Meet Our Founder & CEO
A successful entrepreneur and consumer trends expert, Parent Tested Parent Approved Founder and CEO Sharon Vinderine is recognized as an industry leader and innovator. In the media, she has been called a “top-notch entrepreneur with tremendous smarts” and has appeared on more than 300 TV programs on major networks, including ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX News.
As a thought leader and family subject matter expert, Vinderine has been a keynote speaker at numerous conferences on a wide range of topics, including consumer behavior trends, women-led entrepreneurship, online safety for families, cyberbullying, and the influence children have on family purchasing decisions.
Vinderine has a finger on the pulse of what families want and many media outlets rely on her expertise. She has been a regular contributor to HLN and has promoted Parent Tested Parent Approved award-winning products on shows such as The Rachael Ray Show, CBS This Morning, FOX and Friends, Extra, and The Steve Harvey Show.
Seal of Approval: How It Began
Sharon Vinderine had a vision: she wanted to change the way consumers shop.
Shortly after becoming a mother for the first time, Sharon was trying to promote the launch of a new product called the Kangaroo Towel. She entered her product into an awards program that promised promotional opportunities, brand awareness and research that would provide valuable insights into her product. She was disappointed to learn that it was a pay-to-play program. If you paid the fee, you won the award. There was no promotion, no third-party endorsement, and insights were minimal. It was the spark needed to light her entrepreneurial fire.
As both a new parent and a consumer, she started to lay the groundwork for a new awards program that would help parents connect with brands they can trust.
In 2007, Parent Tested Parent Approved was born.
Who are we?
The Parent Tested Parent Approved Seal of Approval is an industry-leading consumer product award and the only award built on authentic parent testing. Founded in 2007 by award-winning entrepreneur Sharon Vinderine, the award helps consumers make informed purchasing decisions for their families while helping brands and manufacturers increase trust and awareness through authentic parent testing and reviews.
Powered by North America’s largest parent-testing community of over 250,000 members, the Parent Tested Parent Approved Seal of Approval has been the instant symbol of trust for millions of consumers for over 15 years.
The award offers brands a powerful marketing tool driven by unbiased testing, research insights, custom surveys and authentic feedback and reviews.
How we help brands
Trust is the most important currency in the world today. With the Parent Tested Parent Approved Seal of Approval, one of North American’s top consumer product awards, brands can promote their products as trusted and award-winning to millions of consumers. When it comes to influencing purchasing decisions, third-party peer endorsements drive sales! It’s the power of social proof, and it works. The award offers brands a powerful marketing tool driven by unbiased testing, research insights, custom surveys and authentic feedback and reviews. We share our feedback and research with the brands we work with and leverage our community of more than 250,000 parents by sending custom consumer trend surveys.
How we help consumers
With fake reviews a real and growing threat today, it’s challenging for parents to decipher real vs. fraudulent as they look to make confident purchasing decisions. We remove the guesswork. Parent Tested Parent Approved gives parents access to trusted, reliable recommendations consumers can count on. We don’t pay for reviews. Our business is built on authentic, third-party testing by parents to help their peers make informed buying decisions.
Our seal of approval is the at-a-glance symbol of trust for millions of consumers since 2007. Because we believe trust shouldn’t be for sale.
How our awards program works
We select families from your target audience to test and review your product. When a product meets our testing standards and criteria, it earns our Seal of Approval. Whether your product earns the seal or not, we share testing feedback with the brands we work with.
Award-winning brands can display our Seal of Approval on packaging at shelf or online, on their websites and digital storefronts, and on all marketing collateral. The seal gives consumers an at-a-glance assurance that your product is trusted and award-winning.
How brands leverage our seal of approval
After a product earns our Seal of Approval, Parent Tested Parent Approved charges manufacturers a fee to display the award. This fee helps fund our program’s operating costs, including administration and monitoring fees to ensure proper usage of the seal. For products with significant health or safety impacts, we may waive this fee.
We continuously monitor for any misuse of our seal of approval and may revoke approval if a product is deemed unsafe or no longer qualifies based on comparative evaluations. Our custom technology and experienced team ensure our seal of approval is always valid and up to date.
Join us in our mission to empower consumers and support brands that prioritize safety, performance, value, and reliability.