Tony Mantor: Why Not Me ? - Drew Ann Long: the journey and creation of Caroline's Cart

Episode Date: November 5, 2025

Revolutionizing Retail: Drew Ann Long's Caroline's Cart Journey In this episode of 'Why Not Me', hosted by Tony Mantor from Nashville, Tennessee Drew Ann Long shares her inspiring story of creating Caroline's Cart—a revolutionary shopping cart designed for individuals with special needs. Drew Ann, motivated by her daughter Caroline's severe disabilities, overcame numerous challenges, financial hurdles, and industry skepticism to bring her vision to life. Despite initial rejections from manufacturers, Drew's relentless pursuit led to global recognition and adoption of Caroline's Cart, transforming accessibility in retail. She also discusses the formation of Caroline’s Cause, a nonprofit providing scholarships to families with special needs children. Drew’s journey highlights the impact of empathy-driven innovation and the importance of taking bold risks to make a difference. Meet Drew Ann Long: Founder of Caroline's Cart The Birth of Caroline's Cart Challenges and Breakthroughs The First Prototype and Social Media Explosion Manufacturing Struggles and Success Nationwide and International Expansion Caroline's Cause: Giving Back Future Plans and Continued Growth Closing Thoughts and Contact Information Music written By T. Wild Mantor Music BMI The content on Why Not Me: Embracing Autism amd Mental Health Worldwide, including discussions on mental health, autism, and related topics, is provided for informational and entertainment purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by guests are their own and do not reflect those of the podcast, its hosts, or affiliates.Why Not Me is not a medical or mental health professional and does not endorse or verify the accuracy, efficacy, safety of any treatments, programs, or advice discussed.Listeners should consult qualified healthcare professionals, such as licensed therapists, psychologists, or physicians, before making decisions about mental health or autism- related care.Reliance on this podcast's contents is at the listener's own risk. Why Not Me is not liable for any outcomes, financial or otherwise, resulting from actions taken based on the information provided. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to Why Not Me, embracing autism and mental health worldwide, hosted by Tony Miatore. Broadcasting from the heart of Music City, USA, Nashville, Tennessee. Join us as our guests share their raw, howful stories. Some will spark laughter, others will move you to tears. These real-life journeys inspire, connect, and remind you that your needs. never alone. We're igniting a global movement to empower everyone to make a lasting difference by fostering deep awareness, unwavering acceptance, and profound understanding of autism and mental health. Tune in, be inspired, and join us in transforming the world one story at a time.

Hi, I'm Tony Mantor. Welcome to Why Not Me, embracing autism and mental health worldwide. Joining us today is Drew Ann Long, the visionary founder of Caroline's Cart. In a world where differences are too often misunderstood, she has transformed challenges into opportunities reshaping the landscape of accessibility and inclusion for people worldwide. Inspired by her daughter Caroline, who has a severe disability, she created a revolutionary accessibility solution that transformed retail for those with special needs. Her relentless vision proves that one person truly can make a difference in this world. She's here to share her journey with us and what a journey it is.

So before we dive into our episode, we'll be back with an uninterrupted show right after a word from our sponsors. Thanks for joining us today. Oh, no, I'm excited. This is great. This is going to be great. Well, thanks. If you would, give us a little background on what it is that you do. Okay, so I'm a mom of three. My middle daughter, Caroline, was born with severe disabilities.

Doesn't walk, doesn't talk. She's now 24. But years ago, when she was about eight years old, and outgrew all the different carts at the stores, I thought, well, I need to now put her in a special-nage shopping cart. Surely there's a special-need shopping cart. There's so many different variety of carts. So I had my manager look into it at a local publics. He agreed. He said, well, yeah, there probably is. I'll go ahead and buy it for you. shop here. So he did his homework. I did my homework. And lo and behold, there had never, ever been a special needs shopping cart. And I really could not believe that. I thought, well, that has got to change because the special needs population is the world's largest minority group. We are worldwide. And I knew if I needed it, that others needed it too. Yes, that makes total sense. Now, that tells me on how you

came up with your idea of doing this. Can you tell us how it came about that you made it a reality? Oh, well, I would need about two weeks to see that story, so I'll try to give you the quick version. Okay. If you've seen Caroline's Cart, and if anybody needs a visual of it, you know, my website is carolinescart.com. That's one of my websites. I have several. But that should pop up a picture, and it's a very simple design. I literally drew that on a piece of paper.

There's no electronics, very simple, you know, just took out the little baby seat and just put in a larger seat for an older child all the way, you know, through adults. years. So I drew that out and I took it to four shopping cart manufacturers in the United States. There's only four, and all four of them told me no. Wow. They did not see the need. Just shocking. They had walked in my shoes for 10 minutes. They would never have told me no. They did not live in my world. It was not a priority at all. I mean, I tried to explain to them there's a huge gap in this retail world of shopping, and this is a product that I believe would be successful. I didn't want anything. I didn't want money. I just wanted them to do it. Yeah, I can understand that. So, What happened next?

So when they all told me no, I was left with, okay, I'm either going to let go or I'm going to do it. I'm going to figure out how to do it. So I have a business degree. Working and accounting, my whole career, was now a state-home mom of three little kids. My husband traveled, and I had to figure it out every step of the way. I had to figure out the whole process. So once you put this idea together, then you were ultimately turned down. Was that the moment that it all clicked?

The inspiration kicked in. You decided then to do it. it on your own. Yes. Yes. It took me about a year to get a prototype. And, you know, people always say, you know, it took about seven years to get Caroline's cart off the ground. And people often ask me why it took so long. Well, I didn't have the luxury of going to an office every day. I was a mom first. My husband traveled for a living. I was at home with three littles and I had to do this when I could. So it took me about a year to find a prototype. It was in Indianapolis, Indiana. It cost $28,000, and you couldn't even sit in it. But it was an actual physical product brought home to my living room,

to my dining room, took pictures, and on May 11th, I'm sorry, of May of 2011, is when I took pictures of it and I went to social media and it exploded. I was getting messages from people, not kidding, all over the world, saying, where can, who has this? Because this is how I'm going to grocery shop. And I didn't even have a manufacturer. Really just started there. And from there, I had to find a manufacturer, but I couldn't find one. And it was very difficult. It cost a ton of money. And it cost many years, ticked off the ground. But I just figured it out, you know. That's a lot of work to go through for sure. Now, once you had the prototype, how long did it take until you had a physical product that you could show and use?

It was several. Okay, well, after I got that first prototype that you couldn't sit in and I started Facebook and Instagram and started building that demand, I thought, well, I've got to have something that I can take a video in, something that I can demo, something that I can use and be out in public. Okay. Okay, that makes sense. So I had to have another prototype, and I went to my local college university engineering department just to make me a prototype that you could sit in cost $80,000.

Oh, wow. Yeah, I never, I never drunk. I mean, my husband and I did not have this kind of money. We had to, of course, we drained our savings. We took every extra paycheck bonus, everything. We poured into it. We never vacationed for years. And eventually, we had to go to our retirement.

My husband's 401K, which, you know, you're never supposed to touch, but we didn't have a choice. So I actually got one that I could sit in and took it to a, you know, none of the big stores would let me in. They're like, you can't come in here with that. You know, the Walmarts of the world, Publix. So I found a mom and pop store locally owned in Birmingham, Alabama. They let me in to take videos and photos, pictures. I promoted the heck out of that. The demand is getting bigger all over the nation, and people are wanting to know where to get it.

So I took prototype number two back to corporate America, back to a shopping cart manufacturer. There's four. I narrowed it down to one. I thought, well, I don't want to get four nose again, so let me just pick one. So I picked the largest. They're in North Carolina. I took prototype number two, told them that I had a lot of demand for this, that people wanted it, and they told me no a second time. That's a really tough pill to swallow. So how did you handle it? What was going through your mind? Cryed all the way home, six and a half hour drive. And I thought, you know, this can't succeed without. the manufacturer, of course. So just from internet and, you know, just doing all I could, I found a manufacturer in Georgia. This manufacturer had never made a shopping cart. They had made lumber carts.

If you know what rolling lumber carts are. Yeah, sure do. Okay. So he made me 100 carts, 100 Carolyn's carts, and it cost $100,000. Wow, that's a big ticket. So the financial strain of this was tremendous. I really thought that this would cost 20, 30,000, I'd be rocking and rolling. In the end, I'll tell you, it was a half a million dollars to get it off the ground, a half a million dollars. Wow, that's a huge leap for you to do. Was that for everything? And that's with all the patents, you know. So you did this, you took a leap of faith. Once you got all the orders in, did it finally start to sell? Oh, absolutely not. So I want to I had my 100 carts, actually was only 88 carts because there was a fire at the manufacturer.

That's another story. So no one would buy them. Like I would go to Walmart and all the big stores and they said, we're not going to buy that. Number one, we only buy from one shopping cart manufacturer. And it was the one in North Carolina that had pulled me no twice. So I had to cede the market to build the demand. The only way I thought I had a chance was the locally owned mall stores. So my first sale. I went to the web and I got a list of nationwide mom and pop stores. And I would call them and I would tell them my story. And my first sale was in Chicago, Illinois at Sunset Foods. And that was sale number one. So as with anything, when you get that first sale, that's the big one. What happened after that? And I strategically tried to place the cart all over the nation to have a nationwide grassroots effort to

build the demand. That's a great plan. Now, the big question, did it work? So it took about a year. Took about a year to sell 88 carts. And then several months later, probably six, eight months later, my phone rings. And it was North Carolina. And I'm like, oh, I wonder who this is. So it was the manufacturer calling me saying, it's now time for you to come back.

We are interested now. We now have Walmart and Target and all the big stores, all the big chains calling us wanting Caroline's cart. So I went on my third trip back to North Carolina. and that is when I got a manufacturing contract. And that is how Caroline's car not only went nationwide, but went international as well. Wow. That's a great story. Now, with all that money invested, needless to say, you need to get a return on your investment, did this finally work out to where you could actually start to see a return on your investment

than ultimately a profit? Yes, it could have about seven years. It was a one-way income stream, and that was income out of my bank account for about seven years. So then it took several years for me to make money to pay myself back, of course. And then Caroline's cart has been in the market since 2012, 2013. So yes, I am now, I do make money on it. Yes. Praise the Lord. I do. Well, there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, you put in your hard earned money to get this thing up and going. You know, there's still a lot of runway left. I work on it every day. There are still corporate chains that have said no, like Costco. Sam's has done a nationwide

rollout. Costco refuses. They don't see the need. So I still have work to do. but it has really, you know, exploded over the years. Last year, in July of 2024, Walmart did a nationwide rollout. So if anyone is listening and hasn't seen Caroline's cart, any Walmart in the United States hasn't. The big super centers, as well as the smaller grocery stores, neighborhood markets. So you can see it. We're in every single one.

So that really did breathe new life into it, put us back on the map. I believe it's starting to put pressure on these stores that have said no for so long. Number one, I think it's great that it's finally doing well for you. With that said, it really amazes me all the attention that autism, mental illness, and those with special needs are getting, that these corporations would have a death ear and a blind eye to what's going on out there. Right. So what's happening now? I mean, you've finally got it out there. It's doing well. What's the next step? What are you doing to expand it to make it better and get it out to even more people?

Well, okay, so Walmart Mexico, Walmart Canada. Yes, they're Walmarts, but they're different. They have a different board of directors, different leadership team. They have said no to Caroline's car. Wow, that's totally baffling. Oh, yes. And, you know, people like you and me and probably all of your listeners are like, that doesn't make sense. Who would say no to a shopping cart that not only helps the do.

disabled community. You know, we track users. The second largest user of Carolant's cart are the senior adult that can't drive the scooters. It is maddening to me. And I have been doing this for so long now. Why would Walmart Canada say no? Why would Walmart Mexico say no? So I'm still out there fighting every day and doing all I can to change the minds. I always see the people that are the decision makers, they don't live in our world. Clearly they don't. Otherwise, it wouldn't be so hard. It is totally amazing. I think you're right there. Now, let's change gears just slightly. You've got Caroline's carts doing really well. Now, I believe this gave you the opportunity to start up a foundation to help people with scholarships.

When my daughter in 2016 went to college, we were looking for scholarships. One thing I thought was, you know, because there's so many scholarships out there, I really thought, well, is there a scholarship for the special needs family? maybe for if you have a special needs sibling. There wasn't, and we searched and searched. So my husband and I thought, wow, what a great thing if we could start a nonprofit to give back to the community of people that helped get Caroline's cart off the ground. And what community is that? That's the special needs community. Without social media getting my word out, but without the backing and the special needs families all over, you know, the United States and beyond that were going to their store and saying, hey, you need Caroline's cart.

We need it for our family. I need Caroline's card here. I need Caroline's card here. So we decided to start a non-profit called Caroline's Cause. What it does is if you have a family dynamic like mine, where you have typical kids and a special needs child, we award a one-time $5,000 scholarship to a entering freshman of college. Wow, that's a wonderful way to support families.

Providing that extra financial boost can make a huge difference in helping kids pursue their college dreams. That's just great. We say it's a win, win. It's a win for the mom and dad because it gives them some financial help. It is a win for the student because it helps get their education off the ground. And it's a win for this special needs child because they are the star of the show. You can't even apply for a scholarship if you don't have a specialty sibling. So we're getting that off the ground. I had over 72 unfunded scholarships this past year. So I'm really, really working. hard trying to promote and get national sponsors for Caroline's cause. One corporate sponsorship, one, only cost $5,000. For a corporation, that is nothing. I don't take a salary. I have zero

overhead. This is just something, this was my give-back project to the special needs community. That is just so awesome. I mean, I'm sure you realize it, but it has to be said, you're changing lives, you're helping lives. That's a truly great thing to do. Now, with any business, you have a business plan. You've got Caroline's carts up and going. What's next? What do you see for the next three to five years for everything you're involved in? Sure. Well, for Caroline's cart, it is absolutely continued growth. I always say that I won't be done until we are standard door equipment. What that means is anytime a store opens, they order about 250 regular carts, they order about four to six fun carts, and they order four to six electric scooters. I want Carolyn,

cart to be that same standard store equipment. And we're not there yet. That is my goal. And again, international. I mean, we're in about eight or nine countries now, but I'm still not in Walmart, Canada. I'm still not in Walmart, Mexico. And that just doesn't make sense. So continued growth for that and for Caroline's cause, you know, sure, again, continued growth. My vision is to never have an unfunded scholarship. Never have an unfunded scholarship. So anyone listening that wants to make a donation to Caroline's Cause. That's my website. Caroline's Cause. We take Venmo, PayPal, all the things, and we are looking

for corporate sponsors that we can also promote on all our channels and put on our websites as well. Yeah, that's great. Great plans. Now, if I Google Caroline Scarts, I see this website that's got all these different things on it. And it makes me wonder, do you get

people that contact you and want to buy them as well? We cannot sell to individuals. No, we can only sell it to retailers. Okay. That makes sense. So this is basically a retail-focused business. Right. I'm glad you said that because, you know, so many people go on Shark Tank and so many people bring products to market. That's great. I'm different. I'm the unicorn. And here's why. I developed a product that the consumer wanted, but the consumer could never buy it. I had to go to the retailer. So that made it infinitely harder because Caroline's cart comes off their bottom line. Walmart doesn't buy Caroline's cart, mark it up and sell it.

Right. That makes sense. So it made it infinitely harder. So imagine that you create something that you get thousands and thousands of emails that people want and would buy it in a second, got to say, oh, well, you can only use this great thing that you want if you go to your store and use it. So I'm glad you brought that up. That did make me the unicorn, I think, of entrepreneurs bringing a product to market because most products are sold directly to the consumer and I didn't have that option. Yes, that makes total sense. With all the trials and the tribulations that you went through, getting this to, the stores. What's the one thing that was the most frustrating? And then what's the one thing that was probably the most satisfying? I think the most frustrating thing from day one is the lack of empathy and experience that decision makers have in the special needs world. You know, you may not have a Caroline in your life, a severely disabled child, but there is not one. person that cannot identify with Caroline's cart. We all will be caregivers. We all might be the one who needs the caregiver. Anybody can identify with Caroline's card and very, very maddening and

frustrating when a buyer looks at me like Costco and says, we don't see the need. That doesn't make sense. I'm calling them out because I, maybe I haven't got to the right person, but to me, there's no excuse. Anybody can point out a problem. The problem was there was not a special needs shopping cart. Now there is a solution to that. This is for the autistic community. This is for the disabled community. This is for the senior adults. I could go on and on.

This is for your neighbor who's child 10 and broke their leg and just needs to ride in the car because the car is too hot and they can't sit in the car. Not one customer has ever bought Caroline's car and not been happy with it or returned it or said, you know, it never got used. It's been the exact opposite. They start off with one. Oh, we need three or four more. So the frustrating part is getting to the right person and trying to make them,

just have a glimpse into what my family and millions of families deal with every day. Sure, I get that. Now, that was the frustrating part. Now, let's turn this around and make it about satisfaction, about pride. It doesn't have to be your first sale. That's always a great memory. What is something else that you just remember that you say when you think of it, this was all worth it?

Well, of course, any time I get photos. and emails and letters. It never gets old because I'm one of these families. You know, I speak their language. I know how hard it is to raise a child with a disability. So I love getting all of those. I think one of the most exciting times was a couple summers ago, I believe it was two summers ago,

we sent a container of Caroline's cart to Dubai. So when I sit and I think, gosh, I'm just a small town Alabama girl with an idea, and now my idea is in grocery stores in Dubai. I mean, that's just hard for me to wrap my head around. Sure, sure, that makes sense. I think I'd be the same way myself. Now, don't take this wrong, but with everything that's going on with autism, special needs, disabilities, mental illness, the elderly that needs all kinds of help, short-term illness, the list goes on and on. I'm really

shocked this has not been thought of before this. Oh, absolutely, no offense taken. I think it's the aha moment. Before Caroline's cart hit the market, and just in my small circle of friends and family, I would just take my drawing, everybody was like, well, duh, well, why doesn't that exist? I mean, that's just the simplest thing that just got overlooked. You're exactly right. Why? Why has this never been out there? Why? Yeah, it just doesn't make sense. Doesn't make sense at all. Now, when you first designed this, how long did it actually take you to get the design in your mind? Honestly, it was, you see it. It's so simple. You know, getting it from my head to a piece of paper took 10 seconds. I'm like, okay, stick figure here, big seat, boom, done. That took 10 seconds. Now, you know, it's a lot harder to get it come to life, you know, for sure. But the design is just so simple. My husband and I say all the time, how did this get overlooked? And you know, what is so maddening is I took my stick figure drawing to four shopping cart manufacturers, didn't want to dine, didn't own the patents. I was literally just saying, hey, you need to do this. We all need it out there. And none of them will listen to me. They wouldn't listen to me. Yeah, that's just so crazy. Now, you do have the patent now and you own all the rights to the name and likeness and all that stuff, right? Yes, I do. Right. I own trademarks, patents, U.S. and international, yes.

That's great. The main thing is that you've covered yourself for everything that you need to. In closing, what do you think is very important that our listeners hear about what you've done, what you're doing, what you continue to do, and of course what you're doing with the foundation? The first thing that just came to my head is take the risk, whether that is in developing a product like I did, whatever you're doing in your life. So many things that we are faced with are risky. Do we want to put the time, the money, the effort? let's just say it costs no money.

If you believe in it enough, like I believed in Caroline's card enough, the risk will be ultimately worth it. So I didn't say it would be easy. I look back and I see that I became the ultimate risk taker. That's a scary thing. And, you know, I'm sure we've all taken risk that didn't work out. I was at a stage in my life with Caroline and I believed in this product and I thought, you know, if it fails, it fails.

But I have to do. I have to know. I've got to give this a shot. So take the risk. Yeah, absolutely. I completely agree. I did the same thing myself. Now, how do people find you?

If they wanted to look and see what you're doing or reach out to you, what's the best way? The best way to contact me is my website, my personal website, and it's my names. I'll say it's Drew Ann Speaks.com. D-R-E-W-A-N-S-P-E-A-N-S-P-E-A-K-S-D-D-Rue-N-S-E-A-S-T-K-N. That's great, great information. So you mentioned earlier that people would send you emails and correspond with you on Instagram and all that. What are some of the better ones that you've gotten? Oh, I mean, all tremendous.

I mean, absolutely all tremendous. I want to share something I got last month. I'm on LinkedIn, and I got a private message, and someone asking me for my address. Well, you know, you have to be careful who you give your address to. So I said, you know, I need more information. And it was a man who said, I want to send you a gift. My wife used Caroline's cart.

That's all he said. So I gave him my address. I go to the mail several weeks later, and this man had made me a Caroline's cart necklace with a handwritten note that said, my wife developed cancer later in life. She was always so weak and frail. She loved to be out in the community. and of course, being a woman, she loved to shop.

Thank you for creating Caroline's cart. So my wife, in her last months of dying with cancer, could still be a part of everyday things that she loved to do. Thank you for making beauty from ashes. I mean, wow. Yeah, not only wow, but that's pretty powerful. That's pretty powerful. And that is, so let's think about that.

That is someone who never was touched with disability in any way, shape, or form. It was cancer, his wife, dying from cancer and he had me a necklace made because they appreciated what I did so much. That is exactly what these CEOs and board members of these big corporations not only need to hear, but need to understand from that. You better believe it. I posted, I scribbled his name off of it, and with his permission, I posted the necklace and the handwritten card on my LinkedIn, hoping just for that. Like, hey, this right here, you don't think Caroline, cart is needed, please read. Yeah. I mean, that is a huge impact for that type of scenario. The interesting

part is when you see the cart, you think of the special needs. You think of all the people that it could help. But that particular situation, that would not be the first thing that you would think of. Oh, never, never. That is someone, again, like I said, who's never been touched with disability, yet is dying wife required it to shop. Yeah, absolutely. Well, this has been a tremendous story. It's been great information, great conversation. I really appreciate you taking the time to join us today.

Oh, look, this is what I do. This is how I get the word out. This is how I reach corporate America and I reach these retailers because I know I've learned a network and everybody knows something. So if any of your listeners, please reach out to me if there's any opportunity where I can come speak, raise money from my nonprofit or sell cards. That's what I do. Yeah, that's just so great.

Well, thanks again. Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to listen to our show today. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you. If you know someone who has a story to share, tell them to contact us at why not me. One last thing, spread the word about why not me. Our conversations, our inspiring guests, this show you are not alone in this world.