly, it felt like it might not happen.' Thankfully, the treatment worked quickly enough that it all just about worked out, and although it was close, Marisa and Levi were able to push ahead with the wedding as planned. But the incident did mean she missed out on precious wedding planning time. Marisa explained: 'For five full days, I couldn't see properly. I wear contacts daily, but I couldn't get them in - my eyes were too swollen. 'My glasses wouldn't even sit on my face. It had doubled in size. I couldn't even work during that time as my face was so swollen I could barely open my eyes.' She said she tried to carry on with wedding planning, but it wasn't easy. 'I remember showing up to my final dress fitting still visibly swollen and telling the seamstress, 'I promise I won't look like this on the day!'. 'Most of the admin ended up moving online or was handled by Levi and my friends while I recovered.' She added: 'The fact that there were no long-term side effects is honestly a miracle.' Marisa described the situation as 'a perfect storm', as she had to work as well as wedding plan, but was in physical pain, and struggling to get things done. Because of her experience, she has advice to share with other brides to be. 'Please don't fall into the trap of doing more just because the wedding industry says you should,' Marisa said. 'As a founder, I'm already constantly doing a million things - I genuinely thought I was being efficient and proactive by slotting in one last 'glow-up' appointment. But in hindsight, it was unnecessary and added way more stress than it was worth. 'There are so many messages out there targeting brides-to-be, telling us to optimise every inch of ourselves. But it's all noise. You are already enough. 'If I could give one piece of advice to brides: do less. Be kind to yourself. And don't try anything new close to the wedding - even if it feels routine or harmless.' She added: 'Even if you've done beauty treatments before, every session can be different. Skin is unpredictable. I thought a month was plenty of time to recover, but clearly, it wasn't. 'If you're going to do anything like IPL, do it months in advance. Honestly, though, I'd skip it altogether. Brides already have enough to think about - you don't need your face literally melting to be one of those things.' Marisa noted that nothing is worth risking your wellbeing in the final weeks before your wedding. She said: 'Just be. Let yourself enjoy it.' Because of the pressure put on brides, she added that it can be 'so easy to get caught up in the noise'. 'That kind of overstimulation and decision fatigue can become completely overwhelming — especially in the lead-up to something as emotional as a wedding,' she noted. 'And honestly, life is already so busy and I say this as a businesswoman and a founder — we launched PerfectTed out of a personal need after coffee and traditional energy drinks worsened my ADHD and anxiety symptoms. 'Now I see that same need again through a wedding lens: to feel calm, clear and connected. PerfectWed may be a campaign, but at its heart, it's about giving something back — helping couples cut through the noise, reduce stress, and focus on what really matters.' When it comes to why she chose to share her story, Marisa told FEMAIL: 'Weddings should be joyful, not full of anxiety over a facial gone wrong. If my story stops even one bride from booking a risky treatment too close to their big day, then honestly, it's worth the embarrassment.'
Forbes
29-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The U.K.'s Fastest-Growing Startups. What Are Their Growth Secrets?
Marisa Poster says her company identified an unmet need What does a successful British startup look like in 2025? Well, viewed through the prism of VC funding, a typical fast-growth company is probably developing AI solutions or working in quantum computing, climate tech or life sciences. But that's not the whole story. Founders club, For Entrepreneurs By Entrepreneurs (FEBE) has just released a list of 100 rapidly growing businesses, painting an alternative picture of entrepreneurship in Britain today. Styled as the FEBE Growth 100 and produced in collaboration with Virgin , the list draws on a list of metrics - including two-year compound growth, revenue performance and founder involvement - to create a ranking of private companies that are still owned and run by their creators. And while technology ventures certainly do feature, the majority of the companies are consumer-facing and not necessarily tech-driven. A case in point is the company that occupies the 'number one' slot, namely Perfect Ted. Co-founded by Marisa Poster, Levi Levenfiche and Teddie Levenfiche, the business specializes in Matcha drinks, including lattes. Close behind is haircare brand REHAB at number 2, with food delivery service Simmer Eat and party games company, Lucky Egg at positions 3 and 4, respectively. Tech enters the picture at number 5, in the shape of Manchester-based innovation studio Conductr. Elsewhere, you'll find fintechs, restaurant chains, fashion retailers and business service providers. But here's the question. Other than providing a talking point and perhaps also a celebration of entrepreneurship, do lists of this sort provide any insights into business success? Or to put it another way, do they point to any common factors that have helped some very diverse ventures to pile on sales year-on-year? To find out, I spoke to three of the entrepreneurs whose companies are featured. The aforementioned Marisa Poster, Simmy Dhillon of Simmer Eats and Jacyn Heavens of B2B business services platform EPOS Now. Leveraging Personal Experience There were some common threads, perhaps the most obvious being the ability of the founders to identify hitherto untapped demand. 'I'm very happy with our growth so far, and I think it's a testament to serving a need that was unmet,' says Marisa Poster. 'I personally had a problem with the type of caffeine that I was consuming and couldn't find anything that would work with my kind of neurodivergent brain.' If conventional lattes and espressos didn't work, neither did energy drinks, seen by Poster as hyper-masculine. What she did hit upon was Matcha, based on tea leaves and used in Japan for ceremonial purposes. Detecting a gap in the market, Poster launched a drinks brand. It was a play based on personal experience. The same could be said for the thinking behind EPOS Now. As Founder Jacyn Heavens explains, when he launched a restaurant and bar he quickly realised that small businesses can struggle when it comes to administration. 'I really wasn't prepared for how complicated it is to run a small business,' he says. 'I remember when I started our business, I needed to do everything from stock control to employee management, to negotiating with suppliers to figuring out what my prices should be. Literally everything.' EPOS Now started out as a cloud provider of point-of-sale services. Since then, features have been added to the platform, including. Perhaps not surprisingly, given the activities that Heavens found so onerous, the functions include stock control, employee management and pricing advice based on data. Finding Customers Having an idea is one thing, connecting with customers is quite another. Heavens' approach was to use a combination of SEO and Google Adwords. 'I learned AdWords, learned how to build a website, and built it all up in a basic e-commerce site. And off we kind of went.' The model, as he describes it, was to augment SEO marketing with paid ads, with everything feeding through to a landing page and call centre. Simmy Dhillion took a different approach. Simmer Heat started out using a university kitchen to create and then deliver healthy meals that could simply be heated up, with students as a key customer group. The approach the company took was direct. 'It started off me going into university halls and handing out little business cards, speaking to people on the bus,' says Dhillion. Social Media was also important. Simmer Heat asked their customers to post pictures online when they received deliveries. By replying to the posts, the company built a relationship with buyers. In addition, the company has worked with influencers to get the story across. For its part, Perfect Ted has something of a kick start. Following an appearance on the U.K. entrepreneur pitch show Dragons Den - modelled on Shark Tank - the company gained an angel investor (Stephen Bartlett) and a lot of publicity. There was a further boost when supermarkets began to stock the brand. Building Momentum The challenge facing all businesses is to build momentum and how that is done clearly depends on the nature of the business. Working in the B2B market, Heavens says the biggest challenge was to stay ahead of the competition. When the company started, there were very few cloud-based POS providers. Now it is common. To maintain growth, the company expanded the platform into a complete business admin service while also taking a risk on expanding to the U.S. Turnover has now hit £150 million. Dhillon says that building fundamental skills with Social Media have enabled Simmer Heat to grow without a large marketing budget. 'A lot of brands start off with a large budget and they are a bit lazy in terms of thinking 'we can pay to force ourselves in front of customers, so let's just keep paying and paying and paying.' We had to kind of do that the other way in terms of earning our place in front of customers,' says was then augmented by some, but limited paid advertising. Perfect Ted has taken a similar approach. The company uses employee created content on social media. There is some paid marketing, but the budget isn't huge, Is there a secret sauce that helps to underpin growth? For Heavens, the key is listening to the customer and being fanatical about acting on feedback. Dhillion says it's important to test out new things and not be afraid of failing. Poster agrees that it's important to try out ideas even if some fail. Both see it is important to have staff who are themselves entrepreneurial. As Poster puts it:'willing to drive the car.' And of course, there is no common route to success, aside from the drive of the owners, finding a product that resonates with the target market and then finding a means to connect with customers and keep on connecting.
Times
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
What I learnt … going live on TikTok
Marisa Poster, 28, is the co-founder of Perfect Ted, a seller of matcha powder and energy drinks containing matcha, which she started with brothers Teddie and Levi Levenfiche. The company had a turnover of £9.4 million in 2024 and says it is on track to make over £30 million in 2025. The team went on the BBC TV show Dragons' Den in 2023, securing £25,000 in exchange for a 5 per cent share taken by Steven Bartlett and Peter Jones. Perfect Ted did its first TikTok live two weeks ago gaining nearly 200,000 viewers, with 120,000 of those consumers new to the brand. I technically fit within the Gen Z group of consumers but I've been slow to adopt TikTok personally. Yet I've seen how
Metro
24-04-2025
- Business
- Metro
Obsessed with matcha? Perfect Ted's new flavoured lattes are a 'game-changer'
Metro journalists select and curate the products that feature on our site. If you make a purchase via links on this page we will earn commission – learn more Calling all Matcha fans as we've got some news that you're about to become obsessed with. Europe's top matcha brand and the UK's fastest-growing energy drink company, Perfect Ted, has just launched the nation's first flavoured ready-to-drink matcha lattes. Made with all-natural ingredients, the blend of ceremonial-grade matcha from Uji, Japan, is mixed alongside gluten-free oat milk and natural flavours. The result? A smooth, jitter-free energy boost that will power you through whatever you need – from work to your next work out. Available in two delicious flavours – Strawberry Matcha Latte and Vanilla Matcha Latte – each can provides 60mg of slow-release caffeine (similar to an espresso shot) and the pre-mixed beverages are also naturally sweetened with agave. Best of all? There's no refined sugar, artificial sweeteners, or synthetic caffeine at all. How good is that? Enjoy a chilled vanilla matcha latte with premium Japanese matcha and creamy oat milk. This smooth, natural energy boost has 60mg of caffeine and is sweetened with agave, free from refined sugar and artificial additives. Buy Now at £18 for 12 cans per case Speaking with co-founder Marisa Poster, she said: 'Our mission is to make matcha as accessible as possible. People love the benefits, but not everyone has time to prepare it. Our canned lattes make enjoying high-quality matcha easy—anytime, anywhere.' Stephen, who's managed to get his hands on a can (or two) has rated the ready-made Matcha Latte from Perfect Ted the full five stars. He went as far as calling them 'top notch' in fact. 'These are absolutely banging! They've got the level of sweetness just right to be able to have one first thing in the morning. My wife's ended up stealing half my first box.' Another five-star reviewer called David followed suit, and added: 'Really great flavour, smooth to drink, and has that hint of matcha I love.' He also called them 'smoooth', to which we would have to agree. No idea what matcha is, or ever tried it before? Perhaps you've been looking for an alternative to your morning coffee – and fancy switching it up? Well here at Metro HQ, we've got you. Matcha is a powdered green tea superfood, and celebrated for its ability to deliver long-lasting, focused energy. More Trending Unlike coffee or synthetic energy drinks, matcha's caffeine provides a steady boost for 4–6 hours with thanks to its unique blend of caffeine and L-theanine, ensuring a calm, sustained lift without jitters or crashes. Additionally, matcha helps promote the production of serotonin, dopamine, and alpha brain waves, enhancing relaxation and focus. Pretty cool, right? Rich in antioxidants (we're talking 50 times more than spinach!), matcha is scientifically proven to improve mental clarity and alertness. So what are you waiting for? Add a pack into your online cart before it's too late. Follow Metro across our social channels, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram Share your views in the comments below MORE: From chaos to clarity – how Noli's AI technology is changing the world of beauty shopping and waste MORE: Shopping expert reveals must-have items for your home and beauty routine from Victoria Beckham, Dusk and more MORE: Marks and Spencer join forces with fashion designer Olivia von Halle for a range of chic loungewear
